My husband bought me a gift certificate for a full $150 detail job from Starbrite for our family SUV.
Ok, before you laugh, this is the PERFECT gift for me. I'm the woman who endlessly bemoans having a dirty "mom car" littered with crayons and Cheerios.
So I made an appointment on a Saturday, as that's the only day of the week I am able to leave my car for half a day.
On Wednesday or Thursday of that week, the guy apparently in charge of the detailing or scheduling, Trevor, called me to let me know that they could not keep the appointment because of a death in the family. Well, I respect a small business and so I didn't make a fuss at all. I called back to reschedule for the next Saturday.
On Tuesday, Trevor left me another voicemail that said "Hey Melissa, this Saturday will be fine, we'll see you around 8:30. If anything changes let me know." Great! We were all set.
We left the baby at home with a relative and drove our two cars, toddler in tow, up to Starbrite this morning. As my husband took the carseats out of my car, I waited a few minutes in line for the woman-acting-as-cashier (according to their sign, they're hiring for a cashier, so she may be a wife or mom filling in) to finish talking to the customer in front of me, and proudly displayed my gift certificate. She looked shocked. "Oh you have to make an appointment for that." "I did," I said proudly, "Today. With Trevor." She replied, "We don't have anyone scheduled today and we're too busy to do this today. Are you sure he meant today?" She called Trevor on her phone and informed me that he said he meant NEXT Saturday. Hmmm, no I'm pretty sure he said today. She let me talk to him. He stated that he meant next Saturday and would that be ok? "Well no, not really," I said, and motioned to my husband to stop the carseat exchange outside.
You know, I'm flighty and forgetful, so I assumed that I had heard the voicemail wrong. I told my husband we would just have to come back, but he was understandably pissed. I decided to listen to my voicemail again. I was actually a little surprised that it was NOT my misunderstanding - the voicemail specifically said "THIS Saturday".
Husband went inside and asked for a refund, she said she couldn't give one, he threatened to sue, and she gave a refund. We took toddler to the park, and on the way there I called a local mobile detailing guy I know who does an AMAZING job (and for almost half the price, I might add).
So what did we learn from this? For me, I will never be going back to Starbrite. Two appointments not kept with me is too many.
For Starbrite? Well, I'm a small business owner myself. I deal with people on a daily basis who have expectations of me, and I have to make them happy to keep their business and their positive word of mouth. Let me tell you what should have happened at Starbrite this morning, and something that would have resulted in a positive review from me:
The woman at the counter realizes there's been an error. Worse, it's THEIR error. "Just hang on. We'll get you taken care of today. Our usual detail guy is NOT here. Would you accept a lighter detail job at our cost today, and your full certificate next weekend? I don't want you to leave today with nothing."
Because guess what? I don't give a sh.. about the line of cars out to the street. "We're too busy to do this today." = wrong answer. As a representative for that company, you make SURE that you service the person who has paid $150 for a detail job before you service people paying $20 for a wash. I put a high value on keeping my car clean and I would have been a loyal customer as long as we're in Murfreesboro. As it stands, I am disappointed in the crappy response to their mistake and I will never go back. I hate it because this Trevor seemed like a really nice guy on the phone, but guess what guys? This is business, and there are too many other choices people can make. You treat a customer like you don't have time for them, and they'll find someone who does. read more
