"There Are Some Customers You Really Don't Want to Keep?!!"

[Carl]

I was under the false notion that "if you build it nice enough and big enough, you will scare away the competition from ever coming in and building a car wash to compete w/ you". My, what a wrong, foolish notion that was!

I spent too much building my car wash hence my total loan amount was such that when, for example, a mudder comes by on a slow day, instead of wanting to run them off, I so desperately am thankful for their patronage because I need every single quarter I can get; but I've heard the saying from some of my attendants that, "There are some customers who come out here that YOU DO NOT WANT TO KEEP and are better off not having them frequent your business!"

I know there are some "pains in the butt" customers out there. Restaurants have them, car repair shops have them, shoot, any business gets 'em, but what are some examples of customers that truly you agree w/ my attendants that, "you're better off not having them come back ever again!"???

One example I will submit is I had a first-time lady customer use one of my handbays and she blamed my high pressure rinse for peeling off a bit of her aged car's probably already peeling paint to where she expected me to pay for the damage. She told me I had no "high pressure water" warning signs in the bay yet I did and to this day I'm still disappointed w/ myself that I "paid out" and took care of her damages just so she wouldn't bad mouth my wash to all her friends as she'd threatened to do. SHE's got to be one of those examples of customers you are better off not coming back, huh?!!!

But like I said...I need every single quarter (and I still do pick up the fallen pennies around the vacuum area that I see while doing vacuum rounds believing that 'every penny counts') so I just can't spot these supposed 'customers you CAN live without', at least while I'm at work seeing them as a big help in allowing me to make my loan payment each and every month!

Can you guys spot such customers a mile away or are you like me and desperate to earn even the biggest jerk's quarters these days?

Thanks! - Carl

 

[Waxman]

I think every operator should pick up change on the ground! I do. That's free money!

I think as much as building a great wash is important in discouraging competition, so is the service you provide.

It is too bad that certain trade areas become over-built and the pie pieces shrink for operators who built a nice carwash, hoping for the Lion's share of pie.

As far as p.i.t.a. customers, yes we all get them. For those who love money, sales, and a busy wash, we take the p.i.t.a.'s with the non-p.i.t.a.'s. We shovel up the mud and add it to our lot. "one man's mud is another man's clean fill".

Your attendants would like to run off those who mess the place up because it makes their job harder. But the attendant isn't responsible for making bank note payments; you are.

When I see flagrant violations of my rules and/or disrespect shown towards my small but nice (IMO) carwash, I speak up. But I do so with the utmost in diplomacy and tact, because, like you, I am picking up the change by the vacs!

 

[Carl]

p.i.t.a.

Waxman,

Thanks for the reply. This morning, btw, picked up five free pennies during morning vacuum rounds! (when I'm going through a drive-thru I am often short a few pennies so when I reach into my car's coin tray I always happily realize those "found pennies" are usually the ones that complete my order payment so yes, free money should not be ignored or left on the ground!)

You're so right about customer service being key! We work so hard to make sure NOT ONE customer leaves w/o our trying fully to make any problem resolved to the customer's satisfaction. I joked w/ my wife about how we (and Staff) work so hard to keep that quality so high, yet honestly, how many weeks if you "let things go" could you so quickly ruin a business. We know it can be done within weeks or surely a few months - ruin a business if suddenly you began to care little about it and you cut corners everywhere until finally your customers notice and never come back and then you're finished!

Yeah, I guess that's a sore spot for me how so many carwashes have come into this area, not following "the formula" which is supposed to help determine whether a City has enough demand for another tunnel wash or more bays! The arrogant new operator just decides that "he will be king of the City" w/ HIS carwash(es), he builds and does not care that the "carwashing pie" is already sliced up so many ways. But hey...on the flip side, that increased competition forces us to not get complacent in the way we run our business(es); otherwise, you're done for!

Lastly, I can't figure out the p.i.t.a. acronym and I'm usually pretty good at figuring them out? All I could guess was "people I tolerate annoyingly"?

Ha! I just "Googled" p.i.t.a. and got it! LOL! Perfect acronym that sums it all up regarding some pita customers that we keep and try so hard to bite our tongue and treat them still so kindly, but who have earned the label of 'p.i.t.a.' and often times they'll admit they are a p.i.t.a. or at least their friends and family will admit that they are! Ha!

Thanks! - Carl

 

[Whale of a Wash]

Sometimes with the SS bays the only customer left is the POS PITA customer. No matter how bad we hate them, there may be no other options for them to wash. That part is easy to understand, what is hard to take is the fact that they made twice as big of a mess, as they should have with the dirt they had.
I rate the messes- 1cycle to clean up is nothing. 2 cycles is something, and 3 is a PITA.

 

[Carl]

Pos pita

Whale of a Wash - I like your rating system and I'm going to adopt it now 'cause I can totally relate! Sometimes I'll get what looks like a terrible mess left behind, but I so easily can clean it up in less than one cycle (four minutes). Like you said, a two-cycle clean-up means they are beginning to cross the threshold of being just a PITA and about to enter into POS PITA land. In reading some posts about mudders from previous years here at the autocareforum, I totally agree w/ many who say that the lower your start-up price, the more apt you are to get the POS PITA who will wash out mud, nails, trash, etc. during their short wash stay in a handbay, and sometimes when I get a level three mess left behind, I mumble to myself that I need to raise my start-up prices in the handbays so that those types will bypass my wash! But I never do pull the trigger and raise my prices for fear that even the good customers will think I'm too high. (ss bays' pricing since 2003 when I opened is still $1.50 for 4 minutes 'cause all the POS ss washes have their start-up prices so, so low I feel like I can't raise my prices, but that's a totally different topic of which I can do a search on here and read lots more about so I won't get started...)

Thanks! - Carl

 

[mac]

Carl, welcome to the real world of business. I am mostly an equipment sales and service guy now, but the idea is the same. There are some real jerks out there that you just don't want to be associted with. One of my best years when the money finally started flowing in, I fired my pain in the butt customers. They would call for service and try to beat me up on price before I said hello. By the way, most were of middle eastern lineage. It was a very beautiful feeling. Remember that even though you need all the revenue you can get, you still have to have your diginity. Kicking the jerks off your business, only to plague your competitors, will make your existing customers happier. Remember, they are jerks.

 

[MEP001]

My idea of a "p.i.t.a." customer goes way beyond the mess they leave when washing, whether it's just a very dirty vehicle or a mudder. The mobile mechanics that blow parts and oil out of their bed, the barbecue pits that dump 200 pounds of beans and grease in a garbage can and leave a bad smell in the pit, people washing commercial equipment on a trailer that leaves grease and dirt on the hoses to ruin the next customer's clothes, those I simply won't allow and I have signage up stating so. This weekend I noticed lots and lots of leaves blown out of the front vents of cars and trucks - so what? The place was a mess, but I feel there's no point in getting aggravated by it. The customers are just washing their cars. I don't view what customers do as what I like or don't like, instead I decided on what I can't allow and act on those things when I see it. It takes a lot for a customer to cross the line of being one I don't want to keep, and it usually involves them becoming aggressive toward me when I have to say something about what they're doing. The last guy I "fired" as a customer had a 'fridge on a trailer which he rolled off and parked next to a trash can and started unloading rotten food covered with maggot casings, and he planned to wash it in a bay. He started cussing me when I told him he couldn't.

 

[ToFarGone20]

When I see flagrant violations of my rules and/or disrespect shown towards my small but nice (IMO) carwash, I speak up. But I do so with the utmost in diplomacy and tact, because, like you, I am picking up the change by the vacs!
-THE Waxman

Well said!!! A++++++++++++

Side note...if you yell swear words at me or my attendant...even if we are at fault you WILL be leaving. Diplomacy is over. If women and children are present you may have help leaving.

 

[Washmechanic]

It's a difficult line to walk. One the one hand, you don't want to drive off valualble business. On the other, you cannot let anything and everything go as business as usual. If your wash becomes known as such, it will be destroyed by the mudders and trash haulers and your good customers will stop coming in because they don't want to walk around in the trash, oil, nails, paint, etc left behind by the these people.
Secondly, there is a cost to cleaning up after these people, it isn't free. A mudder can make a hell of a mess and only spend four dollars. It then takes a half an hour of your time, plus the water and sewage cost to clean it up before anyone can use it again. Yesterday, I spent 45 minutes cleaning the oil and grease off the walls and floor of one bay where a logger had sprayed off all his chain saws and equipment. Had to spray the bay with tire and engine cleaner, then high pressure soap and rinse to get it clean. I not only didn't make and money on him, it probably cost me $20 to clean it up. No he wasn't around to talk to. Most come in late at night, or very early in the morning.
Like I said, it's a difficult line to walk, but there are definitely some customers that I can do with out.

 

[Earl Weiss]

FWIW.
Listen to the attendants but take their "Advice" with a grain of salt. As noted, they don't pay the bills. They want to make their job easier.
2. You / we all need to look past the PITA. Perhaps he will tell 10 non-PITA peopel how grea your place is and they will become customers. Or, they may come back 10 more times with the vehicle less dirty.
3. I draw the line at alleged damage we are not responsible for. I will not assume responsibility and therefore admit that we did something we didn't. In the Tunnel business this is a problm, particularly when customers inspevt the vehicle after the wash and find something they did not see, particulatly because the car was very dirty and often on the passenger side they hven't looked at for days and weeks and wrongfuly conclude the wash did it because they had not seen it before.

 

[Jeff_L]

When I first got into the business I was scared as heck to run off any customers abusing the business. I look at it as if I'm protecting the customers I really want to be at the wash, the ones who actually come to wash their car. It's those customers who return on a regular basis and the ones you need to be the advocate for. I always feared that if they were coming by, saw a couple of guys blowing mud everywhere from their truck bed, four wheelers, bbq grills, etc, that they would drive on by and find another place.

I finally had enough and started tactfully approaching those customers who were doing those things, and explained that it was a car wash and that if I wasn't there to clean up after them, I'd lose business all day until I returned. Some of them understand and said they never thought of that...they keep returning and using the wash appropriately. The others, well, I don't think they come back, and I'm not sore about it. My business has increased since I started running off those individuals. Now, I'm not saying the business has increased because of it, but, I do enjoy customers who come to wash their cars now! It's all about respect.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

First encounter with a pita customer: politely & tactfully explain. This resolves the vast majority of issues.
Second encounter with that same customer: life is short, $ doesnt mean that much to me. Kindly take your business elsewhere.

 

[MEP001]

When I first got into the business I was scared as heck to run off any customers abusing the business. I look at it as if I'm protecting the customers I really want to be at the wash, the ones who actually come to wash their car. It's those customers who return on a regular basis and the ones you need to be the advocate for. I always feared that if they were coming by, saw a couple of guys blowing mud everywhere from their truck bed, four wheelers, bbq grills, etc, that they would drive on by and find another place.

I finally had enough and started tactfully approaching those customers who were doing those things, and explained that it was a car wash and that if I wasn't there to clean up after them, I'd lose business all day until I returned. Some of them understand and said they never thought of that...they keep returning and using the wash appropriately. The others, well, I don't think they come back, and I'm not sore about it. My business has increased since I started running off those individuals. Now, I'm not saying the business has increased because of it, but, I do enjoy customers who come to wash their cars now! It's all about respect.

That's almost exactly my story, except I have no doubt that business has increased because of my efforts. I can remember the first couple years after we opened, it seemed like every 30 minutes or so while I was there I'd hear someone drop a tailgate and I'd stop them from washing out their bed. Every day there were three or four bays with something blown all over the lot outside it. It's rare if it happens more than once a week now. I get compliments almost every day on how clean it always is.

I started out tactfully and politely, but after a while I would just state plainly that it's not allowed. Sometimes a guy will bow up at me and demand to know "Why not?" I just say "Because I said so." It stops them trying to reason with you that it's a car wash and they can wash anything they want off their car or out of their bed.

 

[Reds]

I believe that what goes around comes around. I show them as much respect as they are showing for my facility. I get lots of comments on how clean the place is. And I get upset when someone blows mud or grease all over the walls and bay meter. Or cleans their truck bed out and blows all kind of debris all over the lot just outside the bay. They are the people who discourage "normal" people from using the wash. I don't run many of them off, but I do when I have to. They don't care about you (the owner) or the next person who wants to use the wash. I just raised my prices to $3 for 4 minutes (2 weeks ago) and so far it has not discouraged the PITA's.

 

[Bucksavage]

Interesting topic.
I would get frustrated at the garbage and crap people would leave, but I realized for the most part this is what I should have expected with a self serve wash.

I had a situation that "came around" quicker that I could have ever expected.

I have a tenant in an apartment next door to my wash who keeps an eye on it. He called me a couple weeks ago and said I guy came through with a truck (SS bay) and ripped my HP gun and hose off the boom. He wrote the plate number down and called me while the guy was vacuuming. The guy saw him writing it down and strated getting confrontational. I got there and noticed it was a younger guy who comes every week, sometimes twice and is a good customer. The only thing I had to replace was the wand and gun, so I ate the cost. For fun, I asked him who he thought should pay for the damage, he said not me of course. We went back and forth and I was messing with his head and having some rare fun at the same time. While I am talking with him a drunk Hispanic guy comes stumbling up and mumbles something in spanish while holding a hand full of $1 bills and pointing at my garbage can.( drunk is about 5'10" 220 & customer is 5'8" 165 soaking wet with a brick in his pocket) Customer apparently knows of the drunk guy and speaks spanish, so as I walk away I see the girlfriend of "Mr. Its Not My Responsibility" with a panicked look on her face. I walk back to customer and drunk and they are in a fight. Drunk has customer in a headlock and trying to hit him but not connecting very well. I walk up and say it looks like your getting your a#* kicked, but its not my responsibility. HA HA Just kidding, but I should have said it.

To make a long story short, drunk was ripped from customer and assisted to the blacktop with a nice thud. He was then escorted from the property with another ear pleasing thud!
So I ask the customer what happened and he said the drunk punched him in the stomach and got him in a head lock. I just smiled and walked away.

The customer was back the next week and he was very nice.

So in my case, P.I.T.A means Punched In The Abs.

 

[Earl Weiss]

This took place at a friends wash.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/27/chicago-man-accused-of-ki_n_841237.html

It's the kind of thing I think about when I start to lose the tactful approach.

 

[pitzerwm]

This is pathetic. Earl, can people work for tips in your state? (last sentence)

That can't be done in Washington state. If they are on the property, they have to get min wage.

 

[Earl Weiss]

This is pathetic. Earl, can people work for tips in your state? (last sentence)

That can't be done in Washington state. If they are on the property, they have to get min wage.

Well, I am not sure what this particular arrangement is, but it is most definitely not state law here. Many hair salon's rent the chair to the stylist. Gnetlemen's clubs often have the ladies not only working only for tips, but the ladies pay the club rent as well. A tax court case upheld a club's position that the ladies were not employees.

 

[pitzerwm]

There is a difference in "renting" a "space/job" and having people on the payroll working for tips only.

The IRS' trick is in the contract. If I remember right, in the contract, it is clear that you are not in control as to when they are to be there and a few other things. There are 21 items that the IRS require to make a difference between an employee and an independent contractor.

If you happen to be doing this, you might want to investigate the requirements. The back payments and fines are really ugly. I have seen this happen.

 

[Washmee]

Well, I am not sure what this particular arrangement is, but it is most definitely not state law here. Many hair salon's rent the chair to the stylist. Gnetlemen's clubs often have the ladies not only working only for tips, but the ladies pay the club rent as well. A tax court case upheld a club's position that the ladies were not employees.

I think that one of the standards is that in order to be considered an independant contractor you have to a professional or have some kind of license. A hairdresser has many hours of education and must pass a test to be licensed. A stripper can work at many different clubs and only work when she wants to. Drying off cars at a carwash would probably not fall under the catagory of independant contractor.

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99921,00.html

Common Law Rules
Facts that provide evidence of the degree of control and independence fall into three categories:

Behavioral: Does the company control or have the right to control what the worker does and how the worker does his or her job?
Financial: Are the business aspects of the worker’s job controlled by the payer? (these include things like how worker is paid, whether expenses are reimbursed, who provides tools/supplies, etc.)
Type of Relationship: Are there written contracts or employee type benefits (i.e. pension plan, insurance, vacation pay, etc.)? Will the relationship continue and is the work performed a key aspect of the business?