Why do customers sometimes become unhappy over many years?

[The motor guy]

Anyone ever notice this. Customers who once never had a complaint in 6 or 7 years now complain about all kinds of things and expect you to do this that and the other thing all for the same price? They go I thought these things were included? Really?

 

[CharBaby]

People are never happy. It's not just customers, it's everyone with everything. It's the working force as well.

 

[Chris142]

Yep every day! We have fired several customers lately.

 

[Boomer]

Did you ever think that maybe customers start to feel taken for granted? You just assume they will buy from you and slowly, you start to ignore them and spend more time with newer customers? How about acknowledging them as a good customer with a small award like a luncheon or some tickets to an event? I watched my sister-in-law drive the family business into the ground after she inherited it by totally ignoring customers. "Hey, you don't want to buy from me, go somewhere else"....and they did. in droves over the years.

So treat customers well. They are what keeps your business alive. You exist for them, not the other way around.

 

[demarpaint]

I found this happening to me a few times over the past 40+ years in my business. A customer gets another quote/quotes, often lower, and vanish for a few years. They were unhappy with my price. Then they resurface many times and confess they got screwed over by the lower bidder. Occasionally the process often repeats itself with the same customer. LOL I told a few customers over the years not to call me anymore. I don't mind looking at work, but when I know I'm not going to get the job, I'd rather not waste my time.

 

[69GTX]

I could be one of those customers. If the quality of the shop's work doesn't keep as they have been consistently raising labor prices over the years....then of course I'm going to be unhappy. I only infrequenlty use my main mechanic of 30 yrs as the mechanics in the shop were not near the level of expertise as they were just 5-10 yrs earlier. All the really good ones seem to leave for one reason or another. While the owner/boss is as skilled and proficient as ever, his paid mechanics are not. Repairs that were once done like clockwork w/o flaws now became a major deal taking extra days, wrong parts, poor troubleshooting, etc. That wasn't such a big deal when labor costs were $35-$65/hr just 15-20 yrs ago. Now at $110-$140/hr it really kills you when the shop is not efficient.

The prices of fairly routine auto work escalated quite a bit from 2002 to 2008. And then a smaller amount from 2009-2019....and without any increase in quality. In fact I'll submit the quality has substantially decreased. Maybe a lot of that quality labor at the smaller and Indy shops have moved to the mega dealerships or to other industries? It was tough to survive in the auto industry from 2009-2013. A lot of the cost increases are to cover rising insurance/benefits as well as supplies and parts cost. I don't have to feel "happy" about having all that dumped on me. A large increase in general automotive repair costs from 2002 to date. The govt's stated inflation rate during this period is +41%.

Convince me that auto repair shop mechanical labor is worth $120/hr....with probably only $20-$30/hr going to the mechanic. Note: I worked in the power field for 30 yrs and supervised all the mechanical and electrical/electronic trades for a majority of that period.

 

[jeepman3071]

Originally Posted by Char Baby
People are never happy. It's not just customers, it's everyone with everything. It's the working force as well.



This.

People deal with stress/unhappiness in different ways. In many cases they take it out unknowingly on those around them. Probably why the divorce rate is so high, people suck at doing their jobs correctly, etc.

 

[jeepman3071]

Originally Posted by demarpaint
I found this happening to me a few times over the past 40+ years in my business. A customer gets another quote/quotes, often lower, and vanish for a few years. They were unhappy with my price. Then they resurface many times and confess they got screwed over by the lower bidder. Occasionally the process often repeats itself with the same customer. LOL I told a few customers over the years not to call me anymore. I don't mind looking at work, but when I know I'm not going to get the job, I'd rather not waste my time.



This. I think many people are just set on finding the lowest price. Nobody understands value, and this is true with everything from car repair to hiring employees. There are a few times where it isn't necessarily the case, but I've learned that you often get what you pay for, and that includes putting the work in to do the research.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Originally Posted by motor_oil_madman
Anyone ever notice this. Customers who once never had a complaint in 6 or 7 years now complain about all kinds of things and expect you to do this that and the other thing all for the same price? They go I thought these things were included? Really?

Always ask the customer what maintenance they want/need done to the vehicle. Then quote them a price. If they expected more when picking up the vehicle, then explain to them that they failed to request that particular service, when dropping off the vehicle.

 

[thooks]

I thought I had found a good auto repair shop that I could take my vehicles to where I'd have work done that I couldn't or didn't want to do. Locally owned, pretty good reviews, very nice people in the front. Owner was most always there, had a great service writer (female) that seemed to know all about cars.

I needed an alignment. The shop that I had put some new struts on "didn't have large enough equipment" to align my truck. I ended up at this shop because I thought I had found a good shop until I heard that.

In 3 tries, the second shop couldn't align it. First time the alignment machine "was down." Wasted trip there and back. Second time, nah, didn't get it. Still pulled into the ditch.

Several thousand miles were rolling off between these trips because I simply didn't have time to fool with it.

Third time, "our main alignment tech isn't here today, but so-and-so will get it."


Nope. Still pulled into the ditch.

So in about 10,000 miles of trying to get it aligned (4 times), the poor alignment has eaten my tires up. I'm at 3/32" at 40,000 miles on a set of Toyo tires that have a 65k mile treadwear rating.

Thanks.

I finally found a shop that knows how to perform an alignment last week. My truck didn't drive this good when it was brand new.




THAT's how you make customers unhappy over the years....and run them off.

 

[Pelican]

It's a combination of things; Some dealers do take advantage of customers who don't inform themselves and these customers then spread the "word" and then you have customers who think everything is due to them and don't care about the dealer making a "living", these are the unreasonable ones. There is a fine line to tread on these days of social media.

 

[Pelican]

Originally Posted by jeepman3071

I think many people are just set on finding the lowest price. Nobody understands value, and this is true with everything from car repair to hiring employees. There are a few times where it isn't necessarily the case, but I've learned that you often get what you pay for, and that includes putting the work in to do the research.


Absolutely So !!

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Pelican
Originally Posted by jeepman3071

I think many people are just set on finding the lowest price. Nobody understands value, and this is true with everything from car repair to hiring employees. There are a few times where it isn't necessarily the case, but I've learned that you often get what you pay for, and that includes putting the work in to do the research.


Absolutely So !!



Agreed, but it's also on the shop as well. Costs are way up for them, they charge more, try to do more with less and likely have a tough time retaining skilled employees. It's a vicious cycle IMO.

 

[benjy]

with todays much higher pricing + many times lower quality + less reliability its no wonder buyers are less than satisfied with many products IMO

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by 69GTX
I could be one of those customers. If the quality of the shop's work doesn't keep as they have been consistently raising labor prices over the years....then of course I'm going to be unhappy. I only infrequenlty use my main mechanic of 30 yrs as the mechanics in the shop were not near the level of expertise as they were just 5-10 yrs earlier. All the really good ones seem to leave for one reason or another. While the owner/boss is as skilled and proficient as ever, his paid mechanics are not. Repairs that were once done like clockwork w/o flaws now became a major deal taking extra days, wrong parts, poor troubleshooting, etc. That wasn't such a big deal when labor costs were $35-$65/hr just 15-20 yrs ago. Now at $110-$140/hr it really kills you when the shop is not efficient.

The prices of fairly routine auto work escalated quite a bit from 2002 to 2008. And then a smaller amount from 2009-2019....and without any increase in quality. In fact I'll submit the quality has substantially decreased. Maybe a lot of that quality labor at the smaller and Indy shops have moved to the mega dealerships or to other industries? It was tough to survive in the auto industry from 2009-2013. A lot of the cost increases are to cover rising insurance/benefits as well as supplies and parts cost. I don't have to feel "happy" about having all that dumped on me. A large increase in general automotive repair costs from 2002 to date. The govt's stated inflation rate during this period is +41%.

Convince me that auto repair shop mechanical labor is worth $120/hr....with probably only $20-$30/hr going to the mechanic. Note: I worked in the power field for 30 yrs and supervised all the mechanical and electrical/electronic trades for a majority of that period.


Couldn't have said it better myself.

The quality of many formerly good shops gradually decreases and their prices go way up as well.
These shops don't have to "fire" me as a customer.....I'll quit first. You had a GOOD customer that paid well and came to you often, now you've lost the plot.

 

[spk2000]

Originally Posted by jeepman3071
Originally Posted by demarpaint
I found this happening to me a few times over the past 40+ years in my business. A customer gets another quote/quotes, often lower, and vanish for a few years. They were unhappy with my price. Then they resurface many times and confess they got screwed over by the lower bidder. Occasionally the process often repeats itself with the same customer. LOL I told a few customers over the years not to call me anymore. I don't mind looking at work, but when I know I'm not going to get the job, I'd rather not waste my time.



This. I think many people are just set on finding the lowest price. Nobody understands value, and this is true with everything from car repair to hiring employees. There are a few times where it isn't necessarily the case, but I've learned that you often get what you pay for, and that includes putting the work in to do the research.


Lowest price oil changes always turn into high pressure upsell on things you don't need. You need a new air filter. I just replaced a week ago. Fuel injectors are dirty how about a high priced cleaning. Car runs fine. Fuel economy is fine afterwards no discernable difference. Was it really needed. That $20 oil change quickly becomes a $100+ upsell got yuour foot in the door on price for oil change. Many just say ok either not knowing or just because the oil change would have cost me $xx more somewhere else so it's not so bad.

 

[Andrew1972]

Do you engage these customers after that many years of service besides showing up and billing them? It helps to occasionally engage them along the way.

 

[opus1]

Originally Posted by madRiver
Do you engage these customers after that many years of service besides showing up and billing them? It helps to occasionally engage them along the way.


I was going to say something along these lines. Another way to phrase it may be as time has gone by, have you become so familiar with your customers that you may not be as attentive to them as you once were? They may feel like you're taking them for granted.

 

[JC1]

Let's step away from auto services and look at cable tv companies and phone companies.

10 years ago how many customers were happy to pay them month after month?? How many thought they got tremendous value from overpriced services?

Look at what has happened, streaming, downloading, hi def antennas, android boxes etc. People have choices now and are cutting the cord. Many people don't have a land line for their phones.

They have been screwing the customer for years. They are losing revenue. They should be afraid.

Probably not in our lifetime, but maybe in another 50 years you'll see massive amounts of people abandon the concept of owning vehicles.

If the total cost of ownership exceeds using car share and driverless car services why bother owning a car.

In America this is probably an absurd way of thinking, but in other parts of the world where gasoline, insurance, licensing and vehicles costs are twice as much, it's not far fetched IMO.

 

[fdcg27]

Based upon many posts in many threads from many members, there is a lot of unhappiness with the work done by skilled and semi-skilled workers in general.
The root of this is that fewer young people want to enter into physically demanding jobs that involve getting dirty every day when they can pound a keyboard before a couple of monitors or sit behind a counter for the same money in the current economy.
In the case of car repair, experience is the real teacher and correct diagnosis is the real game. Wrench turning skills are far more easily learned than diagnosis.
As the older guys with ample experience age out of the trade and the younger guys without much experience come to predominate, then you'll of course observe less competent work. The higher price part comes from shops trying to cover their ever increasing overheads while still making some net income.
Prices for quality parts also have to be factored into this, since twenty years ago a jobber grade part could be relied upon to last as long as a customer was likely to own the car while that's far from the case these days, yet customers will bulk at paying more for a quality part when they can look online and find what as far as they know is the same part for a fraction of the cost.
Part of the answer will come in the next recession, when many young people will lose their clean jobs. Some will be willing to give repair and maintenance trades a shot and some will prove to be very good.