equipment for free???

[JustClean]

Elderly couple in a campervan drives into the bay, gets the buckets with THEIR OWN WATER!!! out and start using my brush to wash their dirty car.
Before I spoke to them I watched the cameras. They hadn't even put a cent into the machine. I went to them and asked them if they also did this in their favorite restaurant. Then I kicked them out.

Couldn't we just rent the space and when the time is over a big catapult kicks the car out? Aargh! Or at least a way that they can't use the brush without paying.

I am going to put up signs saying that if they use the brush without water and cleaning the brush first they may scratch their car. Wonder if that helps...

 

[MEP001]

I am going to put up signs saying that if they use the brush without water and cleaning the brush first they may scratch their car. Wonder if that helps...

Nope. All you can do is ban them or let 'em do it. I won't let customers use the brush in their own bucket of water either.

I watched an older (probably) Korean guy at a friend's wash one day, after asking me if he could use a stall, pull in and started pointing the gun at his car as if it should just come on for him. When he asked what was wrong with it I told him he needed to deposit five quarters to start the timer. He put three in, squeezed the trigger a few times, shook the gun, then left.

 

[Eric H]

I love the gun shake thing!

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

...buckets with THEIR OWN WATER!!!

I actually had a guy do that during a fund raising event a couple years ago - I had 2 bays closed, about 25 kids on site - you know, signs, music, the whole thing. This guy took the ropes down, & told the to "buzz off" when they asked for a donation.

Whatever you are suspecting my response was to this guy, you are probably right.

 

[mjwalsh]

Hey, if you guys had a laundromat with it like we do they would not even have to bring their own water they would just come & help themselves in your main sink or bathroom sink.

Sadly, yes it has happened. After being on the receiving end of this type of "taking things for granted" type of people, I suspect that even the "Jack Benny" cheapskates among us fellow operators, that we would never be that baaaaad!

We have also seen people come from the nearby drive through car wash & just do the mud underneath.

Yesterday I noticed a very prominent local person use our place for free because an employee left the bay on bypass. He did not even have the basic decency to tell me that the bay seemed to be running longer.

 

[Gabriel]

I tell them they are welcome to bucket wash out on the lot under a tree, but not in the bay without being charged. I also tell them to do their detail work outside of the bay. If the bay is not running they get no time in the bay. Move on for the next customer. Usually works.

 

[MEP001]

I don't worry about bucket washing if it's not busy, but someone who brings their own water and dunks my expensive hog's hair foam brush in it to scrub their car for free is as bad as an illegal trash dumper in my book. It's bad for their car, it's harmful to the brush and the next person who uses it, and it sets a bad example.

 

[JustClean]

Nope. All you can do is ban them or let 'em do it. I won't let customers use the brush in their own bucket of water either.

I just got an idea. Maybe one of you guys would have a clue how to do this: How about a brush with a bit of steel that will be withdrawn when there is foam pressure on the hose? Would that work?

 

[MEP001]

Yeah, good luck with that.

 

[briteauto]

I remember seeing an ad for a product, probably 15-20 years ago in PC&D. It was a foam brush with a connector between the brush and handle that was flexible. If foam was not moving through the tube, the connector went limp and the brush could not be used - it just flopped over.

I never saw one or heard of anyone using it, and honestly, I don't see how it could work, unless you had significant pressure flowing through the hose.

 

[MEP001]

You probably have to use a foam brush soap that contains Viagra for it to work. That could get expensive.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Now that I have switched from quarters to quarter/dollar coins. I get alot of people asking for all quarters when they see me up there. I explain to them that our bays and vacs will take the dollar coins. They are like oh....how am I going to do my laundry? I tell them our mat holders will hold up a couple pairs of jeans and a few shirts and that the HP soap/rinse works really well. I just smile and walk away =)

 

[Randy]

I remember one time I was working on a Bill Changer at a Laundromat that had a utility sink inside. I had just got done working on the Bill Changer and this guy backs his pickup as close the door as he could, comes in looks at me and unscrews the aerator from the faucet and screws on a garden hose adapter. He goes out to his truck and bring back a garden hose, connects the garden hose to the adapter on the faucet and turns on the water. He thinks I?m a customer so he tells me that he doesn?t have any water at his house and that it?s FREE here. He told me that he used to get his water at the car wash but the owner of the car wash turned off the outside faucet when he caught him filling his 300 gallon tank in the back of his truck one night. He told me that he'd been doing this for years, 2 or 3 times a week. When I told the owner of the Laundromat she couldn?t believe it. She ended up having a coin box installed on the sink and charging .25 for 2 minutes of sink time.