(old) Jiffy jube scam

[FxsX24]

this is the reason i decided to do all my own work.

[Joe Marconi]

I hate to see this, it's not good for any of us. The fact is that most of us are hard working people that have a tough time getting what we deserve. We put in long hours, need to have the skills of DaVinci, the intellect of of a Rocket Scientist and the business knowlegde of Donald Trump. The media never does a story on the majority. It's a shame, I wish this never happened!

[FxsX24]

it is sad, if I (or anyone here for that fact) offers a service and charges for it, and does not do that service, they should be closed down.

 

one thing that i noticed, the filter on that jeep should have been a N/S filter, the tech knew that and charged for the part and labor.

[TheTrustedMechanic]

I hate to see this, it's not good for any of us. The fact is that most of us are hard working people that have a tough time getting what we deserve. We put in long hours, need to have the skills of DaVinci, the intellect of of a Rocket Scientist and the business knowlegde of Donald Trump. The media never does a story on the majority. It's a shame, I wish this never happened!

 

What really irritates me is that this makes customers automatically resistant to our recommendations. We may go outside of the manufacturer's recommendations and recommend a transmission service or a fuel injection cleaning based on real world specific vehicle conditions, and we will be looked at as crooks too. But the underlying cause is very simple, it is management by numbers. The employees were held to a quota and that is flat out wrong. But that is what so many of the "expert" management consulting companies promote. And we wonder why this stuff happens.

 

I know I am a terrible businessman because I don't track and aggressively target an average R.O. I refuse to because every vehicle that comes into my shop will need what it needs, not what I need it to need to make my average R.O. and nobody is going to change that. Sure there is xx billion dollars of unperformed maintenance "left on the table" each year. But how much of that is the type of maintenance pushed by these quickie lubes? How much of that unperformed maintenance would have been performed if the vehicle owner had been made aware of it? I review manufacturer's recommended maintenance with my customers and I'm finding even the "imports" are recommending less and less. And of the maintenance that is recommended, if it's more than an air filter it's a major event to get it even scheduled, let alone get them to show up to have it performed.

 

rant over

[Joe Marconi]

What really irritates me is that this makes customers automatically resistant to our recommendations. We may go outside of the manufacturer's recommendations and recommend a transmission service or a fuel injection cleaning based on real world specific vehicle conditions, and we will be looked at as crooks too. But the underlying cause is very simple, it is management by numbers. The employees were held to a quota and that is flat out wrong. But that is what so many of the "expert" management consulting companies promote. And we wonder why this stuff happens.

 

I know I am a terrible businessman because I don't track and aggressively target an average R.O. I refuse to because every vehicle that comes into my shop will need what it needs, not what I need it to need to make my average R.O. and nobody is going to change that. Sure there is xx billion dollars of unperformed maintenance "left on the table" each year. But how much of that is the type of maintenance pushed by these quickie lubes? How much of that unperformed maintenance would have been performed if the vehicle owner had been made aware of it? I review manufacturer's recommended maintenance with my customers and I'm finding even the "imports" are recommending less and less. And of the maintenance that is recommended, if it's more than an air filter it's a major event to get it even scheduled, let alone get them to show up to have it performed.

 

rant over

 

You bring up very good points. I want to add one thing. We don't have quotas in my shop, but we do adhere to a process that I know is in the best interest of the consumer. For expample: Battery Sales. We don't put a number on how many batteries we sell, BUT we do insist that every car we service three years or older get a free battery test. We tell the customer it's time for your free test, and if it fails the customer has the option to purchase a new one from us or decline. This process is not intrusive but does serve as a benifit to the customer. There is no hard sell, and no sales tactic, just a process of informing the customer. We end up selling a good amount of batteries, the honest way.

[TheTrustedMechanic]

You bring up very good points. I want to add one thing. We don't have quotas in my shop, but we do adhere to a process that I know is in the best interest of the consumer. For expample: Battery Sales. We don't put a number on how many batteries we sell, BUT we do insist that every car we service three years or older get a free battery test. We tell the customer it's time for your free test, and if it fails the customer has the option to purchase a new one from us or decline. This process is not intrusive but does serve as a benifit to the customer. There is no hard sell, and no sales tactic, just a process of informing the customer. We end up selling a good amount of batteries, the honest way.

 

I really appreciate your outlook on doing things the honest way. And I too will do a battery test for my customers, for free. But that whole scenario bothers me. Why do we, the service professional need to invest our time and money into the relatively expensive equipment to perform a service to our customers for free? Why are we expected to do so much for free? A doctor doesn't do anything for free. Call a plumber and it'll cost you $150 just for them to show up. Why do we have to do brake inspections, "quick peek" inspections, battery tests and a myriad of other things for free? Well I guess that is another topic. But like I said, I really like how you emphasize value to the customer based on honesty, I won't run my business any other way. And I too found that when I started testing every battery that came in I ended up selling more batteries in the first three months of winter than I had in a year before. It sure is nice to have a tester with a printer though. Now if I can just get customers to understand the difference between a professional grade battery and a wally-world or Dontalast special.

[Joe Marconi]

I really appreciate your outlook on doing things the honest way. And I too will do a battery test for my customers, for free. But that whole scenario bothers me. Why do we, the service professional need to invest our time and money into the relatively expensive equipment to perform a service to our customers for free? Why are we expected to do so much for free? A doctor doesn't do anything for free. Call a plumber and it'll cost you $150 just for them to show up. Why do we have to do brake inspections, "quick peek" inspections, battery tests and a myriad of other things for free? Well I guess that is another topic. But like I said, I really like how you emphasize value to the customer based on honesty, I won't run my business any other way. And I too found that when I started testing every battery that came in I ended up selling more batteries in the first three months of winter than I had in a year before. It sure is nice to have a tester with a printer though. Now if I can just get customers to understand the difference between a professional grade battery and a wally-world or Dontalast special.

 

You are right, the difference is you are taking care of your regular customers who frequent your shop on a regular basis. I am not suggesting that we start catering to people off the street who do not value what we do and give away services. If someone comes to me with a particular battery/charging/starting problem, we will charge a diag fee to test and analyze the car. But during a routine service for regular customers, we need to think about their battery and other service items. For example, during an oil change service, we also check fluids, lights, tire pressure, etc. We do that becuase it's the right thing to do for the customer. I don't like giving anything away and charge accordingly, but we do take care of regualr customers by building value in our services. And, by doing all the right things, we will increase sales and profits and that will pay for the expense of tools, equipment and payroll.

 

I hope I cleared things up?