saying no to certain jobs

Careful the way you turn a customer down!!!!

 

Had to deal with some BS this morning. Stupid kid obviously his parents are savages brings in a Mercedes he just bought. We give him an initial assessment of a Check engine light problem, explain to him we need to book him for an appointment to properly test and diagnose his problem. He returns 3 times in the next few days every day asking for prices on various possible fixes. We explain to him we need to book an appointment to have enough time to properly test and diagnose. Tells us story about how we went to another shop after he left ours and he had some coils replaced and it didnt solve his problem. He said he knew they were good coils because the shop let him go buy his own parts (FML). Leaves again says he'll give us a call. Calls us up after the weekend is over and wants to book an appointment. Explain to him we are down a tech and our next available appointment is next week. We could have filled him in but we really didn't want him as a customer however we were always 100% professional and courteous. Gets pissed off and 15 minutes later we get a nasty 1-star yelp review filled with lies stating we cancelled his appointments, made him empty promises etc. Mind you he never ever spent a dime with us whilst we did give in a 30 minute consultation for free.

 

 

Point to the story is you have to be very careful when you turn away business. People can be 110% irrational POS.

Careful the way you turn a customer down!!!!

 

Had to deal with some BS this morning. Stupid kid obviously his parents are savages brings in a Mercedes he just bought. We give him an initial assessment of a Check engine light problem, explain to him we need to book him for an appointment to properly test and diagnose his problem. He returns 3 times in the next few days every day asking for prices on various possible fixes. We explain to him we need to book an appointment to have enough time to properly test and diagnose. Tells us story about how we went to another shop after he left ours and he had some coils replaced and it didnt solve his problem. He said he knew they were good coils because the shop let him go buy his own parts (FML). Leaves again says he'll give us a call. Calls us up after the weekend is over and wants to book an appointment. Explain to him we are down a tech and our next available appointment is next week. We could have filled him in but we really didn't want him as a customer however we were always 100% professional and courteous. Gets pissed off and 15 minutes later we get a nasty 1-star yelp review filled with lies stating we cancelled his appointments, made him empty promises etc. Mind you he never ever spent a dime with us whilst we did give in a 30 minute consultation for free.

 

 

Point to the story is you have to be very careful when you turn away business. People can be 110% irrational POS.

As In business you if youwill find

No good deed goes unpunished.

Day one- Ask any kid bring in a car for repairs to have their mommy or daddy call to authorize testing and repair costs.

Day one- Ask any kid bring in a car for repairs to have their mommy or daddy call to authorize testing and repair costs.

Grown enough to buy his own car, apparently not mature enough to know that his actions are that of a POS human being.

It all comes down to budget for me. If the customer has the funding, and is willing to put it in the repair, I'll do it. Case in point I had a customer bring me an old 190 MB for a head gasket. However many bolts were rusted and stripped, and it was clear this was not your typical head gasket job. I explained this to the customer, and told them that I would likely have to pull the engine to do the job because some bolts had no access to drill and tap out. I quoted accordingly (extra 950 for engine removal & bolt removal), and the customer agreed. I ended up doing the job. Had me tied up for a week, but it was worth it in my eyes.

I think what happens many times is we quote a customer a price, but run into complications and don't relay this to the customer, and we eat the labor costs. My approach has always been it's a machine, and an old one. ish happens sometimes. I'm a mechanic not a magician. Somethings are just out of my control. Now I guarantee my work when this is all finished, but right now you need to address this as well for the job to come out right. That's going to be an extra xxxx. I have had this approach with my customers, and in most cases it works out. In the end the car turns out good, that is all the customer sees. They forget what it took to get there.

So no I typically do not turn away work, unless the customer just cannot afford it. I quote accordingly, and don't budge from there.

Careful the way you turn a customer down!!!!

 

Had to deal with some BS this morning. Stupid kid obviously his parents are savages brings in a Mercedes he just bought. We give him an initial assessment of a Check engine light problem, explain to him we need to book him for an appointment to properly test and diagnose his problem. He returns 3 times in the next few days every day asking for prices on various possible fixes. We explain to him we need to book an appointment to have enough time to properly test and diagnose. Tells us story about how we went to another shop after he left ours and he had some coils replaced and it didnt solve his problem. He said he knew they were good coils because the shop let him go buy his own parts (FML). Leaves again says he'll give us a call. Calls us up after the weekend is over and wants to book an appointment. Explain to him we are down a tech and our next available appointment is next week. We could have filled him in but we really didn't want him as a customer however we were always 100% professional and courteous. Gets pissed off and 15 minutes later we get a nasty 1-star yelp review filled with lies stating we cancelled his appointments, made him empty promises etc. Mind you he never ever spent a dime with us whilst we did give in a 30 minute consultation for free.

 

 

Point to the story is you have to be very careful when you turn away business. People can be 110% irrational POS.

Out of curiosity...do you respond to Yelp reviews?

Out of curiosity...do you respond to Yelp reviews?

Yes we do. We currently have 55 reviews and an overall 5 star rating. We don't respond to all reviews but certainly respond to the negative ones (I think we only have 2 total).

We rarely turn away jobs but if there is one that we know will be or could end up being troublesome we give them starting out price/estimate. With that we explain that this job calls for X hrs of labor but in our experience the rust and/or other issues that add time make this a very expensive oversight. We will never proceed if we run into difficulties that extend the original estimate without customer communication and their approval for additional costs. They occasionally ask if their price would be reduced if we end up coming in under estimated labor time to which we say, yes, for this case we will do that for you.

We always look at every RO as an opportunity to solve a customer's issue and have them tell others of our great service. Sure, we all have cars we wished we would have turned away but you can't ever KNOW this before working on the car.

I have a strict no customer parts policy. On a slow day i told my sw at the time he could do a fuel pump for a guy who bought his own. Right at tje start the customer drops the van but no fuel pump. Then calls start . Did the pump get dropped off yet. If we have the pump there by 430 can it be done today (friday). No ok we will have it towed then. Van still there monday no pump.

Tuesday pump shpws up. Goes in. Van doesnt start. Still doesnt want to pay doag. Pays pump labor time cash. Push van onto street. Still in street three days later now with orannge tow tag. Get a call yesterday person claims to be boss of van owner says he wants to solve this issue withput going to court. What issue? Claims we installed a used pump in his fuel tank.

Never ever ever again. I swear this time.

 

 

Yes we do. We currently have 55 reviews and an overall 5 star rating. We don't respond to all reviews but certainly respond to the negative ones (I think we only have 2 total).

Wow. That kid's story is just nuts.

We had a similar one.... Acura with 200k miles on it and nasty burnt transmission fluid was slipping going up hills. We typically either recommend the customer to go to a transmission shop for this or possibly drain and fill the trans as a last-ditch effort.

He elected to go to the trans shop, and we let him go for $0.

A few months later, he calls stating we tried to rip him off by "selling him a transmission when he didn't need one." Apparently, all he needed was a tune-up. He was calling from the lobby of another shop where the tune-up was taking place.

Turns out that didn't fix it at all. Still slipping

He then called up saying "all it needs is a trans fluid change. You ripped me off. I'm going online right now to tell everyone."

Have not heard back from him. Probably still slipping.

Wow. That kid's story is just nuts.

 

We had a similar one.... Acura with 200k miles on it and nasty burnt transmission fluid was slipping going up hills. We typically either recommend the customer to go to a transmission shop for this or possibly drain and fill the trans as a last-ditch effort.

 

He elected to go to the trans shop, and we let him go for $0.

 

A few months later, he calls stating we tried to rip him off by "selling him a transmission when he didn't need one." Apparently, all he needed was a tune-up. He was calling from the lobby of another shop where the tune-up was taking place.

 

Turns out that didn't fix it at all. Still slipping

 

He then called up saying "all it needs is a trans fluid change. You ripped me off. I'm going online right now to tell everyone."

 

Have not heard back from him. Probably still slipping.

cant fix stupid. I wish I could herd all these retards into a fiery pit and be done with them but alas... we live in a civilized world ;P

But seriously, we have to be careful and protect ourselves from idiots. People these days have wayyyyyy to much power to ruin a business's reputation.

If the customer is well established we will do the tough ones, just did and F150 manifold last week for a good customer. For jobs like that we tell them its just what time it takes, that way we don't loose out. Quote them double the book time, make sure they understand the situation with the repair, when you come in at less than double they are prepared for the worst and you didn't loose. Did you win? Not really, a few jobs I could have done in half of book time would have been better but I made a customer happy, didn't loose my shirt and didn't have to send them somewhere else.

Now if that guy came in off the street I'd quote him the same and can grantee I won't get the job. They usually come back after someone else charged them close to what I actually quoted.