When customers just don't listen

[Alek@DeepClean]

I recently did a full correction on a good buddy's black car. As is normal procedure with all of my customers, I instructed him on how to maintain his car in order to not have his car wind up in the same position. And since he was a friend, I even sent him links to the exact towels and other products he needed to purchase(after we had talked about what he needed, of course). He brought it to me this morning to do a quick detail before a car show, and I was appalled to see tons of new swirl marks in his paint. Keep in mind, I inspect all cars thoroughly under both artificial light and natural sunlight and his paint was PERFECT both when I left, and when he brought it to me the next day to check on it.

Turns out, he had gone to Walmart and bought a 10 pack of cheap microfibers and washed his car with them. It looks like I didn't even correct his car at this point. I'm just at a loss. Anyone else ever deal with customers like this who just don't get it?

[SoonerGM]

did he even notice his newly acquired swirls or did you point them out to him?

[BobbyG]

Sometimes you just can't fix stupid and lord knows politicians have tried to pass laws banning it and it's obvious that hasn't worked either....

[Evan.J]

Repeat business! Let him know you can fix them

Its best if you can figure out a care package that all your customers can purchase from you after the detail. This will make it easy for you and the customer and a way for you to make a little bit more money.

[Niblick]

I put a really nice valeting kit together for my father a couple of years ago after we bought him a new Vw polo. Most of it has never been used. When I asked him how he was getting on with it, he told me he didn't want to get the towels messed up, so uses an old one that he keeps in the garage instead. As a wise man once said, "you can take a horse to water, but you can't make it drink!"

[MrCleanit]

repeat business! Let him know you can fix them

boom!

[kevin_1981]

Sometimes you just can't fix stupid and lord knows politicians have tried to pass laws banning it and it's obvious that hasn't worked either....

This comment just made my day!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using AG Online

[trekkeruss]

Just my take: I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that the cheap MF towels caused the problem. It's much more likely that he just didn't wash his car properly, and would have done the same damage with "good" towels.

[Audios S6]

It's not all about the customer listening to you. You, as the detailer, have to read the customer and guide them to the package that make sense for them. Being your friend, it should be easier to know if he'll will to put in the effort. If he's not, then a full correction isn't for him, his car will look the same as before after one wash, just have less clearcoat to work with next time. It's a hard lesson learned for him, harder lesson for you if you did the work for free.

I'm not going to turn down a full correction because of this, but you have to provide the info/disclaimer upfront.

[KneeDragr]

Tell him that paint correction is not for him, and instruct him to slap on a glaze that's chock full of fillers after every wash.