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Ok got to vent…. As some of you know I’m new to this forum and the auto repair world after the miltary so went in to work today and now I’ve got two truck in the shop with parts on the truck waiting for me to show up. And this service writer wanted me to stop and fix his buddy’s e-series can on the spot . is this normal?. Now I just did a lof then as I was handing keys to the customer he said he wanted.his front shocks replaced. I’m not at all apposed to the work but damn just bc they were friends this guy get to jump ppl that have been waiting for almost 2 weeks. Can some one help me understand this ? Or does it sound like fubar.
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It sounds like a little SA trying to play big shot to his buddy. We have a SA that tries to pull that kind of stuff, not to the extend of shocks, but asking to do things that aren’t next in line. I told one of the new guys that if he’s in a different RO than said vehicle he’s being told to work on to just say no, as if he’s talking to a 5 year old. “Can you put this car up on the hoist and take a look at what parts are missing underneath?” I can if you make an RO with and express open (what we use for $0 checks) line. If not, then I can’t.
All you can really do is just cover your own ass, confirm that it is indeed the highest priority vehicle. If you have to step on a toe or two and go over his/her head then do it. Then if a big boss comes out and tears you a new one you can say that you were told to and that person X verified it.
In most cases though if a customer hasn’t had their car for 2 weeks, a couple more hours probably isn’t going to kill them.
It’s like how “friends” of the service team at my work will show up with cars that fail the state emissions inspection because they have to cat on them. They want to hook somebody up and tell them they can have it inspected at our shop. The penalties for getting caught inspecting such a car are very stiff for me as the inspector and for my work, a registered inspection station. The incredible thing is that nobody ever even mentions any kind or “tip” or “greasing of the palm” or “bribe” when this happens. They don’t try to give them to me anymore because I give them so much shit over it. They have the young guy with the least seniority do it because he won’t refuse to do things yet. “Service Team Show-offs” you got up in there…
I tell the new guys ‘Learn to say No.’
If you think something isn’t legit talk to your manager about it.
I’m lucky I guess. I’ve never had to deal with anything like that. Our service writers had family come in, and they knew their vehicle would get fixed when we got to it.
I think they understood this because our boss would fire anyone that tried to jump the line and bump the priority of other customers.
I’ve told a few SA “no” on different occasions. Of course you have to be careful because shop politics can bite you hard.
You’ll come to see some really really screwed up stuff in this field.
I have a pretty funny story I’ll share in the morning.
Our provincial inspection program, will pretty much suspend the shop`s certification for the first offence. A shop I worked at got busted for nonsense, non DOT headlight lenses on a JDM RHD car, they received a 6 month suspension. 6 months for the first offence! And that information goes on the interwebs for anyone to see, if you`re checking their website to see where you can go for an inspection it`s not too hard to find the list of shops that have been formally reprimanded. Not worth it.
I just had another one of these last night. Some Tahoe that belongs to a “friend of a good customer” comes in to my shop in NY with AZ plates to get a New York State Inspection (NYSI), so that’s suspicious to begin with. The service guy pulls it in, and before I even start to set it up on the lift, I notice a large crack in the windshield. This failed because in NY a crack that “extends more than 11″ into the path of the wiper blades” fails inspection, and this had one that went 15″ into the swipe area. I told them “it’s longer than I am so it fails” and lectured service once again how a car I don’t know from Adam is in here for a shady illegal inspection and nobody is talking about any kind of bribe. Then I told them I would not deal with it any further and to have the boss inspect it with his license if they wanted do it. I told them that if I do it, it will just keep encouraging them to put the company in these risky situations where the risk:reward ratio is risk:0 reward. I was amazed they actually told the guy we wouldn’t do it. It’s like we’re breaking some new ground.
I’ve seen SA do over lapping book times on repairs that didn’t over lap to give away free service. Bill tie rod repairs and alignments as a re-align only. Now the dealership is being investigated for credit card fraud by the cashier, and theft by the service advisors, and just lost a $400k lawsuit to a former employee.
We need a parody movie about car dealerships and the service departments, like a hybrid of talledaga nights and sell hard.
Glad my SA is the owners wife. In any case at the GM dealership I worked at before the indie shop I work at now, we actually had a decent SA. He didn’t play those sorts of games. You could make a reality show out of dealerships. Perhaps someone should do that.
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