customer expectations too high?!

flat rock stan · December 27, 2013

Always trust your gut and first impressions when your biding jobs :twocents

Cheers

Stan

addicted to tint · December 28, 2013

That had crossed my mind, and to be honest my boss at the time warned my that our customer was very particular, but how do you account for such an extreme situation before the fact? Really the gap wasn't even that much of an issue after I explained why it was there and he understood that a gap 1/32-1/16 of an inch is nothing to be concerned about. Part of that was that out of the dozen windows I tinted in that house, this was the only one the had a tiny bow in the frame next a factory edge. The rest of the windows had virtually no gap, plus it's a 70% film.

The more pressing issue was that they didn't want my helper doing an doing anymore work, even though they admitted that everyone has to learn at some point.

Training of an employee should never be so obvious to a consumer that it becomes a discussion point. Your helper, no matter how inexperienced, should have been pulled away from the site, described proper, non damaging cleaning techniques to clean ahead for you, then return to job site with as little discussion as possible in front of clients. You had already been warned that consumer was particular, no way should a cleaner start hanging film in this environment. I can't imagine explaining to a client that everyone has to learn at some point, and you are the lucky customer we're being paid to learn on.

elementaltinting · December 28, 2013

Working for that company, I was often told "this customer is particular" so I went into this job with the same outlook I would on any job, which is to do the best work I can and pass all that I can onto the trainee if I have one. Every job is different so there's no way to fully anticipate the challenges. There wasn't a way for us to know that this customer would be sitting and watching us work on each window. My trainee wasn't doing anything that demonstrated a concern for the home owner and the customer ( not me) was the one to state, after the job was complete, that he realizes that everyone has to learn at some point. Should the process and expectations been better explained during the estimate? Maybe, but I wasn't there so I don't know how particular the customer appeared to be at first. I know when we arrived he was very easy going and hospitable. He admitted to me later how particular he is and his wife reiterated that if he points something out it's not because there's something wrong necessarily, "he's just very picky".

As for allowing my trainee to hang film, i agree, and in normal circumstances I wouldn't have allowed him to hang film with a customer who is watching our every move. Unfortunately, the training needed to happen at a pace where he was laying film on every job to gain experience. At the end of the day, I am responsible for the quality of the work and if his film didn't meet my standards I would've explained to him what needs to be fixed, and then show him how to do it properly.

elementaltinting · December 28, 2013

The other thing is toactually ready to walk away in advance rather than take a job if the customer looks like they will likely be trouble. I once went to a new home to look at the windows of a woman who had, I swear, about a hundred pieces of blue masking tape marking her newly painted wall showing what she considered to be problem areas for the painter to touch up. I did not even bother quoting to film her windows - if she was that picky with her wall she would've been too picky with her windows.

The customer told me that when he was purchasing that home, he actually looked at 60 homes in one day. 60! If he saw one thing he did not like they were onto the next house... he said his realtor had never heard of anyone looking at that many homes in one day. Had my boss known that I think he may have walked from the job. I'm glad everything worked out and the customer was happy in the end though.