Customer Complaints??

Beemerboy

Beemerboy

Just One More Coat
In light of a recent compliant that I received from a detail. I wondered how many of you get complaints?

In the years that I have done this, I could count on one hand of any dissatisfied customers that I have had.

I have to say that I was taken back by this last novel of things this customer was not happy about.

So what's your take on this?
 
No complaints so far... but I've had two definite cases of "buyer's remorse" when reaching for their wallets. They didn't give me much of a hard time, but it's awkward.

What specific complaint did you receive, Dave?
 
I only get complaints from people that pick the cheapest package and expect everything to look brand new. And I get a few people that come in for a wax and ask me "Oh so you couldn't do anything with these scratches?" We all do what we get payed for, there are just some customers that expect too much and are totally clueless to the time and effort we put into their cars.
 
Beemerboy said:
In light of a recent compliant that I received from a detail. I wondered how many of you get complaints?

In the years that I have done this, I could count on one hand of any dissatisfied customers that I have had.

I have to say that I was taken back by this last novel of things this customer was not happy about.

So what's your take on this?
Click to expand...

Dave, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know but if you're in the business long enough it's bound to happen. You can't please all customers all of the time. That's why company's offer satisfaction or your money back warranty. In many cases this protects the service provider from a shady customer hitting them for the moon anytime they choose.

Stories like yours become a bit suspicious when you have one customer that has multiple complaints not necessarily related with products you've used for years. Sure you can get a bad reaction with a product on a particular surface but when it's every surface you supposedly touched and some you didn't it gets weird. At this point the person complaining becomes suspect. You have to give them the benefit of the doubt but there are limits. I have know doubt that you've given the product in question a critical eye since the complaint. You've probably also checked other vehicles you have used it on. You KNOW whether it is or isn't a problem product and you have to trust your techniques, they've got you here.

Most who know you, that have read your post suspect there is more to the story with your problem customer than he wants you to know. The troubling part for me when reading your experience is that you may never know what really happened. This makes you second guess yourself, even potentially change products for no legitimate reason. This is not a comfortable spot to be in.

Now if you've recently started to dress your dashes/mats with Vaseline... well, all bets are off and please forget anything good we ever said about you.:D
 
I knew a guy that owned a body shop and he used to say " That you can satisfy 95% of your customers the other 5% are a**holes and you can't fix that."
 
GearHead_1 said:
Dave, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know but if you're in the business long enough it's bound to happen. You can't please all customers all of the time. That's why company's offer satisfaction or your money back warranty. In many cases this protects the service provider from a shady customer hitting them for the moon anytime they choose.

Stories like yours become a bit suspicious when you have one customer that has multiple complaints not necessarily related with products you've used for years. Sure you can get a bad reaction with a product on a particular surface but when it's every surface you supposedly touched and some you didn't it gets weird. At this point the person complaining becomes suspect. You have to give them the benefit of the doubt but there are limits. I have know doubt that you've given the product in question a critical eye since the complaint. You've probably also checked other vehicles you have used it on. You KNOW whether it is or isn't a problem product and you have to trust your techniques, they've got you here.

Most who know you, that have read your post suspect there is more to the story with your problem customer than he wants you to know. The troubling part for me when reading your experience is that you may never know what really happened. This makes you second guess yourself, even potentially change products for no legitimate reason. This is not a comfortable spot to be in.

Now if you've recently started to dress your dashes/mats with Vaseline... well, all bets are off and please forget anything good we ever said about you.:D
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GH

Thanks I never gave much thought to my process or the products that I was using. I have used them for years and not had one issue, so why would it react on one car alone. You are right I gave the guy room to complain, but stood firm in that I found it hard to understand why it happened to just his car.

Again I've not heard back from him and suspect that I won't
 
Beemerboy said:
John,

You can read about it here

http://www.detailcity.org/forums/auto-detailing-101/27689-i-need-some-opinions.html
Click to expand...

Ouch! Missed that one. Sorry that you're having to put up with this nonsense, Dave. The complaint has obviously upset you. I'd say that makes a statement about your professionalism.

Look at the incident objectively. First there's the overlooked dirty spot. OK, it can happen. We've all been there and we all know the drill... "Really sorry, sir, let me take care of that right now. And, how about if I detail your engine for free next time? I really appreciate your business. I'm sorry for the oversight." (Whether the dirt was your fault or not, you've turned it into a positive experience. Not a big deal.)

But, this complaint... it's not just a supposedly missed spot... he's stating that your inappropriate or defective (trusted and reliable and correctly used) detailing products have damaged his car. That is unequivocal bull$hit!

Consider the thousands of members of this and other auto detailing forums who have performed tens of thousands of individual applications of Poorboy's World products, then photographed, critiqued, discussed and bragged about their detailing jobs. I do not recall a single complaint (or even a mention) of any one of Pb's products damaging any automobile surface.

Now we are asked to believe that a one-time application of numerous well-known products has damaged or produced an unsatisfactory result on several different materials... on a BMW! This is absolute crap!

Don't let this idiot ruin your day, man.
 
John,

Thanks I feel the same way about it, and again to date he has not emailed back about going to the dealership
 
Wow...sorry you have to deal with an a$$-clown like this. After so much time has passed, how do you know that he didn't have it at the dealer for a service call and 'they' cleaned the car up and applied lackluster products over what you had done.

In my opinion, I'd say this guy waited too long to come back and there's no way to tell what "he" might have done to the car in the past couple months that could've caused these issues.

Tough spot to be in...you don't wanna piss the guy off, but yet it sounds like he may be asking a lot of you to correct the issues. I think I'd get a cost to fix those 2 parts and then tell him you'll never detail another of his cars. Let him go elsewhere and get a 'shoddy' detail and then he'll realize that he should've just let it go. Sooner or later, he'll be begging for you to detail his cars again.

Good luck to you on this.

And by the way...I am NOT a professional (as most of you probably know), but I've used Poorboy's products for the past 4 years and NEVER had any issues at all with Steve's products. Not on my cars or any of my friends cars I've ever done.
 
The usual car detailing mantra goes like this,

First, evaluate the car before taking the job and quoting a price

I do this,

First, evaluate the customer and make sure you want to work for them


Not a lot you can do except to talk to them and get a feel for them personally and their expectations but it is the most you can do and sometimes that's all you can do.

And to note, I'm not directing this at the OP or anyone in this thread, just sharing a good practice. I've turned down work for people that have unrealistic expectations or think they want a show car finish on a daily driver when I know they either won't wash it carefully or will run the car through a car wash.

Sometimes you have to do your best to know when to walk away from a potential job.


:)
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
The usual car detailing mantra goes like this,

First, evaluate the car before taking the job and quoting a price

I do this,

First, evaluate the customer and make sure you want to work for them


Not a lot you can do except to talk to them and get a feel for them personally and their expectations but it is the most you can do and sometimes that's all you can do.

And to note, I'm not directing this at the OP or anyone in this thread, just sharing a good practice. I've turned down work for people that have unrealistic expectations or think they want a show car finish on a daily driver when I know they either won't wash it carefully or will run the car through a car wash.

Sometimes you have to do your best to know when to walk away from a potential job.


:)
Click to expand...

Mike

Thanks and your right just good biz practices

I talked to this guy twice about my detailing on the phone, sent before and after pics and answered questions about product via email.

When he left the car with me I did a once over, since the car was newer I didn't give much thought to the condition. AS a practice I always look the car over in and out to see if there is anything that I don't think will come out or can't correct.
 
YNOT said:
Wow...sorry you have to deal with an a$$-clown like this. After so much time has passed, how do you know that he didn't have it at the dealer for a service call and 'they' cleaned the car up and applied lackluster products over what you had done.

In my opinion, I'd say this guy waited too long to come back and there's no way to tell what "he" might have done to the car in the past couple months that could've caused these issues.

Tough spot to be in...you don't wanna piss the guy off, but yet it sounds like he may be asking a lot of you to correct the issues. I think I'd get a cost to fix those 2 parts and then tell him you'll never detail another of his cars. Let him go elsewhere and get a 'shoddy' detail and then he'll realize that he should've just let it go. Sooner or later, he'll be begging for you to detail his cars again.

Good luck to you on this.

And by the way...I am NOT a professional (as most of you probably know), but I've used Poorboy's products for the past 4 years and NEVER had any issues at all with Steve's products. Not on my cars or any of my friends cars I've ever done.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot
 
Here's another really good tip...

If you know of someone who's a really good detailer and he turns a job away...

Unless there's a normal and understandable reason for them turning the job down maybe look at this as a strong indicator to do the same.


:)
 
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