I own and operate a very small auto detailing business. I often do promotions with the local radio station in which they give out gift certificates for local businesses at specific times to whoever is a special numbered caller, to promote listenership in exchange for commercials on the air.
One such promotion has just finished, and there were five gift cards valued at $150 each given out. A woman walks in, and I can already feel she will be a problem.
I greet her politely, and she tells me:
Customer: “I won one of [the aforementioned gift cards] and would like to book my vehicle in for service.”
My policy is: I can always give a ballpark quote over the phone or email, but I cannot confirm a hard price without seeing the vehicle. What is “not that bad” to one is nine out of ten times awfully dirty. I’ve been in business for almost fifteen years, so I developed this policy based on MANY such instances.
I also have a recited series of questions I ask word for word: “is there any pet hair, stains, lots of mud/dust, or anything like that?”. My policy for appointments is: once fifteen minutes have passed since your booked slot with no contact, you’re considered a no-show and have to prepay for your next appointment. This is important later.
While chatting at my desk about what she wants, and I ask my question, she casually drops the magic words…
Customer: “It’s not that bad.”
I advise her that we can go outside and I can take a look at her SUV, and as soon as I open the door, I’m greeted with dog hair. EVERYWHERE. It’s on the headliner, embedded in the perforated leather seats, the black carpet looks as though it’s covered in snow, etc. There is also a mound of fast-food wrappers on the passenger floor, spilled beverages coating the center console, and spilled food/fries under the driver’s seat.
Customer: “See? It’s not that bad. It’s only two years old. It’s pretty clean.”
Me: “For sure, so this would fall under the Gold Package, which is $299 plus tax and roughly four to five hours to complete.”
Customer: “Excuse me? I said it’s not that bad. My gift card is $150, so I only want whatever that will cover.”
Me: “I apologize, but even the most basic package wouldn’t be covered by that. It goes based on vehicle size, and you have a seven-seater SUV that has quite a bit of pet hair. To be honest with you, $299 is a discounted price as I have a promotion on right now. Normally, I don’t combine offers, but I deal with [Radio] a lot, so I make an exception for their gift certificates.”
Customer: “That’s insane! Do people actually pay that much?”
Me: “…yes, ma’am. I’m booking a month in advance right now.”
Customer: “No. I’m leaving on a road trip this Friday—” *It’s currently Tuesday.* “—and need it done before I go.”
Me: “I apologize, but there is no way I could get you in that quickly. I could put you on the waitlist and give you a call if anything comes up sooner, though!”
Customer: “Fine. But I’m not paying that much. I only want the basic package.”
Me: “I can make an exception since these cards are non-transferable, however, I cannot remove all the pet hair. It will be approximately three hours, and $199 plus tax, which will leave your total owing at around $60. Does that work?”
Customer: “FINE!”
My mistake number one. Yes, I know. I shouldn’t have bent to her. Shockingly, I had a cancellation for Friday, and she snatched that spot. 9 AM Friday, she was booked. At 9:10 AM, I tried to call her and got no answer. At 9:15 AM, I sent a text message.
Text Message: “Hi, [Customer’s Name]. It is currently 9:15 AM, and I have not heard from you. Will you be making it to your appointment today?”
No response.
At 9:40 AM, I call another client on my waitlist, and he says he will drop his car off in 45 minutes. Great! Day not wasted. I mark the original customer as a no-show in the system and start working on the other car when it arrives.
At 10:36 AM, the front door chime goes off. In walks my problem customer and her husband. No apology, no acknowledgement of being late.
Customer: “I’m here to drop off my SUV for my appointment.”
Me: “You’re now over an hour and a half late, so I have moved on with another vehicle. You’ll have to re-book, and I require advance payment.”
Customer: “I had another appointment this morning and needed my car. I’m here now.”
Me: “You were booked for 9 AM. I cannot accommodate your vehicle today.”
Customer: “Well, I NEED it done today. I need it back by noon because I have more errands to run before we leave for our trip.”
Me: “Ma’am, that’s in about an hour… There is no way I can get your vehicle done in one hour. You’ll have to reschedule.”
Customer’s Husband: “We had an appointment. We are here for our appointment. You don’t honor people’s appointments?”
Me: “Sir, as I said, you guys are at this point approaching 2 hours late. It was booked for 9 AM. I called and texted, and received no response or call. My policy is clear and was agreed to when the appointment was booked. I made your wife aware of these terms when she brought the vehicle by for a quote.”
Customer’s Husband: “Ridiculous. Okay, when can you get it in? I guess we just have to do our trip in a dirty vehicle. Great. Thanks.”
We re-book them for three weeks later on a Wednesday for 9 AM, and I again outline my no-show and cancellation policy, to which she again agrees. They pay the $60 “deposit” and leave.
Three weeks later:
9 AM comes and goes. Two phone calls to the customer, both ignored (rang once and then went to voicemail), and a text, and I have no other appointments booked for the day, so I go home at 10 AM and decide to have a relaxing day. At 10:58 AM, my shop alarm notifies me that someone is at the front door.
My phone rings thirty seconds later, and it’s her.
Customer: “I AM STANDING OUTSIDE FOR MY APPOINTMENT AND NOBODY IS HERE! THIS IS RIDICULOUS. I HAVE THINGS TO DO TODAY! I’VE PAID FOR THIS SERVICE!”
Yes, she was screaming into the phone.
Me: “Ma’am. I called TWICE this morning, and sent a text. I waited an HOUR for you, despite my policy, which I made clear to you on several occasions. I’ve already made plans for the rest of my day, and I don’t appreciate you being disrespectful when you have now wasted my time twice. At this point, I am not willing to provide service to you now, or in the future.”
Customer: “I PAID YOU! YOU work for ME! You have NO idea who I am! I’m NEVER coming back again!”
Me: “Ma’am… to be fair, you haven’t even shown up on time once, so I’ll be glad if you never come back again.”
She hung up angrily. I immediately emailed the rep from the radio station and sent him all the information and proof, including security footage of her arriving late both times for her appointment, and asked what steps we could take to void her gift certificate. Two hours later, he phones me:
Rep: “You’re not gonna believe what I just had to listen to. I’m glad I saw your email before she called, otherwise I might have believed her. Might have. Nah, not really.”
Me: “I can only imagine… so what do we do?”
Rep: “Well, she asked for a refund for the gift certificate that she got for free, plus the $60 deposit she paid, AND wanted $500 in compensation for wasting her time and pain and suffering. She said you stole her money and kept making excuses when she showed up “on time,” and said you are a thief and a scammer. I told her I had your video footage, and she could pound sand, but in a much nicer way.”
I never heard from her again. She did not leave any reviews, probably because she knew I had video of her late arrivals and attitude. She did attempt to sell the gift certificate in our local community Facebook group, but was quickly met with dozens of comments that said “it says right on the certificate that it’s not transferable and has no cash value as it’s a promotional giveaway item. You can’t sell this.”
She did end up selling it to an older man who, unfortunately, didn’t see the fine print, but I gladly honored it for him, and he now comes in every three months on a regular maintenance plan!
