I recently detailed for a client who I thought stepped into the "rediculous" sector. Maybe I'm acting up a bit much, but here's how it went.
I was scheduled to show up at 8:30am for this detail which was about 90 mins from me. It was raining all morning but he needed the car done for a photoshoot. Being far away (I told him), I gave a "8:30ish" estimate. At 8:30, only 5 mins away according to my navigation, he calls and asks where I am. I told him "just a few minutes out, sorry the rain is slowing me down". "How many minutes exactly?" "My navigation reads 5 mins, see you then".
Ok, I am 99% of the time on-time or early. The weather slowed me down and if I thought I was going to be more than 5 minutes late, I would've phoned him.
I arrive to a car in the garage covered in post-it notes. There were about 4 dozen yellow post it notes on the car highlighting areas he wanted me to address, from the hood, to doors, to doorjams.
Anyway, I start with the interior. I do my usual routine of cleaning out any clutter and mats, then vacuuming, dusting, cleaning everything with Z9, dressing with Z10, windows, cleaning the carpets/mats, etc. When I shut the door, I got "why didn't you shampoo the mats/rugs". I explained to him how I always take the least aggressive methods possible. Since his carpets and mats were in such nice shape, a simple spot cleaning sufficed to a 99% result. He still didn't seemed convinced.
Next was the exterior, he backed it into the rain so that I could wash/clay the car along with the wheels, tires, wells. Under the microscope again, him and his father (btw, client was about 20) followed me to each wheel/tire/well and watched as I washed/clayed. He then questioned how I was going to clean his undercarriage. I expressed to him how it consisted of pressure washing, misting with degreaser, then pressure washing again. Still not very enthused...
He pulled the car back into the garage and I dried it off. He asked why the jams weren't cleaned yet. I expressed to him how if the jams are in rough shape I degrease them when doing the interior, but if in nice shape, I QD them at the end. Three more times over the course of the detail, he asked.
I began doing wetsanding and ultimately moved to compounding. Breathing down my neck, he kept asking "what's this, what's that". After each panel I completed, him and his father looked it over as if they were shaving with the paint. Halogen lights and fluorescents littered the ceiling with plenty of overall light. They checked the surface from many different angles and then talked about how it looked and if there were problems in their eyes. I kind of brushed it off and addressed these areas later.
Not to bore you with more details, but throughout the entire day, it seemed like I was under a microscope and that the work I was doing was not good enough. The ending of it all really bothered me.
On the phone before the detail, we discussed the job and how I would remove 95% of the swirl marks. He walked around the car with the halogen again and my Brinkmann (which I did not give him permission to use) and he noted 1-3 light marrs or swirls per panel. The car was easily 95%+, probably more like 98%+. Him and his dad almost seemed upset and they spoke loudly about their concerns yet never addressed them with me.
As I wiped down the LAST section of the car and prepared to pack up and shoot some pictures, they were now on the car like white on rice. In a tucked area of the door jam, the client found a spot of sticky residue that was smaller than a dime. I cleaned it and continued to pack. Then, they eyed the hood closely. To my missing, I missed a couple of minor tracer marks from sanding with 2400 grit. Only under the closest scrutiny with fluorescents could you see this. I hit it with compound by hand, then polish, then sealed. Then, THREE MORE TIMES they found utter tiny areas where their was a hairline marr or blended scratch that they wanted fixed.
I fixed them all and in this time the father took off. I shot pictures, packed up quick, and got out of there. Never did I hear even a "looks good". He paid me and I left. I know I left some details out, but you get the idea.
I have a couple ideas as to where I'm going from here as far as disclaimers and service offerings.
Thoughts and feelings are appreciated.
