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I recently purchased an automotive shop that has been in business a very long time in my great city. As such we have a lot of established customers, most of whom have been really awesome, but we aren't here to talk about those wonderful people. Oh no, come closer and listen to my tale.
It was a lovely day, the guys are in the back, wrenching on cars, Primrose (the best assistant ever) and I are up front, working on Quickbooks and watching cute cat videos. So far it had been a great day...and then they walked in. It was a mother - daughter pair, dropping off the daughters car. Very lovely woman, the mother. This particular tale is about the daughter.
The transaction started normally with her saying the whole family had been long time customers and describing her issue with her 13 year old car. Seems the previous shop owners had done some work a year ago and it was presenting the same symptoms. She also wanted an honest opinion on whether the car should be kept or should be sold off to some other poor soul in need of a cheap, used car. Things were good, she handed us the keys, and I ended my polished sales spiel with our usual diag fee of $50. She seemed ok with it, then she asked the fated question, "Do you wave the diag fee if we make the repairs here?"
Now, some background, the previous owners did wave diag fees for some folks based on how long they had been a customer, the phases of the moon, etc. I have chosen not to wave the diag fee (or say I wave it and then up the price of the labor on the back end by a half hour like some shops do but I digress), but we are up front about this cost and only 3 people have had a problem with this. End BG
Que cat butt face, and it was a bad one too. She started ranting about how the old owners always waved the fee for her and she was NOT expecting to have to shop around for a diag fee today and why don't we wave the diag fee if she gets it fixed here. Her mom was giving her a "it's not that big of a deal, you're going to leave over this?" look. I explained that doing a diag on a car takes time, but you'll know everything you ever wanted to know about the car, and then she could make a decision on whether to keep the car or not. She snatched the keys off the counter and said she would shop around and give us a call back. Lightly sucky, but we wouldn't be here if it ended there.
She called about an hour later and spoke to Primrose, saying she had found someone to do the diag for $30 and how dare we not wave the fee and she was never coming back. That's right boys and girls, all this fuss over $20. Then she goes and leaves us a poor review on Google saying how unhappy she was that the pricing here had changed and that the level of service has gone down...now, say what you want about the pricing, it is what it is, but do not even begin to question my customer service skills. You are one of 4 people who have complained in 3 months and only one of those was legit. My service is just fine thank you very much.
Sooo, I wrote her a polite, professional reply, saying we know times are tough and that we were sad to see her go, but we understand being on a budget and needing to find the best deal out there. As I was writing it, I was thinking, you leave a long standing relationship, go to a new mechanic that you may or may not be able to trust...all over $20. *sigh* Good riddance.
It was a lovely day, the guys are in the back, wrenching on cars, Primrose (the best assistant ever) and I are up front, working on Quickbooks and watching cute cat videos. So far it had been a great day...and then they walked in. It was a mother - daughter pair, dropping off the daughters car. Very lovely woman, the mother. This particular tale is about the daughter.
The transaction started normally with her saying the whole family had been long time customers and describing her issue with her 13 year old car. Seems the previous shop owners had done some work a year ago and it was presenting the same symptoms. She also wanted an honest opinion on whether the car should be kept or should be sold off to some other poor soul in need of a cheap, used car. Things were good, she handed us the keys, and I ended my polished sales spiel with our usual diag fee of $50. She seemed ok with it, then she asked the fated question, "Do you wave the diag fee if we make the repairs here?"
Now, some background, the previous owners did wave diag fees for some folks based on how long they had been a customer, the phases of the moon, etc. I have chosen not to wave the diag fee (or say I wave it and then up the price of the labor on the back end by a half hour like some shops do but I digress), but we are up front about this cost and only 3 people have had a problem with this. End BG
Que cat butt face, and it was a bad one too. She started ranting about how the old owners always waved the fee for her and she was NOT expecting to have to shop around for a diag fee today and why don't we wave the diag fee if she gets it fixed here. Her mom was giving her a "it's not that big of a deal, you're going to leave over this?" look. I explained that doing a diag on a car takes time, but you'll know everything you ever wanted to know about the car, and then she could make a decision on whether to keep the car or not. She snatched the keys off the counter and said she would shop around and give us a call back. Lightly sucky, but we wouldn't be here if it ended there.
She called about an hour later and spoke to Primrose, saying she had found someone to do the diag for $30 and how dare we not wave the fee and she was never coming back. That's right boys and girls, all this fuss over $20. Then she goes and leaves us a poor review on Google saying how unhappy she was that the pricing here had changed and that the level of service has gone down...now, say what you want about the pricing, it is what it is, but do not even begin to question my customer service skills. You are one of 4 people who have complained in 3 months and only one of those was legit. My service is just fine thank you very much.
Sooo, I wrote her a polite, professional reply, saying we know times are tough and that we were sad to see her go, but we understand being on a budget and needing to find the best deal out there. As I was writing it, I was thinking, you leave a long standing relationship, go to a new mechanic that you may or may not be able to trust...all over $20. *sigh* Good riddance.
The mechanic I use gives me a "Frequent Flyer" discount because of all the business I give him especially when things go blooyyee after they did some work and it went bad again. He is able to do "warranty work " when something fails in an unreasonably short enough time even with new parts.
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