Stupidest Questions Asked By Customers

[mchan68]

Not sure where to post this, so I thought I'd start another thread. I think this one tops the customers asking me if I know how to drive a manual transmission equipped vehicle before going on a road test with them.

 

Just last week, I went to retrieve a vehicle to bring into the shop, when a woman in a 2011 (or 2012?) Explorer flagged me down to ask me a question. She pointed to her instrument cluster to ask me, "What are all these lights on, on the dash staying on for? I just paid a lot of money having my car here for them to let me have it back like THIS". I paused, and looked for a minute a the cluster and noticed the tach indicated 0 RPMs. I then asked, "Is the vehicle even running?" She then proceeded to start the engine, and once the engine came to life and all warning indicators proved out, I just walked away.

 

The point of this whole post? First off, a 2011 or 2012 vehicle with only 7,000 kms. couldn't have needed any type of customer pay service beyond that of just a "dump and fill" oil change, which would've come out to tops $40.00, so I sure as hell don't get where she came up with the "I just paid a lot of money" part. Secondly, it's amazing how quickly people are to jump the gun and blame US for their ignorance and stupidity before wasting our time and asking dumb questions. DUMB FUCKING BLONDE!!!

[Keith Browning]

One of my favorite motto's Mike is: "there are no stupid questions."

 

I never said there weren't stupid people.

[Matt Saunoras]

I had a customer jump me in the shop pretty recently claiming whoever changed the battery messed up all the instrumentation in his 06 mountaineer. It was pretty clear he had no idea how to use the message center, so I got in the vehicle to reset everything and his wife sitting in the passenger seat even started bitching at me.

 

After changing the odometer back to miles, redisplaying the external temp on the climate control head and reseting his oil life monitor all seemed well. What really pissed me off was the instant accusation that I must have been the one that messed it all up. (I didn't put the battery in or change the oil) grrrr. I won't forget this customer.

[Jim Warman]

What we, as techs, desparately need to remember is that people aren't "stupid". They may lack some skills that others possess - logical reasoning being one, inability to understand mechanical or electronic process - not to mention some of the things that "machine people" have trouble grasping.

 

Sidebar... I don't know about you - I am a "machine people". I understand machines - I can deal with machines much better than I can deal with people. I will never be a diplomat, I will never be a psychologist.....

 

Matt... whoever change the battery on your customers car deserves a hard one upside the ear. It's called customer service.... we should endeavour to return the vehicle in a condition at least similar to when we got it. As for you not being the tech that did the work, get used to being guilty by association. Until we ALL start acting like the professionals we claim we are... the good will be painted with the same brush as the bad.

 

One of the near constant things we see is the TPMS light. And I will state that many techs can't tell the difference between a flashing TPMS light and a TPMS light that is on solid. For a light that is on solid, the customer has "checked" his or her tire pressures as best they know how or as far as their laziness will allow them. No tires look flat, ergo the pressures must be "good".

 

Talk to a few IT guys (better yet, look over the shoulder of some IDS users) and find out about computer "error messages". Few, if any, bother to actually read them, and fewer can figure out how to respond to them.

 

Consumers are being spoon fed... and every time they make something more foolproof, they simply come up with better fools.

 

If a customer has a concern, a couple of minutes spent explaining a condition in laymens terms will earn you an admirer for life. Treating a customer with disdain will have him thinking I will be the same as you.

 

This trade is broken... it is up to us to fix it.

[DwayneGorniak]

I tend to disagree Jim. 50% of Customers are absolute retards and 50% of society are absolute retards. Retards need to be educated on how not to be retards, but that starts with the retards that sell retards retarded items that the retards are not educated on.

 

Salesmen are the #1 cause of retarded mentality. They do not go through the features with customers and educate them enough about what they are buying. They should have the owners manual in their hands before they even start to educate the customer about their vehicles. All the dealerships have salesmen that are supposed to take large amounts of training that is designed to help them help their customers and educate their customers. But I have seen waaaaayy too many lazy ass salesmen over the years who do not want to spend the time with a customer that the customer deserves. They just want to make the sale and move on to the next sale and forget about the last one. I deal with in the industry I am now in as well. I go to meetings and hear about how retarded some of the product is that we sell because people cannot figure out to use it. There is nothing retarded about the product at all. The retards are the problem themselves and they need to be educated on how not to be retards. You say it all the time yourself...............the owners manual is least read book in the world. It is always still in the unopened wrapper. If the fucking salesman would have taken the time to open that up while doing the walk through with the customer, you as a tech would not have to do what the retarded salesman did not do. Over the years in the trade I have actually seen a few salesman who took their careers very seriously and would take all the training courses they were supposed to. I even sat in a few of those courses over the Stars network or online training myself over lunch hours with these salesman. These salesman were very successful and always had repeat customers come back for more. But the times have changed and most salesman do not care to do this shit anymore. Not only is the trade broken, but the whole fucking industry is broken. Here is the technician once again fixing the problem that is broken at the top. Here is a flat rate technician who is expected to jump into a car and look into his crystal ball and see what all the personalized settings are in the sync system or my touch system and supposed to make a mental not of that and then change a battery and reset all of that shit. This should have been explained to the customer at the point of sales transaction that they may have to know how to reset all of this shit if their battery goes dead. But no, it's once again the technicians fault, because he did not educate a fucking retard that they should know how to do this shit. I agree on making sure a clock is set and making sure the oil change minder is reset when an oil change is done. But to expect everything else to be done is bullshit. I don't phone the power company and bitch to them when my clock is flashing and they should come in and reset my fucking clock. I don't tell them to come and reset all my home theater settings as well. When you go and buy a fucking T.V. do you expect Future Shop or Best Buy to come in and reset all your settings if they are out of wack. You open a fucking manual and learn how to do it. I have never seen a salesman or salesperson at S.L Ford ever open an owners manual and go through it with a customer. I have seen happen at other dealerships that I have worked at. How many times did you tell us as technicians to leave leave the owners manual alone in the glove box of a customers vehicle? Of course I did not listen to you. It was the fastest most useful immaculate piece of unused literature that had all the fuse and relay locations in it for me to read which is what I was taught in Ford school by the way.

 

That is one of the things that is wrong with the trade and the industry. Everyone is turning a blind eye to educating the customer that they have a fucking owners manual. I have to do it more now that ever in the industry I am now in. I am sales, service and parts all in one pair of boots. Did you know that some of the new air tools now say in the owners manual to use 3/8" high flow couplers and fittings to get the proper CFM's of air flow to your air tools. Just like vehicles, technology of tools or anything in this world for that matter evolves. But the fucking retards operating this shit as well as the fucking retards selling this shit need to evolve as well!

 

Anyway, take care old timer and I'm sure I'll hear back from ya.

[Keith Browning]

I dunno bout this Jim, I am of the opinion that a guy who can't recognize that his car IS NOT RUNNING is running in stupid mode.

 

As for the rest of your post, you are on target as usual

[Matt Saunoras]

guilty by association. I haven't heard words more true

[Jim Warman]

Dwayne.. I've seen with my own eyes - salespeople demonstrating a new vehicle to the customer at delivery...

 

Many things are happening here and they might involve "good" or "bad" customers and "good" or "bad" salesweasels.

 

"Bad" salesweasels are found everywhere.. much like bad techs, politicians, doctors and cooks

 

I'm sure that we have all heard the adage "you can lead a horse to water....". Time and time again, you can show a customer how to switch a display between F and C. There is nothing in the world that can ensure that he or she will remember it. Showing anyone how to do something doesn't mean they will remember it.

 

I spend a lot of time trying to show young techs how to perform a proper volt drop test... This is something they can convert into increased earnings. But the concept is lost on all but a few.

 

FWIW, modern entertainment systems do a pretty good job in the memorizing department. When we replace a battery, we should endeavour to reset things that might be obvious... at the very least... AT THE VERY LEAST we should add a disclaimer to our RO that the battery has been disconnected and that (in Fordspeak) various visible and drivability concerns might exist. If you are to rail against a service advisor, these people are civilians and can only learn from our instruction and example.

 

If your DVD player is flashing 12:00/12:00/12:00 because of a power outage... the power outage is inconvenent... but you didn't pay for it. If a customer pays for anything that requires the battery to be disconnected, the least we can do is reset his clock or any other obvious functions... and if we can't find it in our efforts to do that, at least include a note that says "some functions might need to be reset". If we return his or her vehicle to them and stuff is different... it can be confusing to some.

 

I wont throw the word "retard" around... but it is important to realize that not all of us are born with the same analytical skills.... (this is why some people believe in some religion or another and why some people are skeptical).

 

The owners manual is the worlds most expensive unread book.... has been for as long as I've been around.

 

In a nutshell? If you feel you are above showing someone the RIGHT way to do something, don't worry, there will always be another person willing and able to show them the WRONG way to do it.

 

Oh, by the way... my MAC 1/4 inch air ratchet fell on the floor and broke in half... My salesman never said that might happen..... Is one of us a retard?

[Jim Warman]

Kieth.. something I have come to accept as one of the universes basic laws.... "my car still moves, therefore it is only a little bit broken.... you will not see it until it will not move".

 

If the consumer can still get to his destination, there is no need to spend money (the key ingredient) - surely the car might be unpleasant to drive - but.... If it still moves, it ain't all the way broken.

 

Many years ago, I was at a social function and was speaking with a university professor... I mentioned I was a mechanic and he mentioned that his car was giving trouble- what should he do? Facetiously I suggested taking it to a garage.... and he thought that this was an idea worth exploring.... my idea of "cause and effect" might be different from someone elses.

 

The consumer is unwary... uneducated in the things we see every day. (By this, I do not mean ALL consumers). Brakes feel funny? We'll worry about that when the noise gets too loud or the car wont stop. I hope you can see where this will go.

 

When it comes to a motor vehicle, I have my own ideas about what is safe and what isn't.... some motorists have a grasp on the concept... many don't.