Customer claims Touchfree IBA scratched car.

[APW]

A lady just called me claiming my M5 scratched her paint. She said she did not hear it hit her car but it is scratched it. I viewed two cameras one on each end of the bay, the machine never hit her car. Can HP scratch a car? It is a 2011 Ford Edge. How should I proceed. I don't want to **** her off in a small town but I feel confident my machine did not do it.

 

[BBE]

I would think just show her the video footage. Unless she has already told you that it didn't hit her car and that she thinks it was the hp pressure itself.

 

[MEP001]

Have her insurance contact your insurance. Don't deal with her directly, then when your insurance denies the claim you aren't the bad guy.

 

[jeffpohl4]

Keep in mind I've only been in this business for 9 months but I have had probably a dozen damage claims from my soft touch and thanks to my 2 entrance cameras, 2 exit cameras and 3 in bay cameras, I have only paid out a few broken antennas...I've broke a few more than that but not everyone has come back at me What I always tell them (right or wrong) is go ahead and get an estimate emailed to me while I review my video footage. Some never call back and others think im bluffing until I ask them to come up and watch the videos with me...generally they back off and say something like "well I guess it could've happened at bla bla bla" and they leave me alone.

 

[cdreed06]

I had a lady insist that our Kondor touch free scratched her brand new Mustang, she said the wand went across the base of her windshield. Said she didn't see it go across her hood but she "knew it did". Scratch was driver side hood at the base of the windshield. My machine did not do it, it is physically impossible due to how the pivot is on the arm, it just won't bend that much. We told her to get a estimate, just to keep the peace. She went to the body shop "she always goes to, they know her well" and got a estimate that included lots of other places on the car that were not part of her complaint. We refused this and she was furious! We would have gone ahead and paid if it didn't get ridiculous. To me it would have been worth a couple hundred to make it go away but she came back with upwards of $700 for something that we, like you were confident we didn't do.

 

[BCWS]

Had one guy claim that the high pressure rinse blew the serpentine belt off his engine... that was the most ridiculous claim I ever heard.

 

[soapy]

I would get a look at the scratch and take pictures of it. Almost always the scratch will be crooked. Most machines if they could scratch a car it would be straight or a ARC pattern as the arm swings as if in break away mode. Show them the path that the arm travels and point out that it is physically impossible for the machine to make the scratch pattern that is on the car.

 

[madscientist]

^^^^^^^^

What Soapy said. The spray moves in straight, probably level lines.

Is it a car that's new to her? When people buy a used car that's been waxed we sometimes remove the products that hide minor scratches. It makes it seem like the scratch is new, and it appeared right after the car wash.

 

[Randy]

I had a lady come in with an estimate of $1700 to replace the driver side heated mirror on her van. She said that the brushes on our PDQ Laser 4000 ripped the mirror off her van. I let her rant on and then told her that if she could find any brushes in the Laser wash bay I’d write her a check, big smile on her face. We walked over to the Laser bay and I told her to show me the brushes, there aren’t any there. She said that we just took them out. I said No there’s never been any brushes in this wash bay. She said “well maybe my husband is mistaken it could have happen by where he works, aren’t all car washes owned by the company” I loved that.

I would pay her anything. Tell her you reviewed the video and it didn’t happen at your wash. I wouldn’t let her see the video and don't give her your insurance information.

 

[APW]

Thanks guys. I told her I watched the video and the machine never touched her car. I offered for her to see the video. She then stated well it must have happened somewhere else. The cameras just payed for them selves.

 

[pgrzes]

Had one guy claim that the high pressure rinse blew the serpentine belt off his engine... that was the most ridiculous claim I ever heard.

That is hilarious

 

[mac]

If you watch your customers exit the wash, almost all get out of their car and examine the car for wash quality, not damage. The problem is that the day before when the car was at Wal Mart someone ran the cart by the car and they never noticed. Cameras, get em.