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I need to vent.
We had a college girl come in last week. Completely ignorant to cars. To her, engines were magic.
She had a flat tire, car barely had 30k miles on her car, that she bought from us with her parents help.
She asked us to look at it. We found three puncture holes in the sidewall and told her the cost of a new tire.
She can’t afford a new tire, and had to leave with a spare, crying because she was so stressed. She came back a few days later when her parents gave her a check for a tire. And thanked us with cookies she made for putting her new tire on.
Flip to a few days later. A guy brings his car in for recall updates, and free tire rotations but refuses oil changes for literally 1 year.
His engine blew up, even though we documented that refused $20 oil change 7 times.
Again, his engine blew up. And the dealership paid for a new engine.
I’m former military, so I seem to swear a lot on a normal day. Even some of my techs think I swear a lot.
When I heard that we were giving that guy a new engine, but can’t finance a $130 tire for a college student who came to us religiously for oil changes and service work I really didn’t care what came out of my mouth and who heard it.
This industry is destroying itself because of good old boy networks, and a high acceptance of low standards for techs. All the techs I’ve ever seen that would be studs in the shop become field service techs, or go specialize in rebuilds.
At this rate its only going to get worse.
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Replies
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I really understand the kind of frustration you’re having. I have a lot of the problems at my work that you have, especially in relation to having techs’ times stolen by service people and given away to customers. It’s done at my work both for CSI scores and used car customer satisfaction. It’s really shitty for us and the message we hear is that our time is not worth anything, regardless of what message they intend. I think can at least explain why it is worth it for the “other side of the wall” to be this way, for what it’s worth.
I figured out that the reason for this is because my dealership, and I imagine your dealership, have internet reputations to worry about. It just doesn’t matter how stupid or inane a customer or their issue with a car may be, bad reviews hurt. People who don’t know better listen to them, and business owners have tons of stress over it. In this day in age, the most effective way to hurt a business that you feel has wronged you is to leave bad reviews online. People who are pissed are 10 times more likely to leave a review of any kind than someone who is satisfied.
My friend has a small independent shop that does not exist on the internet, and he can tell asshole customers off with impunity because of it. He specifically doesn’t want his business to ever be known online, largely for this reason. I cannot even begin to tell you how much it makes me salivate to be in such a situation.
In no way am I intending to marginalize your frustrations about this. I consider venting on this forum the same way probably once a week, but instead I just come home and drink so that I can easily become distracted from and forget about the day’s atrocities. Doing this 10 years at this rate and I’ve been a legitimate alcoholic for the last 4-5. More than half of the mechanics I’ve ever known went down the same road. It just seems to happen, and hopefully you can find a better way to cope. By all means, if it means writing about it here, then please carry on.
[quote=”Pitt” post=127470]I need to vent.
We had a college girl come in last week. Completely ignorant to cars. To her, engines were magic.
She had a flat tire, car barely had 30k miles on her car, that she bought from us with her parents help.
She asked us to look at it. We found three puncture holes in the sidewall and told her the cost of a new tire.
She can’t afford a new tire, and had to leave with a spare, crying because she was so stressed. She came back a few days later when her parents gave her a check for a tire. And thanked us with cookies she made for putting her new tire on.
Flip to a few days later. A guy brings his car in for recall updates, and free tire rotations but refuses oil changes for literally 1 year.
His engine blew up, even though we documented that refused $20 oil change 7 times.
Again, his engine blew up. And the dealership paid for a new engine.
I’m former military, so I seem to swear a lot on a normal day. Even some of my techs think I swear a lot.
When I heard that we were giving that guy a new engine, but can’t finance a $130 tire for a college student who came to us religiously for oil changes and service work I really didn’t care what came out of my mouth and who heard it.
This industry is destroying itself because of good old boy networks, and a high acceptance of low standards for techs. All the techs I’ve ever seen that would be studs in the shop become field service techs, or go specialize in rebuilds.
At this rate its only going to get worse.[/quote]
I feel like if the dealership has documentation of such behavior, then they should flat out refuse to put a new engine in. I feel as if Yelp, and other sites have empowered customers to be the biggest D**ks imaginable. People are finding out that if they complain they get things for free.[quote=”Pithy Radish” post=127548][quote=”Pitt” post=127470]I need to vent.
We had a college girl come in last week. Completely ignorant to cars. To her, engines were magic.
She had a flat tire, car barely had 30k miles on her car, that she bought from us with her parents help.
She asked us to look at it. We found three puncture holes in the sidewall and told her the cost of a new tire.
She can’t afford a new tire, and had to leave with a spare, crying because she was so stressed. She came back a few days later when her parents gave her a check for a tire. And thanked us with cookies she made for putting her new tire on.
Flip to a few days later. A guy brings his car in for recall updates, and free tire rotations but refuses oil changes for literally 1 year.
His engine blew up, even though we documented that refused $20 oil change 7 times.
Again, his engine blew up. And the dealership paid for a new engine.
I’m former military, so I seem to swear a lot on a normal day. Even some of my techs think I swear a lot.
When I heard that we were giving that guy a new engine, but can’t finance a $130 tire for a college student who came to us religiously for oil changes and service work I really didn’t care what came out of my mouth and who heard it.
This industry is destroying itself because of good old boy networks, and a high acceptance of low standards for techs. All the techs I’ve ever seen that would be studs in the shop become field service techs, or go specialize in rebuilds.
At this rate its only going to get worse.[/quote]
I feel like if the dealership has documentation of such behavior, then they should flat out refuse to put a new engine in. I feel as if Yelp, and other sites have empowered customers to be the biggest D**ks imaginable. People are finding out that if they complain they get things for free.[/quote] The saying “The customer’s always right” is way too vague and abused nowdays. If a customer never changes their oil they deserve to deal with the consequences. Not performing regular maintenance(even when it was offered to him!) and then demanding a free engine…what is society coming to?And what’s the unspoken reason for kissing some loopy customer’s axx to keep that CSI score up? So they will feel good and return to buy another car; which is the only thing that a car dealer really gives a crap about.
The idiot service manager (dumbest SOB on earth according to the VW factory rep…) at a dealer where I worked was of the opinion that every customer who whined was in the right. He flat refused to believe that some customers will bitch just to get some money back or will pull every scam in the book so they can walk away with a free or heavily discounted repair.
During regular shop meetings me (and several others) would try to tell him that there’s a certain percentage of customers who need to be shown the door if a polite discussion went nowhere. If they won’t hit the door when told to then grab them by the effin’ collar and throw them out along with their keys.
He would say no way along with “but…but…but why would a customer complain without a good reason?”. He just didn’t get it.[quote=”Pithy Radish” post=127548][quote=”Pitt” post=127470]I need to vent.
We had a college girl come in last week. Completely ignorant to cars. To her, engines were magic.
She had a flat tire, car barely had 30k miles on her car, that she bought from us with her parents help.
She asked us to look at it. We found three puncture holes in the sidewall and told her the cost of a new tire.
She can’t afford a new tire, and had to leave with a spare, crying because she was so stressed. She came back a few days later when her parents gave her a check for a tire. And thanked us with cookies she made for putting her new tire on.
Flip to a few days later. A guy brings his car in for recall updates, and free tire rotations but refuses oil changes for literally 1 year.
His engine blew up, even though we documented that refused $20 oil change 7 times.
Again, his engine blew up. And the dealership paid for a new engine.
I’m former military, so I seem to swear a lot on a normal day. Even some of my techs think I swear a lot.
When I heard that we were giving that guy a new engine, but can’t finance a $130 tire for a college student who came to us religiously for oil changes and service work I really didn’t care what came out of my mouth and who heard it.
This industry is destroying itself because of good old boy networks, and a high acceptance of low standards for techs. All the techs I’ve ever seen that would be studs in the shop become field service techs, or go specialize in rebuilds.
At this rate its only going to get worse.[/quote]
I feel like if the dealership has documentation of such behavior, then they should flat out refuse to put a new engine in. I feel as if Yelp, and other sites have empowered customers to be the biggest D**ks imaginable. People are finding out that if they complain they get things for free.[/quote]We had a guy pop his hood in the service drive after we brought it up for an oil change. The washer fluid (that we refill for FREE) was two inches below the top of the neck. He started to rant and rave about janky technicians and we were a joke, and demanded his service be free.
I said I’ll get my boss and he will work it out. He literally said “I hope your boss can stop me from fu**ing you up for this”. It was at this point I turned, grabed his adams apple, squeezed and told him I’m calling the cops, he can get the f*ck out, and I will defend myself from his threat of death until the police get here.
So far I haven’t been fired.
[quote=”Pitt” post=127615][quote=”Pithy Radish” post=127548][quote=”Pitt” post=127470]I need to vent.
We had a college girl come in last week. Completely ignorant to cars. To her, engines were magic.
She had a flat tire, car barely had 30k miles on her car, that she bought from us with her parents help.
She asked us to look at it. We found three puncture holes in the sidewall and told her the cost of a new tire.
She can’t afford a new tire, and had to leave with a spare, crying because she was so stressed. She came back a few days later when her parents gave her a check for a tire. And thanked us with cookies she made for putting her new tire on.
Flip to a few days later. A guy brings his car in for recall updates, and free tire rotations but refuses oil changes for literally 1 year.
His engine blew up, even though we documented that refused $20 oil change 7 times.
Again, his engine blew up. And the dealership paid for a new engine.
I’m former military, so I seem to swear a lot on a normal day. Even some of my techs think I swear a lot.
When I heard that we were giving that guy a new engine, but can’t finance a $130 tire for a college student who came to us religiously for oil changes and service work I really didn’t care what came out of my mouth and who heard it.
This industry is destroying itself because of good old boy networks, and a high acceptance of low standards for techs. All the techs I’ve ever seen that would be studs in the shop become field service techs, or go specialize in rebuilds.
At this rate its only going to get worse.[/quote]
I feel like if the dealership has documentation of such behavior, then they should flat out refuse to put a new engine in. I feel as if Yelp, and other sites have empowered customers to be the biggest D**ks imaginable. People are finding out that if they complain they get things for free.[/quote]We had a guy pop his hood in the service drive after we brought it up for an oil change. The washer fluid (that we refill for FREE) was two inches below the top of the neck. He started to rant and rave about janky technicians and we were a joke, and demanded his service be free.
I said I’ll get my boss and he will work it out. He literally said “I hope your boss can stop me from fu**ing you up for this”. It was at this point I turned, grabed his adams apple, squeezed and told him I’m calling the cops, he can get the f*ck out, and I will defend myself from his threat of death until the police get here.
So far I haven’t been fired.[/quote] Wow, ya some people are crazy. This is why I’m glad I left the dealership environment and work in an independent garage. You still get people like that, but I’d say not nearly as much.
[quote=”Bluesnut” post=127595]And what’s the unspoken reason for kissing some loopy customer’s axx to keep that CSI score up? So they will feel good and return to buy another car; which is the only thing that a car dealer really gives a crap about.
The idiot service manager (dumbest SOB on earth according to the VW factory rep…) at a dealer where I worked was of the opinion that every customer who whined was in the right. He flat refused to believe that some customers will bitch just to get some money back or will pull every scam in the book so they can walk away with a free or heavily discounted repair.
During regular shop meetings me (and several others) would try to tell him that there’s a certain percentage of customers who need to be shown the door if a polite discussion went nowhere. If they won’t hit the door when told to then grab them by the effin’ collar and throw them out along with their keys.
He would say no way along with “but…but…but why would a customer complain without a good reason?”. He just didn’t get it.[/quote]
The physical sale of the new vehicle isn’t what makes the dealerships big money, it’s the shop and used car sales that keep most dealerships afloat — though usually new cars and service departments go hand in hand — at some point they’ll end up back at the dealership. The profit margins on new cars actually sucks.People bringing their cars back time after time for service work give dealerships something like 80% of their revenue. Honestly hour service writers act worse than costumers.
I know it makes you cringe, but there is a science behind Customer Service. It’s not a fair science either.
I worked for The Home Depot. Our manager let someone “return” a craftsman lawnmower, for store credit. As you know, only Sears/Kmart sells Craftsman. I was like “WTH?” he basically just gave them a free lawnmower. He did this with a lot of Lowes merchandise as well. Now I know, he was buying a customer. They may have never come back to home depot again and pocketed the money, but statistically, they will come back and spend many times more than that over a period of time. I think the ratio was they will spend $9 for every $1 they give away/back. It’s also a balancing act, because if you do this too much, you create a toxic environment where they will expect this and be even more angry when they don’t get that special treatment.
This is a little more extreme than what I heard, but along the same lines. A Lowe’s employee who was an acquaintance of mine once said “we’ll let you return anything, even if it’s been abused or is out of warranty. It’s so likely that you’ll use the money to buy a replacement here that we don’t care.”
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