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Customer is sure i have scratched the door by cleaning
Hi all. This is a first for me so not sure how to handle it.
Had a job in last thursday, simple text on a white merc sprinter taxi, front doors. Ive done their previous taxi.
Anyway the guy is a bit of a perfectionist (aka, a pain in the arse) and he stood 3ft away from me the whole time whilst i did the job.Vehicle turned up pretty dirty but its kinda expected this time of year so as i have done for 15 years, got out my white roll and gave the door a couple wipe downs then off we go.
Done the job, he seemed ok with it all and off he went. An hour later i get some pics emailed showing some so called scratches on one of the doors. He said its where i have pushed too hard whilst cleaning. He 100% sure i have done it.
So anyway i replied saying that in 15 years i have never scratched a vehicle, and i think its highly unlikely as i always use clean paper towel and cleaner only. I said that obviously i need to clean the vehicles and if the job came in tomorrow i would do exactly the same thing. "IF" the vehicle had been scratched then its possible something was already on the vehicle, stone, dirt? but it had to be cleaned and weather i did it, you did it the outcome would be the same. Pushing too hard has not caused it.
So i thought with this response it was sorted, but it appears not. He reckons i have done it and he is not happy. obviously hinting that he wants the body work sorted out etc etc.
So where do i go from here? im a resonable guy and care alot about my companies rep but i will only go so far. If i had scratched it with my tape measure knife etc i would get it sorted at cost to keep them happy.
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14 Replies
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Firstly, did you do a check sheet ?
If not, then that is something you need to get in place before you carry out any further vehicle installations. If you do a walk round with the customer there, all damage is noted and signed for. Protects both of you.
As for your immediate problem, it’s a tough one.
You have no proof you didn’t scratch it, but he has no proof you did.
Depending how big the scratch is, I’d offer a discount only, as before, there is no proof you have done anything wrong.
When people bring vehicles to us, they are made aware to bring them freshly washed, if not, then they have to pay a £30 cleaning surcharge (they soon get it cleaned lol )
Can’t really offer any other support apart from get a walk round sheet in place ASAP – good luck -
Vehicle check sheet all the way!
We have 3 part NCR sets printed up, and overprint the outline on them. We keep the top copy, the customer gets a copy when they drop it off, and get’s another copy when it’s collected.
Your current situation though, it’s his word against yours.
What’s to say the damage hasn’t occured once he’s left your premises?
Perhaps he took it to a car wash an they’ve damaged it.He should have made you aware before he left.
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Yes check list it is from now on.
im going to offer knocking off 50 quid and redo the graphics on the door once he has t cut it. If he requests a door respray then he can go jump.Thanks all.
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I think an offer of a discount is accepting responsibility for the damage, I would stand firm & see what the response is. He can’t prove you did it no more than you can prove you didn’t. If he were a regular client who spends well throughout the year, maybe worth a compromise but not for a chancer who is trying to hang some damage on you.
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Kevin’s right.
Stand firm, unless they’re a customer worth trying to keep.
If he leaves a bad review, you can respond saying that he was present throughout the installation, and he left in the vehicle happy with the job. Once he’s left your unit, it’s not your responsibility.
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I agree with David and Kevin,
Stand firm, if he stood over your shoulder the whole time and left happy, then I can’t see there’s any problem.
I only generally do checks on new or expensive vehicles that are clearly in good nick, customers are required to wash the vehicle thoroughly before bringing it to me, particularly this time of year when they think it’s ok to turn up in vehicles caked with 3 months worth of dirt and salt, we offer a basic exterior valet service at £70 … £40 for an hours labour, £15-20 for the European car wash chaps 1/4 mile away in the garden centre, and £10 for my coffee and cake while I watch them wash it 😆 😆 !!
if the car is fairly clean then it’s cleaning products and soft microfibre cloths all the way, sure it may occasionally leave the feintest of swirl marks but nothing could be classed as ‘damage’.
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I need to look into this charging for washing vehicles.
At what point, and how do you tell them?
Being in a delightful part of Manchester, I’m sure some won’t like being hit with that out of the blue.
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quote David Hammond:I need to look into this charging for washing vehicles.
At what point, and how do you tell them?
Being in a delightful part of Manchester, I’m sure some won’t like being hit with that out of the blue.
I ask (politely inform) customers to thoroughly wash the vehicles with hot soapy water and rinse before bring it in, no flashy waxes or polishes, preferably on the day, I explain that we do a wipe down and final surface prep but that we are sign makers and not a car wash, if the vehicle is judges to be too dirty for our ‘wipe down / prep’ chemicals and cloths, that we will take it to the car wash, depending on how long we have to wait there the cost is from £75,our hourly rate and the cost of the wash. I tell them we’re a very expensive way of cleaning their vehicle so please do it. 99% do, the occasional one doesn’t and I’ll call them to remind them, they either re-book and bring it back clean another day, or we charge £75, we get 50/50 on that! Some I have phoned and told them we’re re-booking it as we don’t have time to wash an entire mercedes sprinter, wait for it to dry and then spend 4+ hours fitting their graphics!
I’m getting rather stubborn in my old age, I’ll help a customer all I can but those who take the proverbial can pay for the privilege, Like a 50% increase on labour for evening or weekend installations, no Sundays, EVER! We make signs and fit them, we don’t have facilities to be a car wash. Send us a crappy logo and you WILL pay for it to be redrawn. etc.!
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ps David,
Look at it this way, instead of simply wiping down the vehicle and applying graphics, a dirty van usually means at least an hour to find the car wash stuff, get out the hose and wash the vehicle.. then you’ve the inconvenience of having all the graphics that are taped and ready to go being in your way as you try and do something else while the van drip dries outside, hopefully. It’s just a massive inconvenience to wash vehicles!
The only thing I occasionally do is clay bar bad areas of rough paint, though even then I’ll call the customer and explain that it’ll be a bit more on the labour if it’s not a 10min job.
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And I thought I was the grumpy one :awkward:
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quote Phill Fenton:And I thought I was the grumpy one :awkward:
I learned from the best Phill!!!
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I’ve had this once or twice and it usually comes down to whether you know you might have (or did) do it, or you’re sure you didn’t. If you think you did then you may have to do the right thing and fix it, if you’re sure you didn’t, don’t give him anything. Why would you want to give him a discount for something you haven’t done?
My question would be that if you did make this horrible scratch when cleaning, and then applied vinyl over or near it, would you not have noticed and therefore been aware of anyway? That’s the part that makes me suspicious, you would know. What you have no way of knowing of course is if he has cleaned it or wiped it down afterwards and done it.
One thing I will say from experience about customers bad mouthing, is forget about it because they will still tell people you scratched the door, but then fixed it or discounted it etc, so it’s still less than ideal from a PR point of view. Just have confidence in all the customers that will give you good word of mouth and accept you have to upset a couple of unreasonable ones. It happens to the best of us!
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Thanks for the messages peeps. Its cheered me up atleast 😆 . i definitely need to remember to make customers more aware of the condition i want the vehicle to turn up in.
Anyways on this occasion i have written a carefully worded email saying a lot of "IFs" and that we dont except responsibility. However as we are a thoughtful company we will take into consideration what has happened and offer 50 quid off the bill and put the graphics back on. Once the customer strips off the graphics and t cuts the door, cleans and drives back over to us. If they can be bothered to do all of that then im happy to waist 20 mins, half metre of vinyl and knock 50 quid off so that "hopefully" they are relatively happy and damage limitation is at its minimum.
I see your points about not giving away anything, and i totally agree but i also think it depends on where your business is and how it runs. All my work is local, people that have lived in the area all their lives. 20,000 people live in my town and surrounding villages and then its nothing until you get to the next county so its all talk and clickety click.
I also think as i get older my attitude will change more :smiles: im already pretty grumpy. Maybe its this trade 😆
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I agree with check sheets we do that – we also ask them to bting the car washed but not waxed otherwise we charge £25. On a seperate note heavily soiled paintwork with road grime and sand can’t be wiped away with a rag without causing micro scratches
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