jrblaw08Z06

No it's true, I have a BMW, that's how I knew what this creature was, it takes a boob to know a boob

FF1wms

I doubt if he even has a vette.............Tell him you'll do everything for $100 Sat night.........then, when he gets there......Beat the crap out of him.

Wicked_Z06

I quoted Jiffy Lube recently, and they wanted $89 for Syn 530 oil change, and an overtightened filter.

C5 4me

[QUOTE=FF1wms;1573459864]I doubt if he even has a vette.............Tell him you'll do everything for $100 Sat night.........then, when he gets there......Beat the crap out of him. [/QUOTE

LOL! I think you did all you could,and were very nice about it. All money aint good money,its better that he goes some where else.

0Paul Ruggeri

There will always be a small percentage of your customers you can't make happy. Maybe this guy was having a bad day or maybe he's a jerk. The trick is to send him to someone else in a subtle way so he doesn't rag on you to everyone he knows. Just one of the many joys of owning a shop

CA C6 Fan

This is what I would have done. It sounds like all they wanted was to set things up on their own terms. When you didn't do that, they went postal on you.

Red Dwarf

Remember "Nick" The customer is always right!

CupertinoZ06

sounds like a little 5 year old whiner who didn't get his candy I think you were handling this just fine and "potential customer" overreacted. You said you would accomodate him but you were just trying show him a more reasonable course of action.

RichieRichZ06

I am staying out of it in fear that I might know who this was.

doje

Come on Richie, spill the beans

knkali

no Richie, I never met Nick or e-mailed him

tlove32

I didn't find anything in your responses to be insulting or otherwise. End communication with said potential customer asap............

Nick@Newtech

Thanks for your replies everyone, I know comunication is lost in typed text, but this was the communication method the person chose, so you would think they would know how it goes. I do agree that a phone call is more personable, but for a simple fluid service, I figured I could get the facts accross well enough to not have to make a phone call.

When someone wants to do a twenty five thousand dollar build on their car the first thing I do is ask for a phone number.

Exotica

The only thing I would say is that this potential customer does have a point that you didn't answer a couple of his questions (the type of oil and Saturday appts) and that may have agravated him due to the appearance that you were being vague or evasive. That can set some people off.

I don't think you did anything wrong, but remember there are all kinds of people in this world and some of them feel if they are asking you to perform routine service, they don't need yours (or anyone else's) input. Right, wrong or indifferent, that is just the way some people are.

He seemed to take things a bit personally, but that is often the nature of the Internet when there is no personal feeling behind your statements. A phone call would have allowed you to display more sincereity (through tone, inflections, passion, etc.) which all get lost in black and white text.

Good luck.

0SMOKNC6Z06

Hey Nick,
I am still waiting for a response to my email to you about my oil and coolant change!
JK, Keep up the good work, we all know your excellent reputation.
Terry

fej

People in general are not very intelligent, even if they think that they are. Money seems to have an influence on how often they believe that they are "right".

Nick you gave it a go, your only possible fault being to not confirm a Saturday appointment option.

Some people you have to spoon feed and hand hold, part of retail/dealing with the public.

G'luck
Fej

thesubfloor

I will preface this by saying that I have a great deal of respect for Nick. He helped me fix a warm start problem with my LS2 after I had struggled with it for months, he helped me fix a similar problem with the LS7 transplant that I did for the guy in AZ and more recently, helped me out with some used cats for the Trans Am I was trying to get smogged.

With that out of the way I think you blew it right here Nick:

Given the current state of the economy (along with knowing how peculiar and particular Corvettes owners can sometimes be) I think your response should have been something along the lines of this:

Yes, it'd be $150 to do the coolant swap and I have Saturday hours by appointment. What time would you like to come in?


Granted, it's only $150 (or $200 if you did both) but I think most of you are missing the bigger picture - the guy gets his coolant changed, starts talking to Nick and takes a liking to him, sees some of the cool cars he has in the shop and the next thing you know Nick's giving him a quote for a heads and cam swap or even better, a blower!

In addition, this guy is probably now going around telling all his friends about the conversation and recommending that they don't ever do business with Nick, instead of giving him a favorable review.

Just my .02.

Christopher

jrblaw08Z06

This is of course another way of looking at it, and I most certainly respect your point of view, and your approach here. My problem, is that it would necessitate accomodating and enabling rudeness. Nick was trying to help the guy out by letting him know a few extra miles on the coolant wasn't going to hurt anything, and that he would be saving money by combining the services. All the guy had to do was reply with like courtesy, and say that he wanted to do them at different times, for whatever reason(s).

I do not think Nick could have handled this any better. Sure he could have taken his money, but that seems to be missing the point. By posting it like this here, the dude has the opportunity to maybe see that his behaviour is not civilized, welcome, friendly, or acceptable. Of course, it might not do any good at all, he may think everyone is wrong, and his response is legitimate, and that because he is furnishing money for the services he has the right to behave however he damn well pleases. I applaud nick for posting this and handling things in this particular fashion, I myself hope i could have reacted in like fashion, i may have insulted him back, which wouldn't have done anybody any good.

jrblaw08Z06

Vendors supporting other vendors speaks volumes about character.

Boomer111