Turned down my first detail today

[wifehatescar]

On a year old B9 Tribeca. Gave a quote over the phone for the interior since the car was 30 minutes away. They said it was "average". When I got there, I realized it was the worst I had ever seen. I started on it, and after 10 minutes of pulling out food garbage and finding something 1" thick, moldy and mushy in the center console, I realized A. It would take at least 5 hours to clean to my liking and B. it was so gross it was not worth any amount of money to me to clean. I apologized to the owner that I could not clean it and suggested they shop around for another place to clean it out. They looked surprised that I thought it was aweful:confused:
I had gloves on cleaning it out and I still thought I would hurl at any time. I have done some pretty bad minivans but this B9 was the worst. Anyway, just thought I'd share. Lesson, before you start cleaning an aweful car, take a minute and be sure you want to take the job!

[nsxtasy]

LOL, so you didnt recieve any compensation? The owners must have been like, what?

I would be skeptical if someone ONLY wanted their interior cleaned.

Nonetheless, better luck next time.

[Pete]

That interior sounds repulsive.

I'm curious how you explained your withdrawing from the job. Did you get into details, such as, "This car makes me want to vomit."?

I've been in a few that about made me cough up lunch. Tough to get through those.

[wifehatescar]

That interior sounds repulsive.

I'm curious how you explained your withdrawing from the job. Did you get into details, such as, "This car makes me want to vomit."?


That's what I wanted to say but basically explained I could not clean it up to my standards so I did not want to take their money and do a half a$$ed job. The look on her face was pretty good when she realized I would not clean their car, regardless of what they paid me. They were nice enough to give me $20 for my time. Forgot to mention I sat outside their house for an hour after the appointment time before they showed up :rolleyes:x2

:rock:

[Pete]

Forgot to mention I sat outside their house for an hour after the appointment time before they showed up :rolleyes:x2
:rock:

That alone would've made me say, "Forget it."

Well, good call getting away from that job. :-&

[darkhorse]

That interior sounds really bad!! I've seen some bad ones that are really repulsive to me, but not one that makes me want to vomit. Good call wifehatescar.

[nedatony]

I am sorry to disagree with everyone who thinks it is ok to back out of a job after you start.

You should have inspected the vehicle when the woman arrived. During that inspection you would have seen the vehicles condition and either up charged her or decided before you started to decline the job.

Your first mistake was to give the woman a price over the phone. Next time specify your phone price is an estimate and when you arrive you will inspect the vehicle. The second mistake was not to let the woman know on the phone that if she was late to her appiontment she would have to pay a service charge.

Lastly, this kind of business behavior reflects badly on our indudtry. You advertise yourself as a professional detailer it is your job to clean and detail vehicles.

This is probably not what you want to hear but please try to hear the message.

Good luck.

Tony

[PorscheGuy997]

You know, the detailing industry is divided into two sections: those that polish and clean as fast as possible (and do a lousy job) and those that do the job right.

While I do agree that it would have been prudent to see the vehicle in person, many customers demand an upfront quote.

Detailing is a service oriented industry. That means you can turn down a detail if you know the results will not turn out well. It's quite obvious that this job was too much. Besides, he hardly got a start on it.

I'm sure the owner could take it to a quick detail shop, but they would charge a premium.

The customer's satisfaction and your reputation are always the most important.

[nedatony]

PorscheGuy997,

Just for the sake of clarity I never said he should have seen the vehicle first. What I said is:
1. You should have inspected the vehicle when the woman arrived. During that inspection you would have seen the vehicles condition and either up charged her or decided before you started to decline the job.
2. Next time specify your phone price is an estimate and when you arrive you will inspect the vehicle.
3. The second mistake was not to let the woman know on the phone that if she was late to her appiontment she would have to pay a service charge.

As for your statement:
I'm sure the owner could take it to a quick detail shop, but they would charge a premium.
1. Admittedly between traveling to the house, waiting for 1 hour for the client to arrive and setting up to start as well as time spent working wifehatescar has a minimum of 2.5 to 3.0 hours into this job, which he came away w/$20.00. To add insult to injury he sent the client to the competition who will charge the premium he should have gotten.

Really, my thoughts on this subject may seem harsh I feel bad for the guy. Lets be honest we have all at one time or another cleaned a nasty dailly driver or the soccer mons mini with goop in the seat tracks, map pockets and petrified french fries stuck between the seats .

Tony

[wifehatescar]

I have cleaned plenty of nasty cars too, but trust me this was above and beyond.
To me it was not a matter of payment in this case. I could have spent all day on it and it still would not turn out in a good enough shape to put "my name on it". I could have and probably should have inspected the car well at first, but I only was into the job 10 minutes anyway so it did not make a big difference.

I disagree it gives detailers a bad name. I think it takes professionalism to NOT take someones money if you know you cannot provide the level of service that you promise. It would have made us look bad if I did a crap job and then took her money.

I appreciate the responses though, there is at least one or more lessons to be learned for sure.

[OCDetails]

Blech... I did one like that once. It took an hour just to claw all the garbage out of the car before I could even start cleaning it. It was for a coworker in my office too, so you can imagine how I viewed her after that. lol You can tell alot about someone from the condition of their car. I used to give out 'detailing prescriptions' when I finished a car. For her I remember clearly that I suggested she find a way to organize her receipts better than just throwing them around the car, and also she needs to stop eating popcorn, french fries, and every other fast food item in the world in her car. The thing was knee deep in Burger King bags and empty fry containers. This was an SUV too, so it was a lot of garbage... Some people just have no idea how to be clean. The Tribecca is an expensive vehicle too, so I'm surprised that they were treating it that way. Obviously it wasn't a lease. lol Or I guess I should say HOPEFULLY it wasn't a lease.

[nedatony]

Ok, we can agree to disagree!!!

Good Luck.

Tony

[wifehatescar]

That was the amazing part, for a 1-2 year old SUV, it was toast! I could see after 5 or 10 years but jeez. The tan leather seats looked to be sprayed with an exploding ink pen, no way to even tell if that would have come out. Anyway......... :)

[DUBL0WS6]

Here's my opinion. Being a detailer doesn't mean that it's your duty to clean up after filthy animals. If a person assumes they can be a pig and pay someone to clean up their crap then (if it is totally disgusting) I believe you should have the right to decide to back out of the job as long as you don't charge the customer. Being a detailer shouldn't be a demeaning service or potential health hazard. Try copying the yellow page listings for local trash collectors and keep a stash in your vehicle. When you come on a disaster simply tell the customer that you are unable to do the job and hand them the copied yellow page ad and suggest they call someone else. No reason to be defensive when turning down this type of work. You don't want that type of customer anyway.

[nedatony]

Why do you think someone is trying to insult you if they bring a car or any other vehicle in to have you detail it and in YOUR OPINION it is filthy? I really think that says more about the so called professional than it does about the client.

As a pro you should be able to handle any job thrown your way. You should qualify your clients, inspect the vehicle and advise the client as to the cost and procedure you will need to utilize in order for their vehicle to look as good as possible.

Good luck in 08!!

Tony

[wifehatescar]

If there was any insult, it was that they potentially severely downplayed the condition to take advantage of me. (no proof of this but possible) In most service based industries, people can deny service if they feel they have a good enough reason. Just part of doing business. I could have handled it of course, just fell outside of my scope of prefered services.

For example, you go to a restaurant and are obviously rude, loud and distracting. Of course the wait staff could -handle it-, but would you blame them if they asked you to quiet down or leave and/or not serve you?

[hawk481]

LOL....where I work I can't say I don't want to clean it....I have no choice. I've cleaned cars with about 1-2 inches of dirt all through out. I clogged the vac twice in that detail....Dirt that bad that it's caked inside the air vents / radio ect....

So remember it can always be worse

[Aerocleanse]

If your hired to detail a car then it doesn't say much about you if you say you don't want to do it. You have to charge accordingly and let the owner know that it might not be possible to get it as clean as you want. You should never give a quote without seeing the car, unless its an hourly rate. I often say prices start at xxxx depending on inspection. I did just change to an hourly rate just to avoid this situation.

Having worked at car dealers in my youth, you get nasty cars and have to clean them.

[DUBL0WS6]

It's always the perogative of the business owner to decline a job. It should be done in as polite of a manner as possible.

[fadbypav]

LOL....where I work I can't say I don't want to clean it....I have no choice. I've cleaned cars with about 1-2 inches of dirt all through out. I clogged the vac twice in that detail....Dirt that bad that it's caked inside the air vents / radio ect....

So remember it can always be worse

yep, i can vouch for that,when working for a franchise i had to clean a butchers van a (honda acty) that had meat from the abbatoir,blood everywhere.spent a week detailing it for sale.
it can always be worse

[Dave]

I did an interior only last monday that was pretty bad with vomit on the front seats and baby droppings on the rear seat lol. It was bad but I got it done in 5.5 hrs which is better than I thought it would take time wise.

I had to laugh at the french fry stuck to the back of the drivers seat!

[Bob]

I did an interior only last monday that was pretty bad with vomit on the front seats and baby droppings on the rear seat lol. It was bad but I got it done in 5.5 hrs which is better than I thought it would take time wise.

I had to laugh at the french fry stuck to the back of the drivers seat!

That french fry reminded me of back when Brad and I used to detail together. I would do the exteriors and he'd do the interior. One day we got this NASTY car to do. It was one of those where the owner says, "It's not bad." But it's horrible and you just figure they must live like pigs. Anyway, the entire time I'm working on the exterior I can hear Brad inside cussing at everything. At one point he's like, "This kids got tons of french fries crammed between the seat and seat rail!" HAHA!

[Dave]

LMAO! Thats classic!

[wifehatescar]

Wholly old thread. I'm glad too see others suffer as well LOL