Business Etiquette

What Now?

You may have heard the saying "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you". Trusted business owners and managers know that this is the foundation of building long term relationships with the consumer and those that don't should learn quickly. I bring this up because just recently my car was backed up into in which my headlight was broken and side fender dented. Anyone who has been through this process knows how frustrating the situation can be and to top it off, it was a hit and run. Guess who had to pay up? I called the insurance company and they were quick to respond and basically told me everything would be fine and just to find a place in which they could repair the damages. I looked around a little bit and finally decided on a local shop located on the north side of Laredo. 

The person I spoke with, seemed very promising and I knew that the repair shop had been in business for over five years so I figured it this was as good as a place as any to trust with the repairs of my car. Three weeks passed and I hadn't heard anything from the repair shop and being that it was the Christmas holidays I figured I would just wait a little longer.  I wasn't in too much of a hurry because my insurance company provided me with a rental vehicle for up to thirty days. I gave the repair shop a couple of days after New Years until I finally decided to call and find out what was going on with the repairs on my vehicle.  To my amazement they hadn't even started the repairs! 

According to the owner they were having a difficult time finding the parts and were getting them that week. I explained to the repair shop owner that I only had a few days left with the rental vehicle and he assured me it would be fixed by the time I had to turn in the vehicle. I think you know where this is headed, not only was the car not ready on time but it took an extra week after I turned in the rental vehicle to finally get my car back. I went to the repair shop and picked up my car only to find out the head light that was installed wasn't working and for some odd reason my back window wasn't functioning either. Upon further inspection the panel to the window was broken, not to mention the off coloring of paint they used on the fender. I expressed my concern to the owner of the repair shop and he was very understanding and assured me the issues would be resolved within a couple of days. A couple of days turned out to be three more weeks! 

Finally, I received a call that my car was fixed and I returned to the repair shop. The owner was busy so one of the managers assisted me and took me to my car. The headlight, paint, and window were fixed but the panel was still  broken. I explained this to the manager and his response was that the part had still not come in. By this point I was visibly upset and I told the manager that this service was unacceptable and that I had been without my vehicle for almost two months already. His response was "there's nothing I can do, just take the car already, we've wasted enough money on fixing it". 

I was shocked to say the least. My response was, excuse me? The manager replied "you heard me! Using the owners name he continued to say how the owner might like to lose money but that he wasn't going to stand for it". The conversation got a bit heated soon after that and the owner finally walked into the office. I explained to the owner what his manager had done and how he had been speaking to me. The owner apologized to me and assured me that everything will be resolved and as soon as the part came in, I would receive a call to fix the issue. 

It has been a month now and still no call. I don't expect to receive a call or for the damages to be fixed by the repair shop at this point, so instead I will use this as a learning experience. My advice to anyone that operates or manages a business is to treat your clients with respect and courtesy. If you are a business owner, know who is managing your company because that person could be creating a bad name for your business. It is important for the business owner to build long term relationships with the customer.

Word of mouth is a very powerful marketing concept that can make or break your business. Although I am not using the companies name, anyone that knows Laredo can put the pieces together and figure out where I am talking about. Not to mention, two of my friends recently got into accidents and asked me if I could recommend somewhere to repair their vehicles. My recommendation was to stay clear from the north side repair and to share my story. I wonder how much business they have already lost because of bad business practices? 

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