Customer claims pressure removed some paint from his bumper

[acbruno]

Hey guys, I’m not sure how to respond to this. It’s the first time in 7 years someone has ever brought this to my attention. There are other washes in the area with higher pressure then mine and others with lower pressure.

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I just wanted to send you this so that you could see damage caused to my vehicle by the car wash. The tip of the Jet was nearly two feet from the front bumper of my car when the paint was ripped off by the power of the nozzle. I appreciate the powerful nozzle but yours is far more than it needs when it rips paint off the bumper of a brand new car. I don't expect anything from you as far as repairs but I want you to know that because of this I will let all of my friends in your area to avoid using your car wash due to the touch up required as a result of your business.

Respectfully,

Luke Kaspar

 

[cantbreak80]

It's repaired paint, likely transit damage...probably repaired at the depot or dealership. Isn't that a divot just below the chrome?

I wouldn't be concerned...you didn't do anything wrong and you won't miss his or his two friend's business.

 

[mjwalsh]

It is a catch 22 ... if we have too little pressure ... the spray is less effective against bugs. The customer obviously can always have less pressure by holding it farther away. Gosh, almost 2 feet would mean very little actual impact regardless of nozzle pressure it seems. In our case with our type of gun, they also have the option to let up on the trigger some.

I think we operators should never take the position that a fellow operator is running too much pressure ... just because they run less pressure. It seems like a "slippery slope" type of a position that could be wrongly used in court situation. Unless the amount is some ridiculous amount such as over 3,000 PSI etc. Also, by running 1500 PSI vs 1200 PSI there a water-chemical conservation element I believe that should not be ignored.

mike king koin

 

[MEP001]

It is a catch 22 ...

There is no "catch 22" here. Either the paint was ready to come off or the customer is mistaken or lying about how it happened.

I think we operators should never take the position that a fellow operator is running too much pressure ... just because they run less pressure.

That makes no sense.

It seems like a "slippery slope" type of a position that could be wrongly used in court situation.

The customer would most likely have to prove negligence on the part of the wash operator. If he had numerous complaints of the same problem and had taken no steps to correct it, the situation would be different.

Also, by running 1500 PSI vs 1200 PSI there a water-chemical conservation element I believe that should not be ignored.

That is as incorrect as it is irrelevant. Pressure alone does not dictate water use. And if you were concerned with water-chemical conservation, you would stop using dump guns in your self-serve bays.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

Defective paint, either from the factory/dealer or touch up as mentioned. Walk around the parking lot at the mall, you'll see lots of cars with the paint not adhering properly to plastic bumpers. Ignore him, or if you're inclined politely explain that there is a problem with his paint, not with your car wash.

also notice the pattern of the paint peeling, that is not a pattern created by self service wands. Especially at 2' LOL, thats just funny.

 

[robert roman]

“I appreciate the powerful nozzle but……it rips paint off the bumper of a brand new car.”

Based on quality of photo, I can’t discern cause or exact effect of damage.

“I don't expect anything from you as far as repairs but I want you to know that because of this I will let all of my friends in your area to avoid using your car wash…..”

The worst claim is one where the customer believes that you cost them time and money.

Worst case, this guy might convince ten friends not to visit you.

What is life time value of ten or eleven customers?

I would invite customer to visit wash and have someone on site with experience/skill in diagnosing paint damage.

Peeling of paint (delamination) on new car or repaint of old car is usually due to poor surface preparation prior to painting and easy to ascertain.

Actually, photo looks more like scratches (zigzag pattern). Delamination tends to exhibit mostly circular edges. Maybe guy wasn’t paying attention and mistakenly caused damage himself.

The pattern of damage (three distinct marks each having different pattern) also suggests possibly of vandalism as in key scratching at mall.

 

[madscientist]

I'll add.....if he washed his entire car and that's the only spot of paint that came off, then it's certainly not a problem with your wash, equipment or pressure. Something's not right about his story. You can hold the gun much closer than 2 ft. to a car in good condition and not peel off any paint. I test wash my 1999 vehicle several times a month, holding the gun closer than 2 ft all around. The paint is 14 years old. Nothing like that happens.

 

[Ghetto Wash]

Will someone running IE9 tell me if they can see the picture? I can't see it.

 

[pcb]

Will someone running IE9 tell me if they can see the picture? I can't see it.

When you click on the box for the picture, another box will come up. Click on that box and it should open the pic.

 

[acbruno]

Thanks for your responses guys. I will try to put together a response to this customer.

 

[Jeff_L]

I wouldn't apologize, that would assume guilt on your part. I'd be cordial and as general as possible. Not sure I'd even offer assumptions as to what would have caused the problem. It's apparent to all of us there may have been a defect in the paint at that spot which would have caused the issue. Unless you're using 0 degree tips, I don't see how a professional paint job's integrity could be damaged by a standard 25xx or 15xx type tip running 1000-1500 psi.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I only wish logic would help in these cases. Tried it many times. Things like the marks on the hood go side to side but the equipment only goes back to front. The same piece of equipment washed the entire hood, roof and trunck but you have only one spot in the middle with a 1 inch mark. No one elses mirror broke and yours has scuff marks indicating it was hit before, what do you think was different?

Same with this guy. Only 1 spot only on his car had an issue.

 

[bigleo48]

I agree with everything said above (except for MJ Walsh...I have no idea what point he's trying to make).

Beyond that, I take the customer into the bay, turn on HP rinse and put my hand in front of the nozzle to show him the water intensity (or lack of). I explain to him how the tip fans out the 1200 PSI and at a distance of just a few inches, its harmless. Then I go on with "the paint job is the problem" explanation. Then I take my car into the bay and show him how its not damaging my car or any of the others. Then I ask him, so is the problem your car...or is every other car in the world special?

 

[Dcalhoun]

Clearly your equipment isn't the source of the problem or the entire car would be stripped. If it were me, I would invite the customer back to the wash and demonstrate the force of water coming from your nozzle at 2 feet. It will be clear to everyone that 1) the customer is not being truthful about the distance or 2) the pressure from that distance wouldn't be enough to damage new paint (or old paint for that matter). Explain that if the equipment was the problem you would see this kind of damage on every car that entered your wash and you would not have any customers after a week of stripping off everyone's paint. I agree that you don't want to just dismiss the claim because more than your reputation is at stake. The people your customer talks to might not remember which wash he went to and all the car washes in town get a bloody nose as a result. Also, as R. Roman has pointed out, the life time revenue lost is significant and getting just one new customer to replace one lost is hard enough.

 

[robert roman]

Carwash owners that operate chains (i.e. gas station and convenience stores) will usually create and implement an accident prevention and management kit to address logic.

Most plans have a detailed description of what individual steps management should take when an employee or customer is injured on site.

Plans also include separate incident reports, one for carwash incidents and one for general purposes.

The carwash incident report should record customer, incident and vehicle information, customer’s incident description and signature and manager review and investigation of incident and signature.

Creating a process or system and following standard procedures will help avoid extra expense, frustration and loss of valuable time.

 

[Randy]

When you click on the box for the picture, another box will come up. Click on that box and it should open the pic.

When I click on the picture all I get is a “Spinning Daisy” When I tried to post a picture it wouldn’t load. Anyone else having this problem?

 

[Whale of a Wash]

Unfortunately logic won't help you to explain the problem to a customer. I thought it also was a previous repair, but the divot upon a closer look is a water droplet. The adhesion of paint on the plastic parts has been always been a problem without really good prep work.
Unfortunately you will get the blame.

 

[2Biz]

Randy,

It workls for me using I.E. 8...Your security settings might not be allowing the pop-up window that allows you to d/l the image. The admin could change some settings or add the software to display the pics in the posts....Sure would make life a lot easier for everybody. Surely the site doesn't have bandwidth restrictions? I would think that it would be unlimited which wouldn't put a load on the site when displaying pics....

Here's a link that might offer some help to the admin:

https://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/options_image

 

[mjwalsh]

Unfortunately logic won't help you to explain the problem to a customer. I thought it also was a previous repair, but the divot upon a closer look is a water droplet. The adhesion of paint on the plastic parts has been always been a problem without really good prep work.
Unfortunately you will get the blame.

Whale - John & others,

Even the best logic does not always work ... but we at least have the satisfaction of have tried ... so that we don't set up too many unreasonable precedents as to what is our fault & what is not.

John's above point on adhesion of paint on plastic parts is right on ... based on actual experience.

Mike Walsh http://kingkoin.com/USA_Deficit_Reduction.html

 

[MEP001]

The admin could change some settings or add the software to display the pics in the posts....Sure would make life a lot easier for everybody.

Or use an image hosting site like imageshack.us (Free for 5 GB of images):