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

How does the guy have a Ferrari FXX in his "stable"? They don't let you take it away from the factory in Maranello? The deal when you buy one is you keep it there at the factory and get to race it anytime you want around their track...
 
nrengle said:
How does the guy have a Ferrari FXX in his "stable"? They don't let you take it away from the factory in Maranello? The deal when you buy one is you keep it there at the factory and get to race it anytime you want around their track...
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I just saw pictures on another forum of a FXX in New York at a track.
 
I had a 20 year old client (red flag #1) that works at a body shop (red flag #2), bring me his M3 cloned 325ci (red flag #3), that needed SERIOUS correction. He won't admit to it, but either he, or someone at the bodyshop had no idea what they were doing with a buffer, and burned through the paint on the bumper (red flag #4).







I put tape over the burned spot, to not make it any worse, and went about my whole detail/correction process. Luckily, I photo-documented all of it, before and after.







The VERY first thing he said, when he walked up was, "*** HAPPENED TO MY BUMPER?!!!!" I calmly replied to him, "it was burned before you even brought it to me, and we discussed that at the time I quoted you." After receiving several nasty phone calls, and text messages, and PM's on our local car forum, I told him that I admittedly did not detail that one spot of his car. That spot made up less that 1% of the entire detail, and I'd compensate in his favor, and return a full 1% of the detail to him, and asked him when he'd like to come pick up his $2.00.





After receiving several more nasty text messages about how he's going to get a lawyer involved, and take me to court, I said to him, "Go ahead. I have documented proof of the car's condition before and after you brought it to me. Nice try. You can't hustle a hustler. I've been screwed over WAY too many times, exactly like you're trying to do, that I've learned to cover my ***. If I was at fault, I would have paid to get it fixed. I've got a $1M policy with State Farm, to protect against this kind of thing. Even they said, as long as you have documented proof, the claim will be denied. It was a mistake doing business with you, and I regret taking you on as a client."





He later started a thread on the local forum (which I'm a sponsor of, vendor, and super-moderator), talking trash about me and my business.





I talked to my lawyer, and discussed the option of serving him with a slander/libel lawsuit. He hasn't shown his face at any of the weekly meets anymore, hasn't posted at all, and I haven't heard from him since.















I guess hardball is the only way to play.
 
Jean-Claude said:
I just saw pictures on another forum of a FXX in New York at a track.
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Interesting. Last I knew they weren't letting them out of the factory's site. What number was it? They only made 22 of the FXX, all of them sold for 1.3 million and up!
 
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.
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I totally agree a customer i have lives in multi million dollar home, says he'll get me 4 cars from his buddies to wash if i wash his two cars for free forever....well i told him do you work for free he said no and so did I, good thing he still refer them to me...i was kind of worried i might loose this account now i take care of the neighbors Bentley
 
So i'm getting my business going and I still work for an insurance company detailing employee cars. Well one day this woman came in for a basic in and out. I finished, she came and paid, and i thought all was good. The next day she is calling and yelling at the new guy accusing us of stealing her floor mats! So i get on the phone to talk to her and try and straighten things out. She asked me if we had them and i told her no that if we had them they would be laying out somewhere. Calmly i explained to her that when her car came in, she didn't have floor mats in it only a piece of rug on the drivers side. She straight up called me a liar. I made a few suggestions on where they could be and she said "well why the hell would they be there". I told her maybe she took them out for something and forgot to put them back in. Well all in all she called my boss and complained enough to get a new set of floor mats.



PT.2



She came back in for more service. This time an oil change, headlight, and battery. If something like this happened to you somewhere, and you weren't at fault would YOU go back? Anybody? Well this one did.



Eventually she got to a point where her car was dirty as fk and wanted a wax and a shampoo.



So i get the car pull out the floor mats already steamed by what had happened in the past, but kept my cool, when the driver side mat came up, so did the mat hooks. Oh great. I ended up forgetting about it and got a call the next day. I apologized, admitted fault, then offered to fix it, and let her know that in order to do that i would have to remove the front seat and it would take me a while. (I have another job installing accessories like leather, heated seats, audio, sunroofs, etc.) explained this and she automatically thought i worked at a chop shop. so i fixed it for her. and she still came back.



I'm just a few months away from getting my shop open. I can't wait!!! I hate that place.
 
nrengle said:
How does the guy have a Ferrari FXX in his "stable"? They don't let you take it away from the factory in Maranello? The deal when you buy one is you keep it there at the factory and get to race it anytime you want around their track...
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How, I dont know. He lives off the Potomac (Canal Rd area). I wont gives his exact address but I went over for Dinner (he's friends with my parents). He has a bay in his garage that has grates on the floor so water can fall through the floor. Its pretty awesome. It allows him to have his detailer was his car inside his garage even when its snowing outside. He also has 2 lifts in his garage.
 
Only time I have really had a problem a friend of a kid that was working for me brought in an old *** Porsche 928 to have a full detail on it and we agreed upon the price. Once arriving back at the shop he was acting "shady" and wouldn't come up to the office and pay his bill. I asked why not and he demanded to see the car outside first. So we take the car outside and he says "I'm not happy". I asked what the problem was and he didn't have an answer other than "I thought it would look better". I asked again what specifically he wasn't happy with and he couldn't come up with an answer. So I said let's go settle up and he says here is all I have and hands me $50 less than we agreed upon. So I count it and tell him he's $50 short and he says that's all he has. So I said so you showed up here knowing the price and didn't bring all the money? So he says he will go get the money and come back and since he knew the kid that worked for me I said fine but there would be consequences if he didn't come right back. Of course he didn't so I called up a guy I know that is shall we say someone you don't want to meet in a dark alley and told him who the kid was and that he owed me $50 and the money was his if he could collect it. Next day the guy showed up at the shop with the $50 the kid owed me and told me he collected it plus something for his trouble and thought I should get what was owed to me. The kid that worked for me said the kid was so scared that he paid the guy off to leave
 
ShineShop said:
Next day the guy showed up at the shop with the $50 the kid owed me and told me he collected it plus something for his trouble and thought I should get what was owed to me. The kid that worked for me said the kid was so scared that he paid the guy off to leave
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That's awesome!:xyxthumbs
 
MDg35 said:
How, I dont know. He lives off the Potomac (Canal Rd area). I wont gives his exact address but I went over for Dinner (he's friends with my parents). He has a bay in his garage that has grates on the floor so water can fall through the floor. Its pretty awesome. It allows him to have his detailer was his car inside his garage even when its snowing outside. He also has 2 lifts in his garage.
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Sounds cool, but what number car is it? They only made 22 of them. I'd love some pics next time you go over there...
 
Setec:
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.
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Some are just born cheap a-holes. Nothing to do with wealth.
 
nrengle said:
Sounds cool, but what number car is it? They only made 22 of them. I'd love some pics next time you go over there...
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No, Ferrari built 30 of them, 29 were sold to pre-selected Ferrari customer and #30 is a special edition one of a kind that was built for Schumacher after he retired from Formula One.
 
Had a good burn today at work... I don't do detailing for a living, more of a side-business, my main job is wholesale auto glass..



Anyway



Guy workin for me has a F150, and he's been talking about getting me to do the full meal deal on it, and since he works for me I'll give him a deal and do everything inside & out for $200 flat. Great deal for him, but I know he's young and doesn't have money right now so I'll wait and let him save up for it...



So a few weeks later he mentions that his interior is getting pretty dirty and he'd like me to just do the inside... those damn rubber floors, too... So I say sure, interior only, $60, after work one day, no problem...



He gawks at $60! what the hell? Thats a damn good deal.. even had a few people backing me up..



But then again, he's a coworker, so sure, he said $40 and i'll do it for $40, just not as meticulous as I usually am.. no problem. I'll do a $40 interior detail, I've done more for less before!



So today I bring all my supplies in and I'm ready to do it.



"Sorry, I don't have $40 to spare right now, maybe next week".



Eff.



You.



Teaches me AGAIN don't trust anyone under 25 to actually follow through with what they talk about!
 
Had a woman who wanted her accord treated for smoke odor and a complete detail. She was a chain smoker that was going through chemo. Gave her options and she agreed to package. I picked up the car, got it done, and returned it to her house. She came out and looked at it, signed off on it and paid with CC. 2 weeks later, she calls me and says the windows weren't done. I told her they were, and that (politely mind you) the smoking in the car will cover them with film again. BUT, if she stopped by the shop, I'd gladly clean them again for her. She didn't then called 2 more weeks later and said I left a big dirt clod under the passenger seat. I told her I didn't and that she signed off on it and by the way, IT'S 4 WEEKS LATER! She said OK. Then a few days later I notice a chargeback on my cc statements. SHE called her CC company and told them to not pay me! So, I call her back again, discuss it with her, and convince her to actually pay me. What a pain! I got charged fees for the chargeback and again for running the card again. I should have demanded cash!
 
Had a client drop off a Mini Cooper, when she left it in my driveway the driver's window was down. I thought nothing of it until I tried the door handle and it was broken - had to reach through the open window and pop the door open.



Flash forward 8 hours, she comes and picks the car up. First thing she does is grab the door handle and say "oh wow, I don't remember this being broken when I dropped the car off". I looked her right in the eyes and said "oh is that why you left the drivers window down, so I could reach in and pop the broken door open". The look on her face was absolutely priceless and I firmly told her to pay and never come back to me again.



I've never seen anyone that pissed to hand over $250.
 
Gig103 said:
I love it, Timmah! People are jerks, anything to SAVE a buck.
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Fixed.



I'm still a noob, so no screw overs yet. I did sell myself short on a job until the guy cremed his pants at the "reveal" and ponyd up a $50 tip-that equaled the full price I originally quoted. The following week his neighbor bought in on the same job for full price too =)
 
themightytimmah said:
I looked her right in the eyes and said "oh is that why you left the drivers window down, so I could reach in and pop the broken door open".
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Wow dude, that's smooth! I would have lost my temper immediately.
 
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