DAYS WHEN EVERYTHING GOES WRONG!

[HarrytheCarGeek]

You cannot really learn this in school and only seem to be taught by the school of hard knocks called Experience: -There are days that everything seems to go wrong.

 

My old mentor told me that life goes in cycles, and that no matter how much I prepare I should accept that there are days that are going to be tough and difficult to survive.

 

Well, yesterday was one of those days.

 

I had that customer that every shop hates come in, nothing we could offer or do makes this customer happy. He claims mechanics are always out to rip him off. That we damaged something in his car and that after we had serviced his car it never ran well.

 

I have told this customer that we are not the shop for him and that we are not setup to handle his car troubles, but he always stops by and makes it a point to have his car checked by my guys. He usually waits to come in when I am not running the service desk.

 

So yesterday, my senior mechanic damaged a car when backing out of the bay and hit this trouble customer's car, pending jobs parts where boxed wrong, also one of the lift's motors died, and my wife drove over a parking spot limiter and took out the oil pan on her minivan.

 

Thank God I am healthy and have a sense of humor or I would have had a heart attack!

[TTP]

I can feel your pain, there are some days that it just dont pay to get up. But you have to put one foot in front of the other and keep that positive attitude, which is very hard for me too at times.

Edited April 12, 2013 by TTP

[CARMandP]

Been there done that. I had one of those days a few weeks ago

[Joe Marconi]

We have all been there, below is an article I wrote a few years back, a true story...

 

A Bad Week Ends Up a Lesson On Life

November 21 2010 06:00 PM | Joe Marconi in Customer Service

We all have had that week from hell. You know, the one week that makes you ask yourself why in the world you ever got into this business in the first place. The week that makes you doubt yourself, your customers and the people around you. And as you push through the week, every turn you make you find another fire to put out, another bounced check to worry about, another comeback that needs to be done over again, on and on and on. By Wednesday you say to yourself, “it must get better, it can’t get worse”. Well, guess what? It can.

For me, my recent week from hell happened this past summer. I came in on Monday morning in the second week of July to find that my service manager was sick and would probably be out until Thursday. I also learned that one of my top techs got into a motor cycle accident over the weekend and was seriously injured, with no information about his return to work. It was 6:45am and little did I know, this was just the beginning, and it was about to get worse.

A Subaru we serviced a few months ago was towed in over the weekend with a seized engine and the owner was blaming us for not putting oil in the engine. He was demanding we pay for a new engine because in his mind, it’s our fault. I gathered my crew together a little before 8am and told them this was going to be a very challenging week. I also told everyone to be positive, work together and we will get through this.

On Tuesday my air compressor caught on fire. The compressor, only a little over two years old, apparently had a defect in the wiring which caused a short and fried the motor. We were one month over the warranty and I had to eat the cost for a new compressor motor.

On the ride into work on Wednesday I called my shop foreman and asked if it was safe to come in. I was joking, but he wasn’t laughing. There was silence on the phone and I asked, “What happened now”? He told me that the transmission we installed in the Dodge Van last Friday was towed in overnight; “the transmission doesn’t even move”, he said. He also told me that there was a note from a very unhappy customer that said she needed the van back ASAP! Then he told me that someone threw a rock through the front window and that the Police are waiting for me. I wanted to turn my truck around a go to the hills and hide. Aside from these new issues, we were getting behind in our work as the problems kept mounting. Somehow, we made it through the rest of the day.

Thursday morning started out ok. My Manager was back and we were well into the process of getting all the issues settled. The compressor motor was due to arrive that day. Luckily we had an old back up compressor which kept us going. The glass company was there installing a new window. Things were looking better, I thought. But, I was wrong. That morning we received the wrong tire shipment, and all the tire sales for that day had to be reordered. We lost electric power from a downed pole around the corner at 10:45am. We did what we could, but we all know how dependent we are with computers, lifts, phones and other equipment. The power came back late that afternoon and we all stayed late into the night to catch up. The push to get the work done was draining everyone, including myself. I could sense despair setting in as the morale in the shop was suffering.

I spent the better part of Friday morning dealing with the customer of the seized Subaru engine. The truth is, there was oil in the engine, but low about 2 quarts and he couldn’t read any oil on the dip stick. According to our records he was 5,000 miles over his scheduled oil service. We only serviced his car once and as I questioned him, I realized he didn’t take care of the car as he should, often going over the recommended interval for an oil change. I asked him if there were any lights on the dash before the engine seized. After a short pause, he admitted that the oil light and check engine light had been on the day the engine seized. Knowing the truth put me in a better position to deal with the problem. He was still angry and wanted to know what I was going to do because we were the last to touch the car, but the facts were the facts and I stood my ground.

By Friday afternoon I was mentally exhausted and was looking forward for the week to come to an end. About 3:30 that afternoon, a long time customer came in for service on her car. I walked over to her to say hello and she started to cry. I sat down in the waiting area with her and asked if there was something I could do for her. She told me that her daughter, 41 years old, just passed away from cancer. She left two young children and a husband behind. In an instant, all the problems that happened the past week took on a different meaning; all of the worry that I had the past few days suddenly vanished. This woman had real issues to deal with; issues about family and life, and in the end, are the only things that really matter.

I sat with her until her car was finished and listened as she spoke about her daughter and family. When her car was complete I walked her out to her car. As I walked back to the office, I started to put things in perspective and realized that all the trouble that had happened in the last 5 days seemed a lot less important.

As shop owners, we face adversity every day. At times I feel we are being tested. Sometimes, things appear to be too tough to bear. Sometimes, just sometimes, the problems we face are just what we need to remind us that things could be a lot worse. For me, I learned a valuable lesson about life. I learned to appreciate the things that really matter in my life and not concern myself about the things that are only part of life, not what life is all about.

Tomorrow is Monday, and I don’t know what the auto repair world has in store for me. It may be hell or it may be paradise. But whatever happens, I’m ready for it.

[Gonzo]

It's official... I'm not the only one.

Hate to hear about your troubles, but... days like that are my bread and butter stories. The best thing for you and me is to let other shop owners, service techs, and anyone else in the business that things like this happen. Ya can't stop them from happening, they just do.

More importantly, getting the word out there about the ups and downs of the auto trade is even more a wake up call for the consumer we call "the customer". Being aware that we are just as much a part of their lives and the community as they are and that things can AND will happen.

Another way to look at it is... writing this stuff down beats holding it in or groveling over it at home over a beer. The family doesn't need to experience our troubles... they're family... and they want to see their dad or mom in a good light.

Thank YOU ASO for being there. Everyone in the business appreciates it... I know I do.

thanks Joe... U Da Best!

[Joe Marconi]

Yes, you are not alone Gonzo. Shop owners are a tough breed, they have to be. The things we see and go thru can fill volumes. If ASO can be a place to vent, share ideas, scream, teach, learn, whatever...then I am proud to be part of it.

 

But, the true strength of any organization is its people, and ASO has great members, so the real thanks goes out to all the members!

[HarrytheCarGeek]

Joe, what an experience! Thank you to you all for sharing and lending an ear!

[HarrytheCarGeek]

THE NON-CUSTOMER FROM HELL

 

I call it the non-customer from Hell because he is a poser, someone that looks and acts like a customer, but underneath the facade of being a potential customer lurks the most despicable toxic individual you will come across in your business experience.

 

I had a brush with this type of character a few days ago and I am still shook up from the bizarre experience. I have changed the name to protect the guilty in order to share with you my hellish experience.

 

Let's call him Sean, he and his wife came into the shop just about an hour before we closed the shop for the day. In this particular day, I had the waiting area full with some customers waiting to pick up their cars when Sean and wife walked up to the sales counter.

 

Sean tells me his car is making a squeaking noise from the front of the engine, the vehicle is a 7 year old model Merdeces Benz ML350, then proceeds to tell me that his buddy at the MB dealer could not squeeze him in to change the idler pulley, even though it only takes 5 minutes to do he says out loud.

 

He and his wife are well dressed and over-courteous, yet loud and flamboyant. He goes on to tell me how he is a "big" entertainer and that I should recognize him, I didn't.

 

I tell him that it is late in the day and I will not be able to help him. He turns and yells at me that I have not even looked at his car and that I am already denying him service. His wife suddenly begins to echo everything Sean is saying. He tell me the pulley only costs $26.00 and that it is a very simple repair to make and I should not have any problem getting the part even at such late time in the day.

 

He makes a scene and a scandal as how I am denying him service he yells.

 

I ask him to leave and he tells me to call the cops, I say, ok and call the police. I call the police department and they tell me they will send out a patrol car. Sean keeps yelling as to how he is being singled out and his wife acting as a chorus keep making a scene, then just as fast as they walked in they walked out and drove off.

 

About 10 minutes later the police come in and the officer laughs it off.

 

I am still wondering if this was some hidden camera show attempt to get a rise out of us....

Edited May 3, 2013 by HarrytheCarGeek