Almost Called Police On Detail Job Today

I'm not in the detail biz, but if someone screwed me like this I'd be tempted to go back and mess up his car. Maybe not next week, not next month, but when he's forgotten about it I'd hit the car with brake cleaner.
 
there are 3 sides to every story. It sucks and sounds like it could of been set up from the start. the police also have better things to do than come due to you being yelled at. It's a civil matter
 
I wouldn't go near them or speak to them again.

You will probably never make them happy.

The stress isn't worth it!!!
 
Do what I do in my line of work (renting out Broadcast video gear). I cover my ass in advance.

Fill out complete agreement sheet. Get their credit card up front and always have a cell phone credit card reader. I run the card and get the approval before anything leaves my possession. or in your case, before you start the detail.
I don't take anything but cash or credit cards. If you take a check the client can have insufficient funds, or stop the check.
 
If you have the son's address you could send him a bill for the the difference. There is a 50% chance it wasn't a set up and the son knows his dad is an idiot and is really embarrassed, too embarrassed to call you to make it right.

Anyway, what's the difference with compound and polish, aggressiveness??? Are you sure he didn't just want defects removed that were beyond the deal, or was the argument over the word "compound"?
 
seanconway34 said:
Today I detailed a Ford Excursion. The person that I detailed's cars son called me to arrange the detail that he was getting for his father as a present. I told the son that it would be $200 for a standard detail (carpets shampooed, vaccum, interior protectant. car clayed, and one step wax).
Waayy too cheap for the acreage of leather/plastic/vinyl to be cleaned/dressed... carpet to be shampooed...paint to be clayed and enhanced.
The son said that was great and gave me his fathers address and said he gave his father cash that he would pay me with. After detailing the car for six hours at 7:00 when I was fifteen mintues from done the father came out and asked why the car wasen't compounded and I told him that wasen't included and the father started yelling at me and cursing and screaming. I felt unsafe and threatened by the way that he was acting. He said my details were #### and that you can't do a detail without a compound, he started screaming and scaring myself and my associate. I was about to call the police but then I realized it wasen't worth it, the guy only gave me $60 for six hours worth of work and the gave made me feel unsafe with his yelling.
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Ford Kills 19-Foot Gas-Guzzler Excursion : TreeHugger

The last Excursion land-boat was made at Ford's Louisville plant on Friday September 30th, 2005 (two days ago).
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^^^
(There is an outfit building 2012 - '13 Excursions in Texas.)

*Looking at an 8 model-years old vehicle...or older.
*6 hours to complete in/out with claying, shampooing, conditioning, waxing this behemoth ?
Incredible...even @ 12 man hours.

My opinion:

1. From my experience, a well maintained vehicle owner would have bypassed your price.(Son might have paid for it...but dad had the cash in hand). A neglected vehicle owner would be more inclined to jump at your price.


2. Also sounds like you bid blind...vehicle unseen before D-Day. Craigslist ad?

Paw Paw was probably pissed off at the quality, and expressed his displeasure the only way he knew how...

seanconway34 said:
What should I do, take him to small claims court, press charges , or let it go? :dblthumb2:
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Seems that this ordeal should be a learning experience on various fronts.
 
swanicyouth said:
If you have the son's address you could send him a bill for the the difference. There is a 50% chance it wasn't a set up and the son knows his dad is an idiot and is really embarrassed, too embarrassed to call you to make it right.

Anyway, what's the difference with compound and polish, aggressiveness??? Are you sure he didn't just want defects removed that were beyond the deal, or was the argument over the word "compound"?
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I tend to agree with this one. The son clearly has no ability to change the father. If you have before and after shots then I would definitely send this guy a bill every week, and in parallel threaten to take him to small claims court on the ground that he broke a verbal (or written) contract with you. There is no way a judge would think you agreed to so much work for $60.

On the other hand, when this has happened to me in my IT business, if I had enough work for the foreseeable future I have let it go. That said, just because you threaten small claims court to the son doesn't mean you have to follow-through. Sometimes legal action is more than enough to get the right discussion started. Think of it as a way of improving your negotiating skills. What do you have to lose here, really? I cannot see you would get bad publicity because you fought this some more. In one respect you want these two nut-jobs to never call upon you again.
 
seanconway34 said:
I talked to the son and he told me that he was sorry and that his father is known to do things like this and he wasen't suprised. He is very sorry and he would like me to go back and compound his dad's car like his dad wants it and he'll pay me $220, personally I don't think $20 for a compound on a Ford Excursion is worth it, the car is huge. I told him it'd be more than $20 for a compound and he said absolutely not and I said ok let's just do $200 for the detail and he said no because my father isn't happy. I don't get it the car shine is amazing, a neighbor walking by even said wow that car looks great, its shiny.
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$20 to compound an aircraft carrier!!

To me this sounds like a setup...
 
Hate to tell ya my man but you got set-up. Take the loss and move on..you only charged that guy 200$ for all that work? He loved the job you did, hes still laughing about it!

Protection is pretty cheap now days, id go invest in one, a carrying permit is cheap too, hope you never have to use it but you will never feel scared and uncomfortable again if a customer goes crazy on you.
 
In most states,you can file a mechanics lien since he owes you money. It now puts the title of the vehicle some cannot sell it without your bill being paid in full. If he totals it the insurance company pays you first.

Now the question I have is did he verbally threaten you with violence? If he did in NJ. That is considered assault. Could be something to look into and threaten further action with the Police. Maybe no one has ever stood up to this knucklehead.

Ed
 
Eandras said:
In most states,you can file a mechanics lien since he owes you money. It now puts the title of the vehicle some cannot sell it without your bill being paid in full. If he totals it the insurance company pays you first.

Now the question I have is did he verbally threaten you with violence? If he did in NJ. That is considered assault. Could be something to look into and threaten further action with the Police. Maybe no one has ever stood up to this knucklehead.

Ed
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BINGO!

Even though I (now) do anything for 'pay', I ALWAYS used a 'work form' that the customer signed prior to ANY work began.

You can get a package of 'repair forms' at your local office supply store. Take a look at the bottom of them and you will see where the customer signs off. Of course, you can always make your own, but reading what the 'lien' says needs to be included.

Sorry this had to happen to you, people at time really bit the big one.

Bill
 
Eandras said:
In most states,you can file a mechanics lien since he owes you money. It now puts the title of the vehicle some cannot sell it without your bill being paid in full. If he totals it the insurance company pays you first.

Now the question I have is did he verbally threaten you with violence? If he did in NJ. That is considered assault. Could be something to look into and threaten further action with the Police. Maybe no one has ever stood up to this knucklehead.

Ed
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Ed,

I think you're on to something here, and maybe it's just me but I'd peruse.

This type of behavior could actually be illegal and the original poster also has a witness....
 
You can also put a ding on his credit report. You have most of the information. Name and address of the client (Son) as well as telephone number. You can send him a bill with a 10 day term and notify the credit bureaus of the issue. Once you start getting late notices it will Get other creditors to,start to look at his credit.

You worked hard and this knucklehead should pay. As far as getting a bad reputation this is easily explainable. The 60.00 doesn't cover your day. You got paid $5.00 per hour. That is insulting. You are also not taking into account the hidden cost.

If the son wants you to compound go ahead and compound. Just don't remove the compound. When they complain tell them you added the compound for the $20.00
 
I'm not an attorney but taking him to court probably won't help b/c it's your word against his about the price & work to be done.

Take it as a lesson learned to always use an estimate sheet signed by the customer, especially when dealing w/ someone you don't know and/or dealing w/ a 3rd party. (Son paying to detail fathers car as a surprise/gift)

Even though getting the rest of your money is most likely a lost cause at this point it's not in my nature to 'just let things go' like that. Remember though that there's always a video camera rolling somewhere which could work to your advantage. ;) I like Eandras idea about the lien.

What about talking to the police about theft of services? Not sure if taking a partial payment would affect that.
 
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First, allow me to state:
No One; again: No One...Should be subjected to the tirade you say
you encountered, or feel threatened...EVER!!

Secondly, I must ask:
Is your Business a licensed entity in the jurisdiction you perform detailing?

From this thread: http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/56052-need-exterior-tips-new-bussiness.html
seanconway34 said:
Hi, I recently started my own part time mobile auto detailing bussiness a couple months ago and to date have done about 40 cars, I am a college student attending community college and I have a lot of time to detail cars. I usually do 4-5 cars a week. My equitment consists of a porter cable 7424xp and a carpet extractor. I need some help with what prodcuts to use on the exterior of the cars that I detail, I want to be time effecient. I want to use an AIO product and top it off with Opti-Seal as it is quick to use. Is this a good system and what AIO product should I use for maximum shine. Also what price should I charge for a full interior detail with shampoo carpets and an exterior with AIO product, is $85 good for a car as I am a college student.
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Third point:
Since you're a registered student at this Community College, you should have access
to expert proffessorial guidance from its Legal and Small Business departments in this matter.

That's the route I would take.

Lastly:
-Thanks for sharing this hardship that sometimes
will arise when dealing with John, or Jane, Q. Public.
-Hopefully it will serve as a: Heads-Up for other Detailing Business' owners/operators.

Best of Luck!

:)

Bob
 
Always deal with the actual owner to make pricing and what's included. That way there's no confusion. My $0.02

Sent from my DROID3 using AG Online
 
I had a gentleman call me from Atlanta Georgia one day, he told me he wanted to have his Father's car detailed for his birthday. He said his Father lived in Colonial Park (which is like 20 minutes from me) and that his father knew all about the detail as a gift. I told the son that the only way I would do it is if he sent me an email with his request and mailed me a check in advance and once the check cleared the bank, then and only then would we schedule the detail.

It all worked out and we were all happy in the end.

It's not that I didn't trust him personally (I didn't know him) I just don't trust anyone. I decided after that deal that I would take this approach to all gifts whether it be ordered locally or over the phone.

I make it a transaction that is ordered through E-mails so I can print out the correspondence and place it in the customer's file. I am up front with the potential client about what the detail consists of, and that the gift certificate is not refundable in cash, but only in services. (this is all through email regardless of what was said on the phone)

Once I receive the check and it clears the bank, I mail out the non-refundable gift certificate in the name of the purchaser, with a line on the certificate (for Dad's birthday detail etc.)

This transfers the risk to the customer and if they choose not to do business with me so be it, honestly I feel that gift certificates are a PITA anyway so I can take them or leave them.

The way I handle these deals gives me the printed out or "saved with email address" copy of the transaction from the beginning, so the he said, he said stuff is a non-issue from the start. Having the check clear from the start ensures that I am covered financially for the deal before any work begins.

If the customer says they don't have a computer or gives some other resistance to my terms, I cancel the deal before it ever starts, citing that they are simply not the market I serve. No harm no foul, just a "click" ending the conversation.
 
I think you were scammed. The son should have been the one who paid you. If he knew his old man could be a jerk, he should have been there. The father probably spent the cash on something else.

I wouldn't have anything to do with either of them again. Chalk it up to experience and move on.
 
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