Would You Tell The Client?

jimmybuffit

jimmybuffit

That'll buff right out!
So here's the deal: Client leaves his Mom's car for a complete detail. She's away for a week. We have our first MAJOR screwup... the right rear door is left open as we back the car out of the shop. SMACK! $900 damage to the rear door! My local body shop gets it finished (THREE STAGE PEARLESCENT WHITE!) in two days.!



So, now the car is good again. Ready for delivery.



Question is: "Do we tell the Client?"



Think it thru b4 responding. What if it was YOUR business?



Jim
 
Do the honorable thing. If it were your car wouldn't you want to know? What if they decide to wax that area not knowing it had just been painted?



Honesty is always the best policy.
 
I agree that its the honerable tning to do and probably the only thing to do. Word could always get back to them and then you would look bad.

Good rule of thumb is: If all else fails, tell the truth.
 
Tell her the truth. The owner has a right to know their property was damaged. Yes it might make you look bad, but if you don't tell her and she notices something isn't the same, and finds out on her own, it's going to be 10x worse.



Face the music now and be honest.
 
Be honest about it. Odds are they will be so impressed with your honesty and the fact that you had it fixed without involving them in the hassle that they will likely leave with a very high impression of your professionalism.
 
I would tell her. I agree with Scottwax, they will probably be impressed that you took it on your own to fix it and pay for it.



I definitely wouldn't want her to find out later on and then who knows what would happen. :nixweiss
 
and tell us what she says too! Good luck, I've found that honestly is ALWAYS the best policy, dont dig yourself into a hole, otherwise youll never get out. If it were me, and It was already fixed, I might be a little irked at your carlessness (sorry), but the fact that its good as new and you footed the bill would make me feel much better. (You gonna comp the detail or not?)
 
Lawdog said:
Take it to the local chop shop and tell her it is was stolen!;)
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:rofl:rofl:rofl



But to be serious the customer should have been informed right after it happened.BEFORE you had any repairs made! Show them where the damage is(it will avoid the later "it never did that before") and let them take it to the bodyshop of THEIR choice (at your expense)...

Picture yourself as the customer and it was your car, what would you expect to be done?

But that's just my $.02



"J"
 
L33 said:
I would imagine there could be a damaging law suit if she found out on her own.
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I was thinking the same thing, I'd hire a lawyer right away, pay him $200 an hour, spend hours in court, all because i'm pissed about a $900 door ding thats already fixed.:rolleyes: Americans need to stop being so sue happy.
 
First it's called small claims court, no lawyer.

Second i get a ding fixed for $90, not $900 sounds like a little more than a "ding".

Nothing to do with being sue happy, has to do with a 30,000 dollar vehicle that i pay for, bust my *** of at work and wasn't told about getting damage. Bet your F'in *** i would sue if further damage occurs as a result and i'm not sue happy. Not only that, i would want to know exactly where the work was done, if it was at a quality shop, if not, you'll pay to have it re-done. What if she brings it back and he claims it wasn't done at his shop? Will you pay the damage bill for me? Thanks for the opinion though.



OneCleanCL said:
I was thinking the same thing, I'd hire a lawyer right away, pay him $200 an hour, spend hours in court, all because i'm pissed about a $900 door ding thats already fixed.:rolleyes: Americans need to stop being so sue happy.
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ok I'll answer this from both ends as a shop owner and a car owner.



As the shop owner I would did just what you did and get it fixed and then let here know what happened. Since you had the luxury of getting it fixed while the owner was away , I feel you did right by fixing it right away , waiting would have made it worse.





As a car owner , if I never knew about the damage and it was fixed back to new, I personally would rather not know about it , because knowing would just make me find something wrong with the repair even if there was not.



But in the end I would say you should tell her and show her the bill from the shop letting her know that you took care of it with the best possible resources and didn't just have a hack make a quick fix. Nothing bad can come from telling her, even if she is upset and bad mouths you and your compnay , you've already proved your integrity to keeping the customer happy by fixing the damage. She can't sue you it's already fixed so it a win win situation by telling her.
 
The KEY here is she was away! Maybe it's her only car and you saved her the hassle of waiting for it to be reapired on arrival.Just tell her you had no way of contacting her.
 
yea, you should tell her. I would make it a point to say you didn't want her to have to wait for repairs when she gets back and that you are fimilar with the work from this body shop and they are in lines with your standards. everyone makes mistakes, it's how we live up to them that seperates us.
 
jrocc1212 said:
The KEY here is she was away! Maybe it's her only car and you saved her the hassle of waiting for it to be reapired on arrival.Just tell her you had no way of contacting her.
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what Jimmy said was the"client" dropped off "his mothers car"..."she" is away was the client contacted?



"J"
 
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