Today I took my car to Jiffy Lube. They gave me their usual good service. Everyone was nice and polite and the guy who took me inside even pointed out the free coffee and where the restroom was.
I’m really happy that I use them. I want them to thrive and do well. I credit them for keeping my cheapo car running for over 200,00 miles.
When I got home, I noticed that there were some oily fingerprints on my trunk from where the short guy was washing my back window. I wiped them off with a papertowell. No big deal to me.
However, I do know that some people are never happy. Should I call them tomorrow and tell them about the oily fingerprints, to warn them to be careful? I’m not upset, I won’t bitch them out and ask for a free oil change or anything, I’m just worried about someone else screaming at the nice guys over a smudge on their car.
I’m thinking that I should call them and say that I had brought my car to them yesterday, without giving my name or what car was serviced, so the tech can’t be identified and tell the person on the phone about the fingerprints.
While I was typing this post, I was once again thinking that I’m so lucky that this is the sort of problem I have time and energy to worry about.
I don’t see any problem with calling them up and saying “Hi, I’m really happy with the service you gave me yesterday, this this and this was done, but just so you know some fingerprints were left on my paintwork where a guy was washing the back window. I don’t mind, but I just thought you’d like the feedback just in case”
Thank you, Sierra. I don’t want to be a whiney bitch, but I also don’t want them to get bitched out. This is the first time I’ve ever had the slightest thing go wrong. Its really rare to get the sort of good service I get from them, so I have a probably irrational feeling of protectivness over them.
Yes. Back in the day, I used to work retail. People would scream at me over minor things that I had no control over. Now that gas prices are going up, I hear people yelling at the clerks on a regular basis.
This is why I am asking for input. Its very minor to me, but I don’t want those very nice and polite and friendly guys to get yelled at over something so minor.
I know but being nice, polite and friendly is part of most everybody’s job… You wouldn’t know if those people didn’t give two shits about you or if they were one of the people who screamed at you in retail.
It’s nice what you want to do but logically you shouldn’t. You can’t make a difference in this world (trust me) so it’s best just to accept it.
Aside from that, reporting and warning don’t go good together in that situation even if the warning is positive. They very well may see it as sarcasm too, some people may not even hear the warning and only hear the complaint…
At that job, they all know fingerprints stay off the car, it was probably just a non-careless mistake. I’d say let it go…
Personally, I wouldn’t bother. If you’re going to contact a service place/shop/restaurant every time they do something that you don’t mind but you think someone else might, then you’re going to end up a very busy person.
Having worked in dealerships most of my life, I say dont bother.
Complaints are taken seriously in many places, but because you intend to skimp on the details it is very unlikely that anything will be done.
You will get the manager, you will say you had dirty fingerprints, he will apologise and ask for details, you will say you dont want anybody to get in trouble, he will think to himself “well WTF do you want then”.
I suspect you have this vision that the manager will gather the team around and have a stirring motivational talk about keeping the cars spotless, except, everybody in that place already knows that! The manager isnt going to waste his time repeating it, he will shrug his shoulders and move onto the million other things he needs to get done.
If you had a serious problem, he could ask you bring the car back and do a full valet, and he could then take action against the guilty party. But a call just say that you had a few scuff marks? Dont waste his time.
I don’t see the point of complaining about nothing. Are you absolutely sure that those prints are from that shop?
The important things are:
They actually filled it properly with the correct oil. Check the dipstick yourself or have it checked.
Did they tighten the drain plug properly. You won’t be checking that. You can keep your eyes open for any leaks that develop.
Did they introduce contamination when they did the job. Dirt can fall on the filter as they put it on and so forth. No way to check that. Your 200,000 miles speaks well of them there.
And that’s when you clearly and explicitly explain your purpose in calling: you don’t want anything for yourself, you just want to avoid any future incidents that cause other customers to rip their staff a new anus.
It’s customer feedback, which is usually appreciated by well-run businesses, especially if it’s a situation in which the short-changed customer (in this case, flatlined) is not fishing for some kind of perk for themselves.
I’m pretty sure they know they’re not supposed to leave oily fingerprints on things, so I really don’t see how your call would benefit anyone (since you didn’t actually mind).
The call is not to let them know they shouldn’t do it; it’s to let them know that they are, in fact, doing it.
If you own the business, and your mechanic is leaving greasy fingerprints on customers’ cars, wouldn’t you want to know? Yes, I’m sure the business owner and the mechanic know they’re not supposed to do it, but apparently they don’t know it’s still happening, despite their awareness of the impropriety of it.
flatlined claims “no big deal,” but I bet if it happened every damn time she went there, he (she?) would start to get a little annoyed and might eventually start thinking about visiting the competition.
Yeah, I wouldn’t call either. If I were the one to take your call, I’d be all 1) why are you calling then if you’re not dissatisfied and then 2) thank you, Captain Obvious. They already know that there’s no satisfying some people. And the result of your phone call will be that all the nice people that worked on your car and gave you good service will be reminded about how to do their jobs (again), which tends to grumpify anyone. Even if it’s done with all good intentions and in the best way possible.
And yes, Shakes, I do have a very nice life. I consider myself blessed to have such minor problems. I own a front loading washing machine. Consider what that implies…I have a steady source of clean water. I have electricity. I have more clothes than what I’m wearing. I have enough money to buy a washing machine for my home, not to mention that I could buy a front loader.
I’m chatting about this online.
There are millions of people who would be willing to cut their arm off to have my problems.
Machine Elf, that is why I was wondering if I should call. They know it shouldn’t happen, but it did. There are several other oil change places in the same block. I can’t remember the name of the place across the street, but they let customers sit in the car while service is happening and hands the customers a copy of the newspaper.
I want MY place to thrive and do well. I don’t want the techs to get yelled at and I want them to stay open for me.