talked to fellow detailer....and made me pist!!

I

imported_ajbarnes

New member
You know, just when you think you heard of it all, you hear some sick stuff like this....



I spoke with a fellow detailer recently about trends, products, prices, services, etc. Obviously he cares more about money than he does quality. He tells me that on his highest priced $150 full details, he only uses spray wax on the exterior as the wax....and that's it!! He occasionally charges less at certain areas like office buildings, etc., and what he would do to up sell them is to offer "paste wax" as a much more better wax than the spray wax! No polishing, no seal, no prep, just washed and "waxed". For the interior, he mixes up this solution with about 5 different products or something into a bucket of water, and uses that solution to clean the ENTIRE interior with it...I'm talking dashboards, console, leather, carpets, upholstery, trim, door jambs, etc. I've actually seen him do this! How does it look when he's done? Like CRAP! The funny part is after he flew through the inside of the vehicle with this solution, he stops and turn around and look at me like saying ...."Look at that....ain't I great!", my only thought was how I was going to refrain from slapping the bejezus out of him for disgracing this industry!!



Then, he had the audacity to tell me I'm losing money because of the wide array of high quality products I use, and the fact it takes me 2-4 hours (which is very quick in our business). Want to know how long it takes him to do a full detail? 30min. - 1 hour!!! He has about 4 employees working for him and he sends them out to office buildings doing several of these so called details and it makes me feel real bad for the customer's because they don't know they are being had. The biggest way he get's away with it, is the fact he has pressure washers, powerful commercial products, etc. which aides him in making a vehicle "look" like it was detailed or should I say cleaned, and all in a matter of a short period of time.



I think that is so wrong, and for a company to stoop that low to make a quick buck is disgusting.



Sorry for the rant, but I had to tell somebody...might as well be those who really care about quality, customer satisfaction, and TRUE DETAILING!
 
Maybe you need to have 'someone' distribute brochures to his clients about the importance of choosing a good detailer- what you should get for what you pay. Don't have an advertisement for any service but just allude to his poor quality ha ha



On a serious note that is horrible but I believe it. The biggest challenge to detailers is that we are limited to a market base because the majority of people feel a full detail just means spraying the car down and throwing wax on top of it.
 
It always saddens me to hear that people take shortcuts in their jobs. When I first joined Autopia, I used several non-Autopian detailers to detail my vehicle. Most of them finished the job in less than an hour. Afterwards I found scratches on the wheels and in the instrument cluster.



Since then, I've done all detailing myself. It is a great way to spend the day and helps me wind down from the week. If I was to choose a detailer in the future, it would be an Autopia one.
 
With this business you'll always find people like that.



You'll also always find customers who want to go with the cheaper guy just because they don't know better. Some people are also loyal to their detailers and don't want to move to someone else. Just want to stick with the same guy.



I had this problem a few times trying to get business from a couple people who were getting their vehicles washed weekly really cheap. Talking $10 - $13 for a wash.
 
aj I feel your pain , I have had many of run in's with so called detailers like this. What really burns me is the so-called high end dealers who do this. Recently a new luxury and exotic car dealer opend up in my area and instead of spending the time to detail his inventory he has a crew come in and power wash the cars down and then hand wash them with soap and a sponge. That's it no polishing or waxing. And when I say high-end cars I'm talking 911's , G-Wagens , a couple of Avante's and alot of other really nice automoibiles. It's a shame to see such cars ruined like this but when the topic of proper detailing comes up with the owner it's called a waste of time and money becasue that's just $200 less he'll make on the car. Ah the pains of our industry , hopefully it will get better over time...
 
AJ, it's ashame that guy even calls himself a detailer. One day sooner or later it will catch up with him - hopefully sooner than later.
 
Interesting story. Unfortunately I think it is very common. The professionals on this board seem to be the exception instead of the rule. Of the professional detailers in my town I would say a very large percentage of them are as you described. Almost none "polish" and/or clay prior to "waxing". A detail here is a good wash and then a coat of some type of "wax" with dressing applied to tires and interior. Countless fellow employees have shown me their freshly "detailed" car and the only thing I can think of is "You paid $120 for that!!!!" Of course I smile and say it looks nice. I have learned if I asked what was done they have no clue. This unfortunately underscores the problem. Many of the "clients" don't know what a good detail should look like.
 
I recently detailed a black 2002 BMW 530i that has been done by a "professional" detailer in town....



The genrtleman saw me working in the yard and asked me if I could take a look at the car.



The swirling was so bad you could see the holographic marks from 40 feet away under a layer of dust and pollen. It appears that the "detailer" buffed the car with a coarse wool cutting pad and then waxed over the swirls ( there was buffing residue in all of the crevices, on the rubber seals, on the tires, etc.)



The client was charged $150 by the professional dealer for a complete interior and exterior detailing. The "pro" spilled something on the passenger side floor mat and could not get it out, so he offered the client a new floor mat... a generic brand that he bought at Wal-Mart that didn't even come close to matching the color of the original!



He dropped the car off on a Sunday afternoon. I vacuumed the interior, used my extractor and removed the the stains on the floor mat with no problem whatsoever. After detailing the interior, I washed and clayed the car, then put it in my garage and started it first thing Monday morning.



I buffed the swirls out using DACP and my Makita rotary with a 3M foam pad, followed by DACP and my PC with a yellow pad, Meguiar's #9 with a white pad, then two coats of NXT follwed by a topper of S100.



When I dropped the car off at his home, he said that I brought him the wrong car... that was not the one he dropped of the afternoon before!



Another happy customer... He has two more vehicles for me to detail for him!
 
Gonzo0903 said:
I recently detailed a black 2002 BMW 530i that has been done by a "professional" detailer in town....



The genrtleman saw me working in the yard and asked me if I could take a look at the car.



The swirling was so bad you could see the holographic marks from 40 feet away under a layer of dust and pollen. It appears that the "detailer" buffed the car with a coarse wool cutting pad and then waxed over the swirls ( there was buffing residue in all of the crevices, on the rubber seals, on the tires, etc.)



The client was charged $150 by the professional dealer for a complete interior and exterior detailing. The "pro" spilled something on the passenger side floor mat and could not get it out, so he offered the client a new floor mat... a generic brand that he bought at Wal-Mart that didn't even come close to matching the color of the original!

He dropped the car off on a Sunday afternoon. I vacuumed the interior, used my extractor and removed the the stains on the floor mat with no problem whatsoever. After detailing the interior, I washed and clayed the car, then put it in my garage and started it first thing Monday morning.



I buffed the swirls out using DACP and my Makita rotary with a 3M foam pad, followed by DACP and my PC with a yellow pad, Meguiar's #9 with a white pad, then two coats of NXT follwed by a topper of S100.



When I dropped the car off at his home, he said that I brought him the wrong car... that was not the one he dropped of the afternoon before!



Another happy customer... He has two more vehicles for me to detail for him!
Click to expand...
Now here's a real pro:bow Gonzo's work speaks for him......Great addition to this thread.
 
Hackers irritate me too. They give us all a bad name and not only do they do substandard work, they often charge a bargain basement price so when you give the customer your price they think you are overcharging them.



There is a detail shop near me that almost never has cars in its bays when I drive by and their name has changed 3 times in the past 6 years.
 
This is "Oh too common" where I am too. Sometimes I have hard times booking business because these detailers are doing it soo cheap.



I think my prices are fair for the amount of work I do and the amount of knowledge I have obtained mostly from here, but a couple other places as well.



The newest thing I have heard of is using Glass Cleaner (Windex) and a paper towel for all plastic, rubber, vinyl, and LEATHER cleaning. While thinking they are getting the dirt out, it's really the dye in the material. I even talked to a guy who used to "detail" for 10-12 years and he said he does that...Now he wants his car's done by me...hmmm



All in all, it can be very discouraging and aggrivating. I just stick to my prices and use their poor workmanship to my advantage. Without talking down the competition, make yourself sound more stellar by pointing out things you do (like clay, polish, then wax/seal) compared to your competition. That is LEGAL.



Good Luck and don't get too discouraged.





PS - Did I mention these people are usually very arrogant and think VERY highly of their work?
 
AJ!!! That guy must have a hizzle of a commute because he works in my office park, too.



Guess what pad he uses on the PC? THE ORIGINAL PAD. (read: never changes the pad) At the very least, he throws a layer of non-descript cleaner wax on the cars, but the tires are always shinier than the paint. My workmates use him because of his 1 hour service and $30 pricetag. Wheelwells are left filthy, and micromarring is significantly higher on two vehicles I have been watching since starting here (dark blue TL and red Boxter).



I'm not willing to drop to $30 or even $50 just to get a little business from the office:D
 
Oh that's so common here in Manila as well, when I visit our "competitors", it's amazing to see that as a shop, they only have like 2-3 pads for all tasks from compounding to polishing to wax removal (they like using rotaries here). The Meg (most common) pads are used till they're like 1/4 of an inch thick (from its original 1.25" thickness)...



We use 3 pads for glass, 3 pads for compounding, 3 pads for polishing, separate pads for RO waxing and we change our polishing and finishing pads to new ones every 3 months.
 
This has been going on for years. I refer to these guys as backyard detailers. Don't worry about him because he will not be around long. For whatever you give out in life you get back. This is one of the reasons I am able to get top dollar, people like this who do it for the money. One of my sayings for years has been "Do what you love , and love what you do, but never ever do it for the money. These words of wisdom will literally drop money in your pocket like you have never seen before.
 
I am not a detailer but I play one in my spare time.......With that said, I have a trmendouse amount of respect for the work that you guys do and althohgh i have learned alot on this site i am sure many of you have forgotten mroe than I know.....I have chosen to use pros ona few occasions (time or a situation I was not comfortable with) and have met some great detailers here in AZ , the best of which was refed to me by this site, however I have have also met some shmoes and the worst is these "companies" that say they are high end shops and have pics of high end cars and yes, they may have one or two good guys but the rest are a bunch of recently hired monkeys that are given a crash course in how to clean a car then turned loose on the street
 
I am a firefighter...detailing for me is a paying hobby. I take pride in my work, and it shows, as just about all of my clientel are repeat customers.



I find that if you do good a good job, you do not have to go out looking for work... it comes to you!
 
How about this...



I found out that the local detail shop that has a tent setup on the parking lot of the Navy Exchange. Has no access to running water so if a customer drives up with a dirty car (heavy dirt, mud, etc...) and wants a detail. They actually tell the customer to go wash their car at home or at the coin op car wash down the road and come back and they will detail it for them. :nixweiss



Well, this past Sunday, while waiting to meet up with a fellow Autopian. :) I parked right across this same detail shop and I witnessed at least 5 to 7 cars driving up asking them for an estimate or quote. I guess the saying is true in this case, “Build it and they will come�. And these guys have been there for quite some time.



And they didn't look professional. Not even a company t-shirt.



With Aloha,

Ranney :)
 
Unbelievable, there are so many car and truck cleaning businesses out there but I bet only 10 % are any good. Many times before I have seen detailers cleaning door trims and dashboards with high pressure water and a suparip caustic cleaner when almost all vinyl/plastic interiors hate water and water spots is the end result.



Let's get rid of these morons. Since last thursday I have been in Victoria and wherever I go I always look for car detailers in the yellow pages and victoria is full of them. Most are offering full details for $99 - $129 dollars and my best detail is a level 8 presidential and is at least two days. I do absolutely everything you can think of.



How they can do it for that price is what gets me. The vehicle probably has to be in excellent condition and clean before they start or something.
 
Here's a kicker....I also forgot to mention that he also had the audacity to tell me that his cheap commerical "paste wax" is much better than Meg's #16!!! I saw the end result of his "paste wax" on a blue Hyundai and all I can say is :rolleyes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top