People so unreasonable sometimes...

Status
Not open for further replies.
I think the real crux of the issue is, what was ToadU's intended outcome of this whole mess? Did he buy the lady's car because
1. He was basically obligated to make the customer whole one way or another, and he tried to accomplish this with the least amount of headache, regardless of the customer's feelings?
Or 2. He truly wanted to fix the mistake AND have the customer leaving satisfied and happy? I'm betting he chose #1, and here's why:

There are several ways this could've been handled, and they're all not necessarily right nor wrong. He chose to buy the car without mentioning the screw-up. It's a good plan, and honestly, I might've done the same thing in that situation. By doing this, he basically pays for the mistake and makes the customer whole, and as an added bonus, the customer leaves happy and satisfied. So he chose #2, right? Hold on a second. The employee then blabs about what happened to the car, and the lady is upset. Toad then tells the lady too bad, you got your money, now get lost. Option 1 has been chosen. The lady is made whole, but she isn't happy about the experience. Yes, her demanding more money was wrong and unreasonable, and I'm not defending it. But I think she was mostly saying it out of anger and didn't really mean it or expect to really get anything more. Feel free to disagree on that.

If Toad wanted to choose Option 2, he could've waited for the lady to calm down a bit, and calmly say something like, "Ma'am, I am sorry for any feelings of deception I've caused you. I just wanted to resolve the problem and have you leaving here happy and satisfied, and I thought you would be very upset if you knew your car was damaged. I realize now that that was the wrong way to handle it. I should've been honest with you and told you upfront what had happened. You have my most sincere apologies. Now, I still want you to leave here as a satisfied customer. What can I do for you to make this right?"

Now, he and the customer can talk it out and come to an agreement so everyone is satisfied. If the customer is still being unreasonable such as demanding thousands of dollars, then he can explain how that's unreasonable and how he already gave her a generous amount of money and continue to try to work it out. If he's still not getting anywhere after a few minutes of that, THEN he can calmly and politely tell the lady to leave.
 
Another thing I will add, is that it's easy to post how you would react to this situation after having ample time to think it over. OP did not have that luxury. He had to act quickly and decisively in the best interest for his business as well making the customer whole and in hopes of keeping her happy. Which in actuality would have worked as he had planned. It didn't, that's life. Not everything goes the way we would like it to go.
 
Last edited:
The problem here is,the customer entrusted the care of her car with the op's shop. The shop made an error while her vehicle was in their care. First thing the shop should've done is immediately let the customer know exactly what happened,and then discussed all possible options before coming to an agreement to a solution.
 
Originally Posted by aquariuscsm
The problem here is,the customer entrusted the care of her car with the op's shop. The shop made an error while her vehicle was in their care. First thing the shop should've done is immediately let the customer know exactly what happened,and then discussed all possible options before coming to an agreement to a solution.

If the car wasn't for sale, I agree. The car was for sale, why open Pandora's box?
 
Originally Posted by demarpaint
Originally Posted by aquariuscsm
The problem here is,the customer entrusted the care of her car with the op's shop. The shop made an error while her vehicle was in their care. First thing the shop should've done is immediately let the customer know exactly what happened,and then discussed all possible options before coming to an agreement to a solution.

If the car wasn't for sale, I agree. The car was for sale, why open Pandora's box?


I just feel that's the chance a business owner has to take. If there's a screw up,no matter the circumstances,you have to own your mistakes and make the wrongs right. It's all about being honest and transparent. And that's what it means to be a mature and responsible adult.
 
Originally Posted by aquariuscsm
Originally Posted by demarpaint
Originally Posted by aquariuscsm
The problem here is,the customer entrusted the care of her car with the op's shop. The shop made an error while her vehicle was in their care. First thing the shop should've done is immediately let the customer know exactly what happened,and then discussed all possible options before coming to an agreement to a solution.

If the car wasn't for sale, I agree. The car was for sale, why open Pandora's box?


I just feel that's the chance a business owner has to take. If there's a screw up,no matter the circumstances,you have to own your mistakes and make the wrongs right. It's all about being honest and transparent. And that's what it means to be a mature and responsible adult.

thumbsup2.gif
 
So what a lot of you are saying is if my mech breaks something and fixes it he is not obligated to tell me about it?
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by aquariuscsm
Originally Posted by demarpaint
Originally Posted by aquariuscsm
The problem here is,the customer entrusted the care of her car with the op's shop. The shop made an error while her vehicle was in their care. First thing the shop should've done is immediately let the customer know exactly what happened,and then discussed all possible options before coming to an agreement to a solution.

If the car wasn't for sale, I agree. The car was for sale, why open Pandora's box?


I just feel that's the chance a business owner has to take. If there's a screw up,no matter the circumstances,you have to own your mistakes and make the wrongs right. It's all about being honest and transparent. And that's what it means to be a mature and responsible adult.


The employee screwed up, the owner of the business bought the car, which was for sale and he paid asking price. Had the car not been for sale it would be a completely different story, that's not the case here. Having said that I guess we can agree to disagree.
 
Originally Posted by ToadU
>>> you lose and everybody is good. Overall a completely fair deal. She should be happy. You a little sad.
Not sad. This car will be sold who knows how many times and repoed and sold again or sold on a rent to own. I accept weekly cash payments due by midnight on the same day of the buyers / renters job's payday. Payments are made at my impound yard 24/7—365. If 12:01 rolls around and a weekly payment hasn't been made the computer sends a notice to my wreckers the cars GPS location and the engine is disabled. Before morning that car is back at my lot and ready for resale. I think the record is selling the same car 11 times. This car will be $500 down and $75 to $95 per week.

I don't usually buy cars for my buy-here-pay-here / rent-to-own operation because I get 30-60 cars a month people and finance companies either don't bother to claim, can't afford to claim or don't have the proper paperwork to claim from my impound towing. A large number of those cars either are great cars.....some almost new bc finance companies can't get their acts together and be organized w their paperwork and often some finance companies don't even bother trying to get the car at all for various reasons. Example in Florida a finance company MUST have the original ink signed finance agreement per State Statue or a certified copy of said original inked document to retrieve a car. You would be surprised how many times Ford Finance or Mercedes ect wants to pick up a car but has no original document bc it's been lost or scanned a million times or the notes been sold from bank A to B to C. Recently got a 2017 Challenger with 35k miles bc Fiat Chrysler couldn't get their act together. Sold that one to CarMax. Same w wrecked cars. Sometimes the insurance company doesn't want to pay the tow and storage bill and we come to an agreement I take the title and a lesser amount in the tow and storage and the car becomes mine w a clean title. If they don't want to negotiate the car eventually becomes mine free and clear anyways if they don't pay.

So sad bc I don't buy cars to sell usually but not sad bc an 04 Accord will be sitting in someone's driveway before the end of this weekend.

Yeah, you are the problem.
 
Originally Posted by atikovi
What's the record for how many times a thread has been locked?

LOL. I don't think this one is out of hand yet. What is it at 1?
 
'Impound towing' storage and towing fees are usually outrageous......there is usually no competition (the person has no choice but to use them since they usually either just had an accident or broke down)….and then selling the car that was procured in such a manner over and over again .....Like I said earlier...A RACKET IMO...

PS: Many times these outfits have 'contracts' with the municipality...who is then 'a partner' in this lucrative game....
 
Originally Posted by Duffyjr
So what a lot of you are saying is if my mech breaks something and fixes it he is not obligated to tell me about it?




I say no. This happens everyday at my shop and and everyday at every shop in the country. Example. We are doing some work on...fill in the bank your fav component....mechanic breaks a stud or strips a bolt. Maybe installing a new battery we snap the terminal. Maybe during an oil change we drop the new filter on the ground and dent it ect. Not going to run to the customer and try to explain that to them. Mechanic isn't Even going to o tell my shop manger either. It's just part of working on cars. He drills it out and fixes it properly. Or we install a new filter and the damaged one gets written out of inventory. That's just part of working on cars.

I never lied to this lady. I paraphrased exactly how the conversation went. It was quick. Everything I said was true. Honda's. Nice cars. For Sale? Will sell fast. Will sell well on my car lot. I will buy it for asking price. Pull out cash. Done.

If at any point it wasn't her car or she inquired if there was a problem ect ect ect I would have told her legit what happened. Never came up. If it had I would have had no issue being honest and forthcoming. She was ecstatic to sell the car telling me she already had her new car and was going to use the cash for Xmas and she couldn't believe she sold it first day she tried ect. She even asked if I was charging her for the oil change as it seemed like to me she was willing to pay for it.

So I didn't even leave out information per se. It just didn't come up. I was busy. Convo was super short and fast. Came out to chat w her bc I feel like as an owner I had a obligation to since I was in the building rather than my manager. Pulled out the cash and we did the deal.

Now, stuff does happen in my shop and every other shop. Like the above example with a bolt. Now if it's major issue and or it's going to be something where repair will materially change the car yes my policy is to be honest. If we quote you to replace your clogged cat and my mechanic breaks or cuts off some studs and bolts and We repair it properly and 100 percent correctly fix them as part of the repair we are not not going to tell you. No shop is.

If you buy a new set of tires from me and in the course of mounting them my tech damages a tire and we have another in stock we are not going to tell you we messed up one of the tires. We mount you another new one from stock and you are on your way. If we have to order it then yes we have to say hey we left 2 of your best original tires on the front because when we were mounting one there was damage to the tire. We ordered a new one will be here tomorrow. I can send a wrecker and pick up your car from work home whatever and install / balance and return to you so you are not out any inconvenience. No xtra charge. If I had the time probably would have my detail guy once Over your car as a courtesy too.

That's how I do biz and I sleep well at night.

I could have and bet many many shops would have come and got the lady and said the engine seized on your car. It has 304,000 miles so it just broke. Here's the bill for the oil change. Oh don't want to pay. Well your car stays here. In 37 days the state gives me the title free and clear anyways. Wiped out any liens even. Oh you want to sue me. This lady didn't have the money to hire a lawyer and no lawyer is going to take it on contingency. So she could have easily been screwed out of her car. It wouldn't have cost me anything. Maybe she even would pay for the oil change and abandon the car or the state would just issue me a clean title.

That's how it could have gone. I could have negotiated on the price. No one outs what they REALLY want as an asking price. She probably...and I'm reading tea leaves and pulling this outta my rear orifice.....probably was expecting to get between $1200 and 1500. Maybe 1800 tops. The AC worked. Car far from pristine. I'm a Good negotiator. Pos bm could have got her to agree to still pay for the oil change.

I think I handled it well and fairly for her. Actually better than fair. People don't buy cars before Xmas much either. No extra money.

So end of they day I never lied. It never came up. She was super super happy to sell it.

I do have to say my evil arrogant side loved the suggestion made a few pages above I call her and offer A FREE OIL CHNAGE. that's rich.
 
I ran this scenario past the two judges I used to serve with(before I went to The Dark Side); like me, they both agreed that if the case came before them the lady would get nothing- she was paid what she thought the vehicle was worth and therefore has no reason to complain.
 
Originally Posted by MCompact
I ran this scenario past the two judges I used to serve with(before I went to The Dark Side); like me, they both agreed that if the case came before them the lady would get nothing- she was paid what she thought the vehicle was worth and therefore has no reason to complain.



Thank you.
 
To the person who asked what if it was a 10,000 or 20,000 car i would have discussed with the owner his / her options. Up to 10k Ish I'm going to pay out of pocket and not file on my insurance. I might suggest I purchase the car even worth $20k to fix the issue. Depends what happened. Two years ago one of my tow trucks wrecked pretty badly a less than 2 year old Camero LTZ. Black on black. Special edition. V8. Loaded to the max. Our fault. Fortunately no one hurt.

Owner wasn't happy understandably. Wanted a reduction of value claim if repaired. That's fair. We went back and forth nicely over a couple days. He conversed w my insurance company. His insurance company. I really didn't want a claim on my insurance. Finally I offered to buy his car. We agreed on a price and I did. Paid off his lien and paid him a small cash difference.

Had the car repaired at local bodyshop Done biz with them for years and the work on my trucks and all kinds of things for me and use me for their towing. Got a nice deal on the work. I drove it about 6 months..enjoyed it.,,,but I'm too old to sit that low and my back complained getting in and out. Car too expensive for my car lot. Sent car to auction w my dealer license and sold it.

I didn't feel a need to call him and tell him I was driving his car personally. Or I sold it at auction. I got 6 mos use out of it. End of the day cost me about $5500 for the mess up. (Which was $458.00 a month for the 6 mos I used it. Less than his car payment ).

Did I screw him?? What say you?? I say everyone was happy.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by MCompact
I ran this scenario past the two judges I used to serve with(before I went to The Dark Side); like me, they both agreed that if the case came before them the lady would get nothing- she was paid what she thought the vehicle was worth and therefore has no reason to complain.

Exactly.
 
Originally Posted by MCompact
I ran this scenario past the two judges I used to serve with(before I went to The Dark Side); like me, they both agreed that if the case came before them the lady would get nothing- she was paid what she thought the vehicle was worth and therefore has no reason to complain.
And that in a nutshell is the point. If the extort intent customer took it to small claims, she'd get nothing more than she got from the OP.

So basically the courts/law would say, Bye Felica.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top