The customer from hell. (long)

T

thevolvoguy

New member
You read it, heres the story...



Yesterday I detailed a 2000 Grand Caravan Sport.



1) It's a minivan... 'nuff said

2) She has 5 kids

3) The van has never been cleaened, not even ran through an automatic wash.



I get a message on my cell from a woman who has a minivan and has been looking into having it detailed. So I called back, gave her my prices and asked things like condition, year, model, etc...



I arrived at her house yesterday at 3pm... 96 degrees, 90% humidity, direct sun, no garage, and my helper didnt show.



So I got to work first having to scrub the carpets with dish soap twice (steam cleaner just wouldnt budge stains) I then realized I left my vaccum in MY car which my dad had taken for the day. Remember this car is filthy, never cleaned in 3 years with 5 kids in it everyday.



There was no way I could do w/o, so I had to borrow the customers vac. :nono Oh well.



Anyway to sum this all up... I got the car clean, QD'd, looks great... So I went to get the owner and she comes out to see it and acts very impressed. Then she starts looking under the seats, mats, even lifting up the plastic moldings to make sure everything is clean.



After about 10 minutes of her nagging (telling me that I missed a spot here and there) she finally says thank you it looks great! Then comes payment. I had previously quoted her for $80 for my basic detail. So when she was writing the check she said "It's $80 right?", I told her no, $65 because my work obviously did not meet her expectaions the first time around. She just said okay.



I only got 65 bucks from the bit@$... not even a tip, freakin soccer moms man... :mad:
 
I beleave you did the right thing in offering a slightly lower price. Even so, some people will take the lower price regardless if they felt you did $80 worth of work or not, so I wouldn't take it personally.



You did prove that you stand by your work and quality, and that if the customer is not happy you will make amends.
 
Having customers like this are good. I had a customer do this with an expedition about different things I missed. Well, you know what? I don't miss spots like that anymore!



Like the spots right underneath the handle for leaning the seat back! I never knew that spot go so dirty.



When she put the seats back to check some stuff a whole bunch of crap fell from between the seat cushions onto the back floor. I know move the seats all the way back and all the way forward when I vaccum as well as run a brush through that area.



Customers like this will help you become a better detailer.
 
Yeah, I was just mad because it looked soooo much better than before and she just seemed kinda like she didnt even care but whatever... I don't let things like that get to me. I need sleep. See yall in the morning. :wavey
 
Intel, I agree... I think it made me double check a few more times than I usually do. I guess you're right, that experience will probably help me out in the long run. :nixweiss
 
The world is filled with people like that. However, you showed that you are a good person with morals and ethics. If you should be feeling anything, feel proud of yourself!
 
What Bizzy said. :up



Of course, she probably has no clue anyway and just did it because it was getting so unbearably filthy. I bet her engine oil is 1 year old or more. Maybe she'll call you again in 2 years...
 
Whoa!!! I don't think there was anything unethical or immoral about what she did. Accusing her of that is beyond unfair.



The fact is thevolvoguy detailed a car, wasn't fully prepared to do the job completely (no helper, no vac), and didn't ensure a completely satisified customer. I'm not dissing thevolvoguy; I appreciate his efforts and his candor. But as others said, this was a learning experience. Customer's have certain expectations and its up to the person doing the work to meet and exceed those expectations.



I applaud him for offering a discount on the job - I think that was the right thing to do. Expecting something beyond the basic payment is probably not reasonable. Everyone knows its proper to tip food servers but most folks don't know its proper to tip a detailer. You're charging a fee for a service and asking the customer to pay it. Ya can't complain when they do what you tell them to.



All in all, a good experience which I'm sure will benefit you down the road.
 
You showed yourself as a professional, and she can't complain one bit to her friends, without having to admit she paid less than the quoted price.



Pretty stinky, though, if you ask me! I have 5 kids and KNOW how bad a van can get -- even if you do clean it regularly!! (I love my kids but they are walking disaster-areas!)



Anyway -- good job! :up
 
I have a regular customer like that. Never satisified no matter what. She buys cars from her Dad's wrecking yard then has them repaired then I detail them-usually 2 cars a month. The problem is, anything the body shop messed up on, like buffer marks, overspray, etc, she expects me to take care of for the regular price I give her because she is a repeat customer and even gets cars detailed when it is raining.



She is real picky about the interior, but it made me a more thorough detailer since she seems to be able to find the most obscure location and the tiniest speck of dirt. She usually doesn't find anything anymore though since I know all her 'picky' spots.



-------------------------



I had a similar nasty vehicle to clean yesterday-a white 1996 Dodge Ram 2500. It is a work truck that goes to construction sites regularly and for some reason, the owner seems to be unaware of an invention known as a vacuum cleaner. The entire driver's side carpet was caked in mud. I pretty much had to poor water into the carpet, agitate it with a brush then wet vac. Took nearly 2 gallons of water to get all the dried dirt and mud out of it. Not many stains in it, just dust and dirt everywhere. Took me 2.5 hours on the interior alone. The outside wasn't much better. Scrapes down the side, imbedded gunk in the paint-looked to need a couple of hours of polishing and claying, but he said he was selling it and just to wash and wax the exterior. I used Clearkote's Moose Wax on it (a pretty good and very glossy cleaner wax) and it shined up pretty good. The guy and his wife came out and both were extremely pleased--the guy had no idea his interior could end up that clean. Still didn't get a tip though.



I really wish I had taken a before and after pic of the interior-but I used up all the film in my camera the day before and forgot to buy more.
 
This is a bit off-topic, but I once detailed a friend's car (Mitsubishi Diamante). All in all the car was in decent condition, but it didn't have a very glossy 'new car' shine and it also had a lot of swirls. I vacumed the interior, dressed the dash & cleaned/conditioned the leather. Then came the exterior, which required a good claying, Finesse-It 2, PPCL, & Z-2. After the Z-2, I thought the car shone as well as anything you'd find in a dealer showroom. It pretty much took me all day long...... and my friend, who was helping me, was quite ecstatic and couldn't stop talking about how much he liked the results. However, when his wife came home, we asked her what she thought and her response was, "It doesn't really stand out". Not even a thank-you or anything... just unimpressed and ungrateful. Come to think of it, she's never complimented me or my wife on anything....not our new condo, new BMW, Lexus.... nothing.
 
Not to dis volvoguy but the job he did was unsatisfactory so he offered a discount. Very commendable of you. How would you all feel if your housekeeper didnt vacuum under the coffee table or dust the lamp shades? Same sorta thing going on here.
 
Sometimes, it doesnt matter how well you do, someone will always find something to complain about. These type of people end up coming back to you , because you have a cheaper price, and you let them nick pick you. I KNOW THIS FROM EXPERIENCE!!!!! They either eventually quit calling, or shut up and accept the job you do or find someone else. My 2 cents. Jason P.S. Ive had these people go somewhere else , and come back to me and say they will be quiet and pay whatever I think is fair. Sometimes I have to tell these people that I dont have to detail their car.....Ive had to do this to dealers about full size conversion vans... Try to treat your good customers good, and your bad customers decent but fair to yourself.. Sometimes, I just take the hassle , cause I need the money!!!:sosad
 
Adam, both she and I knew the job wasnt unsatisfactory. That was not the problem here. She was overly picky. I am not flaming her for being that way, I know it will help me later in my other jobs. BUT I would say checking underneath the plastic trim in the door jams is a little wacko. She has already called me back and wants me again thursday for the other car. Oh well, Looks like I better get used to her.
 
bretfraz said:
Whoa!!! I don't think there was anything unethical or immoral about what she did. Accusing her of that is beyond unfair.
Click to expand...





Errrm... I don't remember accusing anybody of anything...
 
After reading this, here is my take..

Volvoguy was pretty good to lower the price.. I have seen others that still charge the price they quoted because they feel the work was done, even if nit picks were pointed out.. kudos to VG

The downside is borrowing the vac.. VG acknowledged that wasnt good, but who would know that the asst didnt show unless he told us and her..

Even I didnt know about the tipping/not tipping.. The customer may not have a frame of reference on this.. but then I have to look at the drive up Auto Wash places and I leave those guys a tip when I go there.. so a tipping should be somewhat expected esp if the job done was really good..

VG- is your $80 price for an interior detail only? or did this include a wash, clay, polish, wax, QD? if you are doing the inside and outside, I am driving to Houston to have you do mine.. that price seems very reasonable..

It seems this may turn out well for you because you now have a repeat customer and probably a good referral for more business later on..

As I always say though, if the customer becomes too much of a pain, then charge them a price that makes it worth your while or tell them you are too busy...
 
Didnt mean to get your ire up volvoguy but the term "to detail" means to leave absolutely nothing overlooked. Some customers really take that to heart and unfortunately you found one of them but I'm glad it all worked out for ya in the end.
 
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