Dealing with an unhappy customer...

K

kaval

New member
How do you handle an unhappy customer, and foster a possibility of retaining his/her business in the future? I have been detailing for profit since May and am trying very so hard to build a solid reputation for myself which I can use to move forward into the future.



This is the subject detail: LINK



When I say 'unhappy', I refer to the work itself. I detailed the SLK a while ago and the customer was not happy as there were some scratches left. These scratches were actually RIDS (see pictures of the passenger rear fender wheel arch). I explained to the customer prior and post detail that some defects are going to remain as they are deeper than the rest, and in the best interest of the clearcoat, I would rather not go any more aggressive than I did given that the car was going to be sold to someone else.



Another thing that caused his unhappiness (which I personally found to be rather laughable) was that the next day after the detail my client was driving in the rain and his windows started fogging up. He called me to complain and said "what did you put on my windows?" I told him what to do to get the fog out.



It just seems that the customer was nitpicking, but either way it wasn't a pleasant experience to have someone who was unhappy. Ontop of that, he sold the car to buy a Ferrari, which I would love to have an opportunity to detail.



Out of my efforts to provide great service, I offered to go over the car in the spots where he was unhappy but he refused. I guess it's reasonable to say that I move on from this client and just send him a thank you card at Christmas as I will do with all my clients I have had thus far.



What would YOU do? I suspect this rarely happens as detailing (at least for me) is something where it's either done properly, or not.



Your input is greatly appreciated!



Kaval
 
I have learned it is absolutely impossible to please everyone and if you try youll kill yourself doing it..... chalk this one up as a learning experience dont beat yourself up over it



o and about detailing his ferrari i would definatly pass if he was that picky about his MB i could only imagine with the Ferrari he might call you up a week later and complain about the dust on it
 
I agree with elitemobile. The car you did looked trashed before you started. I think that you reached the level of perfection that you could for what you had to work with.



Go ahead and send him the christmas card, but given the situation I would not want another one of his cars, even a Ferrari.



Now a Porsche Carrera GT maybe (Just kidding).
 
You aren't going around finding really nice, appreciative people and giving them full details for cheap, so don't do the opposite and give really unreasonable and unappreciative people a chance to take advantage of you either. If a person isn't reasonable, chances are you won't be able to make them happy. You told him before and after what the deal was, and he didn't want to hear it. Move on, and be happy that you don't have to deal with those types of customers anymore.



If I mess up, then I will fix it. However, I won't go above and beyond reason as, contrary to the saying, the customer is not always right. Good judgement has to be exercised, or you can paint yourself into a corner and then get blamed for following their direction.



Move on, there are other Ferrari's in the world.
 
Total disclosure up front is the best that you can do, but with those types of customers I like to also walk them around the car and explain and also show what has been done the little things the major things. You never know the next time he shops you or uses someone else those things you pointed out might get you his business next time. Good luck.
 
Whats to complain about? The car looks so much better after you worked on it. Seeing the befores and afters, I would be thankful you corrected all that.



Just move on. I'm sure you'll find lots more customers and down the road to forget about this one.
 
kaval - as everyone else stated, can't please everyone, you set expectations up front did an awesome job on a clearly neglected car. Sounds like customer just being unreasonable. Considering they didn't care for their car before, probably took it to $10 wash-n-wipe on corner, it's obvious they could care less.



Save the pics for your personal gratification & show-n-tell.



Like I once heard from some comedian, "Don't sweat the petty stuff and don't pet the sweaty stuff"... no clue who said it... just sounded funny.
 
The car did look very nice afterwards, but even if your correct all the paint and spend 12 hours on it and to you and all of us it looks great, it doesn't matter because the client had different expectations.



I always ask what their expectations are before hand and then try to tell them what level I am willing to take the car to and when you're done have them do a walk around and point out anything they're unhappy about and then you correct it.



You're not going to get that level of correction the customer is wanting using a PC, you should really consider stepping up to a rotary for paint correction.



Remember, always underpromise and overdeliver.



Learn from this, find out the expectations before you touch their car.
 
You can't please everyone.



Back in the day i would wet sand, compound and spend too much time trying to make it perfect. When 98% of people don't care or know no difference.



Now on such jobs i will discuss their expectations and what i am willing to do. If they want it perfect, it is by the hour.



If i am discussing paint perfection now, i give them this example. I show them my baby finger nail thickness and say, "that's about the thickness of your paint, i can only remove so much before it causes a problem."
 
Yea you'll never please everyone. My thoughts are "if they want their car to be perfect they would treat it with perfection" You can't possibly expect someone to fix your mistakes if you consistently trash your vechile... Even though I do my best to make every car that comes through here perfect sometimes there's things you just can't correct. And sometimes you'll get customers that can't understand that.
 
You must clearly define what a particular package or service includes. You also must explain to the customer the level of paint correction that will be achieved. I do not think it matters if you do polishing by hand, orbital, or rotary. What is important is that the customer understands what the results will be, and that you at least meet their expectations.
 
brwill2005 said:
You must clearly define what a particular package or service includes. You also must explain to the customer the level of paint correction that will be achieved.
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If you read the original thread, it appears he did do a walk-thru with the customer and pointed out areas he felt the defects were too deep to fully correct.



Sounds like the customer had unrealistic expectations, especially in light of how bad the car was to start with. I have never understood how people who are super picky can let their cars get that bad in the first place. :nixweiss
 
Scottwax said:
Sounds like the customer had unrealistic expectations, especially in light of how bad the car was to start with. I have never understood how people who are super picky can let their cars get that bad in the first place. :nixweiss
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My thoughts exactly. I just did a detail on a mommy Lexus SUV. It was trashed inside and out. The exterior had scratches from the dogs jumping on the doors. The sides had been raked from driving through trees and bursh on their farm. I corrected to nearly 100%. I pulled out tons of stains, including red ones! Pulled out about a pound of dirt from each floor mat. The list goes on. She wasn't there when I finished so I didn't have her inspect it while I was there. I talk to her the next day and she was disapointed with the interior. She said I left a leaf up on the dash where it meets the glass. And she said there was dust on the steering column. She had the gaul to tell me it was average at best. The wind was blowing 30 that day and they park the car right next to a horse pin. So I know where the dust and even probably the leaf came from. Their daughter took the car out right after I finished, bad weather and all. Some poeple just don't get it. Had even given them a discount!!!!! Just amazes me. All that to say I remain gracious and willing to take care of the issues. If I keep their business, fine, if not oh well. One less hassle. There are plenty of fish in the pond.
 
Thank you everyone for the responses. I emailed the client early yesterday to check in and see how things were, and we ended up having a fall out. He made it seem that just because I am young (21) and am the same religion as him, he gave me the job. I am not a charity case for goodness sake. I feel like telling this guy to drive his car into a pole. :grrr
 
Great Job!

I don't know why a client would complain about the detail. The car was totally a micro, marred, swirling, MB. They should have been pleased. But sometime we detailiers run into these type of people. I've learned to do the walk around with the client and explain in detail what the vehicle will require to bring it back to a "SHOWROOM SHINE"

finish! Great Job!
 
Scottwax said:
That is the type of customer you fire.
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Bingo, one of my businesses is Commercial Financing. I fire clients every week, though a little different from detailing lol. Somebody gives me an attitude, complains, doesn't get me what I need on time or starts jerking around with other banks...pow, their gone. I have plenty on my plate and can care less, I don't have time for bs.



Very gratifying, telling a client you don't want their business...why? b/c they will generally crawl and beg for you to work with them, though I still won't lol. You can't please everyone and too many others with a need for your service to waste time with a "pain in the ***".
 
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