Customers - 'Who'd ave em'

Customers – “who’d ave em”

?When you drop your vehicle off and we ask you for your personal information and contact details, it is a bit tedious, but it is to enable us to contact you if we have an issue. No, we do not want to stalk you on social media.

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Whilst you are out on your luncheon or playing 18 at the golf course, please do remember that you have left your vehicle with us, and we may be trying to get hold of you. Phone calls at 17:30 saying ‘You have not heard from us all day,’ are just total bullshit. That is why we do the above.

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Then please keep calm and don’t blow a fuse (pun intended), when you find out that your vehicle is still on the ramp as we have been trying to get authorisation from you all day.

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The multiple questions we ask about the problem, however trivial they may seem, are to help us give the technicians as much information as possible to be able to replicate and identify the problem that your vehicle is having. Things like, ‘you’ll hear it as soon as you drive it’ are not helpful. Our technicians do not drive your vehicle every day, and they may get in and hear three different noises, which one are they supposed to be investigating?

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Try to understand that when you book your vehicle in for an MOT, then drop it off at 10:00am with a list of extra things that you would like us to look at, we may not get it done in the same day. Our diary is booked so whilst we will do our best, it is not always possible to complete all the extra work that you have added. Your vehicle is not the only one we are looking at.

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When you pop in and ask ‘can you have a quick look.’ Our technicians are good, but they do not have x-ray vision and cannot walk round, look at your vehicle and tell you what is wrong. What you are really asking is, please stop what you are doing, my vehicle has an issue and is more important than the one on which you are currently working. Can you put it on the ramp and tell me what is wrong?

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‘Can you just plug it in and tell me what it says’! Seriously, that is like going to a coffee shop asking for them to grind the coffee beans but not actually having a coffee.

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Diagnostics – YES, we do charge for this. It is time, training, equipment, and you cannot do it yourself. Would you go to a solicitor’s office and ask for their help, then say, ‘I don’t want you to act on my behalf, I just wanted your advice’ and expect not to pay for that.

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No, no, no we do not fit customer supplied parts. Aside from the fact that we are a business and are allowed to make a profit, we have no idea of the quality of parts that you supply and they could be shite. Then you would expect us to cover them under warranty when they prove to be faulty. Would you take your own food to a restaurant and ask the chef to cook it for you?

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The estimate that we gave you for a job, is only an estimate. Often when the job gets started, we come across problems that we cannot foresee such as seized bolts, broken parts. The phone call asking for authorisation for more time or extra parts, is not us sabotaging your vehicle, it is just how things are. Your vehicle is old, and these things happen. Our technicians are doing their best and like to fix it properly.

The EML that comes on 2 weeks after we have MOT’d and serviced your vehicle, is coincidental. As much as that may seem hard to believe, we cannot set up on your vehicle for this to happen and no, it is not due to something that we did 2 weeks previously.

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We appreciate that you need/want your vehicle back but please do not call every hour. When we say that we will call you as soon as we have news, we will.

Then when we call you to say it’s all ready for collection and you respond with ‘Great, I’ll pick it up next week’

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If you are lucky enough to have had your vehicle collected and are due a delivery back, yes, you do need to pay your invoice before that happens. ‘Just drop it off on my drive where you picked it up from earlier and then I’ll pay’ is unreasonable. Looking at your freshly cleaned car is not going to show you what we have done. It will still look the same. You would not do a weekly shop online at Waitrose and arrange delivery without paying for it first. Why should your vehicle repairs be any different?

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At the end of the day, when you get home from work, sit down with a cuppa tea and biscuit, make that call to book your vehicle in, try to be aware of the time. Our Front of House staff have been trained to be very courteous and not to rush our customers but making these calls at 17:29!! Not only can it be extremely busy as customers are coming in to pay and collect their vehicles, but we too want to go home.

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That said, we love what we do, are passionate about our industry and would not have it any other way.

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Tina