Shorted on a detail... please help.

GregCavi

GregCavi

Pinnacle Detailing Owner
Hello everyone. I recently did a van detail posted here:

http://www.detailcity.com/showthread.php?t=13958

I did the estimate with the lady a few days prior to the detail. I gave her my pricelist and told her those are based on a car and that it is more to do a van. And she said that is totally alright. So she understood it woudl cost more to do the van. I have always operated this way and it works best becuase at the end I can figure what all the work costs instead of getting screwed by a bad estimate at the begining.

What shoudl I do? Shoudl I just eat the detail? I would totally look past this if they brought me back another car to do or if I got a few referals tossed my way by them. Any Ideas would be appreciated.

Secondly I know now I really need to rework my pricelist so I dotn get in this mess again. I am thinking I will have a form to fill out prior to the detail that give my rought estimate and that says If Im going to go over my estimate I will place a call or get on contact with the client before I continue with the work. Then I and the client will both sign it. Any luck with that? I would really just like to not have a price list at all and just do estimates but people in my town want a menu, this time it has came and bit in the you know what. If anyone can lend me any advice on how to deal with this or how to prevent it in the future I would be super appeciative.

Thanks

Greg
 
looks like a good form.....i would say for this current detail problem.....either send them a bill...(maybe they forgot about the increase) or just go talk to them. saying u didnt make it out right.
 
oh ya I almost forgot to throw another aspect into the dilema. My prices have to be pretty low in my area for any one to get a detail. So how woudl you react when I got 125 for the full van detail. Engine too.

Greg
 
Are you saying that they gave you payment for a car detail, and they had a van?

If it were me...i would collect the check, and then give them their keys.

Send them a bill, or swing by their house with a bill, bring a small bucket of dirt with you haha.
 
exactly. They paid for the price of a small 4 door car. I want to collect the extra money but I dont want to go over and have the cusomter call foul and say they understood that the price was 125 and that I was just trying to get extra. I dont want to ruin my reputation as that. I really liked to run my business by a handshake but it looks like that isnt sacred anymore haha.

Greg
 
Hi Greg,
The van came out nice, but I am curious how did you get shorted?
Was there a price that was agreed upon prior to starting
I'm sure that you saw them sometime after the detail, to give them back their car. Something should have been said immediately (sp?)

I saw the other thread and for $125 your definately selling yourself short.

Good luck and raise your prices a bit
"J"
 
GregCavi said:
exactly. They paid for the price of a small 4 door car. I want to collect the extra money but I dont want to go over and have the cusomter call foul and say they understood that the price was 125 and that I was just trying to get extra. I dont want to ruin my reputation as that. I really liked to run my business by a handshake but it looks like that isnt sacred anymore haha.

Greg
Click to expand...


i would call and say you were going over your statements and noticed she had money outstanding, and put the ball in her court. if she says the price list says 125.00 mention your told her it was more. one option is for your detail packages you could add "starting at ... " that way you can add more to the cost if you feel it needs it. it is hard to run businesses by handshakes anymore, don't feel it is your problem or fault. if she really puts up a fuss, ask her if she ever works for free and stays late at work with no overtime pay.
 
Just my thoughts.
1. It isn't worth having an upset customer for $25.
2. Be tactful, but let them know that they got a van done for the price of doing a car.
3. Tell them that the $125 will apply to their cars when they bring them, but the van will require a separate estimate before you do it again. It hopefully won't be quite as bad the next time.
4. I'm not good with sayings, but think I read one about a happy customer telling a few friends and an unhappy customer telling everyone in town. Or something like that.:D
Chalk the $25 up to education and you did learn something from it.:)

Great job, by the way.

Charles
 
jay - She wasnt there upon delivery. Here son was there and he had no clue other than the check was to be given to me.

I totally agree with you charles. I am going to eat the $25 becuase well I was thinking the same thing as what your saying was. From this experience I am getting more tight on estimates and my price list has been we worked to give me control over my prices.

Greg
 
Ditch the price list and use the AI detailing form for your price quote and work release . ( get your customers to sign it ) As for the money , remember the experience but don't forget her if she should call you back to do work . ;)
 
Well I plan on using the estimates sheet for every estimate from now on. I plan on havin the customer signing the sheet as well. I also re worked my pricelist... because poeple want them.. I hate pricelists.. well they now have ranges on there and a big disclaimer stating all details MUST have estimates prior to work being done.

Another issue that has came up is customers scheduling full details and then totally blowing them off. I am now planning on writing up a policy which states I will need $25 down payment prior to the detail day. That money will just be subtracted from the total of the detail. It has happend to many times were I work in a cusomter and then they dotn show up so I then lose a precious day of work. I figure if a customer doesnt want to pay $25 down then they are the ones that arent going to show up. In I will state that if they need to schedule they must let me know at least 24 hours prior to the detail. IF they blow it off then I keep the money.

Let me know what you think.

Greg
 
Ya, $25 down is a good idea, tattoo people do it for that very reason, well..until you have a couple grand of tats anyways.

None of my business, but a $25 difference between a van and a small car isnt enough. Should be $75 or a hundred, my .02 anyways.
 
O believe me I totally agree with you. In my area I am totally pushing my prices. I know my full detail on a car is about 150 quality work. And my vans are about 200 but everyone is soo frugal (cheap to the le-person). I just have to put up with it for one more year and then Im off to Rochester MN, Home of the famous mayo hospital. Then I can stop offering such rediculous prices.

Greg
 
Here is my take on it. Take the $125 and move on. Unless it is something that is happening a lot, it's not worth worrying about. Easier said then done though as I know it would bug me. I work on a fixed price per vehicle type on all my packages. Over time I think it all works out. Most don't operate like this, I know but it works for me. Sounds like what happened was rare for you, so I think you are doing fine and don't need to change. If it's working, keep doing it. On the subject of the deposit, I think it's a bad idea. I don't like when appointments don't hold but it happens. I think the deposit might turn off more people then it would help.
 
I live in a small town where you know a good majority of the poeple. For me I wouldnt make someone I trust and know will be there make a deposit. For me its the kids that make appointments with me that I want a deposit for. If they cant give me a deposit that means they probably cant afford the detail. I would be happier to lose them as a customer than to do all of the work and then not get paid.

Greg
 
You know stuff like this happens to the best of us. Sometimes customers are such cheap b@stards.
I would say you might have to eat the cost on this one, just to avoid the hassle in general.
I had something similar happen to me, a customer called and asked about my prices and all, I went out there and quoted him on 5 cars. He asked me if I would float him a discount overall because I would be doing so many cars. I agreed I went out there and did his BMW, it was a lot of work, the car was beat. Took me 7 hours or so, and when I finished I charged him the quote minus %20 for volume according to our deal. When I called him the next day to set up the next car, I got no answer. After 5 calls and no answers or returned calls I pretty much figured I had been played for a sucker.
You can see the thread on his BMW here, http://www.detailcity.com/showthread.php?t=12740

Also I know your pain with people who want price-lists. What I did was write up two seperate price lists, one for normal sized cars and the other for trucks and SUVs. I pretty much just bump all of the prices about %10-%15 across the board. People tend not to have so much of a problem with this, people just want to see prices for some reason, it is almost like the price itself doesn't matter, they just want something in writing with a dollar sign and group of numbers next to it.

People like this do suck, but unfortunately it is something that we all have to deal with sometimes, it sucks, but what can ya do? Hopefully the next detail will kick you down a $25 tip and everything will even out.
 
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