Wow! "Do Not Wash" taken seriously

Focus2069 said:
I bet a firm letter from a lawyer "friend" would straighten that out real quick.
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Nah, I sorta doubt that threats of legal action would get much traction. I can't even imagine most attorneys wanting to draft that letter, it just smacks of ambulance-chaser. I've discussed this exact topic with the attorneys I use, and they all said they wouldn't want to be involved in anything like that (but hey, this was just casual conversation, not "here's what I want you to do"). Heh heh, my attorneys are "normal people" who don't know from marring ;)



Is somebody *really* gonna go through the hassle and expense of suing for damages? I know a lot of jurists, and trying to convince them that "swirlmarks" from a dealership's washing a car (for free) are something worth the court's time would be a hard sale. Try explaining the whole thing to people who couldn't care less about such stuff, people who've never "seen" a swirlmark (you know, more of those "normal people").



All for....what? You might get the dealership to pay for a detail, and mabye recover your legal expenses. How many hours/days/weeks spent on a lawsuit is *that* worth? And in the end you'd still be looking for a new dealership.



I do best with polite conversations with the service manager and dealership owner. Sometimes the outcome is that you can't do business with that shop, but most of the time it's worked out OK for me.
 
Accumulator said:
Nah, I sorta doubt that threats of legal action would get much traction. I can't even imagine most attorneys wanting to draft that letter, it just smacks of ambulance-chaser. I've discussed this exact topic with the attorneys I use, and they all said they wouldn't want to be involved in anything like that (but hey, this was just casual conversation, not "here's what I want you to do"). Heh heh, my attorneys are "normal people" who don't know from marring ;)



Is somebody *really* gonna go through the hassle and expense of suing for damages? I know a lot of jurists, and trying to convince them that "swirlmarks" from a dealership's washing a car (for free) are something worth the court's time would be a hard sale. Try explaining the whole thing to people who couldn't care less about such stuff, people who've never "seen" a swirlmark (you know, more of those "normal people").



All for....what? You might get the dealership to pay for a detail, and mabye recover your legal expenses. How many hours/days/weeks spent on a lawsuit is *that* worth? And in the end you'd still be looking for a new dealership.



I do best with polite conversations with the service manager and dealership owner. Sometimes the outcome is that you can't do business with that shop, but most of the time it's worked out OK for me.
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Even if you could find a lawyer to write a letter, a well drafted letter from a lawyer will cost about as much as a professional detail on the car. Any damages would lead to a small claims court case anyhow. I do think you would get laughed out of court - most jurists are not that OCD about cars.



Polite conversations are the key :). It works wonders.
 
You're not going to get a jury trial for swirl marks, guys. At best you'd get an apathetic judge working small-claims cases that would look at the before and after photos, roll his eyes, and throw it out.



The most effective thing you can do if a dealer washes your car after being asked not to is don't return to the dealer, and tell everyone you know that they suck. Loss of business hurts way more than threatening legal action and acting like an *******.
 
I think that 15951, 2005GTP and Accumulator all have vaild comments. The likelihood of getting satisfaction in small-claims court, and the expense involved wouldn't justify the end result.



In the end, the loss of business hurts more, particularly when you add the word-of-mouth bad vibes abous such a place.



However, Accumulator, didn't you once get blacklisted from receiving Griot's Garage catalogs in the past? Is there a dark past we don't know about? ; )



BTW, not to change the subject, but I stopped in a local speed shop today to pick up some 303 to send to my sister-in-law, to help her with the interior of her new car.



On the shelf were two tins of Meg's #16. There were three two years ago, when I bought one just to see what the fuss was about. The other two are still there. Go figure.
 
2005GTPinMD said:
Even if you could find a lawyer to write a letter, a well drafted letter from a lawyer will cost about as much as a professional detail on the car..
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Hey, yeah....I didn't even think of that; my primary attorney does stuff like that no-charge. I *will* say that letters from him have jump-started situations with some shops, but this wasn't over little stuff like a detail.



There are times when it *is* worth taking an automotive matter to court, but IME the mere threat of it (a *real* threat, i.e., an actual scheduled court date, etc.) can work wonders. But those were clear-cut situations where I didn't get what I paid for.



Hey said:
However, Accumulator, didn't you once get blacklisted from receiving Griot's Garage catalogs in the past?
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Yeah, they did drop me! And that was a weird one :think:



(OK, here goes the off-topic detour...)



At the urging of a customer service rep, I returned ~$300 worth of products that had proven unsatisfactory. I included a very detailed write-up explaining my dissatisfaction (and I spent ages on that). Told them how it was *their* employee who insisted I return the stuff and that I'd take a credit/refund, whatever they saw fit. Said something to the effect that my primary concern was to provide field-test evaluations, not just get my money back. Made it clear I was still a happy customer who would continue to spend oodles with them.



Result: no more catalogs for me. Every time I ordered from them I'd nicely comment on this and ask to re reinstated on their mailing list. Nothing. My wife (different last name) still got catalogs from them so it wasn't any big deal.



When placing an order, I finally thought to mention how helpful Richard had been back in the days when he answered the phone himself, and what a shame it was that they no longer seemed to appreciate a long-term customer. I said that it was probably time to send a letter to Richard about my "apparent inability to get off the company's [stuff]-list ". Aha! That must've resonated with somebody as the catalogs started coming again.
 
elephant_car_wash-1.jpg




Here is what I give my clients!



Cheers,

GREG
 
My Acura dealer does the same when I ask for "No Wash". They have a large sign put in the dash that reads DO NOT WASH.



No mistakes so far...
 
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