Uh, oh!

[cantbreak80]

While tinkering at my workbench yesterday morning, I couldn’t help but notice on the surveillance monitor, a car entering bay 5. The female operator spends several moments looking at the meter box and signage. I continued to watch as she deposited several coins. Rejected…every time. “Uh, oh.”

Before I can hit the door, she’s moved to bay 6.

Me: “Did you have a problem with my machine?”

She: “Well, yeah. I got these tokens at a car wash but they don’t work here.”

Me: “Oh, sorry. I don’t accept tokens. You can use your quarters, or $1coins from my bill changers…or, you can use a credit…

She, interrupting: “But these are car wash tokens and they’re worth a dollar. Why can’t I use them here?”

Me: “Well, I didn’t sell them to you and I don’t accept tokens…especially competitor’s tokens. Sorry, you can use the credit…”

She, interrupting…again: “Well! Car wash tokens should be universal. Besides, I only want 3 minutes to rinse off my car. I don’t want to spend $5 to wash my car.”

Me, now displaying my best dumbfounded face: “So, you’re saying I should absorb the cost of your car wash just because you bought tokens somewhere else?”

She: “Can’t you sell them back to the other car wash?”

Me: “Have a nice day.”

As I walked away, I noticing the sticker affixed to the back glass of her Prius. ”Feel the Bern”

I was right, “Uh, oh!”

 

[chaz]

Yep. I had a guy once swear up and down he got his tokens from my wash. I told him not at all possible. Still he insisted he only comes to my wash. I said perhaps they are tokens from an arcade etc...still he said no. Only because I recognized him from having been at my wash previously did I "exchange" his tokens and activate the wash. ....... He came back and hour or so later, apologized and insisted on paying me back, saying you were right, I remembered they were from an arcade.

 

[pgrzes]

I had a rash of competitor tokens that I could not get my MA800's to reject. I would get 20-30 every time I collected!!! So I am working on something and I happen to walk by an ambulance in a bay and see a stack of coins that didnt look right so I go over and start small talk and notice the tokens are not mine and ask where they came from? Guy says boss gave me a bag and told me to come here and wash!! I said call your boss he needs to come see me!! I take his tokens and his boss calls yelling at me to give coins back!! Or I'm calling the cops!! I said I allready did you need to come retrieve your ambulance as I took the keys. Cops come and make him cut me a check for the box of tokens I had put aside, and I got yelled at by the cop for going into the vehicle for taking the keys!! I told him I would do it again!! Guy said similar to your customer, They say carwash on them, why cant I use them here???!!! We definitely deal with the best of the best!!! Oh yeah as the guy is yelling at me his teeth come flying out of his mouth!!!LOL. the stuff we deal with. I have a great 2 am video on the Facebook page. It keeps getting funnier!!
https://www.facebook.com/magictouch...0000227461105/721659214518321/?type=2&theater

 

[mrfixit]

Lol!!! Too funny! You got that right! Feel the burn as your money becomes community money, aka commie money. Marxist communism is gaining ground in America, as Russia moves closer and closer to freedom. Smh

 

[Stuart]

"on the floor in laughter!!!!" and she's allowed to drive?? Some customers just have us shakin' our heads in disbelief and laughter.

 

[Washmee]

I'm sure once she got behind the wheel she thought "there ought to be a law"...

 

[Earl Weiss]

............................ as I took the keys. Cops come and make him cut me a check for the box of tokens I had put aside, and I got yelled at by the cop for going into the vehicle for taking the keys!! I told him I would do it again!! .........................]

Ambulance company's lawyer should be salivating. Consider yourself lucky they didn't sue you.

 

[robert roman]

Unfortunately, you missed a great opportunity to make a loyal customer.

“I only want 3 minutes to rinse off my car. I don’t want to spend $5 to wash my car.”

Great, that’s “demand” and one benefit of DIY is low price.

So, instead of rebuffing her because she drove a Prius with political bumper sticker, I would have offered to take her tokens in on trade and gave her the 3-minutes to rinse off her car.

What do 3-minutes cost? Answer is peanuts whereas potential gain from loyal customer is what leads to superior income.

Hope this helps.

 

[chaz]

Not sure I want the "loyal customer" that pays with tokens from another business. The business from where the tokens were purchased is the guy making the money, 1) from the profit on the token sales and 2) from the fact that the tokens are not used at his facility so no wear and tear etc.

By the way, I have a box of Carwash consulting tokens, got them (cheap) from a guy retiring. Do other Carwash consultants accept these?

 

[MEP001]

Ambulance company's lawyer should be salivating. Consider yourself lucky they didn't sue you.

In Texas, or at least in my area, if you feel the need to hold someone for the cops you can do whatever you need to keep them there. They could probably try to sue, but they'd have no legal grounds to do so and would probably never get a lawyer to take the case.

 

[MEP001]

Unfortunately, you missed a great opportunity to make a loyal customer.

“I only want 3 minutes to rinse off my car. I don’t want to spend $5 to wash my car.”

Great, that’s “demand” and one benefit of DIY is low price.

So, instead of rebuffing her because she drove a Prius with political bumper sticker, I would have offered to take her tokens in on trade and gave her the 3-minutes to rinse off her car.

What do 3-minutes cost? Answer is peanuts whereas potential gain from loyal customer is what leads to superior income.

Hope this helps.

There's a huge gap between creating a loyal customer by throwing them 3 minutes to rinse their car and the aggravation of dealing with someone so unreasonable that they can't understand a simple concept. I've had those too, like the guy who misread the old Dixmor timer thinking the 05:IN meant five minutes telling me it kept dropping down to three when it started running. Even after I explained and showed him that it was the coins deposited and not the time he insisted "But it said five minutes!" He was just making noise to get something he didn't rightfully deserve, and he doesn't care about loyalty or appreciate service above and beyond the norm. I'm not going to cater to those people any more than I'm going to smile and say thank you to the ones who throw their trash on the ground two feet from the garbage can.

 

[robert roman]

“By the way, I have a box of Carwash consulting tokens, got them (cheap) from a guy retiring. Do other Carwash consultants accept these?”

I know I don’t accept tokens. I also don’t accept food stamps.

Instead, I come here and provide free expert advice.

For example, it’s important other people who read this forum understand most operators don’t make customer service decisions based on type of car or political affiliation or skin color or sex or etc.

As long as the money is green, it shouldn’t matter.

Likewise, it is universally accepted that the loyalty business model is the foundation of the carwash industry.

Quality of product or service leads to customer satisfaction, which leads to customer loyalty, which leads to profitability.

To reject this would be like saying one plus one doesn’t equal two.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

As long as the money is green, it shouldn’t matter.

How does that apply here. The money wasn't green and wasn't even money.

 

[chaz]

I too come here and offer free advice and other help or suggestions based on my experience. I do provide a quality experience at my wash and keep everything clean and working top notch. For this I expect to be paid in US funds at the pricing I am comfortable is fair to my customers and provides a ROI I also feel is fair. For those that don't agree, they are free to drive right past my wash!

Like at least one Carwash consultant I do not take tokens (nor do I sell or dispense tokens) nd absolutely would not take the food stamps (now in card form), as that's simply illegal! Taking others tokens is kinda line setting my services to free, sounds like a good idea, but makes it hard to make a living.

 

[robert roman]

It’s the principal.

Give the customer the benefit of doubt. If they come back and try same, as in stunt, then they were not honest about their ignorance regarding tokens.

Sort of like turning one’s cheek.

For example, Pete Nani runs Wash Depot Holdings. Once upon a time, I had an issue with a women customer when he was my territorial manager.

Customer got shampoo at our wash and said interior smelled funny afterwards. I had staff redo work twice and she was still not satisfied. I smelled nothing and rebuffed her as frustrated trophy wife.

She took it to Pete.

Pete made appointment with us, flew to Atlanta and we all met at my wash.

Pete looked directly in my eyes and told customer - if Bob and his crew don’t satisfy you, I’m going to replace your entire car.

In final analysis, there wasn’t a smell rather the customer wanted some personal attention from manager.

Like a woman scorned, she was mad as hell because I brushed her off with lip service instead.

It was that day I learned true meaning of loyalty business model.

The loss from getting taken for a couple of tokens is nothing compared to potential gain of loyal customer.

 

[chaz]

I understand the loyalty model and word of mouth advertisement. I'm ok if someone says I don't take foreign money as payment at my wash. BUT......If someone has a concern or issue with product or services purchased at my wash I immediately take the necessary action to make it right. I don't need someone to fly in and tell me that!

 

[MEP001]

I know I don’t accept tokens. I also don’t accept food stamps.

Do you accept foreign currency? Surely that's worth more to you than a competitor's car wash tokens are to the OP. Do you get the point now?

Instead, I come here and provide free expert advice.

Since when are you an expert in the self-serve field? Have you noticed that I almost never post in the full serve/tunnel section? It's because I don't know s*** about them and I know where my opinion is worth something. And since this may sound like a flame:

For example, it’s important other people who read this forum understand most operators don’t make customer service decisions based on type of car or political affiliation or skin color or sex or etc.

Where does that comment fit into this discussion?

As long as the money is green, it shouldn’t matter.

Likewise, it is universally accepted that the loyalty business model is the foundation of the carwash industry.

That doesn't mean a token that says "car wash" on it should be universally accepted.

Quality of product or service leads to customer satisfaction, which leads to customer loyalty, which leads to profitability.

To reject this would be like saying one plus one doesn’t equal two.

Again, not part of the discussion, except where you tried to bring it into it.

 

[robert roman]

Where does that fit in? I believe it all fits in rather nicely, so I see no need to clarify my statements.

As for expert, I’ve made a living consulting for last 17 years. I’ve written seven carwash books, one is in the Library of Congress.

As for self-serve, I probably have close to 200 projects under my belt.

Do I own a self-serve? No, I’m 64 years old and have better things to do.

 

[Waxman]

i would have traded her my tokens for hers or in your case, inserted quarters for her to start in exchange for competitors tokens.

it's not my job to educate a customer about accepted methods of payment at different washes, different types of tokens, etc.

it is my job to attract and retain customers.

in that regard, how hard is it to throw a customer a free ss wash? sometimes i think we as operators get stuck in a mode of thinking that may not benefit our business.

yes, it is tricky because some customers are out to scam us. but they're mostly good people washing the car.

i'd give her a free wash because i know that positive experience may be enough to get her back. i want to make money from a customer in the long term sense whenever possible. that is the car wash business!

 

[MEP001]

yes, it is tricky because some customers are out to scam us. but they're mostly good people washing the car.

I guess it comes down to how the customer handles their approach. The guy I mentioned above was angry and completely closed-minded. He may have been trying to scam me or was trying to make me give him something to calm him down (I know a couple people who intentionally intimidate low-paid workers to get extras) or he may have had a reading disorder, but he never asked, he demanded and accused. I don't want their business no matter how badly I need it. I've given away lots of washes, one that comes to mind had paid at the pump at the store next door and was trying to enter the code, and when I told him it wasn't our code he said "Aw, but I wanted to use this one!" I appreciate the good customers.