Out of the ordinary customer experience

duffthebluff

duffthebluff

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I had a customer that asked me to do an exterior detail on a 15 year old car which we did. A week later, he told me that his air-conditioning broke and asked if the detailing had to do with it. I politely told him that we just did the exterior and did nothing under the hood. He was still insisting that it was because of the detail so I just asked him to go to the air-conditioning shop and let me know of the diagnosis.

What are your out of the ordinary customer experiences?

Sent from my Lenovo PB1-750M using Autogeekonline mobile app
 
Wow, nice try buddy, that customer is a moron.


No stories from me. Not a pro:)
 
That's just ridiculous. Obviously they are trying to scam you big time.
 
Wow are you kidding me lol! Why do people try to scam others drives me crazy.
 
I just closed out a recent one

Did a AIO polish on a guys focus, the next day he calls me and says he wipers won't turn off and it was fine until he had me clean up the paint. I did the same thing and told him to take it in and let me know what happens, I got a text yesterday saying everything was good and nothing was wrong, the issue just went away.

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Cruzscarwash said:
I just closed out a recent one

Did a AIO polish on a guys focus, the next day he calls me and says he wipers won't turn off and it was fine until he had me clean up the paint. I did the same thing and told him to take it in and let me know what happens, I got a text yesterday saying everything was good and nothing was wrong, the issue just went away.

Sent from my Pixel using Autogeekonline mobile app
Click to expand...

These people really exist?

It's like blaming your gardener when your washing machine stops working.

"The washer was working fine, until you pruned the hedges in the front yard"

This thread is comical:)
 
The old "ever since you" story.

Even after 22+ years I can only recall this happening a couple of times. One guy had me on about putting a horrendous bit dent in the sill of his car even though around the shop (we are up a driveway) there is nothing that would even touch that part of a vehicle. I had to stick to my guns on that one. The other was a engine issue where we didn't touch anything under the hood anyhow. I don't know why people do this but I'm happy to say its not that common.

Aaryn NZ. :dblthumb2:
 
Same here. I've heard of dents, of battery swapping issues (that we swapped an old dead battery for their new one.. guess they forgot about the inspection forms), of new scratches that came up after they washed the car. Ridiculous. ��
 
duffthebluff said:
I had a customer that asked me to do an exterior detail on a 15 year old car which we did. A week later, he told me that his air-conditioning broke and asked if the detailing had to do with it. I politely told him that we just did the exterior and did nothing under the hood. He was still insisting that it was because of the detail so I just asked him to go to the air-conditioning shop and let me know of the diagnosis.

What are your out of the ordinary customer experiences?

Sent from my Lenovo PB1-750M using Autogeekonline mobile app
Click to expand...

Avoid him.
 
LEDetailing said:
These people really exist?

It's like blaming your gardener when your washing machine stops working.

"The washer was working fine, until you pruned the hedges in the front yard"

This thread is comical:)
Click to expand...
Yeah I thought I was the only one lol. Any other stories of, I guess you could say "difficult customers" and how to deal with them? Just so that we'd be prepared on how to deal with those kinds of customers.

Sent from my Lenovo PB1-750M using Autogeekonline mobile app
 
Some people are scum. Plain as that. I'm on AG forum just for my truck, I don't do this for a living.

However, I've worked at a marina for 20+ years hauling & launching boats. 99% of people are great. But there is always that 1% that will insist you "damaged my hull" upon the haul out.

Really? The lift (sling) position is nowhere near the damage you claimed to have. Oh, and I have pictures of this "marina incurred damage" at the slip before we even got on your boat. (Yes, I do that now with my phone on all new customers boats),

The response? "(sheepishly........) Uhhh, Oh. Must've already been there...."

Yeah, no Sh*t. Guess what? You don't get a dockage contract next season.

Not a post about cars/trucks, but the premise is the same.
 
Do you guys have any legal language in your paperwork/agreements/contracts that protect you in such an event?

I am in the process of redoing my paperwork, and am including such legal language to assist in protecting me from false accusations and customers with agendas.
I have never had a problem in detailing to date, but have not been in business very long.

Here is a snippet of my Terms and Conditions:
This company.....................not responsible nor liable for pre-existing damage of a customers vehicle or property other.
This company.....................not responsible nor liable for pre-existing conditions that lend themselves to damage of a customers vehicle or property other.
This company.....................not responsible nor liable for pre-existing damage of a customers vehicle or property other committed by a separate detailer / detailers, professional or non-professional.
This company.....................not responsible nor liable for pre-existing damage of a customers vehicle or property other committed by a mechanic, professional or non-professional.
In the event a claim is filed, the complete price of the services performed must be settled in full, before processing of a claim can take place.
 
hey, try working as an automotive tech.

did an oil change? My check engine light came on after you did it.
Transmission service? My tires need to be balanced....what did you do?
AC service? Now it doesn't blow as cold as my neighbors car.

And my all time favorite....

Car is towed in for a NO START condition. After diag and repair, vehicle now starts.
Customer comes to pick up vehicle, come right back in and says...IT'S MAKING A NOISE THAT IT DIDN'T MAKE BEFORE.
My response? Your absolutely right...it didn't make ANY noise when it came in. In fact, it was dead quiet, as it didn't start.
Just because I repaired your vehicle so that it now starts, does not mean i'm going to replace your belts and tensioner.

This happens to me about once a month. And it's ALWAYS some a$$hole who wants more that what he can afford.
 
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These types of complaints happen far too often in the auto repair industry. It's so comical to hear about it in the detailing industry now, LOL.
 
Some people aren't trying to scam you. They're just completely ignorant about how cars work and assume that the last person to touch the car (literally) is at fault. I'm assuming that most of us here are the type of car owners that will notice any sort of noise as soon as it manifests and looks into the problem. But a large percentage of the populace just assume a new noise is part of how the car has adapted to run. They're totally unconcerned until it becomes catastrophic.

An example of the "I'll deal with that when it becomes a problem" mentality is a mini SUV I saw recently. It was the kind that has the spare tire bolted onto the rear door. Except in this case, the spare was missing. And the car was rolling along on a donut spare, which isn't even the type that came with the car. And he was just tooling along on the highway. Probably had the original wheel in his garage and would get around to getting the tire plugged in a couple weeks.
 
Levithan9 said:
hey, try working as an automotive tech.

did an oil change? My check engine light came on after you did it.
Transmission service? My tires need to be balanced....what did you do?
AC service? Now it doesn't blow as cold as my neighbors car.

And my all time favorite....

Car is towed in for a NO START condition. After diag and repair, vehicle now starts.
Customer comes to pick up vehicle, come right back in and says...IT'S MAKING A NOISE THAT IT DIDN'T MAKE BEFORE.
My response? Your absolutely right...it didn't make ANY noise when it came in. In fact, it was dead quiet, as it didn't start.
Just because I repaired your vehicle so that it now starts, does not mean i'm going to replace your belts and tensioner.

This happens to me about once a month. And it's ALWAYS some a$$hole who wants more that what he can afford.
Click to expand...

Just took my wifes Sonata in last weekend for recall work and now the check engine light is on, so it happens. I took her Nissan Altima in years back for an oil change at the Nissan dealership, next day their is a large oil puddle all over my driveway, they didn't properly install the oil pan plug, so I'm just saying, it happens. I made them come to my house pick the car up and fix it and clean up my drive way. I don't let people waste my time on re-do's when it's their fault.
 
Well this one time, a guy was accusing me of eating one of his donuts.

I calmly and politely told him, "Sir, I didn't eat one of your donuts.....I ate two."
 
I'll send you a gift card to your local donut shop. Both times I went to grab you a dozen, I ended up giving them away. Mostly to myself. YUM
 
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