Phone # on door has got to go

[Wally]

At this wash I have Dixmor 3 timers that work flawlesly. At one time they were set to display 1 IN,2 IN etc. and that confused them thinking they had two minutes,etc. so I changed them to read minutes and seconds for each quarter. About two or three times a week a get a dumb ass calls and he says the wash isn't working because he has two dollars in it and it won't come on. I get him to tell me the reading on the meter and sure enough he hasn't put the start price in but thinks the meter has two dollars in it and it is actually two minutes. You can be eating dinner or whatever and get this annoying call. I know about the Dixmor 7 timers but don't want to spend the bucks for them and toss a good working timer because some dummy can't read. Have any of you experienced this problem? I thinking of removing the phone number and replacing it with a decal explaining what each quarter represents. These people that call are not foreigners. Americans educated in our school systems. What does that tell you?

 

[captain cw]

I get the "educational" calls all the time about a number of things like that. Drives me crazy, but I still want the number up for the real concerns.

 

[DavidM]

I don't know if you already have this or not but have you tried placing a label below the timer labeling the display minutes and seconds? Our Ginsan meterboxes have labeling like this on their doors.

David

 

[Happycarz]

I, like Wally, got the phone calls when I had the Dixmore LED3 timers. I tried both configurations, I tried labels, and I tried signs, all to no avail. I finally switched to LED7's and no more problem. How many customers don't call you and just never come back? How many tell their friends how your carwash ripped them off. Just replace one or two a month until you get them all replaced. Money well spent.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Harry is right, there is no way to get the message across. You have to witch to the LED-7. I did one wash 7 years ago. It was such an improvement that I switched my other three washes within a couple of months. Those things are running your customers away. It's not all their fault, it's a bad design and you need to bite the bullet and upgrade. Removing your phone # is only going to make it worse.

 

[Randy]

Wally,
Bite the bullet on this one and replace those old outdated LED-3 timers with the LED-7’s. I used to get calls all the time from customers telling me they had $3.30 in the coin box and the thing won’t start. The LED-7 timer is a much better timer than the LED-3 Timer, does more and has more functions. I like being able to wash down the bay with my remote.

 

[wendy's wash]

Go ahead and replace them. I did 15 at once. I had bad experiance with putting phone number on door. Customers would call and demand that I come right then and fix or give them back their money. Got fed up with that but the killer was the city fire marshal. Called me to inspect that I had a working fire extinguisher. For 4 years no one ever checked but as soon as I put my # up on door here came the call. Required I replace it every year or taken to be serviced with new one year lable saying ok. Removed # and problem went away. Did complain that no one could get to a fire extinguisher that was locked in my store room and I would hope they would spend a quarter and turn on the bay to put out fire. Then I said you are only 2 bolcks down the road on same side. You should be able to get here pretty dam quick. HE DID NOT LIKE THAT.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

Hi Wally - I had the same problem, extremely frustrating to both me and my customers. Two years ago I upgraded to the led7 - problem solved. I agree its a frustrating expense, but I'm glad I did it though, and I would do it again.

 

[washnvac]

Wally: Many, many people have tried. There will always be some who are this way. No matter what signs you put up, no matter what you tell them, no matter what--here is the bottom line:

YOU SIMPLY CAN NOT FIX STUPIDITY!!

 

[Twodose]

I had this same problem at one of my washes where I had the price at 2$ for 4 min. It was 30 sec per coin, if they inserted 1$ the display would read 2:00, making them think they inserted $2.
So I displayed the information below on each changer to try and resolve the problem.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Please Read:

The Timer in the Bay must read 4:00 or it will not start.
This reading is the Time in Minutes and not the Dollar amount inserted.

Example: 2:00 means you have only inserted $1.00, 3:00 means you have only inserted $1.50, 3:30 means you have only inserted $1.75. When the correct amount of $2.00 is inserted the timer will start counting down from 4:00 minutes to Zero. If the timer is not counting down you have not inserted the correct amount of money.

Thank You

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This corrected the problem by 95% but there were still the other 5 % that still didn't get it, so I changed the coin count to 31sec per coin, which gave uneven numbers displayed when they were inserting the coins.

Try this before spending $1000 on changing all your timers.

I actually had a guy that lives right up the road from me, he called me at home and left a message stating " that I better get down there and take care of my Carwash", He put .75 in each bay and then put an it broke sign on each bay shutting them all down. I called him back and asked him how much it was to start when he pulled in the Carwash which was $1.50 at the time, but he thought that when the time ran out that he could just put in .75 cents and it would run. He apologized stating he never thought of that.

I don't post my home phone # at the wash , I have a answering machine at each wash and they can call that # and leave a message.

Reminds me of this email I got once:

>
> Subject: Alzheimer's Test
>
> Alzheimer's Test-
> Count the "F's" in the following text:

> FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE-
> SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIF-
> IC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE
> EXPERIENCE OF YEARS...(see below)



> Managed it ?
> Scroll down only after you have counted them, okay?
> Do you think there are three?
>
> How many ? 3?
>
> Wrong, there are 6 !!--no joke.
> Read it again.
> The reasoning behind it is further down.
>
>
> The brain cannot process "OF".
> Incredible or what ? Go back and look again!!
> Anyone who counts all 6 "F's" on the first go is a genius.
> Three is normal, four is quite rare.

 

[Wally]

Thanks for the replies, I'm convinced I need to go to the LED7"s. If you have some laying around let me know. I need 12.

 

[Red Baron]

It's not all their fault, it's a bad design and you need to bite the bullet and upgrade.

I wouldn't consider not having my phone # available. I've found people take revenge on equipment if they have no one to contact. Plus, I want to know if something is not working.

"Bad design." I can't count the number of times I've said that to customers who didn't know to hit the stop button on my Wash Gear boxes.

 

[borumrm]

I had some problem cards printed up with a foot print image of the wash bays, vacs, change machines on it so the customer can indicate which bay, vac, etc had the problem, they can describe it and put their email address and mailing address and phone number on the card. I check the box every day and if there is one there I check out the problem, call the person tell them what I found and depending on how close they are I might actually drive to their home and give them tokens or send them in the mail. I do have my cell phone number posted on a decal in several locations that instruct them to call if they have a problem OR they can complete a card and leave it in the mailbox. The decal does say call between 7A and 7P. Of course some folks call outside those hours but most don't. I also love having cameras in the automatics because before I call I can usually tell what happened when the wash did not operate correctly. Oh yeah...one other thing. I take the information when they call or leave a card and I enter it into a database that I created that collects the information about the customer, which wash location they were when they had the problem, what the problem was. That way before I send them tokens or refunds I check to see if they have had problems before and if so I mention that in the letter. Something like "according to my records you had a problem with xxx almost two years ago. I hope you have been satisified blah blah blah. Let's them know I keep track and care. With this info I can spot patterns with equipment as well or create mailing list etc.

 

[Wally]

Thanks to Randy and Pat Hall I've got one wash changed over to LED7's. I need six more. Now I can put the number back on the door.

 

[pitzerwm]

Back in the day before cell phones, I not only had the number on the door, I had a direct dial phone, they just pushed a button and it called my house or my cell/2 way. 99% were legit, I saved a lot of vandalism because they couldn't count to 5 etc. I could also call back in and start the automatic and give them a free wash.

Occasionally, at 3AM some moron needed change and thought that I was behind the door in the eq. room.

 

[Ghetto Wash]

Now I can put the number back on the door.

Can I put your number on my door?

 

[Happycarz]

I not only have m number on my door, I have it, along with my cleanup/maintenance man's number, on each meter box, bill changer, vacuum, and ShurVend. If there is a problem, I want it to be solved immediately. With 14 bays, 4 changers, 23 vacs, 3 ShurVends, 10 WashGears, I average 2 calls a week. Customers can't believe they can get an immediate response and I am able to correct a problem before someone decides to tear the wash up. It works for me.

 

[Red Baron]

I not only have m number on my door, I have it, along with my cleanup/maintenance man's number, on each meter box, bill changer, vacuum, and ShurVend. If there is a problem, I want it to be solved immediately. With 14 bays, 4 changers, 23 vacs, 3 ShurVends, 10 WashGears, I average 2 calls a week. Customers can't believe they can get an immediate response and I am able to correct a problem before someone decides to tear the wash up. It works for me.

I live 1 mile down a straight road from my car wash with not so much as a stop sign between us. My customers like it when they say they're having a problem and I tell them I'll be there in 90 seconds.