What do you offer when a detail goes sour?

joyriide1113

joyriide1113

There is no cure!
I had a detail scheduled for this morning for a member here on DC. He has a nice new BMW but has horrific rotory swirls that need removing. He came by last weekend to show me the car and so I can do a test panel and show him what hes looking at. He agreed and was here early and on time. Dropped off his car and agreed to pic it up later in the afternoon.

Well just when I was about to start polishing, My backing plate gives up and fails. I've had this coming to me, as I'm surprised it hasn't happened before. Before I REALIZED that there is no need for a wrench with the makita, to dislodge backing plates, I would always squeeze and grip the backing plate along with the spindle in order to take it off. "D'OH!". Yea yea i know. Well after so much abuse the backing plate just gave up. The rotory still spins but since the female connector of the backing plate is soo warped it just doesnt spin when placing pressure. Therefor, NO DETAIL. I tried looking for a spare backing plate I may have had left from the original but no luck.

So I finshed the job with a hit of PWC and Nattys Blue. Came out real nice, but not what the client wanted. I'm still waiting to get a hold of him so I can explain and hopefully reschedule. I'm giving him the Polish and Wax free of charge in hopes of maintaining the situation until next weekend.


What would you guys have done in this situation or what would you offer in hopes of soothing the situation.
 
Sounds like you're doing the right thing. I would maybe give him/her a small discount because of the small inconvenience of having to reschedule another appointment.
 
It sounds to me like you have the situation well in hand. I think that what you did was the most appropriate thing to do. If the owner is not happy with the situation that has been presented there is not much that you can do. "**it happens". You did no damage. Left the vehicle in better shape than when it arrived. All for free I might add. Re-scheduling would be the proper course of action.
 
I agree with audiboy. Not much you could have done at least you made the effort to polish up the car until you can reschedule.
I guess this might be a good reason to flip for the E2K pads ;) ..

btw, when i purchased the Makita there was no wrench with the box,but the manual listed the wrench as on of the items the makita comes with :confused: .Long story short i went to purchase the wrench from a store in the area that sells,fixes tools and the employee showed me how to disconnect the sanding pad from the machine using the button :redface: .Yeah i know :ass .
 
I have edge2k pads, but the ones I have are older and are the ones with the stiffer foam. Even a finshing pad would leave some halos. So I switched to Lake County. I was thinking of polishing the car with the edge pads, even thought they might've left some halos and then finish up with the pc and FPII but then I couldn't remember if I gave the adapter away to a fellow detailer.

:(
 
I took in a red 97 svt with acid rain etching to see if I could make it better. I did, but the customer noticed what looked like wetsanding marks. I spent another hour polishing them out on another day. I charged him for the original work time, but not the extra work. I also washed for free.
He was happy, even if I was embarassed.
 
Joyride,
Send those older style pads back and we will gladly replace them with the newer versions. We could also get you the newest DA adatper as well unless you are using the rotary. This way you will NEVER have a backing plate problem EVER again!!
 
I had the velcro on the back of a Meguiar's cutting pad come apart halfway through a detail once. I was onsite and didn't have access to another pad. I ended up trying to finish the job with a lighter pad, but it was twice as hard to finish the job. Now I always bring backups for everything that I have to use that could break. Same thing in my garage. I always order two of everything so that I don't have to worry about running out unexpectedly after accidently spilling something or breaking something. It's just something I've had to do after more than one unpleasant experience of being caught with my pants down and having to explain to the customer that I can't finish the job the way I said I could. I don't like being in that situation, so it is better to be safe than sorry.
 
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