I have to say that my 1st and only experience hiring a "professional" detailer was pretty bad. It has honestly made me fear trusting my expensive & beloved vehicles to anyone to "detail".
To me "detailing" is doing the major cleaning but also getting into those little areas that most people don't ever clean. Maybe I was expecting too much from my $300 detailing job? I think of that Siefeld episode when the house cleaner windex-ed Jerrys peephole and cleaned the floor area between the fridge and the cupboard. Now THAT'S detailing!
I was selling my fairly small 24 foot winnebago View RV. I wanted it super clean and just didn't feel like doing it myself. I can wash, wax, vacuum and wipe interiors down as good as any other DIY'er. Who can't? It's not exactly rocket science.
Come on admit it! But, I wanted my RV better than just "DIY clean". I wanted it DETAILED!. So, I found the professional in the yellow pages and he came to my home to see my RV. he looked it over from roof to floor, in and out. The price ended up being $300.
I told him yes as long as it's done right, $300 is ok. he came and picked it up the next day. he was supposed to do the job at his "shop" but I found out later, he did it in his driveway.
Later that day he called me and asked me to come to his house to talk about the job. he lived maybe 4 miles away so it wasn't a big deal for me to go there. When I arrived I noticed he had my RV generator running and the AC on inside the RV.
Evidently, his house breaker kept popping when he tried to power the 13,500 watt AC with an extension cord run from his house. So, he thought it'd be ok to waste my gasoline and put hours on my generator so he and his buddy could stay cool.
Anyway, he starts pointing out areas that are going to need "extra attention" and extra time which I knew was going to equate to extra money. he asked for $100 extra. I reluctantly agreed to an extra $50 and then left.
he dropped the RV off off at my home later that evening. It seemed OK after a quick look around inside and out. I paid him the $350 and he left.
The next day, I checked out the "detailing" job closer and noticed that the beach sand that was in the shag carpet was still there. A quick hand drag across the carpet had the sand flying in every direction. So, he obviously didn't vacuum.
Then I noticed he didn't wash the inside of the windows or clean the toilet.
The last straw was when I climbed the ladder to look at the roof and found out that he had only washed and waxed the rounded corners all the way around the RV. So, standing on the ground, looking up toward the roof, it looked fine. Only when I got up to see the roof did I find out that he didn't even wash about 85% of the roof!
This was part of the job and we both knew it. When asked later he said it was just too dirty and it would have cost a lot of extra money to do it. Yet, he went up the ladder to look at the roof BEFORE giving me the $300 price. he knew what it looked like and agreed to do it as part of the "detail" job.
So, how do you find a real detailer who is professional, honest and not going to rip you off? You guys probably realize that most people who have ever had a vehicle "detailed" at some point, has run into one of these clowns...who ruin it for the rest of you.
To me "detailing" is doing the major cleaning but also getting into those little areas that most people don't ever clean. Maybe I was expecting too much from my $300 detailing job? I think of that Siefeld episode when the house cleaner windex-ed Jerrys peephole and cleaned the floor area between the fridge and the cupboard. Now THAT'S detailing!
I was selling my fairly small 24 foot winnebago View RV. I wanted it super clean and just didn't feel like doing it myself. I can wash, wax, vacuum and wipe interiors down as good as any other DIY'er. Who can't? It's not exactly rocket science.
Come on admit it! But, I wanted my RV better than just "DIY clean". I wanted it DETAILED!. So, I found the professional in the yellow pages and he came to my home to see my RV. he looked it over from roof to floor, in and out. The price ended up being $300. I told him yes as long as it's done right, $300 is ok. he came and picked it up the next day. he was supposed to do the job at his "shop" but I found out later, he did it in his driveway.
Later that day he called me and asked me to come to his house to talk about the job. he lived maybe 4 miles away so it wasn't a big deal for me to go there. When I arrived I noticed he had my RV generator running and the AC on inside the RV.
Evidently, his house breaker kept popping when he tried to power the 13,500 watt AC with an extension cord run from his house. So, he thought it'd be ok to waste my gasoline and put hours on my generator so he and his buddy could stay cool. Anyway, he starts pointing out areas that are going to need "extra attention" and extra time which I knew was going to equate to extra money. he asked for $100 extra. I reluctantly agreed to an extra $50 and then left.
he dropped the RV off off at my home later that evening. It seemed OK after a quick look around inside and out. I paid him the $350 and he left.
The next day, I checked out the "detailing" job closer and noticed that the beach sand that was in the shag carpet was still there. A quick hand drag across the carpet had the sand flying in every direction. So, he obviously didn't vacuum.
Then I noticed he didn't wash the inside of the windows or clean the toilet.
The last straw was when I climbed the ladder to look at the roof and found out that he had only washed and waxed the rounded corners all the way around the RV. So, standing on the ground, looking up toward the roof, it looked fine. Only when I got up to see the roof did I find out that he didn't even wash about 85% of the roof!
This was part of the job and we both knew it. When asked later he said it was just too dirty and it would have cost a lot of extra money to do it. Yet, he went up the ladder to look at the roof BEFORE giving me the $300 price. he knew what it looked like and agreed to do it as part of the "detail" job.
So, how do you find a real detailer who is professional, honest and not going to rip you off? You guys probably realize that most people who have ever had a vehicle "detailed" at some point, has run into one of these clowns...who ruin it for the rest of you.
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