How should I respond to this customer?

[coincarwash.ca]

Customer left me a very nasty message because he didn't notice that the self service gun was caught on his car mirror and when he backed out of Bay it broke his window and caused damage to him car. I was going to tell him it was user error and to call his insurance company. I need some good wording to send him by text.

 

[Eric H]

"Don't worry sir, there doesn't seem to be any damage to my equipment due to your negligence. I don't need to be part of your insurance claim, but thank you you your consideration. I will keep a copy of your voicemail on audio file should you or your insurance adjuster need to refer to it at a later date"

 

[coincarwash.ca]

Perfect....thanks

 

[BBE]

I had a guy a few weeks ago pull into one of my bays and swung his driver side door open and hit the swivel on the swivel saver hose on my high pressure wand, and then come and talk to me about it scratching his vehicle and how we need to put warnings and change the way we have things hanging in there etc...

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Actually, I would ignore it. I know from experience that most of the time on a BS issue like this you don't hear from them again. If you do hear from them, refer to Eric's advice.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Ignore it. No loogical way to respond to craziness and nothing good can come of it.

 

[Dcalhoun]

I am not usually a fan of ignoring it, seems like a bigger social media problem if you do that. My initial reaction was to respond as Eric has suggested. If it were me, I would probably change "your negligence" to something like: "you accidentally leaving the hose wrapped on your mirror". But, I think Eric is right on.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I am not a fan of ignoring stuff either. In my experience when responding to an idiot anything less than you accepting responsibility / paying for their screwup will only make them angrier.

 

[Eric H]

But, I think Eric is right on.

To be honest, I was having a little bit of fun here (read as: Being an A-hole). I had expected someone with more tack to offer a better response on how to deal with this situation. Quite frankly, I'm a little disappointed in all of you.

 

[1carwash1]

You can't say it any better than that (LOL)

 

[pgrzes]

I try to keep it simple for me and difficult for them. I tell them they need to first go down to the police station and file a report of what happened as an insurance Co wont listen to a claim without a police report. (the police will shake their head if they come in for this). Then they need to call their own insurance Co. and file the claim with them and if they feel there is fault from my/your facility they will contact me in which "IF" they contact me/you will immediately turn over a video of the event. I have yet to hear back from anyone that has gone through those procedures. I continually have people hit my automatic dryers while exiting. They come around with the mirror hanging off the car and tell me how the dryer moved hitting the car!!! sir/maam, its a fixed object it doesnt move! Would you like to see the video? "Oh you have video in there? Do you have some tape I can borrow to tape it up to get home?" Is how the conversation usually ends. If they get nasty about I wait to hear from their insurance co and have a claim # And I get paid for them damaging my equipment. It usually rips the anchors out of the ground. Carwash ownership is so much fun!!

 

[smallwash]

Reply with, "How fast was my building going when it ripped your mirror off?"

 

[washnvac]

Reply with, "How fast was my building going when it ripped your mirror off?"

Now that is just funny, right there !!

 

[Washmee]

Had a customer claim we broke the tailight of her car. We had her look at the video of her visit to the wash and it clearly showed the light was intact when she left the wash. A few days later we were contacted by her insurer with a demand for payment of repairing her car. We spoke to them and told them we 32 high definition cameras that cover our entire process from the minute a customer pulls onto the lot. Told them we had reviewed her visit and there was no damage when she left. Asked them if they wanted a copy of the video. They declined and said case closed.

 

[MEP001]

I try to keep it simple for me and difficult for them. I tell them they need to first go down to the police station and file a report of what happened as an insurance Co wont listen to a claim without a police report. (the police will shake their head if they come in for this). Then they need to call their own insurance Co. and file the claim with them and if they feel there is fault from my/your facility they will contact me in which "IF" they contact me/you will immediately turn over a video of the event. I have yet to hear back from anyone that has gone through those procedures. I continually have people hit my automatic dryers while exiting. They come around with the mirror hanging off the car and tell me how the dryer moved hitting the car!!! sir/maam, its a fixed object it doesnt move! Would you like to see the video? "Oh you have video in there? Do you have some tape I can borrow to tape it up to get home?" Is how the conversation usually ends. If they get nasty about I wait to hear from their insurance co and have a claim # And I get paid for them damaging my equipment. It usually rips the anchors out of the ground. Carwash ownership is so much fun!!

I agree with this - had a similar issue with a customer claiming the foam brush scratched up her car, but both our insurance and an adviser said that since we hadn't shown negligence there was no reason we might be found liable if it went to small claims court.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I agree with this - had a similar issue with a customer claiming the foam brush scratched up her car, but both our insurance and an adviser said that since we hadn't shown negligence there was no reason we might be found liable if it went to small claims court.

FWIW I Foam Brush instructions state that brush should be washed with the gun before use. Used that once with a customer.

 

[mjwalsh]

A good argument if it ever came into small claims court ... for some of us ... would be that even with the signs to "spray first both vehicle & brush" we have on rare occasions seen an extremely unthoughful customer just at the very beginning grab the brush & start rubbing heavy dry dirt on their vehicles.

I would think most insurance adjustors & judges would see that the customer can be the one that is the most unreasonable. The problem with ... if adjustors of opposing insurance companies even just talk to each other ... it seems like it is an excuse for higher rates to us even if fault is established on the bad news customer.