jimmy123456789
Jackass
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2020
- Member Number
- 2312
- Messages
- 140
Every shop I’ve worked in in the past always had this idea that somehow work can be done faster if the customer is waiting on their vehicle vs if it’s a drop off. I can understand a waiter vehicle taking priority over a drop off, but the repair takes the same amount of time whether the customer is standing over my shoulder watching, sitting in the waiting room, in another state or halfway across the world.
It was almost like they were expecting me to just rush through and half ass things in order to get the customer out as fast as possible, and I feel that that’s the wrong approach. It caters to customers “fast above all else” mentality and gives them ample room to complain if something takes more than 30 minutes (on a 2 hour job, mind you). In my opinion, waiters gonna wait, I don’t care if you’re waiting or not, the job still takes the same amount of time.
Before when I’d be rushed by a service writer I’d intentionally slow down and work slower to show them the error of their ways and try to make the “the job takes the same amount of time regardless of whether the customer is here or not” lesson into their heads. Finally got through to some, but others refused to listen. I told every service writer I worked with to underpromise and overdeliver, not overpromise and underdeliver. Telling a customer that a 2 hour job can be done in 30 minutes only pisses them off more when it ends up taking 2 hours vs telling them a 2 hour job will take 3 hours and then being done in 2. Makes the shop and the tech look better instead of making the service writer look like they stepped on their dick and promised something they couldn’t make happen to appease impatient customers.
What do you guys think? How do you/your shop handle waiters? And have you dealt with service writers and managers who think that work can somehow be done faster just because a customer is waiting on their vehicle?
BTW, I NEVER advise a customer to wait on their vehicle because too many shops have the wrong attitude towards waiters. Drop it off, we’ll call you when it’s done or when we have a diagnosis and estimate.
It was almost like they were expecting me to just rush through and half ass things in order to get the customer out as fast as possible, and I feel that that’s the wrong approach. It caters to customers “fast above all else” mentality and gives them ample room to complain if something takes more than 30 minutes (on a 2 hour job, mind you). In my opinion, waiters gonna wait, I don’t care if you’re waiting or not, the job still takes the same amount of time.
Before when I’d be rushed by a service writer I’d intentionally slow down and work slower to show them the error of their ways and try to make the “the job takes the same amount of time regardless of whether the customer is here or not” lesson into their heads. Finally got through to some, but others refused to listen. I told every service writer I worked with to underpromise and overdeliver, not overpromise and underdeliver. Telling a customer that a 2 hour job can be done in 30 minutes only pisses them off more when it ends up taking 2 hours vs telling them a 2 hour job will take 3 hours and then being done in 2. Makes the shop and the tech look better instead of making the service writer look like they stepped on their dick and promised something they couldn’t make happen to appease impatient customers.
What do you guys think? How do you/your shop handle waiters? And have you dealt with service writers and managers who think that work can somehow be done faster just because a customer is waiting on their vehicle?
BTW, I NEVER advise a customer to wait on their vehicle because too many shops have the wrong attitude towards waiters. Drop it off, we’ll call you when it’s done or when we have a diagnosis and estimate.
