Customer complaining about fallout

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c6ix

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hey everyone!
I have been detailing cars for about 4 years now but have been getting serious about detailing for other people for about 2 years. I buy what i think is the best products and use the best tools.

I detailed someones car a few months ago and bragged to the customer how I am the only person around here that properly clay bars the entire vehicle to talk myself up as much as possible. Well I clay barred his car with a nano mitt, polished it with wolfgangs uber polish and then applied wolfgangs paint sealant. Since he knows to look for fallout bc i talked so much about it to him, he's now telling me that the fallout is really bad, way worse than before i detailed it. The car was about 5 years old and never been detailed before and i detailed it 3 months ago. How is it possible that it has more fallout in 3 months than 5 years??? He also said he washed it as soon as it got dirty. I don't even know what to tell him. Can anyone help me out? I really appreciate it
 
more than likely he is delusional I come across customers like that once in a while.Or maybe that the car is detailed now it's more noticeable .How did the car look when finished with the detail?. I don't know what you should tell him the whole story seems like there are gaps missing.The only thing you can do is make him happy by looking at the car together and come up with a solution.what kind of car is it, is there salt on the roads where you reside.Take the car and fix it real quick and make it clear to him this is it.also define fallout is it pitting the paint or topical contamination.
 
I wonder if it is due the clean slate that you provided after the claying that now the fall out seems more noticeable than before where basically the surface was a full coating of fall out?
 
He may be a little delusional lol it is a white 2010 ford escape and it left my shop better than new. There is salt on the roads here but it doesnt make sense that its worse after 3 months with a sealant than the first 5 years with no wax or sealant on the paint at all. The paint should still be smooth and even have some decent beading. I definitely need to see it in person and see what hes talking about bc i want to keep him happy.
 
I dont remember it being horrible when i detailed it. The back hatch had some small rust looking fallout but thats typical on white suv's.
 
c6ix said:
He may be a little delusional lol it is a white 2010 ford escape and it left my shop better than new. There is salt on the roads here but it doesnt make sense that its worse after 3 months with a sealant than the first 5 years with no wax or sealant on the paint at all. The paint should still be smooth and even have some decent beading. I definitely need to see it in person and see what hes talking about bc i want to keep him happy.
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It may be coming from the brakes and is more noticeable on white paint,looks like little rusted micro fallout.
 
Is the customer, mad? demanding you re-do it? just confused? what?
 
c6ix said:
I dont remember it being horrible when i detailed it. The back hatch had some small rust looking fallout but thats typical on white suv's.
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He maybe one of those X-ray vision clients that are a pita to deal with.just fix it don't ruin your reputation around town then avoid him.
 
GSKR said:
It may be coming from the brakes and is more noticeable on white paint,looks like little rusted micro fallout.
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I think Jeff nailed it. Just explain it to him that things will build up on the car in between major details. Offer him a 3 month maintenance plan for x-$ per month, and throw in a few free samples if he decides to do his own car between the major details.

Samples: (bucket, grit guard, wash mitt, body shampoo and iron-x). When I say samples, I mean small samples.

I think if you're reasonable and explain it like anything else he'll be fine. Just because it' was cleaned, clayed, iron-x'd today, doesn't mean it stays that way... Logic being; just because I showered yesterday, doesn't mean I can forgo today... :-)
 
If you want to keep the Customer...offer to go by his residence or office and inspect it visually and do a Baggie Test to determine if decontamination is required.

Clay a section to see what comes off and go from there.

If you really want to demonstrate your high-level, show & tell with some Iron-X.
 
Please define fallout? Your definition of fallout and his definition of fallout?
 
Where do you live? Does this happen to other cars? How often is he washing the car? On a non coated car, weekly wash is a must.
 
Some customers think your services are warranty forever.

I did a one step polish on a LeBaron of all cars nothing fancy it was oxidized and looked grey. I made it deep rich black

I polished it and sealed it , I just opened my shop and wanted to do a good job to get the word of mouth going on

I charged him a whopping 200$ for a job that his neighbors was under the impression he had gotten a new paint job.


He had taken it out on a hot day and a hot shower of rain came in and after baked in the car. With water spots all over the car.

Guess who's fault it was MINE.

HE wanted me to re polish it and seal it for free.

His uncle owns a body shop and paints, I told him if your uncle paints and fixes a car and the customer drives out and hits his work, does your uncle fix it for free ?

He didn't like that example too much I told him this is not just labor to fix the water marks it's also materials and his paint was single stage so kiss the pads goodbye.

So I explained I had to

Re wash
Re clay
Re polish and ruin pads
And seal again.

And that is not fair to me or my family.

I told him I would have to charge him something at least at cost because I can't use my expensive products just because he messed up.

I charged him 30 dollars lol and he was still not happy about it.

When he picked it up he didn't say thank you, or he's sorry it's his fault nothing.

Morale of the story is never do favors or cheap jobs because those are the guys that want lifetime warranty.

I don't do nothing for free anymore.

As the free stuff just gets you into trouble and become the main concern of the job
 
I think he's looking for a free cleanup since there is salt on the road.
 
He did mention that he is super anal when he dropped his car off to me. I was happy about that bc i make sure do give every car i do 100%. He was really happy with the job and even messaged me the next day to tell me how awesome i was. It just worried me that maybe wolfgang paint sealant isnt as good as I thought...

I live in ontario and cars do get contaminated quickly here. It still doesnt make sense to me that its worse in 3 months than the 5 years prior to the detail.

Im going to have to take a look in person and see whats up. I dont want to give anything away for free but i'm still trying to build clientele, even the anal clientele that complain about everything bc i cant afford to loose their, and their friends business.

what sealants do you guys use?
 
c6ix said:
He did mention that he is super anal when he dropped his car off to me. I was happy about that bc i make sure do give every car i do 100%. He was really happy with the job and even messaged me the next day to tell me how awesome i was. It just worried me that maybe wolfgang paint sealant isnt as good as I thought...

I live in ontario and cars do get contaminated quickly here. It still doesnt make sense to me that its worse in 3 months than the 5 years prior to the detail.

Im going to have to take a look in person and see whats up. I dont want to give anything away for free but i'm still trying to build clientele, even the anal clientele that complain about everything bc i cant afford to loose their, and their friends business.

what sealants do you guys use?
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If that's the case you have the nano MIT it shouldn't take more then 30 mins to make this guy shut up.

Don't let no one think less of your work for 30 mins.

Now as far as re sealing it that's up to you and depending on how much he paid you
 
c6ix said:
He did mention that he is super anal when he dropped his car off to me. I was happy about that bc i make sure do give every car i do 100%. He was really happy with the job and even messaged me the next day to tell me how awesome i was. It just worried me that maybe wolfgang paint sealant isnt as good as I thought...

I live in ontario and cars do get contaminated quickly here. It still doesnt make sense to me that its worse in 3 months than the 5 years prior to the detail.

Im going to have to take a look in person and see whats up. I dont want to give anything away for free but i'm still trying to build clientele, even the anal clientele that complain about everything bc i cant afford to loose their, and their friends business.

what sealants do you guys use?
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How can he be super anal and never had wax on the car? 3 months is quite some time and could accumulate fallout,sap,water spots etc. How has HE taken care of the car since? My sister in law works in an industrial park and her car gets heavy fallout, it just requires more maintenance. Did you offer any kind of guarantee?
 
There isn't a magical product out there that permanently protects your car from neglect and bird shite, sap, bug juice, brake dust. I still get crap on my coated paint and trim, but it sure washes off easier and goes back to the original shine. Waxed, sealed, and coated paint still needs to be maintained...Educate the customer respectfully. Sounds like he's looking for a Unicorn detail and is a leaf short of a 4 leaf clover.
 
At the end of the day it's all about customer service, just eat this deal make him happy and move on.To wash and clay that little truck and apply maybe 845 should be 2 hrs.Here is a example of what I run into,cleaning nasty interiors and the mats wick creating a stain look I have to drive out there and fix it.sometimes in business you have to deal with it ,it shows the customer what your really about and will pay off in the long term.
 
I had a promblem the other day this lady had a fairly new Kia and she was allergic to any type of smell as I didn't use anything but a vacuum on the inside.I went 15 mi to discover that it was tire dressing on the outside of her car.she was happy that I came out there to fix the promblem,and landeded a 220.00 driveway pressure cleaning job to rid of mold and dirt.so it may pay now or later just do the right thing and it will come back to you.
 
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