Pretty much everything here at our repair shop
starts with a phone call. Sometimes we love them, sometimes we dread them, sometimes they start one way and end another.
Back in the first
week of January, we had the privilege of working on a 2011 Chevy Tahoe with a
Diesel engine.
It was towed here with a large coolant leak. We proceeded to diagnose it as a broken radiator and got the approval to continue with repairs. Along with all the repairs we do, we always suggest to
the client that we perform an inspection of the vehicle as a courtesy. This client agreed, and we performed the inspection. Everything found was documented, the work was performed, and the vehicle left the shop.
Fast forward
to this morning when we get a phone call from this client letting us know that
“ever since you worked on my vehicle, the air conditioning system is not
working, it was working fine prior to your work, so you must have done
something to cause it’s failure”
Answering a
hostile call is always tricky. You can’t admit responsibility as you don’t know
the facts, and you do not want to come across as not caring. It’s a careful
balancing act.
The client
said he had a friend who had wanted to become an auto mechanic, so he knew what
he was talking about. His friend had heard we replaced the radiator and
surmised we must have caused the failure with the air conditioner.
As we are
talking to the client, we found the electronic copy of the repair order in our point-of-sale
system. Under recommendations we had suggested for some diagnostic work on the
air conditioning system as it was not working well. When we asked him to look
it up on his copy, his tone changed to less combative, and he agreed to an
appointment for diagnosis of the air conditioning system, he would pay for the
diag work.
I do not
think the client was being fraudulent, it’s just that people don’t pay that
much attention to their cars, until after they have come back from the repair
shop. Then they are very hypersensitive about everything automotive.
