Brush damage...really?

[acbruno]

A guy contacted me claiming my hog's hair foam brush damaged his car on April 7th. He said he sprayed his car down and sprayed the foam brush before he used it. He said he didn't apply much pressure and didn't feel any scratching when he used the brush. I pulled the video of the guy who used the bay before him and he was very good with the foam brush, no mud or anything. The brush is in excellent condition only a few months old. I tried it on my truck today with no issues. Looking at the scratches in the pics, there is no way this could have been caused by my brush. I watched the video of him washing his car and he did everything correctly. I am going to meet him at 5 tomorrow to check it out. How can I nicely discuss this with him?

 

[easywash]

hmmm

With all those scratches you would expect that a rational person would be able to see what was happening as he was washing and stop using the brush....

 

[madscientist]

ask him to demonstrate the brushing motion that caused those scratches.

 

[pitzerwm]

Wasn't your fault, tell him to turn it over to his insurance and if they feel that it was your fault they will contact your insurance co.

 

[MEP001]

We had almost the same issue happen recently:

http://forum.autocareforum.net/showthread.php?t=1653

The scratches on that finish don't look at all like the brush caused them. I would recommend doing what we did, have her insurance contact ours. The woman who claimed the damage had just filed a claim for hail damage two weeks prior, and her insurance said they wouldn't even call ours, so ours called her direct. The claim was denied on the basis that we hadn't shown any negligence, and that we'd had many thousands of customers use the brushes with no damage claims at all before hers.

 

[Dirt]

I had to deal with that a couple times. I stop the fake bull**** and tell them what really happened, which is that they cleaned snow and ice off of the window with something stupid, like a snow shovel! I'm not very pleasant with people like this. I don't like them, need them, or ever want them to come back. I always ask them: "Do you think I'm stupid or something?". They will get mad, and they will want to argue. I end up telling them to get the hell out of here. Don't worry about what they say to others, because anyone who would see that will easily figure out what went on. It's also unlikely that they would win at the magistrate, which is another thing that you will probably hear from them. This might not be the popular reply here, but it is my 2 cents worth.

 

[rph9168]

I think I would be a little more diplomatic than Dirt but I think he is not that far off. I wouldn't spend a lot of time on this. From my experience you seldom if ever convince the customer that the brush didn't do it. I would explain to him why the brush couldn't cause that type of damage and leave it at that. It's not likely they will return and there is not much you can do about them telling others. Spend time on the things you can do something about. This is not one of them.

 

[Waxman]

This is a classic example of someone trying to blame the carwash for their or for someone else's errors.

Take a black car in there that you both look at first and do a 'demo' of the foamy brush.

Look at the car again after you towel dry it.

Show the customer the un-scathed finish.

If they start with the 'yeah but's' tell them to contact THEIR insurance company.

 

[mr-gte]

Scratch filler

First question I ask >
Did you (customer) just buy this car?
Dealer's have scratch filler that is the same color of paint.This hides all scratches. Stuff is amazing.
Washing removes filler and scratches appear

 

[Gabriel]

A nylon brush cannot dig throught paint to the primer like shown in your pictures. His damage came from another source before he arrived at your wash. This is easy to demonstrate and his claims are easy to disprove. Put him on the spot first with the demonstration on your black vehicle, then tell him to let his insurance company handle it. They will not pay either.

 

[acbruno]

It's a 2008 Honda Accord so it is faily new. He seems to be calm about it talking with him on the phone. I don't know what he expects out of our meeting this afternoon. I'm not going to give in. Here is his original message to me:

Hello my name is Joe Grier and I use your car wash on 120th & Blondo. I have a 2008 Accord and I believe your brushes at your car wash have damaged my car. Can we meet sometime. I washed my car at your facility yesterday, used the brush to scrub my car and have some deep scratches. I had some previous issues with scratches and didn't know where it came from but now I know. See my credit card use record from 4-7 to verify my use.

 

[rph9168]

I had some previous issues with scratches and didn't know where it came from but now I know. [/I]

I wouldn't be so sure that he will be agreeable. Sounds like he has already made up his mind. Follow most of the advice here - explain how it could not have happened and let it go.

 

[jprb]

Almost looks like a dog chased a cat across the car!

JPRB

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Let us know what he says.

 

[acbruno]

I met with him Friday afternoon. Somehow he has convinced himself the scratches were caused by the foam brush. I had him rinse his hood and I squeegeed it and we both took note of the scratches, he then rinsed his hood again and used the foam brush then rinsed and I squeegeed it. He was astonished there were no new scratches. I told him to take it to the dealer’s body shop and have it checked out. From what I gather he was more concerned about finding out how the scratches got there than wanting them fixed.

 

[Indiana Wash]

Yeah, he said he didn't get all of the scratches at once. He ADMITS he didn't know where the scratches came from. Now, he is assuming that it was your wash. I think you handled it very well. After showing him that the brush did not cause the damage, tell him, you are sorry about the scratches but cannot help him.

 

[washnvac]

I agree, you handled that well. What drugs do you take to remain that calm? Over the years you become seasoned to dealing with these idiots one way; mostly because some of this crap is so stupid.

 

[Mr. Clean]

A similar incident occurred yesterday. We did take off the lower half of the rear license plate frame, but customer was convinced that we also caused the buckle on the top of the bumper cover where it seams with the fender. When I pointed out the scuff and cracked paint on the right front of the bumper from a previous impact, he couldn't see the connection and i know he wasn't convinced that our cloth wasn't the culprit. He then admits that his wife usually drives the car and it's actually on loan from friends, so he's pretty concerned about it's condition when they have to return it.

I do like the suggestions about having the ins. cos. deal with it. Adjusters deal with this all the time.

It seems like the better we make a car look, the easier it is to see alleged damage. Can these kinds of issues really be resolved with cameras. When a car comes in dirty, what can you see? As it's prepped, the dirt is replaced by sudsy water. What can you see? Then it's gone and seen next all sparkling clean by the customer. What can he see?

 

[Classic Car Wash]

I had to deal with that a couple times. I stop the fake bull**** and tell them what really happened, which is that they cleaned snow and ice off of the window with something stupid, like a snow shovel! I'm not very pleasant with people like this. I don't like them, need them, or ever want them to come back. I always ask them: "Do you think I'm stupid or something?". They will get mad, and they will want to argue. I end up telling them to get the hell out of here. Don't worry about what they say to others, because anyone who would see that will easily figure out what went on. It's also unlikely that they would win at the magistrate, which is another thing that you will probably hear from them. This might not be the popular reply here, but it is my 2 cents worth.

X2 People always seem to forget about the ice scraper. LOL

They also never look at the car close before they wash.

Mr. Clean Glad you got it worked out.