No more Mr. Nice Guy

[stowintegrity]

This week has brought our shop more than our fair share of ups & downs. Some big jobs have gone on through completion without so much as a hiccup, while some small jobs have seemed to be nothing more than a painful distraction from "real" business. This one story, though...I really need some encouragement. Please tell me where we've gone wrong, or how we might boldly change our process to avoid these situations, because I've heard just about enough from whiny, underhanded customers.

 

The facts:

 

A gentleman brought his vehicle in because he claimed he was hearing a squeaky noise. He couldn't tell us anymore except that he though it was brake-related. He made it sound as though it pierced his eardrums and woke the neighbors. Anyhow, we road tested the vehicle, only to find that we weren't in fact, hearing any squeaking. His brake inspection revealed 2 things. First, his front brakes had been recenlty serviced. There were new rotors & new pads (along with a fair share of dust). The rear brakes had LONG since been serviced, and the pads were at 2-3mm, with sever piutting/grooving on the surfaccr of the rotors.

 

The recommendation:

 

We told him we didn't hear the squeaking, however, noted the new brake parts in the front, along with the excessive brake dust. He only acknowledged that he had the brakes serviced recently somewhere else. We told him that as a part of the brake inspection, we used our shop air to blow out the loose dust, and told him that if he was certain that the noise he was hearing was in his front brakes, to take it back to where he had them serviced, as there may be an eligible warranty service due him. As for his rear brakes, we shared the measurements, and he approved the installation of rear pads & rotors. We performed the service, and off he went.

 

The followup:

 

We called him as a matter of protocol the following week. He acknowledged that the squeak seemed more persistant, and was unhappy that we didnt take care of it. We empathized with him, and encouraged him to come back for a free road test/reinspection, thinking that if it was more persistant, it would mke the noise while he rode with us. He seemed ok with that and schduled the appt for today.

 

The comeback:

 

He didn't show up. He didn't call. He didn't answer the phone when we called back. He hasn't responded to our voicemail message.

 

The review:

 

He posted a low review for us online indicating that he came to us because he told us his front brakes were making noise, and we sold him work that didn't take care of it, and that he "probably didn't need at all".

 

 

 

So....did we do something wrong? Should I have been adamant about the obviously cheap pads the other shop used? Should I have mentioned that we don't install "economy" brake parts? How about the response to his review? I've decided that I don't want him to come back, based on either a complete lack of respect for how hard we work, or out of genuine ignorance to the way things work.

 

Someone else gets to do the brake service, but WE get a low review because we can't hear the squeak?

 

Someone...please tell me if I'm crazy here, because I'm getting ready to put on my angry eyebrows and post a response to his review...

[dfrisby]

Negative reviews suck, but don't respond while angry. If you do respond, keep it professional.

 

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

[ncautoshop]

1: if you don't hear the sound, ask the owner to come demonstrate the sound for you. (I should do this more than I do but seem to forget)

2: document word for word what the customer says on the ro, and document word for word what the technician finds.

3: never speak poorly of another shops work unless you can absolutely not avoid it (safety concerns etc)

4: when there is an issue with a previous shops work speak to the customer about returning to the shop - heck I'll call the other shop, explain the issue and ask them to give the customer a call! The other shop needs to handle this to prevent everyone issues. You never know, when you call the other shop they may respond "yea they demanded they supply the part - and now they are upset because we won't warranty"

5:make sure you make attempts to reply to the review with the facts - but before you reply as mentioned above cool down - wait a few days and attempt to contact the customer independently again - don't back down but don't demand they take the review down. Politely ask them to after explaining the facts and maybe take a second look at the car.

6: never fall into the mindset "it's not my work or parts causing this issue" - we're all susceptible to the most basic element of failure. The human element. And sometimes there's not even an element to failure. Maybe a brake clip slid out and started touching the rotor. Could happen to Billy Bob under the shade tree or the most achieved ASE master in the US!

 

Approach your customer with a humble attitude. If he's still a jerk write it off, forget about it and move on. These things happen.

The only thing you can do is document every single bit of information you can, and have them sign off.

 

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

Edited August 19, 2015 by ncautoshop

[CARMandP]

The last two negative reviews I got were because 1) the customer failed to include important information on why we were doing the "easy" valve adjustment and 2) one I turned away because I didn't have the tools to properly diagnose his intermittent rear wheel speed sensor on his newer car. Both of them have been useless young punks to which makes it even harder to respond to the stupidity.

[Chucks Creations Autobody]

I wouldve been heated too. We had a review from a customer that wanted a front lip spoiler painted with a paint code. When we told him that it wont match because his vehicle was 10+ yrs old and has since faded and that we would need him to bring the actual car so we can have the paint matched, He insisted that it was ok and for us to just paint according to the paint code. We never saw the car itself since he just brought the lip to paint. Of course when he took the lip, it didnt match. He came back to complain and wanted us to repaint it FOR FREE. Im all about customer service, but when you try to educate a customer about things that they know nothing about and they refuse to cooperate, I already know its not going to go well. He also took to yelp and left a negative review... stating he gave the paint code and that it should match but didnt and was upset that we wanted to charge him for the new materials to repaint after he refused to listen to us the first time when we asked him to bring his car in. Someone actually left a response to his review stating that in all fairness, its always best to bring the car or at least the gas cap to have to match the paint. You win some and you lose some... Same as you, its usually the "smaller" jobs that end up causing the headaches lol Take a breather and write the response after you've had time to let this mellow out if you decide to write it at all. Just know that you did everything the right way and some customers are just bitter people in general and you cant help that. Keep up the good work =)

[Gary A]

My feeling is that we need to become experts at identifying these types of people and steering away in a professional manner. We need to focus on growing our customer base with customers that will pay us for a premium service and leave us good reviews because they appreciate quality service and parts. Educate them of the differences in the quality. People that are always going for the cheaper repair in most cases are not our ideal customer. I know this is very basic common sense but is seems that you are frustrated not necessarily with the repair but the person who you may never be able to please.

[xrac]

Premium Member Content 

This content is hidden to guests, one of the benefits of a paid membership. Please login or register to view this content.

[mspecperformance]

2 possible scenarios I see...

 

1. It is possible you did not properly communicate everything you just laid out. Did you personally speak to the customer? Did a service advisor speak to the customer? Maybe something got lost in translation when you were explaining you did not want to service the front brakes due to them being very new.

 

2. The guy is a total douche bag.

 

 

Do you perform digital inspections? If you had visual proof that his rear brakes were in need of service then you could have rebuttal stating facts and proof instead of your word against his.

 

 

Man I feel for ya. I am really tired of these whiny baby customers as well. Besides that we are having a record slow week so far so I am pulling my hair out.

[cdhowell]

The only thing I see done wrong. The customer needs to drive when chasing noises. Driving style is also a factor that a tech may or may not duplicate. Once, chasing a clunk I could not duplicate, I had the customer drive while I listened. They accelerated really hard from the light. Not my normal driving style but I heard the noise. Turned out to be a 4-way lug wrench behind the seat of the truck. It would fall back against the cab and clunk. Stopping It would tip forward again till the next jack rabbit start. Point is I heard other noises but never the one that was the customers complaint. If you can not verify the noise the customer is hearing. How are you going to make a proper Diagnosis?

Despite what other problems you discover.

[stowintegrity]

I appreciate all of your comments very much. I thank you, also, for the advice on calming down. I admit that I'm so focused on always trying to do right by my customers, that sometimes when someone of lesser character outright accuses me of treachery, well...it gets under my skin.

 

However....a WONDERFUL resolution has been implemented, and I thought you all deserved to hear....

 

Upon reading my response, which was direct, professional, and VERY revealing to the details he left out, he called me personally, and took advantage of my offer to allow us to reinspect it, and ride with him to hear the noise.

 

He authorized us to disassemble the front brakes, and we found a few problems:

 

1. The other shop didn't replace the brake hardware. (A mistake, in my opinion)

2. They missed the fact that one of the calipers was leaking.

3. They inadvertently "cocked" the piston on one of the calipers, which never ended up even touching the inner pad on that side.

4. None of the remaining pads were quite installed correct, as no pad had evidence of touching the rotor by more than 50%.

 

So - I let him know that to take care of the issues, he would have to go back to the other shop to ask for warranty service, or let us take care of it all while it's at our shop. I sent him the photos of the problems we discovered, and he authorized the whole repair. Calipers, pads, & new hardware all around.

 

On the test drive afterwards, he was so excited, he apologized for taking out his frustration on us, and vowed to rescind his review, changing it to a 5-star review for all our hard work & results. His last comment indicated that he planned on naming the other shop in our review, which made me chuckle.

 

(I also, NEVER throw any other working man under the bus...we all make mistakes, but I can never control what my customers say, now can I?)

 

So in the end, we got a review that more fairly described our efforts & results, and landed a nice job out of it, as well as a customer for life.

 

Good thing I didn't lose my cool online in my response. I owe you guys one for that.

 

Just one man's feeble attempt to overcome the odds.

[dfrisby]

I appreciate all of your comments very much. I thank you, also, for the advice on calming down. I admit that I'm so focused on always trying to do right by my customers, that sometimes when someone of lesser character outright accuses me of treachery, well...it gets under my skin.

 

However....a WONDERFUL resolution has been implemented, and I thought you all deserved to hear....

 

Upon reading my response, which was direct, professional, and VERY revealing to the details he left out, he called me personally, and took advantage of my offer to allow us to reinspect it, and ride with him to hear the noise.

 

He authorized us to disassemble the front brakes, and we found a few problems:

 

1. The other shop didn't replace the brake hardware. (A mistake, in my opinion)

2. They missed the fact that one of the calipers was leaking.

3. They inadvertently "cocked" the piston on one of the calipers, which never ended up even touching the inner pad on that side.

4. None of the remaining pads were quite installed correct, as no pad had evidence of touching the rotor by more than 50%.

 

So - I let him know that to take care of the issues, he would have to go back to the other shop to ask for warranty service, or let us take care of it all while it's at our shop. I sent him the photos of the problems we discovered, and he authorized the whole repair. Calipers, pads, & new hardware all around.

 

On the test drive afterwards, he was so excited, he apologized for taking out his frustration on us, and vowed to rescind his review, changing it to a 5-star review for all our hard work & results. His last comment indicated that he planned on naming the other shop in our review, which made me chuckle.

 

(I also, NEVER throw any other working man under the bus...we all make mistakes, but I can never control what my customers say, now can I?)

 

So in the end, we got a review that more fairly described our efforts & results, and landed a nice job out of it, as well as a customer for life.

 

Good thing I didn't lose my cool online in my response. I owe you guys one for that.

 

Just one man's feeble attempt to overcome the odds.

Glad to hear it. I'm the same way. In a year and a half, I've only had two customers that complained about my service or prices and both times I got pretty heated over it. Looked back after calming down and wished I'd handled it differently. Maybe in the future, your success story will come to mind and I'll take the time to try and achieve similar results.

 

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

[mspecperformance]

Great Success story!

 

Believe me I am as cynical as they come. Being from New York City and seeing all the trash I see every day... case in point going to Ikea of Brooklyn of all places, worst experience ever. Crowded, rude patrons and even ruder employees... anyway my point is we can all learn something here. There are times where customers are just d-bags and there is nothing we can do about it. Other times (many other times) there is a miscommunication somewhere or the customer was in some sort of mood that day. If you don't approach the situation in a calm manner and try to resolve the issue as professionally as possible you will have Zero chance of making the situation better for yourself regardless of the outcome. In this day an age, customer opinions hold a lot of weight. Unless you are gifted with a business that has a decades long reputation and a steady stream of business you have to keep on top of customer satisfaction. At the point where a customer is upset with us for any reason I look beyond what their value is to my business, I look at how many other people their negative feelings will touch whether its online reviews or in person bad mouthing.

[phynny]

Wow what a great ending.

[ATLAuto]

Agreed. The problem with these experiences is that no matter how well or how polite and customer-focused, an entitled customer can break bad and ruin your reputation online with a one-sided story.

 

We would do absolutely anything to keep a customer happy including comping their entire ticket, and customers still find things to be angry about.

 

We've started filtering these types of customers at the front counter. The main filter we use is "no pre-98 vehicles period." Other filters we make up on the spot when the need arises.

[tirengolf]

In my 40 years I have had them just as you, this internet stuff is out of hand. When a new customer comes in our shop today I run to them and interrogate them and get the info who sent him to me, why would he bring it to you now, the other business told him to get lost. Some people buying this budget stuff are playing the system hoping you will drop him a set of new high dollar pads on for free. I would calm down before I responded, although when you do respond, do not mention the name of your company, reference it in your response as the above company, never your name or company name. when you mention your name that drives more hits to you. I would take the high road, not even respond or write a response as the owner and call him out. All your loyal customers will see around this, it makes us even look human. I would not sweat it. Some people complain, and there is no way to stop them. Personally, I do not install customer parts or try to repair another shops screw up. Times are changing , we will, in the next 5 years, be more important and valuable than a MD. Why not, takes longer to learn our trade it changes daily and the patient cannot speak to you. Have a good week my friend and don't let the budget guy get you down. He will learn.

[stowintegrity]

Oh, by the way, group - I've used this incident as the motivation to change our policy on using customer-supplied parts. When making this decision early on, I took the time to research the name, location, and phone number of every brick & mortar auto repair shop with a shingle hanging outside their door. I expanded my search to a radius around my shop of a distance of nearly 20 miles.

 

The purpose of my reasearch? To present each of my competitors with a situation whereby I knew what I wanted done on my car, I bought the part I wanted installed, only to determine that I really don't have the time to do it myself, and wanted to know if they would install my part for me, at my request.

 

70% of those called indicated that they would, in fact, install a customer supplied part, and most even went so far as to say that there would be no additional charge of any sort to do so.

 

(Previously, any customer allowing US to supply the parts was automatically entitled to receive our "Discount Labor Rate", which was in fact, the labor rate I wanted to charge all along. Those bringing me their own parts to install were quoted our "Standard Labor Rate", which was 20% higher.

 

Nevertheless...I'm happy to be one of the 330% now that cares enough about the people I serve to NOT let them make the mistake of paying for service where they're not protected vy any warranty whatsoever, and they end up paying more for the labor.

 

My shop. My labor. My parts. My warranty. My reputation.

 

So far...we haven't lost a single job over it.

[mspecperformance]

Oh, by the way, group - I've used this incident as the motivation to change our policy on using customer-supplied parts. When making this decision early on, I took the time to research the name, location, and phone number of every brick & mortar auto repair shop with a shingle hanging outside their door. I expanded my search to a radius around my shop of a distance of nearly 20 miles.

 

The purpose of my reasearch? To present each of my competitors with a situation whereby I knew what I wanted done on my car, I bought the part I wanted installed, only to determine that I really don't have the time to do it myself, and wanted to know if they would install my part for me, at my request.

 

70% of those called indicated that they would, in fact, install a customer supplied part, and most even went so far as to say that there would be no additional charge of any sort to do so.

 

(Previously, any customer allowing US to supply the parts was automatically entitled to receive our "Discount Labor Rate", which was in fact, the labor rate I wanted to charge all along. Those bringing me their own parts to install were quoted our "Standard Labor Rate", which was 20% higher.

 

Nevertheless...I'm happy to be one of the 330% now that cares enough about the people I serve to NOT let them make the mistake of paying for service where they're not protected vy any warranty whatsoever, and they end up paying more for the labor.

 

My shop. My labor. My parts. My warranty. My reputation.

 

So far...we haven't lost a single job over it.

 

 

You will lose jobs over it however the great majority of the jobs are going to be the customers you don't want regardless.

[alfredauto]

95% of our problems are from customer supplied parts/diagnosis. I don't automatically disqualify them as a customer, but I try hard to dissuade them. We all know that when they waste their money they aren't going to be happy or courteous. What they want to do is gamble our time to save themselves money. I didn't say they are willing to gamble their money. When reality hits its ugly and I would rather do nothing than deal with this type of person.