How would you respond to this:

[Glassdoc]

Guess I feel differently about than "just take the money". I work in an area with close to 230 dealerships in roughly a 25 mile radius. These "used car managers" and "general managers" go to the same auctions twice a week and suprisingly enough talk to each other.. So.. if a dealer that is not happy with your work for what ever reason tells the other 4 or 5 at the lunch table. It won't take long for all of them to think your work sux or that you are a push over.. But, stand your ground, have some ethics, be a straight shooter and do the best you can do with what they give you and they will respect you for that, if nothing else. I have accounts that I have serviced for 15+ years, and I know all of them know where I stand on what can be repaired and what can't. And they will not ask me to sway from my standards. it would be non-profitable for both of us.. As for, who cares about the competitor? Yeah, its business.. I never mind winning over a customer with better service. But know if this happened to this guy, it can and will happen to me.. Why put myself in that position? I demand more than that of myself than to set myself up for failure whether it be 11 years or 11 weeks. If the guy did shoddy work, yeah I have no problem stepping in and being the hero saving the day. But not due to one accident that could happen to any of us at any given time.

Originally Posted by GlassStarz

So you work for them for several years until you crack one and someone else gets the account who cares? Thats how it works the day you stop taking accounts because the other guy lost it for whatever reason is the day you should go back to an hourly job.
Seriosly who cares why someone switchs to you? take the account and do the best you can to keep it.
I suppose if you found the girl you wanted and had been working hard to get dumped her ex because she thought he was cheating and you find out he didnt you wouldnt go out with her anymore?

[dingmedic]

jmho I let all of our dealers know that we attempt to repair the damage. The windshield is already broken/cracked. I feel that if you let them know upfront you are better off. I have had 2 in the last 3 yrs and no problems with the dealers.
Dawn

[Dr.Chipster]

Having done business with dealerships I have found if you are willing to meet half way in this case $550.00, this tech might have saved this account. Being in the descriptive automotive industry I have had this happen before. I posted a vehicle online with cruise control that had no cruise control and the dealership ate the cost to sell the car and then asked me to pay for it. That mistake cost me $300.00 of free service to the dealership which I was glad to pay because they are one of my best accounts. I think it shows good character and integrity when you are willing to fix your mistakes. Remember he would not have attemted the repair if he didn't feel he could fix it. Its the risk we all take. We are all human and prone to mess things up once in a while.

[GlassStarz]

And it really breaks down to salesmanship once again instead of continuing to work the customer and keep them up on what he did for work he fell in the groove for 11 yrs if every time he saw a potentail break out he worked the customer telling him "Boy that one is ugly but I think it can be saved and should it break you were going to have to replace it anyway so I will try my best to save it" result is when one breaks they are prepared and when they dont you are a hero Basic Salesmanship! but he didnt do that so when one broke he was shipped who's fault is that?
And because the other guy didnt do his job right you walked away from a potential long term customer

[harrellbenjamin]

Originally Posted by Glassdoc

Guess I feel differently about than "just take the money". I work in an area with close to 230 dealerships in roughly a 25 mile radius. These "used car managers" and "general managers" go to the same auctions twice a week and suprisingly enough talk to each other.. So.. if a dealer that is not happy with your work for what ever reason tells the other 4 or 5 at the lunch table. It won't take long for all of them to think your work sux or that you are a push over.. But, stand your ground, have some ethics, be a straight shooter and do the best you can do with what they give you and they will respect you for that, if nothing else. I have accounts that I have serviced for 15+ years, and I know all of them know where I stand on what can be repaired and what can't. And they will not ask me to sway from my standards. it would be non-profitable for both of us.. As for, who cares about the competitor? Yeah, its business.. I never mind winning over a customer with better service. But know if this happened to this guy, it can and will happen to me.. Why put myself in that position? I demand more than that of myself than to set myself up for failure whether it be 11 years or 11 weeks. If the guy did shoddy work, yeah I have no problem stepping in and being the hero saving the day. But not due to one accident that could happen to any of us at any given time.

I worked in the car industry in the N/East Pa-Nj- De for 20 years as a manager and salesman.Believe me a Windshield tech is the least of their worrys and a tech being the topic of conversation is a strech at best.As far as getting a bad rep because they talk.....................I dont think so.Take the money....there is very little honor in the automotive industry and just because you take the high road unfortunatly you are in the minority in that part of the US.Manager in that part of the world change jobs as often as the seasons...JMHO

[harrellbenjamin]

Originally Posted by GlassStarz

And it really breaks down to salesmanship once again instead of continuing to work the customer and keep them up on what he did for work he fell in the groove for 11 yrs if every time he saw a potentail break out he worked the customer telling him "Boy that one is ugly but I think it can be saved and should it break you were going to have to replace it anyway so I will try my best to save it" result is when one breaks they are prepared and when they dont you are a hero Basic Salesmanship! but he didnt do that so when one broke he was shipped who's fault is that?
And because the other guy didnt do his job right you walked away from a potential long term customer

Exactly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Contrary to what you may believe ,they do not care about the Techs very much at all.You are just a necessary evil.....................

[Blind Squirrel]

When I approach a used car or reconditioning manager I make it known that I fully understand that their only reason for spending money on any used car is to make it cosmetically marketable. Therefore, if I can't make a rock chip "practically unnoticable" then I don't bill them for the repair because I haven't "helped them to sell the car". This is my only purpose and value to them. On any car in the 20K and up range, I believe that all components of the car must equal in "condition" proportionately to the price. I look at it as though I'm the potential buyer.

Any one of you experienced techs should be able to look and tell which ones should simply be left alone and replaced.

I've spoken in the past about how, in all types of fleet and consumer situations, that it's good to know when to walk away. My first year as a repair tech, I drove myself crazy trying to make every repair absolutely perfect. I would agonize over every one that I felt had any flaws. I also suffered from the "I can save everybodys windshield" syndrome. Thank goodness I got over this. I figured out that I had to lighten up with myself because the self inflicted stress was taking all the fun out of it.

The normal purpose that repairs are done for "end users" is preventive maintenance.

No used car dealer or manager cares about the normal reason we repair windshields. Their reconditioning and prep budget is for what helps sell the car and nothing else.

So, I tell dealers when I've walked the lot and made my list if any should be replaced. My procedure when repairing a marginal one is the walk around the car and get inside and determine if it is or is not "practically unnoticable". Maybe one out of 25-30 I will tell the manager that I'm not billing for a repair because I couldn't make it look good enough to help him sell the car.

Second to this, if a windshield that I've repaired ever has to be replaced to "close a deal" then my policy is to credit them for that repair. I've never had to do this though.

As for as the original question is concerned, I honestly can't say what I would have done because there are so many variable and perspectives. I do however maintain a "zero BS tolerance" policy that I've excersized only 3 times in nine years. I am very proud of the excellent rapport that I've built up with dealers, fleets, and retail customers. I treat everyone with dignity and respect and I quietly demand the same in return. When this policy is violated as it is most likely to be by some of the flaming aholes that tend to populate the ranks of car dealer management, I politely inform them that I don't see how I can be any help to them.

This brings up the issue that it appears to have been a high end dealer where windshields, especially the new ones, are dealer net price. This might explain why the dealer was "upset" and trying to avoid having to pay for it himself.

It seems our poor friend didn't have his policy properly explained and understood. More likely, in 11 years, that dealers management had to have turned over several times. Our guy may wonder why he wasn't booted long before when a new manager brought in one of his cronies.

I have a Mercedes dealer in my area that I've done 3 repairs for in 5 years. Their policy is that EVERY car that comes into "preowned" inventory that's less than 10 years old gets a new windshield! The ones I repaired were very small "batwings" while the rest of the glass was pristine.

[Bois]

Originally Posted by Glassdoc

But, last week he was doing a repair on a "new" delivery and actually caused the stone shot to spread to the point it needed to be replaced. The wanted him to pay for an $1100. windshield and he refused." (can't say I blame him)

Glassdoc, If the vehicle was newly delivered wouldn't the manufacturer's warranty cover replacing the windshield? Sounds like the windshield may have been damaged in delivery or maybe during a test drive.

[Bois]

Originally Posted by Blind Squirrel

When I approach a used car or reconditioning manager I make it known that I fully understand that their only reason for spending money on any used car is to make it cosmetically marketable. Therefore, if I can't make a rock chip "practically unnoticable" then I don't bill them for the repair because I haven't "helped them to sell the car". This is my only purpose and value to them..

Blind Squirrel, In my opinion, if a customer sees a vehicle with a chip or small crack they aren't going to tell the salesperson that the WS looks ugly. Instead, the customer is going to tell the salesperson that they're afraid that the WS will eventually crack out and they'd have to replace it. Also, most of the dealers I work with are concerned about crackouts - not looks.

For this reason, I place a written warranty card (back of business card) in the glove compartment of all dealer vehicles that I repair which extends my warranty to the purchaser. The dealers like this because they can tell the prospective customer that the break has been repaired and that the repair is warranted.