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Topic
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Pontiac G7
2007
6 cylinder EngineChanged front Rotors and Brake pads. Then next day I get a call that the customer is experiencing problems when he turns left really sharp and feels an imbalance. I know that all of the systems of the vehicle play important roles in the overall performance of any vehicle.
I tell the customer that I will check out his vehicle again. I checked over the entire front end found out that the Sway Bar link on the driver side was broken. The customer says to me that I was the last one that worked on his vehicle. Therefore he feels it’s related to what I did.
I make it clear to him that the braking system and the suspension system are two different areas although one can’t exist without the other. I tell him to but the parts and I put them in for free. It’s a simple job.
Please let me know what your opinion is. What would you have done in my situation ? Thanks ETCG COMMUNITY
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there are always people like that, they think they can get away with anything. i started my new job this month my first week i was doing oil changes my 3rd week car comes back complaining of an oil leak since oil change. when the car came in the first time it was leaking oil everywhere me being a nice guy a removed the belly pan and actually clean in and note on the repair order oil pan gasket is leaking. the customer demanded we fix his oil leak cause i was the reason it was leaking. i was like seriously. some people cant be happy
[quote=”drthrift035″ post=68182]Pontiac G7
2007
6 cylinder EngineChanged front Rotors and Brake pads. Then next day I get a call that the customer is experiencing problems when he turns left really sharp and feels an imbalance. I know that all of the systems of the vehicle play important roles in the overall performance of any vehicle.
I tell the customer that I will check out his vehicle again. I checked over the entire front end found out that the Sway Bar link on the driver side was broken. The customer says to me that I was the last one that worked on his vehicle. Therefore he feels it’s related to what I did.
I make it clear to him that the braking system and the suspension system are two different areas although one can’t exist without the other. I tell him to but the parts and I put them in for free. It’s a simple job.
Please let me know what your opinion is. What would you have done in my situation ? Thanks ETCG COMMUNITY[/quote]
Not to take his side, but on most Repair order forms there is usually a place for you to note other issues.
I always inspect the front end throughout when I do a brake job (upsell maybe?)LOL…
Anyway, if you didn’t see it I understand or if it wasn’t there as well.. If not you say that you did a complete inspection then you may be covered because you did not note it in that section…
Still it sucks to have some one blame you…Hope the link didn’t cost too much… They at least are easy to do…
Karl
I think you have been more than generous, as your repairs are in no way connected with the current issues.
We list and advise everything we spot when working on vehicles. In a situation like this it would not be a free job, there may be a discount as goodwill and that would be as far as it goes.most of the time it’s ignorance. We had a car in the shop for an oil change and it wouldn’t restart. The mechanics looked at it and said the fuel pump went. Of course, that looks bad to the customer because it worked just fine when we drove it in. How do you explain to a customer that the vehicle had a component fail in your care? Fortunately, his grandfather came in to pick him up and talked with the mechanic and agreed that sometimes, stuff happens. We gave them a quote for the repair and offered assistance in getting the vehicle to their home.
Sometimes you have to “eat it” to keep your reputation. It sucks because you are losing money on the repair, but in the end, you are gaining in the long run.
It’s best to educate the customer first, explain the situation and then decide what you are going to do. Offer the repair at half the cost since it’s a relatively simple job ( the sway bar link ) or do it for free depending on how the situation unfolds.
Documentation is key.
[quote=”redfury” post=68195]most of the time it’s ignorance. We had a car in the shop for an oil change and it wouldn’t restart. The mechanics looked at it and said the fuel pump went. Of course, that looks bad to the customer because it worked just fine when we drove it in. How do you explain to a customer that the vehicle had a component fail in your care? Fortunately, his grandfather came in to pick him up and talked with the mechanic and agreed that sometimes, stuff happens. We gave them a quote for the repair and offered assistance in getting the vehicle to their home.
Sometimes you have to “eat it” to keep your reputation. It sucks because you are losing money on the repair, but in the end, you are gaining in the long run.
It’s best to educate the customer first, explain the situation and then decide what you are going to do. Offer the repair at half the cost since it’s a relatively simple job ( the sway bar link ) or do it for free depending on how the situation unfolds.
Documentation is key.[/quote]
Great answers. Thanks to everyone on here. I will do way more effective evaluations. Thanks again.
Everyone who works on cars goes through this and the number of crooked or ignorant of mechanical fact customers is not a small number either. About all you can do is document, cover your bases, and be prepared to draw a line in the sand if that’s what it takes.
Many years ago a guy bought a Toyota pickup with an exploded clutch. He got this nice truck for a 100 dollar bill. The throwout bearing and pressure plate had exploded into shrapnel. He argued the point about “patching the bearing and pressure plate back together”. Ha.
I replaced the clutch assembly and the truck ran and drove out well. Off the truck went to the farm for use by the hired hands.Almost a year later there’s a knock on my door after 10 at night. Opening the door I see some guy whom I had never seen before and he asked me if I was the mechanic who worked on X’s Toyota truck. Yes, that’s me. It then led to this.
“Well, the truck has blown a head gasket and X (owner of the truck) sent me over here. He says you’re responsible because you replaced the head gasket a year ago and that you need to redo it for free.”.
I straightened this guy out politely but firmly and quick. It’s bad enough to get accused of things you have not done and it’s made even worse when they start coming to your house late in the evening to accuse you of it.
It’s hard to give in to customers like that. The old “It was OK until you worked on it” scenario. I think it’s more like they really don’t understand than being crooked.
That said, for the work and cost involved it’s not worth losing a customer over.
I’m not a mechanic and doesn’t have my own shop, but in your specific case I would have told the customer that he asked for a brake-job and that was what he had gotten. And that I had in no way, shape or form been near his front sway-bar and thus would be without fault for its failure. And afterwards tell him that I would agree to work on it and give him a fair price if he brought the parts, or a fair offer on work and parts.
If it was me?, then I would have most likely given the front of the car a once over, while I was down there anyway and notify the customer of any other existing problems or potentially issues in the future. And then either offer to fix it/them right then and there, provide the customer with a quote for their repair, or lastly if the customer outright refused that I fixed the other things, simply work on what the customer had wanted and then notify him once again on pickup that xx issues exists on the vehicle, and since he had refused that I fix them I am not liable for any damages/failure those systems might suffer after he leaves the shop.
That way at least the customer drives away with the knowledge of any preexisting issues, and potential issues to watch out for in the future, and without it costing him more then the original quote. HOWEVER, if the car was unsafe or dangerous to drive off my lot, I would strongly urge the customer to get it fixed before they picked it up, and if they don’t want that?, then sadly I would have to call the cops on them when they left with a potentially fatal/dangerous vehicle that is unsafe for public roads.
Yeah there is no way I would have done it for free. They asked for a brake job, you performed the brake job, call it bad timing that the sway bar end link broke. If they are the type of customer to pull something like that and won’t be satisfied unless it’s done for free, then ask them to go somewhere else…. unless of course you’re an employee at a shop.
In the end ultimately, it really depends on the discussion that took place with the customer-the tone that was taken by both parties and how the situation “feels”. If both parties go into it hard headed, then the resolution is going to be harder fought than if both parties go into it with understanding.
Showing the customer the badly rusted link and explaining to them that the other side will likely fail due to the same cause should resonate with the customer unless they are completely clueless. If that’s the case, then you either keep it simple and just tell them that they break on vehicles often due to corrosion, or go into detail if you think they can keep up with the discussion.
I don’t work on cars for a living, but I do deal with customers on site every day. I make sure that anytime I get the opportunity to educate my customers, I take that time to fill their head with as much information as I can stuff in it, not to mention get to know them on a semi personal nature. For me, it makes the customer comfortable knowing the guy working in their house has a personal interest in what they have hired him to do. I get fewer call backs from the customers that I get to talk to than the ones I don’t. Every job I do, no matter how big or how small gets the highest degree of customer service that I can dish out…I go out of my way to make my customers happy. I work longer hours for it, and sometimes get roped into doing things outside of my line of work, but it makes me happy knowing that I’m out there helping people out and I do it without expectation of recompense.
A small investment in time pays bigger dividends than taking the money and just doing my job.
Wow. You and I are cut from the same cloth. I always go out of my way to see to it that things are taken care of properly for my customers. When you make a good name for yourself things work out much better in life. I also do my best to educate the customer. People don’t like to be left in the dark and feel powerless when then don’t know what is going on. Great point. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
[quote=”drthrift035″ post=68368]Wow. You and I are cut from the same cloth. I always go out of my way to see to it that things are taken care of properly for my customers. When you make a good name for yourself things work out much better in life. I also do my best to educate the customer. People don’t like to be left in the dark and feel powerless when then don’t know what is going on. Great point. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.[/quote]
You as well! My vacation stunk due to me pulling a muscle in my back on Wednesday…had lots planned, mostly working on my van and installing a floor for my mother in law. That’s the only problem with the way I work…I rarely have a good spread of time for myself. I’d bet you find yourself in the same situation.
I think it’s a global truth that nobody likes to be left in the dark, and when they are, that’s when they start to think, and when they don’t know what to think, they think bad things. That’s when things get ugly.
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