I reject the entire concept of parting with my free time in order to write a 1 star yelp review, but today it's called for. The entry below is long, but worth your read if you want to avoid giving your money to what I truly believe is a scam.
Full disclosure: I was pulled over for lack of insurance and the police officer citing me decided to impound my car. While this was a little strange and seemingly uncalled for, it's also 100% my fault and not Rob's. This is important to preface before I really go off on this dismal excuse for a business....but a good pass at a scam.
Two days later, I've gotten my paperwork in order and I'm arranging a ride from Kalamazoo to get my vehicle. I have my girlfriend call to verify the final cost, only to be told that for impounds (and impounds only), credit cards would not be accepted. It's near the end of their business day, I'm at work with no cash, and it's starting to look to look like I will be down another $30 daily fee simply because they will not accept my money in it's current form. I'm bummed, but I don't make the rules, and I start figuring out alternatives.
I call my sister-in-law (whose car we were borrowing), to notify her. As a small business owner in Mattawan, she struggled to believe that Rob's would not take cards, and called to verify that there wasn't a misunderstanding on our part. The woman who answered enthusiastically said "of course" when asked if the business accepted card payments, but when she learned that this was a matter of impounding, became very dismissive and unsympathetically blamed a "shop policy" she had no interest in explaining. My sister-in-law asks to speak to a manager, and after some pushback ("he's busy"), is transferred to Rob.
This is where the business' lack of professionalism really takes main stage. My sister-in-law was making a complaint, albeit a very professional and mild mannered one. Instead of taking this as an opportunity to make a customer feel at ease with a policy she finds nonsensical, Rob becomes defensive, and eventually, aggressive. He shouts, and at one point says "it's not my fault I had to wake up at 1am to pick up his car!" (despite the fact that the car was towed at 11pm and not by him), and never once expresses the sympathy nor candor expected of a business owner when being critiqued. My sister-in-law informs Rob that she owns a business in the area, and will make a point of advising all of her customers and friends to never do business with Rob's due to this very unprofessional exchange, only angering Rob more before she ends the call.
This conversation had happened two hours prior to me arriving at Rob's to pick up my vehicle. I had minimal knowledge of it, because it frankly had nothing to do with me. While my car might've have been the argument's catalyst, it was Rob who decided escalate to a conversation with a someone who lives in the community he serves (I do not), instead of patiently hearing her critique.
That said, she drops us off at the door because she (understandably) assumes Rob will be confrontational. As I'm finishing up my transaction, Rob enters and asks my girlfriend if the woman who dropped us off was her sister. As if staring at a woman through her car isn't tacky enough, Rob decided to unload about how she "wasn't very nice" to him, and started to complain about her in the middle of his lobby before giving me my car that I had just paid him for. I consciously ignored most of his diatribe because it didn't involve me and it was in ridiculously poor taste, but in it I heard his reasoning for not accepting card payments for impounds. With phrasing I can only describe as condescending, he explained to me the concept of disputing credit card charges. Starting with "no offense, but I don't really know you..", he states his fear that I would charge my card, then "call (my) card company and get it reversed".
That's called a charge dispute. I've worked over 3 years of retail management. You avoid it with asking for a signature. This is not how that works.
All in all, I left with maybe the worst taste in my mouth that I have ever had for a business. Over my many years of customer service work, I've handled more customer complaints than I could hope to count. Even if you are confident that neither you nor your staff has done anything wrong, it is a manager/owner's RESPONSIBILITY to make sure that the customer feels heard and understood. I have been yelled at and called names by customers over prices I could not change, and still managed to maintain a better demeanor than Rob did during a very legitimate complaint. I have never written a scathing review before, especially not for small businesses as I try my best to support them. I even tip 15% when the service sucked. I want stress than I'm not aimlessly bitter about the crappy circumstances that led me to business with Rob's, but rather disgusted by the manner with which he conducts it. read more
