wow, what a bad day

Spicy McHaggis said:
This is why people don't come to my house, I pick up cars or meet them somewhere. I would have not given this #### any money back. People talk big, but generally don't follow through. I had a customer at a shop (when I was a tech) tell me he was coming down there to kick my ass. Never saw him... If a customer gets nasty with me on the phone or by email I'll get nasty right back. There is no rule that says you have to take crap from a crazy person.
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Ya I learned alot from dealing with this guy. I look at it as a learning experience and I am now wiser because of it. Im happy its over and I am at peace with the situation. I believe what goes around comes around and he will have to answer for it at some point in time.
 
PAR Detailing said:
Ya I learned alot from dealing with this guy. I look at it as a learning experience and I am now wiser because of it. Im happy its over and I am at peace with the situation. I believe what goes around comes around and he will have to answer for it at some point in time.
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I'm sure he will...
 
Spicy McHaggis said:
This is why people don't come to my house, I pick up cars or meet them somewhere. I would have not given this #### any money back. People talk big, but generally don't follow through. I had a customer at a shop (when I was a tech) tell me he was coming down there to kick my ass. Never saw him... If a customer gets nasty with me on the phone or by email I'll get nasty right back. There is no rule that says you have to take crap from a crazy person.
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As much as I'd love to be able to give people crap back i never do. I will stick to my guns though. Coming from dealing with customers over the phone in a customer service dept, and now in inside sales, it never helps to get nasty back to people. The best you can do is try to keep cool and find a solution. Sometimes there is no solution and the customer no matter what you do is going to be unhappy. Some people are just miserable and there is no making them happy. If people threaten my well being or some one I care about that's a different story. If they get out of hand I'll go to my local police dept and file a complaint. In the event that something did happen there is already a complaint filed against that person.

But then you have those customers who realize that your working hard and are willing to cut you some slack. For example this weekend on the work truck I did. I work for 4 hours just on the interior, I quoted her for a interior and exterior wash & wax (4 hours roughly). She came out after I had washed the truck and said you know what you've been working for 6 hours like a dog. Why don't you finish up what you doing and call it a day. Don't bother with the wax job. It's not going to help the truck much anyway (which in all honesty she was right). I even offered to give her some money off the price since I didn't wax it. She said don't worry about it and gave me $40 more than the price I gave her.

For every bad customer you have there is always more nice customers who realize that realize it's not easy work.
 
SeaJay's said:
As much as I'd love to be able to give people crap back i never do. I will stick to my guns though. Coming from dealing with customers over the phone in a customer service dept, and now in inside sales, it never helps to get nasty back to people. The best you can do is try to keep cool and find a solution. Sometimes there is no solution and the customer no matter what you do is going to be unhappy. Some people are just miserable and there is no making them happy. If people threaten my well being or some one I care about that's a different story. If they get out of hand I'll go to my local police dept and file a complaint. In the event that something did happen there is already a complaint filed against that person.

But then you have those customers who realize that your working hard and are willing to cut you some slack. For example this weekend on the work truck I did. I work for 4 hours just on the interior, I quoted her for a interior and exterior wash & wax (4 hours roughly). She came out after I had washed the truck and said you know what you've been working for 6 hours like a dog. Why don't you finish up what you doing and call it a day. Don't bother with the wax job. It's not going to help the truck much anyway (which in all honesty she was right). I even offered to give her some money off the price since I didn't wax it. She said don't worry about it and gave me $40 more than the price I gave her.

For every bad customer you have there is always more nice customers who realize that realize it's not easy work.
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Since I don't do this for my main source of income I won't tolerate people talking to me like I'm some kid washing their cars for $10. I refuse to take crap from people who are just being unreasonable. If I make a mistake I will own up to it in a second and make it right.

And I've had the same thing with customers. I wasn't able to finish a headlight restore ( it was added to a full correction) in time for a customer because he needed the car back at a very specific time. I took it back and explained what happened. He paid the full price and gave me a very expensive bottle of booze and said he knew I would take care of him. So the next time he came around for a wash and wax he got his headlights done as well as a full on detail (minus paint correction) for free from me. So I take care of customers who understand how to treat someone who is providing them a service, but I won't put up with aholes.
 
Spicy McHaggis said:
Since I don't do this for my main source of income I won't tolerate people talking to me like I'm some kid washing their cars for $10. I refuse to take crap from people who are just being unreasonable. If I make a mistake I will own up to it in a second and make it right.

And I've had the same thing with customers. I wasn't able to finish a headlight restore ( it was added to a full correction) in time for a customer because he needed the car back at a very specific time. I took it back and explained what happened. He paid the full price and gave me a very expensive bottle of booze and said he knew I would take care of him. So the next time he came around for a wash and wax he got his headlights done as well as a full on detail (minus paint correction) for free from me. So I take care of customers who understand how to treat someone who is providing them a service, but I won't put up with aholes.
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I completely understand why you would not put up with crap. I hate doing it. And I hate having to keep my mouth shut and not say what is really on my mind. It really drives me nuts as I'm a very out spoken person and always have been. I tend to get into trouble because of it.

Which is why I always try to keep my mouth shut and try to resolve and issue without adding fuel to the fire. Some cases there is no helping it, cause they are going to take whatever you say wrong. Luckily I haven't come across a customer in detailing that wasn't happy or gave me crap for anything. I know the day will come and when that time comes I'll handle it to the best of my ability. But I have to look out for my company name, so I try to be as helpful in the situation as I can be. But a lot of time you can't make them happy. I really am not looking forward to that day that I do have someone thats giving me a hard time. Negative feedback tends to spread like wild fire. I once read some where (don't recall where) that a customer who has a bad experience will tell everyone they can, while a person who has a great experience may only tell one or two people. There were actual numbers that go a long with that but can't remember them. It was a ridiculous amount though and really made me think twice about my customer service and what I say.

Luckily you don't have to worry about this as a main source of income, which helps your situation. This isn't my main source of income either, but want it to be some day.
 
Spicy McHaggis said:
I will preface this saying I don't do many mobile details because I HATE them, however I have never had a customer even bat ane ye when I tell them I will use their water and electricity. That being said I do tell them up front before I get there since I wouldn't want to show up and find out that they don't have exterior outlets or anything.

I have never seen the point of spending the extra money and getting a vehicle big enough to have the water tank and generator. Seems like unneeded overhead to me. I don't go to peoples offices, so I just can't think of a situation where I would need to have all that with me.

Also she is obviously a pain in the ass since she asked for $40 back. You could have detailed cars there for a whole weekend and not used $40 worth of water and electricity. I would have left right when she threw a fit about the power. I don't deal with customers like that. They can call someone else if all they want to do is complain.



I've said this a lot, but it's just not possible to get every car totally clean with waterless washes. If the car isn't filthy thats one thing, but most cars, especially before a correction, need some water pressure to get all the grit and grime out of cracks and crevices. Just my .02

However I understand that you said "most" just saying it doesn't work for all cars, and in my experience not most either. I am amazed at the amount of crap that comes out from behind moldings and in body cracks when you use a pressure washer on them.


That post doesn't make much sense. he didn't ask to use her towels and soap he asked for electricity and water. I built decks in a pervious career and we ran our air compressor and all of our tools off the owners electricity for months sometimes. Also used their water to mix the concrete for footers. And never once did anyone complain. They would rather that than running a generator all day long..

some people just want to ##### and moan no matter what you do for them.
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[video=youtube_share;TylvUGJIi_w] - APPLAUSE[/video]
 
I ask up front about Water & Electrical _ If it's a Detail after Lunch and I know I will be ordering off the Taco Bell Dollar menu I let them know I will need the use of their Bathroom - If it is an appointment late in the day and I want to go straight out on a date I asked ahead of time to use their shower ! I have done this for years - in fact it's how I met my wife - she was a customer !
 
hemi ram55 said:
Hey all, well i went out to a detail job at this ladies house to do her suv. i set everything up and got ready to dig in. i asked the lady if she could open her garage so i could plug my extension cord in. apparently in her eyes, this was very unprofessional and she flipped out. so then i asked to use her water, had my own hose and all. again this was a problem. so, my question is, all you mobile detailers out there run into this problem?? ill be sure to state clearly that i need to use their power and water for the next customer. either that or i gotta go out and buy a generator and water tank. She complained at the end and insisted that i give her 40 dollars off for the use of the water and power. yes i did give her 40 off just to be nice, though i prob shouldnt have. oh well. :wow:
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First of all good customer service is key, and you're showing great service. If your customer base is still in the building process then you're going to have to "bend" to customers more than you would like. Once your clientele is strong then you'll have that "take a hike attitude" even then you might want to watch it. Again good customer service is take you to higher levels with good work ethics your business will blossom. oh ya IMO
 
I once had a contractor come to my door and ask to connect to my electricity to WORK ON THE NEIGHBORS HOUSE!! They couldn't get in the house to connect to the power and I guess the exterior power was cut off. I didn't like the neighbors and wasn't going to pay to have THEIR house fixed. If a contractor I HIRE needs it....go ahead! I actually would have expected a detailer coming to my house would have needed water, but that's just me... Being a police officer I know that people are really dumb in this world and never cease to amaze me!!!!! If only everyone could see society at large........................... but yes it probably is a good idea to ask ahead because then everyone is on the same page. And as mentioned before, what if they didn't have it, then you would look like the contractors that came to my door. They couldn't work for several hours until they located a generator. Wasted lots of their time!
 
Sorry i have not responded in a bit, been busy. Responses are awesome here lol. Ok now i expect a lot of new responses off this nest bit ill tell you that i left out of the original. Her husband was the one that set up the appointment as a suprise for her. He knew i had to use water and electricity. She had no idea i was coming by. So after the whole altercation with her i called her husband back and informed him about the situation. His response and i quote" well i didnt ask her if it was ok in the first place to use the water and electricity and she handles all the bills. So i can see where she is coming from." My jaw dropped and i told him i dont want their business anymore. All i could think was snip snip their goes his d***! Wow talk about bowing down to ur wife!
 
Do yourself a hugh favor. When she calls again (and she will) tell her she's FIRED!!!
 
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