un reasonable customer

[robb2017]

I have this situation where A customer of ours had 3 vehicles fully detailed a little over 21/2 weeks ago. A Mini-van which was a typical "soccer mom" nightmare, a VW Jetta and a Chrysler 300M. While detailing the Mini-van we noticed a sticky spot on the dash with "drip lines" running towards the floor. while we were wiping down the dash with a microfiber and a mix of woolite/water the sticky stain disappeared and as we were wiping off the xcess moisture a white spot appeared where the sticky stuff was. We immediately showed the customer and explained what what happened and what we found/did. "Ok, no problem she said" upon completeion of the job she paid us in full and gave us a $30.00 tip "for such a fine job you really worked hard the cars look great" We have a policy wher we give the custoners 24 hours if they find something no to there liking we will redo the car for free. 2 1/2 weeks go by and she calls us complaining about the stain on the dash stating she did not relize it was as awful and it was and the chemical we cleaned the dash did it and she wants a total refund for all 3 cars. I explined to her that we have a 24 hour policy and it was over 2 weeks and that you were so satisfied you signed off on the work and gave us a tip! She wants atleast all 3 cars refunded but we can keep the tip for our "trouble." Once agin I asked why did you wait almost 3 weeks to contact us? She said time isn`t an issue here I went on to explain a chemical we used cuased it then the entire car would be stained because we used the same soulution on the entire car. I also explained we use a mix of water and woolite which is impossible to harm her interior. She countered by stating she is a member with Pre-paid legal and she might take advantage of her membership if we do not refund all 3 vehicles plus tip now since we pissed her off.

UGH!!!!! The problem with this woman is honestly she does not have anything to do. Her husband easily makes 400k per year (I know her husband from my dealings with him through another business venture I am involved with) so she sits home and fiddles with the air conditioning and does the PTA circuit. My neighbor owns a landscaping business and I explained the situation and she used to be a client and he had similar issues with her.


Any suggestions? I am considering a refund for the mini-van just to get her off my back (providing she signs a vaiver for future claims) she called me 6x last night and sent me no less that 13 emails!!

[Poorboy]

well i hope you have insurance, and if you do send her to them..they have lots of lawyers to defend you and themselves for false claims..sounds like there was no way to avoid what happened and clean the van at the same time.

[Mark Waldron]

She sounds like she`s having a bad day and your in the crossfire. She waited almost 3 weeks because it probably didn`t bother her until something happened in her personal life that made the white spot a target of her anger.
I would ask her to please take the tip back and apologize for the misunderstanding, suggesting like Steve said, to speak with your insurance company. By the time she gets around to doing that, she`ll probably feel better about whatever she was upset about and forget the whole matter.

[The Chee]

Sorry to hear of your situation Robb, if I were in your shoes, I would refund the money and have her sign a waiver for future claims .Save yourself the headache of going to court etc. It`s just not worth it in my opinion with people like her.

There`s a saying "Never argue with an idiot. They`ll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience"

All the best Robb :)

[Bob]

That sucks man. I would suggest one thing to you for future reference. Always test a small hidden area, if possible, on foriegn stains to make sure you can gte it off and not make it worse.

[togwt]

If I was in this situation I would sit tight and see what she and/or her pre-paid legal attorney say about the situation. You can expect a letter from them (‘they have to be seen to be doing’) I would tell them the situation, that the ‘chemical’ used was a neutral Woolite/water (having a pH 7.5) and that the situation was explained to her when she inspected the car and was satisfied enough to tip #30.

If you are really concern about this you should seek the advice / services of an attorney
JonM

[Beemerboy]

A refund on all cars is out of the questions she is only upset abour one car and any lawyer worth his salt will tell her that. Even a decent judge would say that. Now on the van I think that the timing for her is off 3 weeks is quite a while to then come back and say you messed up her van. I`d do what someone else said wait and see what happens she may talk to a lawyer but what claims she has maybe be nil. If shw keeps calling and emailing you I would tell her that its harrasment and the police can help you with that.
If all else fails refund the money for the van and tell her to find another detailer, you would be working on pins and neddles every time you got her cars. You don`t need the hassle or customers like that.

Good Luck!

[MS22]

You should be safe from any kind of trouble that she tries to bring upon your business. You showed your client the mark and she ignored the problem for much longer than the 24 hour grace period. I am wondering if you document possible problem areas like that by taking photographs? This way if the mark is much larger or worse than before it means that she was trying to fix it herself in all that down time she has, which you would not be at fault for. You are probably best off to talk to her husband about the situation being that the vehicle actually belongs to him.

[ndnguy]

There`s a saying "Never argue with an idiot. They`ll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience"

I have just found my new motto, thanks Chee!! This shall become a company standard, lol.

[maximv1]

i feel your pain robb. we hear stuff like this all day long at the dealership.(you fixed my trunk latch and now my a/c doesn`t work, what did you do to it!!)
have you tried contacting her husbadn, you said you know from other ventures. he may end up telling you she is making a big deal out of nothing and not to worry about it. i wouldn`t refund all three vehicles. it sounds like she likes to hear her own voice.i would wait until i saw an actual legal letter before doing much because she could be just threatining you to scare you into giving her money back. if the only way to shut her up is a refund, you might want to check into an interior repair company like apint bull or fibernew. they can repair the spot for a cheaper price than the refund so you don`t lose as much money.

[maximv1]

another thing that i just thought of. when i see a situation that a problem may come up i have the customer look at the concern and write on the work order the description of the concern and that it isn`t my fault. i then have the customer initial the comment saying tehy know about it and they will not make a big deal out of it later.

[sellncars]

Hey there,
She sounds like most customers that buy cars. They are thrilled when they pay for it and drive it away, until they find out that there is a cigarette lighter missing or something piddly. Do these customers come in often, yearly, monthly,? If this was a first time detail i would definitely NOT give them their money back. ( Of course ) typical soccer mom, a slob with a tribe of kids, she doesnt care for her own vehicle, never checks the oil, never puts her own gas in it, etc, etc. I wouldn`t give her the money back, i would try for some other agreement, " NO REFUNDS " and just take her business as a loss. This is unfortunate, but it does happen in business. Good luck.

Sellncars

[Don]

If the husband has a 400K per year job, why is she fooling around with pre-paid legal? From what I`m to understand, PPL is for people like us who couldn`t afford to hire a personal lawyer in the event we get sued.

Maybe hubby got tired of her telling him to hire a lawyer for her everytime she broke a nail & got her the service to shut her up.

If you have other dealings with the husband, perhaps going to him FIRST and explaining the situation from your side would be your best bet

[Rub it out]

Get your liability carrier involved. Call your agent and put them on notice of the claim. Send her a letter (in writting) notifying her that you have submitted a claim and your insurance carrier will contact her.
Giving a refund can latter be construde as an admission of liability (fault) at a latter date. It can also be cause for denial of your liabilty claim. And you`ll be hanging by yourself.
If you don`t have GL coverage contact the local BBB and take advantage of their arbortration service. Much less costly and time consuming then court.
Good luck. :hurl

[Secret Chimp]

The problem with this woman is honestly she does not have anything to do. Her husband easily makes 400k per year (I know her husband from my dealings with him through another business venture I am involved with) so she sits home and fiddles with the air conditioning and does the PTA circuit. My neighbor owns a landscaping business and I explained the situation and she used to be a client and he had similar issues with her.


Any suggestions? I am considering a refund for the mini-van just to get her off my back (providing she signs a vaiver for future claims) she called me 6x last night and sent me no less that 13 emails!!

If you knew she was a PITA, why did you take her on as a customer in the first place? I think that is where you went wrong. But hindsight is 20/20.

You are under no obligation to refund her ANY money. She was made aware of your refund guidelines at the onset. She is well aware that the refund period has long expired.