Problem customer says he's "dissatisfied"

M

magictouch24

New member
Last year, I got a call from a customer with an Escalade he wanted detailed. It was my first retail client and I only charged him $120, inside and out. I was supposed to call him the day before the appointment to confirm, so I did. I made 8 calls to him between 11am and 9pm trying to confirm, and he never called me back until 10pm at which point I had to pick up the car. I brought it back to him and never saw him again, until he came to my shop in August, right before I was getting ready to move in to school (25 minutes away).



We scheduled an appointment for his wife's new car, a Lexus SUV for which I quoted him $175. He tried talking me down but I told him my prices went up due to improved workmanship and increased overhead. On the day of the appointment, I never heard from him even though he was supposed to call me when he was bringing it over. I called, left a message, and he returned the call 3 hours later, claiming he "got confused and forgot." I told him I'd have to call him in a few weeks after I got settled in at school and that was fine with him.



Fast forward to this weekend, when we had set up an appointment for Saturday. He had sent the Lexus somewhere else, so I quoted him $110 for the inside of his four door Chevy 2500 truck. $110 is a lot for an interior to some people, and not a lot to others (some express detailing shops charge $90 or so, and my old boss' shop charges $150). He tried to talk me down again saying it was only a year old and in really good condition. So on Saturday I picked up the car after having trouble reaching him again, and I detailed the very dirty interior. He works construction and has two kids, and it showed. He wasn't home when I dropped it off, but he left a check for the full amount.



This morning, he called me and started complaining about my work. He was mentioning things that weren't clean that I don't do on a standard detail (he would have known that if he had looked on my brochure or website) and a few other things I couldn't do anything about that I would have showed him if he had been available when I dropped it off. He said he was surprised I get referrals and repeat customers based on my work, and he could have had a full detail for $70 somewhere else. He went on to complain about my chemicals and methods and I told him I would either refund him $40 or detail it again next week, and he told me to come look at the truck today at 12:30. I called him at 12:30, 1:30, and went to his house at 3:30 and never got a hold of him. I left a note saying I waited for three hours and for him to call me when we can find a mutually agreeable time.



Sorry this was so long, but has anyone had someone like this who is repeatedly problematic? I've already decided I'm not doing work for him again, but I want to make sure I handle it in a way that won't have consequences with other customers.
 
This is only my opinion.





People who don't take me seriously, I don't do business with. Guys like him will not send you referrals. Do not refund any money. Did he get charged for all the time that you had wasted waiting for his calls?



Pisses me off to read stories like this.



Move on and charge enough for the hard work that you do. m2c
 
When a customer tries to get you to lower your price he is indicating that he doesn't value your work for the price he is charged. Quality isn't cheap or fast. If he can get it elsewhere for $70 send him on the way with a map to get there.



To be fair you should look at the truck and see if you overlooked something. If not you know someone who won't call you again and sounds like you are better off for it
 
Turn those customers AWAY! BTW on a FULL interior detail if you leave some stuff out you should explain to the customer prior to doin it. Dont expect every customer to check out your website and or brochures. Every single car you should go over a checklist witht he customer.
 
If it were me. .



Let him know that you are confident in the job you did and the price at which you charged. Also inform him that he forfeited his opportunity to express his discontent with the work performed after he stood you up mentioning the amount of time you spent attempting to meet face to face. Don't worry about the negative referrals he might give, I pity the fool that values an opinion such as his. There are many fish in the detailing sea. Keep on keepin' on.
 
You were supposed to meet at 12:30. He wasn't there. He obviously decided that it wasn't worth it.



Don't worry about what he might say to other people. I'm sure he has a reputation as a conniver, and no one takes his word seriously. He has probably been bragging around about how he's going to get some money back from you... you'll probably get MORE business by sticking up for yourself.





Tom
 
It looks like you did your part on the customer service end of things. There are just customers that aren't going to be happy and you just have to be the bigger person and offer to fix what you think is right. One thing I have realized in my 2 years is that customers aren't normally after blood and alot of the time may be something I missed.



Don't bother anymore with this guy, it is ok to lose customers who are after the cheapest deal. I save myself the trouble with standard packages and pricing for cars which it looks like you have. I don't cut deals to anyone unless they have a coupon I gave them. Set up a fixed pricing system for cars by size so there is no guess work.
 
most people who always try to talk you down, probably will never always be satisfied and will complain about something so they get the "price cut".
 
I do have set prices, and I always forewarn them that cars in worse condition are subject to additional charge. If he had been available when I delivered the truck like he said he would be, I could have gone over everything with him and why I did what I did.



Thanks for the replies. I'm going to stick to my initial thought and tell him he'd be best off going to one of the $70 shops.
 
imacarnut said:
most people who always try to talk you down, probably will never always be satisfied and will complain about something so they get the "price cut".
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Exactly! I learned a long time ago not to do business with people who try to talk you down on price.



I also don't like to do cars when the owner is not around unless they are a trusted regular. I want the owner to go over the car before I leave so if there are any issues, I can address them then. I know rlspringer got burned on a Mercedes. First time customer who wasn't there at the time of the detail and when she got back in town, she had some issues with the carpeting and wanted it replaced!



What I would do is if the guy calls you back again is to make another appointment to look over the interior and correct anything that is correctable then wash your hands of him. If he fails to honor the appointment, consider that his last chance to have anything corrected and if he calls again, tell him you scheduled two appointments to take care of any issues and he blew you off and you consider the matter closed.
 
As Scott says, I always get my clients to look the car over before I leave to check I haven't missed anything as when you've spent 4-9 hours on a car it's quite easy to overlook something. If they flag it to me there and then I'm happy to sort it, but I don't accept people ringing me three days later saying there's a bit of dirt on the mats etc.



I'd forget this "client" and move on. There are enough people who will pay good money for good detailing out there that you don't need to bother with the pond life. If he wants to pay $70 for a full detail let him, just try to contain the smile when he brings it back to you to get it sorted afterwards.



Ben
 
tdekany said:
This is only my opinion.





People who don't take me seriously, I don't do business with. Guys like him will not send you referrals. Do not refund any money. Did he get charged for all the time that you had wasted waiting for his calls?



Pisses me off to read stories like this.



Move on and charge enough for the hard work that you do. m2c
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:werd: I couldn't have said it any better myself...angry overtones and all!!!!



Unfortunately in our business their are a lot of hacks and one year start ups (open in the spring and gone by the winter)...all of which charge sub-market prices in an attempt to draw business. They do hack work and never get any referrals but will leave a bad taste in a potential clients mouth when it comes to the "art" of detailing. These are the clients who will try to talk you down on price. I always make the same simple comment to them: "These are my prices...I don't discount...you will be satisfied...period". If they can get past their past experience with a hack and accept my business they will without question become regular clients. If they still try to talk me down I politely say...NO SOUP FOR YOU...and move on. If you are confident in your work do not sell yourself short.
 
Well said. I had a new customer call me on Friday and immediately started quizzing me about what all services I offered. I pretty much told him what I do and he wanted to know how much to do his 10 year old Mercedes C280. Sometimes I hate to bid a job without looking at it for fear the guy has a real beater he wants to look new. So I told him $165 and he said good. I picked it up Saturday morning and returned it that afternoon. First words out of his mouth were, "What have you done to my car?" I about $hit. The next thing he said was, "This is just exactly how I had hoped it would look when you were done." What a relief. Point is, he was telling me how tired he was of paying someone $75 to detail his car and then he would have to come home and clean the wheels. You get what you pay for.
 
"Fire" the customer. If you did a good job but the customer wants to point out items that do not meet their satisfaction it's up to them if they want to do to do it, but not at your expense (wasted time). Politely decline to take on any more work from him by saying you are now booked solid.



Do not refund anything. He's only looking for a better price.
 
I always hate when i cant show the client the finnished product. For one i like to see the look of excitement on their face once the job is complete. Secondly i hate coming back to fix my mistakes.



I'm gonna make a check list to use for myself and the customer to check over the car after everything is complete



Jordan
 
He wanted a full detail for 70 bucks, where does he live Mexico, lol? There's one bad apple in every bunch, you just have to pick the other apples and leave the bad ones behind. Unfortunately, everytime I used to get and unsatisfied customer I knew it wasn't on me but it sucks anyway. You expecting a "good job dude" and instead you get that crap.
 
We had one of those customers once who was a real pain.



He called (it was a Sunday) and asked for a full detail for his late 70's Benz (not a classic or show car, just a regular used up Benz).



I gave him a quotation and told him that we won't be able to take in appointments until late Wednesday. Told him that the car will take 2.5 days to complete as well in his car's condition.



He brought the car in on Tuesday afternoon. Told us that he'll just leave it with us until it's done.



He visited us Wednesday afternoon and was upset that we haven't "started" on his car yes. I told him that as mentioned previously, we can't work on his car until Wed afternoon, possibly first thing on Thursday.



He asked how come the other cars that we are detailing on that day was already in the shop while his isn't. I told him that they were the ones who booked before you did. (He wants to assert that his car was with us BEFORE those who made the appointment, so he should be served first).



He came back Thursday PM. At that time, we had one guy cleaning his really dirty and old engine. The engine had a lot of "quick fix" issues such as taped wires, clamped vac hoses etc, by no means an above average condition engine bay. Our detailer had to wetsand the valve cover etc to get it cleaned with all the burnt oil on top of it etc.



The interior was a wreck as well, though there are not much tears and such, all the vinyl dash pieces are really faded.



Again, he complained about the "slow work" that's happening.



Friday AM we washed and worked on the paint and exterior. The car looked at least 60% better than it did, the interior trim was "rejuvenated" the paint was glossy etc.



But when he picked up the car, the car wasn't idling well.



We checked the distributor cap and plugs, they're all dry as the desert (since we wrap them pretty well). A mechanic beside our shop checked the usual parts affected after a wash and no problems were found.



He was mad at us about it. Although we clearly showed him the clause that he signed before leaving the car regarding engine cleaning and possible malfunctions that we can't be held liable for.



After some tinkering, he called his mechanic to go to the shop. The mechanic arrived and as soon as he heard the car, he proceeded to tinker with a wire in the engine bay, taped it up, and the car ran fine.



By this, we (owners and workers) were thinking "damn, that means this has occured before and the mechanic knows about it).



Then he starts bashing us in our local benz forums etc.



Turns out that most guys in that forum knows that he's an a$$ when it comes to complaints. So nobody really gave a hoot about what he said.



I still see his car almost everyday on the road since he lives a few blocks away from me.



Annoying.
 
tdekany said:
This is only my opinion.





People who don't take me seriously, I don't do business with. Guys like him will not send you referrals. Do not refund any money. Did he get charged for all the time that you had wasted waiting for his calls?



Pisses me off to read stories like this.



Move on and charge enough for the hard work that you do. m2c
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Nuff said :angry Don't waste your time on him
 
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