Do you believe everything your customers tell you?

[Phil H 124]

I got a phone call from a friend of mine last week asking my advice about a car that he sold to a customer in January who had called him complaining about a fault on the car. The fault was the rear brakes were slow to work, the car was still under manufacturers warranty and he'd taken it in to his local franchised dealer to investigate who looked at it and informed the customer that a sensor on the rear was faulty and due to the fact that the car had been in an accident and had body work repairs to the rear the warranty on the sensor was null and void go and speak to the dealer who you bought it from. I asked him if the car had had any body work done and he confirmed that the main dealer who he bought it from had carried out the repairs prior to trading it to him, It was a very good repair. The customer wasn't happy screaming and shouting he wanted his money back as he'd bought a car that had been involved in a serious accident and had been siting round for ever waiting to be repaired by a dodgy back street garage and the car wasn't fit for the purpose. the repair was a new rear bumper and repair to the N/S/R quarter. He was prepared to give a full refund but I advised him to get the car back and investigate it for himself. Now my friend doesn't do stress very well so after spending all weekend worrying about this comeback the car came back on Monday and it was agreed between them that if the fault was due to the accident repair then a refund minus 6 months use would be given. 

He sent it to a local independent garage who started to investigate, they put it on the brake rollers and could clearly see that the efficiency on the n/s/r was well down on the rest, So they get it up on the ramp and start inspecting the brakes all round, they notice a new repair had been carried out to the o/s/f bumper and wing and not a particularly good job at that, then they notice that the car, which he had sold in January, had a new inner wheel arch liner fitted with a sticker still on it showing the manufacture date of February this year as did the indicator. It had also had a new hub and caliper fitted to the same corner. So they thought this car is fitted with dual circuit brakes, the customers complaining about the n/s/r brake working slow, the brake test confirms this and it's had a new caliper on the o/s/f maybe it just needs a bleed, surely not they thought it's been checked by a main dealer who've diagnosed it as a sensor, but we'll start with the basics and try bleeding the brakes anyway. Off the ramp it goes for another brake test and the efficiency now matches the rest, they still couldn't believe it could be something as simple as that so out they went on road test to carry out some heavy braking. It performed faultless. Called my friend and explained what they'd found and told him to come and collect it. 

My friend was fuming he'd had a stressful weekend due to this man's complaining when in fact he'd done nothing wrong the whole fault was caused by the customer having a cheap repair carried out by a garage who quite clearly hadn't clamped off the front brake pipe when fitting the new caliper, let some brake fluid run out and only bled the front caliper and not the o/s/r caliper which shared the same dual circuit.  He informed the customer that his car was ready for collection, the fault was now fixed and he'd inform him of the problem when he got there.

When the man arrived he was told that the fault was due to the dodgy back street garage accident repair that had been authorized whilst he'd owned it and not the previous repair and was confronted with the evidence, he admitted that the body shop who carried out the repair also fitted the new caliper and was just trying it on as the main dealer had quoted hundreds of pounds to fix it and the sale of goods act was on his side, he thanked him for fixing the fault as he loves the car, so my friend gave the customer both barrels, threw him out and told him never to contact him again. 

Has anyone else experienced anything like this and how did you handle it?

 

[Gavin@Rousdon 137]

Sometimes I wonder what goes on in customers heads, they seem to resent spending money on cars but the case above is just someone blatantly lying.

If it had happened to me I would have been producing a bill to the customer for the work carried making sure every minute is accounted for including time spent driving the car to the garage etc. The car would also be locked in the garage until the bill had been paid. 

 

I had a case about 10 years ago where a customer damaged a car I lent them whilst I was carrying out a warranty repair on their car. The damage was to the two n/s doors and I asked for £200 to repair.  

She sent her husband to pick up the car once it was ready, I gave him the key to swap his items between the two cars agreeing to sort out payment for the damage and tie up the warranty paperwork once car seats and children were in the car. Next thing I look up and see the Nissan Terrano leaving the forecourt in a rapid manner. So I phone the lady who refused to pay using the reasoning that if she had been driving her own car she wouldn't of repaired it, as her car was getting fixed for a fault that wasn't of her making the same should apply to the car I lent her. I them politely pointed out the in his haste to leave her husband had left his wallet and house keys in the damaged Volvo I had lent them. I did offer to take the left items to her house and discuss the situation there (outside where neighbours may hear). She refused my kind offer and agreed £200 was fair and paid over the phone there and then. 10 minutes later her husband returned looking sheepish!! To be fair to him he apologised saying 'Sorry, I had to do what she told me to do, I would have paid you !!!'

I guess some people just don't want to take responsibility for there own actions.

 

[It's me 615]

Do you believe everything your customers tell you? 

 no never

[RJ Magpie 3]

I shouldn't have trusted but I did and I'm worse off after taking p/x... But hey, I didn't check the car properly as the guy gained my trust (after all father of 2 young children just like me) and there are brakes to be done and today as I was going for a test drive few hours before someone was due to come and see I have broken down on M4... So I called AA, recovered it to the garage who serviced it for me and there is fuel pump gone... But as we have inspected it must have been like this for some time as the original pump was bypassed by some other pump...

 

So another hard lesson for me... But I'm glad it happened to me...

 

Edited July 10, 2015 by RJ Magpie