Dear Squeegee

April 2, 2004

Get a call from a customer yesterday. Tinted his car in September of last year, had the tint on there for about 6 mo. He has somehow managed to scratch all but one of the quarter windows on his VW golf. He wants a price on getting them all replaced. He tells me he didn't get the scratch warranty when he got his car tinted, because the first time he came in to see what we offered and how much, we never mentioned the availability of a scratch warranty, he's on financial aid, in college, saved up just enough for the tint job, when he paid for his car, then we offered the scratch warranty and he hadn't saved enough for it, so couldn't get it. I told him I couldn't back date a warranty that far back for him, since its a factory reimburse, I can't pay for it out of pocket, but I would give him a deal on replacing it, at the same rate the factory would have paid to have it done under the scratch warranty, (a savings of $90, and no charge for stripping) This time, he'd be wise to buy the scratch warranty. He told me it was wrong of us not to have told him it was an option ahead of time.....and on and on. Somehow this was all our fault, we should have told him in the first place etc. He is very unhappy with us that we won't replace the whole car for free....I wonder what in the hell he was thinking the first time he scratched one of those windows, much less the whole car. Did he just assume we would take care of it 100% even though he didn't want to pay the extra $$ for it? Was I wrong to not roll over and apologize for so called failing to tell him in advance? AND who's to say we didn't? Many of these guys decline the scratch warranty no matter what. I always tell people if they decide later in the next few weeks that they want to buy one, thats fine with me. He claims he didn't know that was an option and would have done so if we'd told him. So....should I call him up and ask him to bring it in and eat it? He's very pissed with us right now.

April 2, 2004

Every person will make business contact on average with a minimum of 250 people in their lifetime... means that client will chat with 250 people about any business they've conducted and what they experienced while doing it.

Each of those 250 contacts have 250 they each will make contact with... and on and on and on...

Better to have one very happy client than to have those they come in contact with hearing of their experience and then some.

I have seen CPF step up to the plate when a film customer is so done with their experience. On a case by case basis the policy is to have a happy client and retain a good name.

Your call.... :evileye

April 2, 2004

Tough call that one.

As a rule I would say eat it. One bad customer can turn into alot of them...Who knows what his version of the story will be as he is bitching to everyone he knows.

Its easy for all of us in here to make a snap judgement call on something like that, but ultimately you know what is best for your business.

No one likes having to deal with an unrealistic customer. Good luck. :mad

April 2, 2004

Get a call from a customer yesterday. Tinted his car in September of last year, had the tint on there for about 6 mo. He has somehow managed to scratch all but one of the quarter windows on his VW golf. He wants a price on getting them all replaced. He tells me he didn't get the scratch warranty when he got his car tinted, because the first time he came in to see what we offered and how much, we never mentioned the availability of a scratch warranty, he's on financial aid, in college, saved up just enough for the tint job, when he paid for his car, then we offered the scratch warranty and he hadn't saved enough for it, so couldn't get it. I told him I couldn't back date a warranty that far back for him, since its a factory reimburse, I can't pay for it out of pocket, but I would give him a deal on replacing it, at the same rate the factory would have paid to have it done under the scratch warranty, (a savings of $90, and no charge for stripping) This time, he'd be wise to buy the scratch warranty. He told me it was wrong of us not to have told him it was an option ahead of time.....and on and on. Somehow this was all our fault, we should have told him in the first place etc. He is very unhappy with us that we won't replace the whole car for free....I wonder what in the hell he was thinking the first time he scratched one of those windows, much less the whole car. Did he just assume we would take care of it 100% even though he didn't want to pay the extra $$ for it? Was I wrong to not roll over and apologize for so called failing to tell him in advance? AND who's to say we didn't? Many of these guys decline the scratch warranty no matter what. I always tell people if they decide later in the next few weeks that they want to buy one, thats fine with me. He claims he didn't know that was an option and would have done so if we'd told him. So....should I call him up and ask him to bring it in and eat it? He's very pissed with us right now.

Most shops don't or won't offer a sratch protection warranty so I wouldn't even worry about it. You shop offers it but you didn't present this to him at the time of sale? Just because you offer a particular service does not mean you are obligated to offer that particular service to each and every customer.

That's like going to a restaurant and ordering your food, getting halfway through the meal and you hear the waiter at the next table offer a dinner special that your waiter didn't offer you. You may have ordered it if your waiter had mentioned it but then again you may not have. You don't send a half eaten meal back to the kitchen, ask for the nightly special and expect them to prepare dinner special at no charge?

People don't use common sense sometimes.

I wouldn't worry about it. Sounds like you did the right thing by offering a discount.

April 2, 2004

I'd not want an unhappy customer either. They'll go out of their way to tell everybody they know all about it.

I had one yesterday I stood my ground on...but I'm still fretting about it.

The wife brought their '02 Mailbu to me to tint after the husband called to make the appointment. She chose 35% all sides and 15% on the back. He calls and says it's not dark enough...and wants to make another appointment to have the back redone in 5%. We discussed his wife choosing the 15% and that there would be an additional $XX fee. He seemed upset ...guess he figured it'd be free. :mad I didn't make a mistake. :lol She chose 15%. So now should I have to eat the removal and replacement of the back glass ? :mad He hasn't rescheduled so I am hoping he is willing to live with the 15% WIFEY chose. It turned out beautiful so I didn't wanna redo it anyways.

:lol6 But if he came here and threw enough of a fit...I probably would....free

:mad

April 3, 2004

Well, maybe this wasn't clear, he was offered the option of the scratch warranty at the time he paid for his tint, he just didn't have the money on the spot I guess. He's mad that we didn't tell him about it when he first scheduled the appointment. I still don't get why it didn't occur to him to be concerned about the whole thing and call us asking about it BEFORE he scratched every stinking window in the whole car! If he'd have called with one screwed up window, I'd have gladly fixed it, no questions asked, warranty or not. But the whole car? Last week I tinted a truck, and stripped and retinted it again, as customer didn't like the film they first choose, didn't charge them a dime extra. Also replaced another vehicle's fronts including the graphics for free as well, because they were scratched too in the same week. No fun!

TintWizard · April 3, 2004

My question is...what does this guy do in his car to have THAT much damage to his tint in only 6 month...having s*x in his car with a college cheerleader while wearing with football cleets ?

April 3, 2004

Well, maybe this wasn't clear, he was offered the option of the scratch warranty at the time he paid for his tint, he just didn't have the money on the spot I guess. He's mad that we didn't tell him about it when he first scheduled the appointment. I still don't get why it didn't occur to him to be concerned about the whole thing and call us asking about it BEFORE he scratched every stinking window in the whole car! If he'd have called with one screwed up window, I'd have gladly fixed it, no questions asked, warranty or not. But the whole car? Last week I tinted a truck, and stripped and retinted it again, as customer didn't like the film they first choose, didn't charge them a dime extra. Also replaced another vehicle's fronts including the graphics for free as well, because they were scratched too in the same week. No fun!

He's pissed at himself, not you and does even know it... :cool

April 4, 2004

TW, I almost asked him how in the heck he managed to screw up all the windows so quickly, but I figured it would be more interesting to think up likely scenarios instead. Yours works!

Metint... your exactly right, he figured he didn't have to buy it, and if he ruined it, we'd just take care of it anyway. He should have asked after the first scratch, didn't, and now he's pissed. Oh well!

April 5, 2004

Well, maybe this wasn't clear, he was offered the option of the scratch warranty at the time he paid for his tint, he just didn't have the money on the spot I guess. He's mad that we didn't tell him about it when he first scheduled the appointment. I still don't get why it didn't occur to him to be concerned about the whole thing and call us asking about it BEFORE he scratched every stinking window in the whole car! If he'd have called with one screwed up window, I'd have gladly fixed it, no questions asked, warranty or not. But the whole car? Last week I tinted a truck, and stripped and retinted it again, as customer didn't like the film they first choose, didn't charge them a dime extra. Also replaced another vehicle's fronts including the graphics for free as well, because they were scratched too in the same week. No fun!

He's pissed at himself, not you and does even know it...