Frustrated with customer!

You can't polish a turd. your car is like your body. If you neglect it long enough even the doctor can't help you.
 
cardaddy said:
Phillip I fear your right! Shiny slippery Armor All just anywhere and everywhere.

Do want to apologize to you for what I may have said earlier though. (Didn't look at your site first.)

I'm taking it you have a steamer? Just wondering how well that works on the door jambs with APC? Especially up in the hinge area? My next (affordable) machine needs to be a steamer. (Was looking at the McCullouch/Wagner type ones for now.) Then a decent extractor next, like a Mytee.
Click to expand...

Yeah I used our Wagner steamer which is powerful. But the hinge area had a build up of something that would not come budge. Plus we use a Mytee extractor which is awesome.
 
Man - the larger you grow the more issues like this will arise unfortunately. I had a couple of tough to deal with customers last year that I decided to kill them with kindness and professionalism. There was no way possible to make these customers happy AT ALL, and Im talking about bending over backwards to ensure the job was a complete success on our end. Some people will always be negative no matter what - but killing them with kindness (which can be hard) will many times save you from bad word of mouth or reviews. You will also be able to prespot these individuals after awhile over the phone or even in person - and yes I have turned down a couple of jobs due to the predetermined negativity in their voice..... saved us a few extra headaches for sure. Good luck man and keep your head up.
 
banzaitoyota said:
Did you e/plain to your customer the EXPECTED results based on the condition of the paint?
Click to expand...

My question also. Was care taken to inform him of the less than perfect outcome that was likely due to the condition of the vehicles?
 
B&B Tennessee said:
Man - the larger you grow the more issues like this will arise unfortunately. I had a couple of tough to deal with customers last year that I decided to kill them with kindness and professionalism. There was no way possible to make these customers happy AT ALL, and Im talking about bending over backwards to ensure the job was a complete success on our end. Some people will always be negative no matter what - but killing them with kindness (which can be hard) will many times save you from bad word of mouth or reviews. You will also be able to prespot these individuals after awhile over the phone or even in person - and yes I have turned down a couple of jobs due to the predetermined negativity in their voice..... saved us a few extra headaches for sure. Good luck man and keep your head up.
Click to expand...

Thanks man! We are always so nice to everyone even the rude ones.
 
B&B Tennessee said:
Man - the larger you grow the more issues like this will arise unfortunately. I had a couple of tough to deal with customers last year that I decided to kill them with kindness and professionalism. There was no way possible to make these customers happy AT ALL, and Im talking about bending over backwards to ensure the job was a complete success on our end. Some people will always be negative no matter what - but killing them with kindness (which can be hard) will many times save you from bad word of mouth or reviews. You will also be able to prespot these individuals after awhile over the phone or even in person - and yes I have turned down a couple of jobs due to the predetermined negativity in their voice..... saved us a few extra headaches for sure. Good luck man and keep your head up.
Click to expand...

Great post Anthony!

The only thing that I'd add to it, is pictures...pictures...pictures. From the two that you posted it appears that you made a drastic change in the paint. See ya' holograms. Helloooo shine.

Since you only posted two photo's it's hard for any of us to know how many photo's you took. That is until you tell us how many you took. The point is: The more before AND after photo's you take the more proof of the changes in appearance you efforts made on this job. Those photo's won't necessarily keep a chronic complainer from complaining, but they might just save your bacon in a court of law, God forbid, should a complaint ever go that far.

Protect yourself with plenty of before AND after photo's, then as Anthony suggested, kill them with kindness and professionalism until it hurts...and document what you do extra for the customer too. This too is proof if you should ever need it.
 
Hoytman said:
Great post Anthony!

The only thing that I'd add to it, is pictures...pictures...pictures. From the two that you posted it appears that you made a drastic change in the paint. See ya' holograms. Helloooo shine.

Since you only posted two photo's it's hard for any of us to know how many photo's you took. That is until you tell us how many you took. The point is: The more before AND after photo's you take the more proof of the changes in appearance you efforts made on this job. Those photo's won't necessarily keep a chronic complainer from complaining, but they might just save your bacon in a court of law, God forbid, should a complaint ever go that far.

Protect yourself with plenty of before AND after photo's, then as Anthony suggested, kill them with kindness and professionalism until it hurts...and document what you do extra for the customer too. This too is proof if you should ever need it.
Click to expand...

True. We don't always have time to document but for some customers we should.
Thanks for good advice
 
The 2 things you need to do in order to avoid this.
1. Never call any package "Full Detail". This implies it is all inclusive and can mean many things to many people.
2. Older vehicle waiver. Any vehicle that is more than 5 years old, the customer has to sign a agreement before I touch their vehicle. This will include plastic discoloring, mechanical, headliner sag, and old paint failure. There is always a risk trying to clean these cars, the customer needs to understand that I will not be responsible for these worn parts.
Renny Doyal's book has a great example of this in the appendix.

In the end some people will never be satisfied. I had to "fire" one of these customers last year. After spending an hour trying to fix all the little things he kept pointing out, I just gave him half his money back and told him to call someone else next time.

Sometimes I filter potential problem customers out over the phone. When they start to tell me about all the bad detailers they have been thru, it's a huge flashing sign for me.
Bottom line is you don't need to take every job, if I get a bad feeling talking to them on the phone I will let them know I may not be the guy your looking for and I give them the number to my closest competitor. Let them deal with that headache.


www.SweatTheDetails.Time2Detail.com
www.Facebook.com/DentsAndDetails
I may be slow, but I do poor work.
 
And I'm scared now...
My GF's sister is going to go pick her car up tomorrow and I volunteered to go with her for the final inspection before the car gets released to her. She got rear ended she has a burgundy chevy pickup. In the 2000-2005 era.

I don't want to be like Mr. Know it all...

But I want do want to make sure the color matches, orange peel is good, and it is not covered in dirt or fish eyes.

Or should I tone it down?
 
Me and a buddy used to subcontact through a dealer. My buddy was told by the dealer that I could not touch any more of his cars because I missed a spot of dirt in a cup holder. On a $1400 car that was 12 years old. We spent 4 hours cleaning it. We don't return his calls anymore. Some people are never happy.

Sent from my Dell Streak using AG Online
 
piranah said:
Me and a buddy used to subcontact through a dealer. My buddy was told by the dealer that I could not touch any more of his cars because I missed a spot of dirt in a cup holder. On a $1400 car that was 12 years old. We spent 4 hours cleaning it. We don't return his calls anymore. Some people are never happy.

Sent from my Dell Streak using AG Online
Click to expand...

LOL. That's crazy. Hell, I recently worked on a cousin's car, 2007 Mazda3, that was just completely neglected. The paint was in terrible condition. Paint chips that were rusty, headlights were oxidized and torn up (probably automatic car washes), the interior is black and it was one of the nastiest and dirtiest interiors I've ever seen and I vacuumed that sucker for an hour and it still wasn't clean. But when she picked the car up after me spending 6 hours or so, she was so happy. I even said the car wasn't up to my expectations and could have looked better, but she was all giddy and happy. And a lot of dirt was missed inside, I'm sure, lol.

But, yes, lots of people will pick out the most microscopic thing and harp on it forever. When people are like that, you almost wanna tell them to just do it themselves.
 
I think you did great! I can usually sense people who are unreasonable, way out of line picky, or have been off their meds for too long. I just send these folks down the road. Nothing good will come from any interaction with them. And never ever never ever use the phrase "full detail". They think that means "restoration".
 
TH3M B0N3Z said:
The guy claims to know how to detail a car properly, so he should have just done it himself if he knew better.

I've come across customers like that when they've had their vehicle detailed at my job, a Toyota dealer. They get so nit-picky over little things that they really should just do the job themselves. That's why I work on my own car. In my head, I feel as if nobody can do a decent and thorough and safe job on my car, so I do it myself, save my money and save any possible hassles.

There's always one guy who can ruin your mood or your whole week, but as long as they're not coming out of the woodwork, I'm sure you're doing all the other jobs just fine.
Click to expand...

:iagree:Right if he knew so much about detailing he would known how to protect the paint and dash long before they got to that point, some people just want others to fix there lack of resolve
 
have you ever heard of (customer service checkers)

they are employees for some companies that their only job is to go to restaurants supermarkets dealerships or any service and products provider and seller and they check on how good is your service or the products you sell if any

so basically he could be one of them that want to test your patience

or he could be just a (never satisfied customer)

so in my opinion you did perfectly good
and i cant really tell how to deal with this type of customer
but with more and more experience u gain there will be no obstacles will slow you down

just keep on the good work
 
TH3M B0N3Z said:
LOL. That's crazy. Hell, I recently worked on a cousin's car, 2007 Mazda3, that was just completely neglected. The paint was in terrible condition. Paint chips that were rusty, headlights were oxidized and torn up (probably automatic car washes), the interior is black and it was one of the nastiest and dirtiest interiors I've ever seen and I vacuumed that sucker for an hour and it still wasn't clean. But when she picked the car up after me spending 6 hours or so, she was so happy. I even said the car wasn't up to my expectations and could have looked better, but she was all giddy and happy. And a lot of dirt was missed inside, I'm sure, lol.
Click to expand...

You've listed the other end of the spectrum there sir, the one that is over the moon at a job that could have been a few % better in your eyes. These help to soothe the pain of the negative customers.

c5errr said:
just keep on the good work
Click to expand...

:iagree:
 
Reminds me of the old saying, ''Some people would b**** if you hung them with a new rope''. Also, you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear.

Kind of sounds like the guy expected a miracle without praying. Don't let it get to you, some people are never happy.
 
This is a little random but you may make more money if you list your packages from greatest to least. That way people decide on a higher package before they get to a lower one. It can really make you some more profit with a simple change.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top