I repaired a customer's windshield back in november, I caused the repair to have a daisy effct and when I saw him yesterday he politely asked me to look at his windshield, from the point of the repair, it had three long cracks, it has to be repaired, so would it be appropriate for me to pay for the replacement or inform him that it is a chance that he takes when he get's it repaired?
Under no circumstances should you pay for windshield! Remember you are working with a broken item, trying to fix it, you are the customers last resort before replacement. That said if you realy screw-up a repair that you know should have come out better, well use your concience, but I would not pay more than 1/2 if the case were to arrise. If you have a tire patched and after ti developes a slow leak, a strange sound, or tread failure, the tire shop will not give you a new tire.
There are only a few cirumstances where I would buy a windshield. (1) is if I knew I did something wrong while repairing. (2) it is a good commercial account and there is a chance I may loose the account if I don't buy the windshield. Other than these reasons I would gladly refund the repair cost but not pay for the replacement windshield. My feeling is is that I am trying to repair a broken windshield. It was already broken. If I do a good repair and it does not crack out I saved them the cost of a replacement. Most reasonable people will agree with this.
I would apply the original cost of the repair to the replacement (if you do replacements) or refund the original repair amount if you are going to refer the windshield to a replacement shop. You should probably come out about even if you do have to refer it, because most replacement shops will give you a referral fee if you are referring them an insurance job.
I am offering a lifetime guarantee. If the repair fails or is not satisfatory, EVER, I will apply the cost to a replacement. If I didn't do an exceptional job to start with (and it can happen to anyone) I don't get paid. You do have to go in telling them that you are attempting to save them money, but the windshield is already damaged and once in a while a repair just won't work out.
I guarantee all my repairs with a "Money Back" guarantee against further spreading with an accompanying invoice.I have on a very few ocassions in 15 years of doing this,paid the deductible for a replacement when a damage spread during the repair process.Fortunately, it's been a long time since this has happened but I felt it was the right thing to do under the circumstances.But as I said, when a repair fails after I've repaired it, I will refund the repair price if I can't correct it to my(and the customer's) satisfaction.
Completely agree with all of the posts. For me, the absolute most important thing is to explain, in as great of a detail as required, what a repair is, what it is designed to do, and what to expect BEFORE I even touch the car. This includes possible split out during the repair. Remember, repair is an ALTERNATIVE to replacement, unfortunately, sometimes replacement is necessary.
Have had a few customers that just didn't like the idea that it wouldn't disappear. My opinion is that I would rather have that happen before the works starts than after because that is the customer that would INSIST we put in a windshield at OUR expense.
Keep in mind, you can explain repair to some customers till you are blue in the face, but sometimes it goes in one ear and out the other. Just have to deal with it.
I guarantee all my repairs with a "Money Back" guarantee against further spreading with an accompanying invoice.I have on a very few ocassions in 15 years of doing this,paid the deductible for a replacement when a damage spread during the repair process.Fortunately, it's been a long time since this has happened but I felt it was the right thing to do under the circumstances.But as I said, when a repair fails after I've repaired it, I will refund the repair price if I can't correct it to my(and the customer's) satisfaction.
Excuse the repeat of the same post above..
With everything above being said , I do think that sometimes it's best for business in the long run to exercise some good PR.Here's a few customer quotes that I like:
"There's a place in the world for any business that takes care of its customers--after the sale."-Harvey MacKay
"Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong."
"Customers who don't get support become someone else's customers."
"The way to a customer’s heart and wallet lies in how well we initially serve our customers and recover from poor service."
"When you serve the customer better, there's always a return on your investment."-Kara Parlin
"If you want to be creative in your company, your career, your life, all it takes is one easy step… the extra one."
none none and then of course there are none
I always tell the customer if my repair fails I will reimburse them the cost of the repair to apply to the replacement cost with a "boy we tried to save it"
