You lost how much money?

[dustpan]

I have a toll free number posted at each site that goes to a voice mail stating that if there was any money lost at a car wash, leave info and we will refund it.

How do you handle a customer who claims that he lost $15 because the soap never stopped on the rinse cycle and he kept putting money in trying to rinse the soap off his car? He said the soap is still on his car and he has to leave my cw go to another and probably spend another $10.

Cost for a 4 and a half-minute wash cycle is $2.00. We take quarters only.

One of the reasons I got into this business is because I don?t like dealing with customers, I?m not a people person. I like to be left alone like a lot of these customers who come to a self-service car wash do.

My policy has always been, refund whatever they say they lost or spent if they are not satisfied in any way. If I?m there I can often just give them time on the meter. I can?t imagine this guy dumping in 60 quarters, but sending him less that $15 is the same thing as calling him a liar. Is that how to treat a customer?

Seems lately I?ve been getting a whole lot more of these ?I lost $5 in the change machine? calls. I am an absentee owner with locations far, far away.

 

[pitzerwm]

You could say that you have cameras and upon watching the video, you are not able to refund. I used tokens so sending a bunch of tokens solved that issue.

 

[Mel(NC)]

No one in their right mind would spend half an hour hoping the rinse cycle would start. He is either exagerating or just trying to make a few bucks. If you wanted to do something, I would probably send him a $5 and tell him you are sorry for his inconvienence but that is your limit for refunds.

 

[MEP001]

As far as money lost in a changer, if it's a consistent problem you might have your employee, manager or whatever track the quarters and bills against the hopper and report to you right away whenever there's an overage or shortage and how much. If a customer claims to lose $5 in the changer, it should be over $5, and if it's not, instead of the refund send the customer a letter stating that an attempt to obtain an undeserved refund is the same as shoplifting, which is an arrestable offense and would give them a criminal record.

I can't imagine either that someone would continue to add money in the same bay trying to rinse soap off his car. Unless your manager can prove there was a problem, I wouldn't refund him the whole thing. An intelligent person would have tried a different bay.

 

[Kevin James]

?Dustpan? I?m with you. My tolerance for the general public is pretty low. I?d start up the bay and if there is in fact soap coming out on raise then I?d send him a few tokens, but not $15, anyone who puts $15 into a coin box trying to rinse off his car is a moron or just plain stupid. If there isn?t anything wrong with the bay then I?d toss his refund into the trash because he?s lying to me. I?ve done the same thing with the changer. I?ve gotten calls from customers who have said that they have lost $5 or $10 in the changer. The next time I go the wash I count the changer if it?s $5 or $10 over then I?ll send it to them if it?s not I don?t respond to the there refund.

 

[soapy]

I get a lot of people calling me and telling me they put $5 in whatever devise they think did not work right. Even a .75 cent vacuum they tell me it is $5. Last weekend I changed the vac prices to $1 for 4 minutes of time. It was .75 for 4 minutes before. I have had at least 6 calls this week from people saying they got less than a minute for their $1. WHen I have checked the camaras they all got the 4 minutes promised. I have never had people complain about a price raise like I have this .25 cents raise.

 

[washnvac]

Cameras solve just about everything. I verify all lost money by equating the time customer said they were there, to the problem they are reporting. And, yes if someone says they lost only a $1 in a vacuum-- I verify it. It is easy to do with todays camera systems. Plus it is peace of mind to know I am refunding only money that is due a customer. Once you let customers know that you verify everything by camera, the nonsense will mostly stop. I have had plenty of customers call and say a bay will not work, but when I look back on the video they missed a token in the "return" slot. Do you think that they call back to let me know that they got the bay working---ofcourse not. If I did not have the video, I would probably send them a refund.

 

[mjwalsh]

We have a camera above each changer & can tell the denomination of the bill. More than once someone lost a $1 bill & tried to say it was a bigger bill. One time we showed the person a printout of the specific bill held. He didn't argue but looked pretty sheepish & the "I thought it was a five" explanation!

 

[Kevin Reilly]

We keep a record of all refunds. Name address & phone number that they have given us. If there is any duplication then we double check the problem. Fortunately the past couple of years it is almost nill.

We had a $5.00 call last week where the changer took her 5 bucks and didn't give her anything. If it's during the day and our crew is out we respond to the complaint right away.

I've never had one as stupid as the $15.00 call but we've had some real funny ones.

 

[MEP001]

We keep a record of all refunds. Name address & phone number that they have given us. If there is any duplication then we double check the problem.

We also track every name, address and phone number of people calling for money lost in the changer. Almost every time it has been verified by the changer count, but one person has used three phone numbers, two names and two addresses to get undeserved refunds. I have a spare vandal-proof camera that I think I'll mount right over the changer and zoomed in so it can read the denominations and payouts so we can tell right away from the recordings if they're lying.

 

[washnvac]

All these posts just show the sad state of human mentality and integrity. Why do so many think they need to get something over on car wash owners? I think we provide a good service for the buck. Yes, occassionally equipment fails and we handle it. But why does jammed dollar bill become a five or ten? I guess people just think you will give it to them and not verify. I guess they think we are low-tech, and have no way to check. I guess this agravation is why we all make the big bucks...Right?

 

[Sequoia]

Refunds

I look at refunds as a way to build lifetime loyal customers. Although there are a few dirtbags that will try to abuse it, most of the folks calling me about a problem are legitimate. When I give them more than their money back, they are very appreciative and become a very solid customer.

I bought some small coin envelopes along with a stamp that says "Free 10 minute car wash enclosed." Virtually anytime I get a call about an equipment problem, I apologize and send a letter with the envelope which contains 4 dollar tokens. (My normal tokens are nickle-plated and I only send out non-plated tokens for refunds, so I know not to count the unplated tokens as revenue.)

Abuse? Yeah, I had one guy last year who I believe was the same person who complained 3 times. I didn't sweat it-- compared to the volume of business even letting him rip me 3 times didn't even blip on the radar screen. Since I only refund tokens it's not a money-maker for them-- they just get a free wash. But again, most of my refund calls are legit ...

 

[MEP001]

I've said this before, but giving out refunds too easily can be a bad thing. It's different if your client? is made up of people who aren't hurting for money just before payday every week, but I used to be an attendant at a wash where the policy was to refund anything, no questions asked. It didn't take long for word to get out that I was an "easy mark," and every scumbag in the neighborhood was coming up saying they lost $5 in the changer, even homeless people. The last straw was someone who claimed to have lost $5 in a changer on which he saw an "Out of order" sign, and he even said we must've put it out of service because it was stealing money. It wasn't - it had been salted a week before, and he said he lost money in it "yesterday." After I changed policy myself, people quit mysteriously losing money in the changers.

 

[Sequoia]

MEP,

I agree that the clientele/part of town you are in has much to do with it. I'm very lucky to have few dirtbags and a closest competitor that is 12 miles away. It would be much different with more customer problems and closer competitors.

And, once I put cameras in a lot of the mischief that used to happen stopped.

 

[rph9168]

Unless you have some way to verify the loss I would be very selective on issuing refunds that involve cash. If you use tokens I would be a little more lenient. It seems as gas goes through the roof and the economy continues its slide the number of refund claims goes up.

Many operators have a limit to how much they will refund. I have seen some post signs with their refund policy that states they they have a video system or a way to check for losses and will refund lost money that can be verified. I think such signs eliminate many who are trying to take advantage of an operator and reassure honest customers that they can expect a refund if they have a problem.