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WITH THIS WRENCH I THEE WED
I’m sure we’ve all dealt with this scenario. You perform a service or repair on a clients vehicle and suddenly there is a problem that “was’t there before you worked on my car”. I’ll give 2 examples from the same client. This client owns a cleaning service and has 3 cargo vans. Van #1 had the engine lock up and was towed to our facility. We performed an inspection (you are using inspection forms to document any issues aren’t you?) and provided an estimate for engine replacement. Client approved repairs which we completed ahead of schedule (we take the Mr. Scott approach of under promise/over perform). During the QC test drive (couldn’t drive before hand b/c of locked up engine) driver noticed that tach and speedo were erratic. We reinspected van to be 100% sure that nothing was left unplugged, pinched, etc. and determined that the instrument cluster was at fault. Contacted client with “We have great news, the repairs went well and we finished ahead of schedule. On the test drive we did notice that the instrument cluster was showing signs of failure which we were able to verify. The replacement cost will be $x and since the vehicle is driveable I can call you when the part arrives and we’ll need about 2 hours to install and program.” Van #2 arrived and client stated that his mechanic installed a flywheel in the backyard but teeth were stripped off of the new flywheel. Client stated that he knew Van 2 had other issues but just wanted the flywheel, starter, and rear main seal replaced. Our technician noted that the incorrect flywheel (no spacer) was installed and also noted on inspection form that ABS (communication error with EBCM), Brake, CEL, and TPMS lights were on. Clint was given an estimate for requested repairs and made aware of warning lights. Client stated that he knew there were other issues but only wanted to proceed with requested repairs. Repairs were completed as requested and Client picked van up. In both of these instances client returned the next day and stated that neither vans had these issues until we worked on them. How do you or your shops handle these types of clients? Is it “with this wrench I thee wed”?
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5 Replies
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I’m not great with these folks which I why I write very little service.
But I can tell you that after over 45 years in this business almost all (there are exceptions) unreasonable, irrational or illogical complaints have one thing in common. The customer is broke or severely in debt or pressured for money in some manner and the repair shop gets to be the target of their frustration. Income is irrelevant. Can be $25K a year or $1M.
If you understand this and keep it in mind when dealing with them you will better understand their point of view which can help you handle them.
On the other hand, customers who have a great personal budget including a reasonable amount set aside for car repair rarely complain about anything. They will tell you about an issue they noticed and ask you to check it, but they will do it nicely. Then they will go with the result of what you find regardless of which way it goes. HTH.
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I haven’t really found a “good” way to deal with the customer of this kind. You could show them all the documentation in the world that their problem was present when they drove the vehicle in and they would still blame you for causing that problem. We just simply make notes of any issues on the inspection form, perform the approved repairs that the vehicle was brought in for, let them know of any issues and give them a copy of the inspection form and even sometimes show them before the leave the issues that were not repaired if we think they might be a problem customer. If the CEL or any other warning light is on in the dash, we scan the vehicle with a quick-scan feature with our scan tool and print out a copy of those issues as well just in case. And luckily, our scan tool saves history of each vehicle scanned so if they come back in and complain that any lights are on in the dash or any other issues that weren’t present we can scan again and show them if it’s the same or a different issue. One thing I have found that also helps, is that we do not give them an estimate on the repairs that we found additional that they did not bring it in for because to them that looks like we were fishing for more work and just want to take their money. We do go ahead and make up the estimate but we simply inform them of the issues and if they are wanting to have them fixed we then issue the estimate that we had on hand for the problems. Working in the public eye you will always have bad apples and it’s harder to weed out those apples than throw out the whole bunch!
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Not all customers are right for your shop and what you do. It’s ok to fire them and focus on the great customers that use you every day that you don’t have these issues with. I agree with Tom that there are probably other issues at hand. I hope you don’t charge to this customer and that you got paid on delivery for the work you did do.
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a few thoughts:
#1 these are fleet vehicles, and the owner probably rarely drives them.
#2 When something like this happens, the best thing to do is invite the customer back in and take a second look at it for free. Tell them that you have double checked your work and see nothing related. Tell them that you need to do some testing to figure out what wrong, and if it does turn out to be related to your work you will stand behind it.
#3 Listen to your customer and do all that you can to show that you care. If they become unreasonable, then other measures are necessary, but most will not. They just want to be understood.
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Don’t let them make you crazy. Document everything and say do you want me to check into it. If our problem we cover it. If not you do. That’s all you need to say. Ball in their court, monkey on their back!
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