she knew what she was talking about but i still want a discount

[queenbb]

yah i got one of these today.

a guy came in with a saturn that needed a battery. he had looked up a battery on line and decided to go with the cheapest one. not a problem really since the cold cranking amp rating was enough to deal with the min of the cars needs. only issue is that the battery is physically smaller than the one that should go in. which could cause a problem and i told him so.

i told him this, and i showed him the difference between the 2 batteries (a group 70 vs a group 75 if you feel so inclined to look it up lol)

i tried to get him in to the 75 which is a few dollars more than the 70. but he insisted on the smaller cheaper battery.

the tech puts it in, and low and behold, sure enough the terminal cable was just a bit too short to connect to the battery. so i call the guy and tell him this and said that he did need the larger battery, i explained why and the price difference, he approved the change.

he decides to question me, so he calls of all people the online store where he had seen the battery and they call me to ask why i insisted he go with the larger battery, i explained to them that the battery was just not big enough so the terminals could connect since the cables were too short. i guess the guy had thought that the hold down was the issue, according to the .com guy. i said not an issue here since the batteries are the same height, its the width that was the issue. he looks it up and sees that i am right about that and realizes that he battery was not wide enough like i said. he explains this to the customer.

so then the customer still questioning me, calls our managers, and asks again why this was an issue, and because of it he wants a discount because he wasnt expecting the price change, i explain to them the same thing,

so the guy comes back after its all done, and he still wants to talk to the managers about this. he said that i actually knew what i was talking about and that i really did warn him about the issue, but he still wanted a discount, my manager actually approved it, i was a bit miffed about that since i did my job to the best of my ability and did everything that i should have done.

bottom line he did not deserve a discount. even after he said he was a mechanic and should have realized what was going on,

if that were true then he shouldnt have called every one to question my reasoning for the change.

btw he was actually really nice about the whole thing just a cheapskate i guess.

[One-Fang]

He's a mechanic, and he pays somebody else to ... change the battery?

Yeah, if he's a mechanic, I'm a gazelle.

[depechemodefan]

i explained why and the price difference, he approved the change.

he decides to question me, so he calls of all people the online store where he had seen the battery

I don't quiet understand that. The customer approved the change but still decides to question you? Guy is dumb. Esp. when you mentioned he was a mechanic.

But the manager is a double dumbass for giving a discount.

[QASlave]

I'm a computer nerd and I've changed out car batteries. Not rocket science. (I did grow up on a farm though, so mechanical problems always abound.)

[ta2ooed1]

I've read the OP twice and I don't see it stated anywhere that he is a mechanic, not sure where the other posters are getting that. But back on topic ya guy was a cheapskate.


Oops finally spotted it, nevermind i'm going blind

[depechemodefan]

It's almost at the bottom.

bottom line he did not deserve a discount. even after he said he was a mechanic and should have realized what was going on,

[SteeleDragon78]

He's a mechanic, and he pays somebody else to ... change the battery?

Yeah, if he's a mechanic, I'm a gazelle.

i take umbrage to that remark. just because someone is a professional in a technical field does not mean that we feel like doing every little thing to our personal machines. i am a trained aircraft mech but i take my car in for oil changes and tune ups. so

[protege]

I don't think any offense was meant. The guy was simply being a cheap bastard. There's a difference between being a mechanic, and being a "mechanic." One actually knows what they're doing; the other throws that word around to impress people and doesn't know an alternator from a spark plug

But seriously, some auto shops include changing the battery in the price of buying a new one. With that said, I can see why he did it. Also, I've always tried to work on my cars myself. However, even simple things are sometimes cheaper at the garage. Yes, I can change my own oil. However, by the time you drive over there, buy a case of Castrol, drive home, do the job, and *properly* dispose of the old oil...it's simply easier to let them do it.

The exception of course...is my MGB GT. With the newest B's nearly 30 years old, it does mean plenty of by the mechanics. They're more used to fuel-injected, computer-controlled cars....instead of the twin-carbs, mechanical everything variety. Of course, setting up those carbs is a bitch

[nomorecarts]

would you pay someone to change your battery? it's a 2 minute job if you don't have a battery blanket to deal with


i guess if you're already doing it all day though.....

[queenbb]

i take umbrage to that remark. just because someone is a professional in a technical field does not mean that we feel like doing every little thing to our personal machines. i am a trained aircraft mech but i take my car in for oil changes and tune ups. so

there is also the fact that some of us who know how to work on cars are either living in a place that does not allow us to do our own work, or like me are physically incapable to do the work any longer. im very proficient at changing batteries however, and if i had to i would but my medical condition wont let me do it, and if i had to do it at my apt i would get in trouble (i got yelled at for changing my wiper blades in the middle of a down pour)

I don't quiet understand that. The customer approved the change but still decides to question you? Guy is dumb. Esp. when you mentioned he was a mechanic.

But the manager is a double dumbass for giving a discount.

i agree my manager is a dumbass for letting it, the assistant was not gonna let it happen, however the guy has only been there for less than a week, since the other manager was fired (yay im so happy you have no idea, i made a thread about him in morons in management hmm i should make an update) i really didnt want to give the discount but for some reason he saw fit for the whole issue.

for me its kind of like the guy who got a discount (per managment decision) because i inconvinenced him when i would not let a friend of his sign for his credit card, and he had to return from "texas" (note we live in ca) even though it only took him 20 mins to get here from there. guy was an ass and they rewarded his bad behavior since i was actually doing my job.

[One-Fang]

I think battery changing is a downgraded enough task that I can't really imagine someone who's a pro actually paying somebody else to do it.

Maybe time intensive stuff like changing oil, where you've gotta get the pans out and you get dirty, and it's a fairly yukky job ... but changing a battery?

I'm a PC tech. I might take my own in for a clean up if I didn't feel like reinstalling Windows some day. But I ain't never gonna pay someone to install WinZip for me.

[Chromatix]

I agree, I would certainly do the really easy stuff myself. The car battery almost certainly falls into that category, same with changing wheels (if I have time, that is), checking the fluids (but maybe not changing the oil), and - except on a Renault Megane - light bulbs. (Why the Megane? The headlight access panel is inside the wheel arch and very narrow. Unlike any other car.)

Most garages will figure out what battery size you need if you tell them the car model, or if you bring in the old one, and then it's just a case of (gasp!) opening the bonnet and attaching the right terminals - which is a colour matching exercise my 3-year-old daughter could manage. Oh wait, I forgot, these are SCs we're talking about!

[BaristaTrav]

And the moral of the story kids: Ask for a discount even when you can happily admit you don't deserve one, and usually you will get it. Why? Because chances are some spineless douche of a manager got to where they are by kissing enough ass to get to a point life where they'd rather capitulate to SCs and let those "lower" than they are on the company totem pole deal with their crap. I weep for our crumbling capatlist economy..