Help with the under-whelmed customer.

[O.C.Detailing]

So, John and I detailed a Range Rover the other day. It was seriously swirled with lots of scratches and rock-chips covering the driver's door and the hood. There was serious bird dropping etching in the roof and some on the hood which couldn't be removed.

Other than the chips, bird droppings and 2 spots of what appeared to be clearcoat starting to fail, when we were done, the paint was close to flawless. The only things we didn't remove were the things we couldn't remove safely, and obviously the rockchips that need to be filled by a professional.

The difference in the paint all over the vehicle is dramatic. Before the detail, there were zero clear reflections in the paint and a few flaws that we really couldn't fix. There was what appeared to be a very badly filled chip and a few deeper scratches that we knew would need some wet-sanding. Afterwards, like I said, other than the things we couldn't remove safely, the paint was amazing. The customer even stated that it was a HUGE difference in the color of the car and that the paint looked clear and wet, but he wasn't blown away or anything. It's extremely de-motivational when it happens.

The customer's initial reaction was disappointment because the few flaws that were left were actually magnified since the rest of the paint was clear. I even showed him the before pictures and he was still disappointed because of the few areas that had problems that were irrepairable by John and I.

What's the best way to handle the under-whelmed customer and have any of you had the same type of experience?

 

[evilwrx]

I feel with any business it is best to under promise and over deliver. On your initial walk thru of the car, make sure the customer understands what can and cannot be corrected (setting expectations). Let the customer understand why something cannot be corrected and what the ramifications are if an attempt was made at correcting those spots. Finally, not every customer is going to be 100% satisfied. If you did your best and are happy with the quality of your work then chalk this customer up as a 1 percenter and move on. I know it sux that you have done what you feel to be a fantastic job and then the customer pooh-pooh's it... but it is probably just that customer.

I have seen your work on the boards here, keep up what you are doing, it is not you!!:dblthumb2:

 

[Harleyguy]

Having to deal with customers every day in my line a work there are some customers no matter what you do for them and how much you go out of your way they are never happy.

Question here is did you go over each part of the car with the customer and explain what you would be able to correct and what had to stay the same?If not this is a very inportant part since you need to earn the trust of the customer and avoid them being dissapointed when they pick up there car.

Only thing i can suggest is set up a meeting with the customer and ask him what will make him feel better about the out come.Go over the spots he isn't happy with and explain to them you can try and make it better but he has to understand you can't work miracles.So it's up to them if they want you to try fixing those weak areas.Most of the time of the time they leave feeling better about there car just need to explain things to them that they aren't aware of .

 

[O.C.Detailing]

John and I did explain prior to starting the vehicle that there were some items we could not fix. After he came to pick it up, I walked him around the entire vehicle and explained why we couldn't fix certain parts of his truck and why.

We told him that we couldn't give him a 100% fix for his paint, but that of the defects that were removable, we would try to get rid of about 90% of them and that some scratches may be too deep to remove. I told him that rock chips need to be filled by a professional and that no amount of detailing would lessen their appearance. I explained that if we tried to sand out the clearcoat failure there's a chance that we'd only make it worse and that not messing with it was the best course of action.

It may be in-part because I get excited about the work we do and told the customer that he would love what we did. I may have got his expectations too high you think?

 

[O.C.Detailing]

Just as a reference, here is the vehicle in question. Also, most of the scratches and swirling were instilled by the customer using a broom to clear snow off of his vehicle...

***WARNING: Please forgive the craptastic iPhone pictures. My wife's camera has recently become unavailable for my use. She gets mad at me because I tend to leave it at work when she wants to use it, so until I can afford my own camera, I need to take photos with the iPhone. <sigh>

BEFORES:

AFTERS:

 

[tcollins33]

Evilwrx hit the nail squarely on the head - some people are impossible to please. This customer is definitely a one-percenter.

 

[evilwrx]

Although you didn't post any of the defects you were not able to remove, the difference is night and day. Would love to see some sun shots. I would not worry about your work or this customer... you have done nothing wrong!! Great turnaround.

 

[O.C.Detailing]

If you look closely, you can see the defects in the top of the driver's door in this picture. A bunch of rockchips we couldn't remove and that the owner didn't see when he dropped it off to us, but you can see that they're there.

Then more chips in this door that you can see in this picture that are pretty much obvious. The clear coat failure you can't really see due to the swirls, chips and possibly the crappy camera on my phone.

 

[RTexasF]

Chalk it up to experience, you can't please everyone.

I had a somewhat similar experience a few years back. A Sebring converitble was two years old and had never been washed! I gave it the full whammy putting over eight hours into it and it came out simply spectacular. When the owner came to pick it up she said "looks nice".....that's it. She paid me, tipped $25, and drove off. To this day I've never quite figured that one out.

 

[WRAPT C5Z06]

Some people are ignorant and impossible to please. Nice job!

What did you use for correction?

 

[O.C.Detailing]

Chalk it up to experience, you can't please everyone.

I had a somewhat similar experience a few years back. A Sebring converitble was two years old and had never been washed! I gave it the full whammy putting over eight hours into it and it came out simply spectacular. When the owner came to pick it up she said "looks nice".....that's it. She paid me, tipped $25, and drove off. To this day I've never quite figured that one out.

At least you got a compliment and a tip though. Ya know? I didn't even get the feeling he was remotely impressed.

Some people are ignorant and impossible to please. Nice job!

What did you use for correction?

We used M105 on orange CCS 6.5" and 205 on white CCS 6.5" pads and then topped it off with Poorboy's World Pure EX-P Sealant. I will admit, this truck had some EXTREMEMLY sticky and extremely soft clearcoat. Marred and hazed very easily.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

The customer's initial reaction was disappointment because the few flaws that were left were actually magnified since the rest of the paint was clear. I even showed him the before pictures and he was still disappointed because of the few areas that had problems that were irrepairable by John and I.

It's just uncanny how some people forget about the big picture and focus in like a laser beam on the little things...

Don't feel bad, we all know your reputations and it's for certain he received a top notch detail job and conversely, he didn't get a swirled-out hack job by someone else which would have been a good possibility had he not found you two.

What's the best way to handle the under-whelmed customer and have any of you had the same type of experience?

Any experiences like this is too many...


The best you can do is to do your best to

Evaluate the customer
(Then evaluate the car)


There are some people that you will never be able to please and when you meet these people, bow out gracefully and let them know they would be better served by someone else.


:xyxthumbs:

 

[O.C.Detailing]

It's just uncanny how some people forget about the big picture and focus in like a laser beam on the little things...

Don't feel bad, we all know your reputations and it's for certain he received a top notch detail job and conversely, he didn't get a swirled-out hack job by someone else which would have been a good possibility had he not found you two.




Any experiences like this is too many...


The best you can do is to do your best to

Evaluate the customer
(Then evaluate the car)


There are some people that you will never be able to please and when you meet these people, bow out gracefully and let them know they would be better served by someone else.


:xyxthumbs:

Wow Mike! Thanks so much! I appreciate the compliments everyone gives, but coming from you, that means so much. I'm sure John will feel the same way and will come in here and post his thoughts and gratitude as well.

He was supposed to let us do his wife's BMW X3 as well, but at this point, I really doubt he's going to ask us and I"m afraid that I really don't WANT to do it, though if he does, should I take that as the unspoken compliment he didn't give and assume that he was impressed enough to ask us to do his other vehicle and that I should be satisfied with that?

 

[WRAPT C5Z06]

should I take that as the unspoken compliment he didn't give and assume that he was impressed enough to ask us to do his other vehicle and that I should be satisfied with that?

Absolutely! rops:

 

[O.C.Detailing]

There are some people that you will never be able to please and when you meet these people, bow out gracefully and let them know they would be better served by someone else.:xyxthumbs:

These are great words to live by, but when every penny is massively important, then passing up a paying job is very hard to do. Though I do agree.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Your iphone pictures look great actually, the clearly show the before and after results and they are amazing. This customer is crazy not be impressed with your work.

He was supposed to let us do his wife's BMW X3 as well, but at this point, I really doubt he's going to ask us and I"m afraid that I really don't WANT to do it.

Here's the skinny on this,

If he doesn't let you do it and hires someone else, there's a good chance he'll get to witness the difference between a Pro job and a Hack job.

Of course we always wish everyone the best but we all know that there are a lot of detailers working in the world that don't do as good as work as you and John and it's possible he might end up hiring someone like this if he doesn't go with you.

Then, he might just be at your mercy to undo the damage.

Make sure you have a price point that's hire for undoing someone else's botched work due to the risk involved. Have a waiver in hand also to drive home that point.

 

[O.C.Detailing]

Thanks again Mike. I believe John got some before and after pics with his Nikon D60, and I hope he posts them, but in-person, there was absolutely no haze or fogginess from the lights. They were clear enough to see the glass surrounding the light filament in the bulbs. My iphone must have just gotten washed out by all of the light.

I really need to write up a waiver and agreement document that a customer signs prior to the detail and initials off once the detail is completed.

 

[frosty]

If you need to run special commands in the Presenter, then look at ViewBaseModel from Cinch to see if you can use any of the code.

If you need to message between elements, look at the Message service.

Look at the ValidatingObject for widows where you need to control input for a user data form.



Some people do it to get the cost down. One thing you pointed out I've contemplated lately, if it isn't a garage queen, and has some defects that can't be fixed, I'm not sure it's worth a major correction.

As you've seen and I found out with a car I finally sold, you get it slick and shiny, the defects just stand out that much worse. The car I just sold was black. It was fairly new but had a small ding in one door and some other little things that just stood out like a sore thumb if you nitpicked the car. I took it to a wholesaler friend who said it would sale better if it were dirtier because of the couple minor things. (Car was black.)

I actually stopped washing it to let it dirty up a little bit and until it sold.

Part two of this is I had a customer bring me a blue BMW. It hadn't been washed with what looked like a rag out of the sandbox.

They didn't want to spend the money for anything other than wash and wax. So I washed it, dried it, polished it and it still had a shine, just all the scratches drove me nuts but the customer was estactic.

Now in hindsight, if I would have talked them into 2 step correction and tried to charge 2 or $300 they would have not been happy.

Most of us on here don't like swirls and understand the skills and hard work to get them out.

I just think some don't see swirls or they think they are normal. I've got a friend with a black car and I asked about it detailing it and they said the paint was scratch free.

When I finally got to look at it, would probably take a rotary to get the scratches out. But again it's in the eyes of the beholder.

I think Mike as a really good article on here and doing a demo spot and showing the customer if they are around. I can usually tell by the reaction whether it's going to mean something or not to the person. Some are like WOW, and some like cool and some like yeah looks the same. Just have to realize we don't all see things the same.

As far as handling it, I had this happen to me the other day and I was on the other end of getting a windshield chip repaired and a seat hole repaired.

The repairs were underwhelming to me and not what I expected for the money. The guy doing it apologized it didn't meet my expecation and said it's free. (Took 10 minutes to "fix" both of them.) I wasn't complaining but was just like that's it and what a repair is going to look like? I felt bad because I hadn't even thought about not paying but just wasn't what I expected for the amount they were charging.

He wouldn't take money at first and I finally just laid some out. It was less than what it would have been. I know know that I won't be doing those kinds of repairs but if I'd paid full price for what I got I would have not been happy about it. Now I have respect for the person and will tell others because he genuinely demonstrated he cares about making the customers happy.

I would probably just charge for a regular detail without the machine work in this case but let the person know what a deal it was and try to get back to the spot where they feel they got the "better" end of the transaction. Chalk it up to a difference of expectations.

I wouldn't do any machine work for them again unless they specifically asked. But now you know, they'll probably be happy with a wash and wax and move on to the next customer and you should have this one feeling better and saying good things about how you really cared.

 

[O.C.Detailing]

If what we did only took 10 minutes, then I wouldn't have had a problem telling him it was free. The problem is that it took us a full day's worth of work, we stayed late and I had to wait 2 hours past the time he stated he'd come pick it up only to receive the reaction that I did.

John and I are EXTREMELY inexpensive and we make a little less than $10/hr. each on any car we do, though we charge by the car and not the hour. So we're already taking a huge hit financially since we both like to give maximum results for minimum amounts of money.

 

[jpegs13]

There is a whole thread of professionals that think you guys did a great job. The customer apparently is tough to please or "nonchalant" about the final product.
Deposit the check or take the cah and move on. There are going to be days like that and just hope they're few an far between.
Again, great job......:dblthumb2: