Spread too thin to be a fireman

Brad Clayton · May 24, 2009

My boss has way too much on his plate. He has been a long time employee of the dealership and decided to buy it two years ago. Unfortunately the bottom fell out of the industry, and he as we, have been struggling to stay a float. Lots of cut backs have been put in place, one being the decision not to have a service manager at the moment. The boss has always been service oriented and used to be a tech in the 80’s. At the moment he is running the back end but also has to contend with the romper room out front.

I am the eyes and ears of the dealership. It would stand to reason due to my naturally nosy nature. I was taught along time ago that a dealer is a seamless organization. There is no one person more important than the other, from the owner to the guy doing lot washes. We don’t say, sorry mister customer parts dropped the ball, or Billy didn’t call you or whatever, if there is a screw up the dealer did it! If I see a screw on the ground in the parking lot I pick it up. If I see that a guy is asking for a wrong part at the parts counter, I ask if he is sure. A guy is using a tool improperly or is gonna hurt himself I butt in.

Anywho, we are currently being plagued with comebacks and workmanship issues. I put some of the blame on the machine we call flatrate, and most of it on techs who don’t give a shit. Unfortunately those that are fast and produce but turn out poor quality work are praised, while the guys that take an extra minute to do the job properly and end up being less efficient are questioned. I watched a guy finish a job that introduces air into the high pressure oil system, start the truck and being finished with the job, go straight to the finished lot with it. No test drive or bleeding the air out or none of that foolishness, he was right back to dispatch for the next job please. I happened to be around when the customer picked up and he spun that thing over twice at about 30 seconds each time before she fired. He drove off and I’m not sure if he has ever returned.

So I finally had enough, but I’m not one to drive the bus over another guy. Same tech does an egr/oil cooler. Puts the truck out with no test drive and no recheck of work done for leaks and or codes that may have cropped up, damn those pesky buggers. I am pulling in my next job (a ball joint job that went wrong, hard to believe someone could screw that up) and I drive by the truck and antifreeze is pouring out of it. I go and get the boss and say enough is enough could you please address this issue. He says he will run the tag and take care of it. Next thing I know the customer is driving off with it. I hope the issue got resolved!

Well it didn’t the guy came back, he lives in another state by the way, and now we look like idiots. Not to mention the guy is probably thinking we will be responsible for any future engine damage due to this massive coolant leak. We can’t afford to act this way, period.

In this day and age when customers can go to any dealer and get the same parts and work performed, all we have to separate us from them is our work quality and attention to detail. In the state of Vermont there are going to be only 2, count them 2, Chrysler dealers when the smoke clears from the closings and cut backs this year. We are a small state but that is scary. I would dare say that the stores doing shoddy work aren’t going to make the grade.

So now we are in a mode where we are being reactive instead of proactive. This is not a good practice and I hope we as a team can get some of these guys heads out of there asses. If not I hope the boss will step up and cut them loose. We only have so much water to put out all of these fires. By the way, the boss came to me and admitted to me forgetting about the whole deal. There must have been a bigger fire at that time.

Clark · May 24, 2009

I read this story, and I cant help but feel like its a word for word account of whats happening at my dealership. Were doing far better then any other truck dealer in the area work-wise, but it seems like too many techs are taking the work for granted.

Jim Warman · May 24, 2009

A team can be a complex entity when it comes to winning a ball game.... It gets worse when that team has to win several ball games all at the same time...

The "win"in the showroom when the sale is made... the "win" in the service department when we FIRTFT... the "win"in the parts department when everything comes together as intended...

All it takes for an endeavour to fail is for one person.... one individual.... one team member.... to perform at less than optimum.... Sadly, in todays world it isn't "if" it will happen - it is when and how often....

Brad... it sounds like your boss got himself into a cash flow dilemma. This isn't a good place to be - especially now. But he cannot afford to forget the need to "police" what is happening in his departments... When times are tough, we desparately need to impress our customers... It is loyal customers that will save our sorry asses... Not pinching pennies.

joshbuys · June 15, 2009

My dealership had a guy like this that they fired just before they hired me....they actually fired him and his son who had similar practices....if he pulled a code....the associated part got "replaced". I put that in quotes because the straw that broke the camels back was when my boss found his storage cabinet doors wide open and the cabinet was full of brand new parts with RO #'s written on them. We're now in level 2 audit(alot to do with him and the guy that used to run service - also let go about a year and a half ago). Our 126 report in diesel engine repair has dropped from 2.8 to 1.1 in 3 months! And will continue to drop for a few months to come! I just have a hard time sometimes with the idiocracy of some of these 'techs' not caring....don't they realize that if they suck eventually nobody will come around?!?! I'm in a town of less than 10,000 people....word spreads quick! I just wish the idiots would go back to their villages and let the real techs fix these trucks!

Brad Clayton · October 4, 2011

Well it was a very emotional day today. Paul, the fellow this thread was about, resigned from the dealer today. He turned the dealer back over to the original owner and they parted ways on what they call "good terms".

I was not happy about the way it went down. I guess life has to go on though. Paul was a damn good fixed op guy and always had the highest regards for all of us. Gonna miss him for sure and I hope he has bigger and better things ahead.