Whats the worst ripoff u had done to you on a detail?

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PhatHoodDetail

New member
this thread may have been done before so lets hear some fresh stories. mine is i get a call to detail a expedition, he brings it to the shop and hes says he heard i was good and he wants it cleaned up for sale. ok we settle on a full job without paint correction just a good polish and wax full interior, and of course the engine u know what u want it to look like for sale, for $300, cool he's gonna bring it tomorrow. well when he gets here he says he and and his wife think spending that much money on a detail is ridiculous, the most they can do is $150. so now im offended and now if i take the job im gonna get jipped. so i say ok ill help i do the job but well will take some things out. hes in a rush so he says fine just make it look good. i take out the shampoo and the polish, i still do everything else. when he comes to pick it up he cries and says oh i really wanted the shampoo and i wanted the polish the most. now trust me the expedition is looking 10x better than when it came in so to make the customer happy i say ok give me a few more hours ill square it away for u. he pays the 150 and, AND a 20 dollar tip and wants me to deliver it at his job. so i get done drop the vehicle off and walk inside this huge dermatology building saying ummm, these are the keys for mr smith. the nurse tells me u mean dr. smith he own this whole building and every1 here. im in shock and look on the board for his prices and a facial started at $450. aint this a $%#&!:hm
 
PhatHoodDetail said:
this thread may have been done before so lets hear some fresh stories. mine is i get a call to detail a expedition, he brings it to the shop and hes says he heard i was good and he wants it cleaned up for sale. ok we settle on a full job without paint correction just a good polish and wax full interior, and of course the engine u know what u want it to look like for sale, for $300, cool he's gonna bring it tomorrow. well when he gets here he says he and and his wife think spending that much money on a detail is ridiculous, the most they can do is $150. so now im offended and now if i take the job im gonna get jipped. so i say ok ill help i do the job but well will take some things out. hes in a rush so he says fine just make it look good. i take out the shampoo and the polish, i still do everything else. when he comes to pick it up he cries and says oh i really wanted the shampoo and i wanted the polish the most. now trust me the expedition is looking 10x better than when it came in so to make the customer happy i say ok give me a few more hours ill square it away for u. he pays the 150 and, AND a 20 dollar tip and wants me to deliver it at his job. so i get done drop the vehicle off and walk inside this huge dermatology building saying ummm, these are the keys for mr smith. the nurse tells me u mean dr. smith he own this whole building and every1 here. im in shock and look on the board for his prices and a facial started at $450. aint this a $%#&!:hm
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Never go down on your price, it was a fair price in my opinion, an expedition is the biggest SUV on the road. Remember, people are trying to get something for nothing regardless of their profession. Next time, if i were you, i'd stick to my quote, at the end of the day the detailer is the one getting screwed over.:bawling:
 
We get people like that all the time at Best Buy. People will pull up in $100k cars and ask for a discount. They ask because more often than not, people give them the discount. I'm the not, I tell them the prices are set and that I actually should be charging them more.



Another thing we used to do at my old install bay was add extra charges to cars we thought would end up doing something like that. Padding basically. They way when they went up to a manager or someone else to get a discount (because even if we tell them no, they'll go and ***** to someone else) and they give in, they never really got a discount because we put in enough padding to cover ourselves. And if the person was cool, and surprised us by not trying anything like that, we could always take them off at the end and say something like "oh we didn't need to use this extra part/do this extra work so it will be a little cheaper". And then they're even happier.



But I personally agree. Never lower your prices. If you give a discount to him, he will tell his friends that you can get a discount by just working you over a little bit, and the next thing you know everyone is getting a big discount and you're not making a profit or paying your bills.



You shoulda left a few nails under the tires. ;)
 
I don't get the whole, "Reduce the price to make the customer happy" thing. I do not base my rates on what the market bears, what my competition charges or what the clients can afford. My rates are based on my time and margins. So, I guess I would have just passed on this job. But, I do get that it is $150.00 more than I had if I hadn't done the job. Guess I'm conmflicted??!!:scared:
 
If they only wanted a $150 detail, they would've only got a $150 detail from me, wash, AIO/Wax, tires. Especially a SUV!
 
PhatHoodDetail said:
the nurse tells me u mean dr. smith he own this whole building and every1 here. im in shock and look on the board for his prices and a facial started at $450. aint this a $%#&!:hm
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Seems to me some other pros have noted that sometimes (not always) the wealthiest people can be the "cheapest". It's arguable whether this is due to some innate shrewdness that allowed them to become wealthy in the first place, or some sense of entitlement which causes them to treat other like peons.
 
^ True dat!. My ex business partner was notorious for bragging about how much money he made "Yea I made about $300,000 last year with my lawn care service, and another $250,000 with my towing company" But the idiot dosen't have a pot to piss in or anything to show for it. He might be lucky if he has $200 in his bank account because he spends it faster than he makes it. Those that save it and live below the income they make are the ones that get rich and stay that way. Not because they blow every dime they make even if they make a lot. So I can see them being very cheap with the money and trying to always find the best deal possible.
 
XRL said:
We get people like that all the time at Best Buy. People will pull up in $100k cars and ask for a discount. They ask because more often than not, people give them the discount. I'm the not, I tell them the prices are set and that I actually should be charging them more.
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No offense, but you think entirely too much of Best Buy. They're more expensive than many/most places, and if they don't come down to the competition's prices, then I have no interest in buying from them. Just because someone's driving a nice car doesn't mean they should get ripped off. If one of the Best Buy staff told me that they "should be charging me more", I'd be out of there quickly, and probably wouldn't be back.



To the OP: If you don't want to come down from your price and feel your work is worth it, then don't! You can't blame someone for getting a lower price out of you - you were at least 50% at fault. Next time explain to them that you agreed to price on the phone, and your prices are set according to the great service you provide. Convince them that they'll feel like they got a great deal when they see the results.
 
15951 said:
No offense, but you think entirely too much of Best Buy. They're more expensive than many/most places, and if they don't come down to the competition's prices, then I have no interest in buying from them. Just because someone's driving a nice car doesn't mean they should get ripped off. If one of the Best Buy staff told me that they "should be charging me more", I'd be out of there quickly, and probably wouldn't be back.



To the OP: If you don't want to come down from your price and feel your work is worth it, then don't! You can't blame someone for getting a lower price out of you - you were at least 50% at fault. Next time explain to them that you agreed to price on the phone, and your prices are set according to the great service you provide. Convince them that they'll feel like they got a great deal when they see the results.
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That's very much not the case. I often question the sanity of people who bring their expensive cars to best buy to have us work on them. I mean I know I wouldn't bring a car that's worth more than $40k to Best Buy to be disassembled and worked on, I mean that's just stupid. We have some good installers,and some not so good installers, and if I had the cash to buy a relatively expensive car, i wouldn't skimp and go for a "bargain" install.



But I think you missed the point of what I was getting at. What I'm getting at is that if someone can afford a $100k car, they can afford to pay full price for whatever it is they're buying, whether its an install, a laptop, a TV, etc. The fact that they are driving such an expensive car is proof of the fact that they can afford it. And the "I should be charging you more" thing is basically where you say that normally different things we charge for but you're throwing in for free.



But I agree, our prices on stuff are relatively high. If I didn't get a discount there, i wouldn't buy **** from them (I didn't buy anything from them while I wasn't working there). I'm one of those people who will look online and see that the same thing can be had for MUCH cheaper provided I wait for shipping. Not a big deal IMO. Best Buy is kinda going after the impulse buyers who want their **** now, and/or don't feel like doing any research. Frankly, I'm surprised that there's as many people that buy at Best Buy as there are.



In any case, I personally lean more towards the side of "some wealthy people feel like they're better than everyone else" and that's why they ask for discounts, etc. Because if you don't let them get all pompous and full of themselves and egotistical, then they don't tend to ask for discounts and are much better to deal with in general.
 
My sister works at best buy down in Indianapolis and she had a 430 scuderia come in a couple of months ago for a new sound system install. She was happy to have it but I was taken back with "Why would anyone bring a friggen ferrari to cheap a$$ best buy to have those hack artist work on it?" Blows my mind why anyone would trust a retail chain that pays people minimum wage to even touch their $100,000+ cars.
 
circuit city location in laguna had many exotics come through on a daily basis...and then old honda civics in the next bay over...its kinda funny to see a ferrari getting a set of speakers installed and a honda civic getting a full tv/nav/sub/amp/speaker system installed...
 
My bay has had its share of exotics, and I still don't understand *** these people are thinking. Seriously, if I had a car like that, they'd be flying some dude from the country it was built in that doesn't speak a word of english and was directly involved with building it to work on it, lol.



And while we do make more than minimum wage, we're definitely not well paid enough to work on exotics.
 
My worst rip off on a detail was on the back of an explorer (i think) The hatch window was cracked open. I didn't see it as I was running about 2500 rpms across the tailgate and I ripped off the whole windowas it shattered and a rear wiper blade! that was probaly my worst ripoff! that was a good one. thank good them hack days are long gone!
 
Didn't happen to me but a good friend,

Detailed 3 large trashed vehicles (SUV/minivan/CUV) for a good, long term client. They guy had always paid on time before and my friend knew where he lived AND worked. He knew his wife too. After the vehicles were complete, my friend put them out in his lot for the night (locked, took the keys inside). Nothing strange.

Next morning, all 3 are gone. My friend calls up the guy and asks if the cars got stolen or what. He says, no, he came and got them all with a spare set of keys and says he would be back that day to leave a check. My friend is starting to think something is up at this point, so he hops into his truck and goes to the guys work hoping to find him and collect payment in person. He gets to his work, only to find that he got fired.

He calls the guy over the next couple of weeks (even using fake caller ID pretending to be someone else) and the guy keeps saying "I'll be down today to pay". After some time, he disconnects his phone and stops returning calls.

After a 2 weeks, my friend goes to this guys house..... only to find that it is empty!!! Guy is gone and so is everything else.

This happened 2 years ago and to this day no one has a clue where the guy went and my friend is out about $700.
 
Nobody buys $60-70K plus cars. They're all leased. Just because you can pay $500-600 a month doesn't mean you're going to go all out at some fancy boutique car audio store.
 
AcuraYYZ said:
Nobody buys $60-70K plus cars. They're all leased. Just because you can pay $500-600 a month doesn't mean you're going to go all out at some fancy boutique car audio store.
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Actually, I have several clients that do. They walk into the dealer and pay cash for a $100k+ car. No lease, no payments....lump sum up front and they own it outright.
 
AcuraYYZ said:
Nobody buys $60-70K plus cars. They're all leased. Just because you can pay $500-600 a month doesn't mean you're going to go all out at some fancy boutique car audio store.
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There are MANY people in the Washington D.C. area (Bethesda, Potomac, Great Falls, etc) that own expensive cars paid with cash. I know of people who live off the Potomac River who paid cash for all there cars (Enzo Ferrari, Bugatti Veyron, etc). 1 person I know has 12 incredible cars in his "Stable" as he refers to it (Veyron, Ferrari FXX, 1,500hp Viper, 1,000hp Ford GT, 1000hp Lamborghini Gallardo, etc).
 
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