Never had this issue with interior details

M

Maestro Sam

New member
Joined
Jun 6, 2015
Messages
386
Reaction score
0
Been a long time I have posted anything on this forum. A random client of mine buys a used Acura MDX with around 30,000 miles. The car came in for an interior detail and I absolutely thought the customer was happy. The car was for his wife but the husband was very pleased with the initial detail. Then a day after, I get a text from my client asking if I had touched the third row seat. I said of course I did and it cleaned up nicely. His wife sends him a picture of the third row seat where some of the plastic had been scuffed and damaged due to the previous owner. The husband was asking me his wife thought the interior detail will remove scratches and deep grooves in the plastic...

Anyone run in to this type of problem? First time I have ever countered this!
 
No. I would say I'm sorry I don't offer leather repair service which is different from the service you purchased.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Autogeekonline mobile app
 
explain to them a Detail is to Clean the interior not to repair Scratches/Scuffs & other damage. Cleaning cannot take out scratches
 
It should be called interior cleaning since it's not detailing anyway. Do housekeepers, maids etc call it house detailing, hotel room detailing?

Another case for using the inspection form prior to conducting any work, inside or outside. The CYA form.
 
custmsprty said:
It should be called interior cleaning since it's not detailing anyway. Do housekeepers, maids etc call it house detailing, hotel room detailing?
Click to expand...

Housekeepers & maids don’t clean any area of a room with the equivalent of a fine tooth comb like a detailer does when he cleans every little crevice of a dashboard or vacuums every last bit of lint from underneath the seat even though he’ll probably be the only person to ever see it.

We detail, they clean. There’s a big difference.

Btw my mother has been a housekeeper for longer than I’ve been alive and while she’s good, I can clean anything better than her.
 
Eldorado2k said:
Housekeepers & maids don’t clean any area of a room with the equivalent of a fine tooth comb like a detailer does when he cleans every little crevice of a dashboard or vacuums every last bit of lint from underneath the seat even though he’ll probably be the only person to ever see it.

We detail, they clean. There’s a big difference.

Btw my mother has been a housekeeper for longer than I’ve been alive and while she’s good, I can clean anything better than her.
Click to expand...
Where is Mommy Eld at lol. You know what take that back because of last post

Sent from my SM-N960U using Autogeekonline mobile app
 
Scuffs can be repaired. If they want to do it, they can probably find someone who can with a little research. My guess is, it's probably cheaper to replace the plastic part than have someone remove it, repair it and put it back on. I might be wrong, not sure what interior plastic parts sell for.

If you want to do the repair yourself, search youtube, there are a few videos that show you how to do it. It's very similar to bodywork. You remove the piece, clean it with solvents, remove any of the plastic that was lifted during the scuff using a razor blade, apply some plastic putty and use a stamp to give the putty the texture of the rest of the pannel. Afterwards you use a color matched paint to blend it with the rest of the pannel. Once done it's pretty much impossible to tell there was a scuff there.

My guess is, you would have to charge for 2 hours of work plus material. Paint is probably around 15$ and putty around 10$. So depending how much the replacement part cost, it might or might not be worth the effort.

I once had a client who thought I would remove all the scuffs inside the vehicle. There was about 20 of them. I explained to her that I cannot clean away scuffed plastic and the methods of fixing scratches on the paint don't work on interior plastic. We left it at that.
 
Eldorado2k said:
Housekeepers & maids don’t clean any area of a room with the equivalent of a fine tooth comb like a detailer does when he cleans every little crevice of a dashboard or vacuums every last bit of lint from underneath the seat even though he’ll probably be the only person to ever see it.

We detail, they clean. There’s a big difference.

Btw my mother has been a housekeeper for longer than I’ve been alive and while she’s good, I can clean anything better than her.
Click to expand...

Cleaning is cleaning, call it detailing if you want to. If it involves cleaners and vacuums, lint rollers, spotters, etc it's cleaning. And I have sold cleaners to resorts and called on house keeping as recently as six months ago and all the way back as far as 1991 on the beach resorts in St. Pete , Clearwater etc. Been factory trained by 3M, SC Johnson, Spartan Chemical, Advance, NSS Machines, Tennant and dozens more if I need to go on. Interior clenaing is just that, cleaning. Spin it your way if it makes you happy. Vacuum on bro.
 
ClearVue18 said:
Where is Mommy Eld at lol. You know what take that back because of last post

Sent from my SM-N960U using Autogeekonline mobile app
Click to expand...

She doesn’t take any offense to it at all, she’s cool with it she knows she gave birth to a boy that can clean like nobody’s business. Lol.

My ex lady on the other hand... She once told me that if I didn’t like it then I could do it myself. And without even trying to spite her I she would frequently catch me re cleaning the house after she had done it and she would get mad, but I would always just say “hey you said if I didn’t like it to clean it myself” so don’t get mad at me for cleaning. Lol.
 
custmsprty said:
Cleaning is cleaning, call it detailing if you want to. If it involves cleaners and vacuums, lint rollers, spotters, etc it's cleaning. And I have sold cleaners to resorts and called on house keeping as recently as six months ago and all the way back as far as 1991 on the beach resorts in St. Pete , Clearwater etc. Been factory trained by 3M, SC Johnson, Spartan Chemical, Advance, NSS Machines, Tennant and dozens more if I need to go on. Interior clenaing is just that, cleaning. Spin it your way if it makes you happy. Vacuum on bro.
Click to expand...

Spin it my way if it makes me happy eh? Says the guy who disliked my comment. Lameo...
 
custmsprty said:
The interesting thing is you don't even know who half those companies are unless you google them. LOL.
Click to expand...

The interesting thing is speak words of encouragement by saying “spin it your way if it makes you happy”
But at the same time your actions show you disliking the very same comment in question... So which side of your mouth are we supposed to believe?
 
Eldorado2k said:
The interesting thing is speak words of encouragement by saying “spin it your way if it makes you happy”
But at the same time your actions show you disliking the very same comment in question... So which side of your mouth are we supposed to believe?
Click to expand...

While I've seen you lambast many commenters over the years here e2k, even as recently as today. So, whatever bro, you and I will never agree. And it's still housekeeping. Cleaning carpets, seats, dashboards will never be detailing, it will always be the cleaning of interiors of cars. :cheers:
 
As mentioned before I usually take some time to inspect it prior to the customer leaving and showing them where there’s damage and possible options/ expected outcome.


Sent from my iPhone using Autogeekonline mobile app
 
Back on subject for the OP....I had someone complain that I did not get the scratches out of the plastic sill plates on their 4WD truck. I was told it "doesn't look like you did anything". We took some time and went over the balance of the interior, and in the end, they understood and there was no further conflict. I'd actually only charged them for a basic interior cleaning, and took the extra time to get stains out of the carpet, and we revisited the before/after pics on my phone. All was well in the end
 
If you do this long enough, you will eventually get one of "those" types of customers. Just shrug it off. Some people are just way off base.
 
We all have customers that don't understand exactly how things work. I still get customers that think, for example, that waxing will remove scratches and paint transfer on their vehicle. It's not that they're trying to get over on me, they simply don't know. You take the time to explain things to them, that's all you can do.

And this wasn't a CYA situation. The customer didn't accuse him of doing the damage, simply not "repairing" it by cleaning. They were fully aware they were there before the vehicle was cleaned, they just expected them to be gone. We've all had those customers.
 
Typically during the VIF, we mark those kinds of things up and we always take good pictures. The words I use are, "the VIF is to cover any concerns you (the customer) may have, as well as document any concerns that I have that you may or may not know about."

When I find stuff, (and I always find stuff), I always point it out and state; we'll do our best, or that's pretty deep.. that may not come out, etc.. The point is, I make mention of it... so it shows I see it, and I make them aware I see it and note that there may be not much I can do about it. What's cool is when I can, so it's one of those low expectations, high on execution.

I had someone ask me about the leather seat bolster cracking. One thing I always say is, we can clean it, but we can't put material back that isn't there any more. I always say, I can refer you to an upholsterer and they say "ah, no it's ok..."

Thus, it's really all in the VIF and going over the VIF w/ quote. Sadly even if you did, sounds like it was the wife (who wasn't originally present) that got upset. That's a tough one to get around when the person your dealing doesn't relay that info, or it isn't even their vehicle!

Now here is an interesting one. My wife, formerly known as Interior Gal (who quit on me last fall... subsequently leading to my fade-out/burn-out, or whatever you'll call it) is in advertising arts (as well as being a nationally certified/state-certified massage therapist and Well Coach), going back to the days pre-Mac's and Adobe, thus some stuff had to be made by hand. She's great with xacto knives! (not when doing massage tho…)

We detailed a cool old Dodge Ram that had a plow switch mounted on the dash. There was a little piece of acetone that went around the switch to protect the aluminum front. Sadly it was all dry and cracked. She went to her flat-file, grabbed some new acetone, her xacto-knife and quickly did the repair. The owner was blown away by that little fix. She did one other one for the same customer on one of their Merc's but can't remember. Again, quick on her toes and great with manufacturing.

In other words, do what you can... do the VIF, take pics, point stuff out, set expectations, be reasonable... but remember, we can't put back what isn't there (with a caveat...).


Not much for you to do now... except move on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top