A few years ago I had my car wheel bearing fixed at a Meineke down the street from my home. The repair came with a 1-yr. warranty. Just under 12-months later, it started making a noise again which is what it was doing prior to the repair. I took it back in to have it repaired under warranty, which they did.
Turns out they replaced the wrong bearing. I took it back in, but by this time the warranty had expired, literally by 2 days, however it was their fault for not replacing the correct bearing when I initially brought it back in. Initially the person I spoke with at the counter blamed me for the mistake and refused to replace the one with the problem without charging me. After some arguing the owner of the franchise came out and again accused me of the reason the mistake was made (they claimed I told them the wrong side). Now, I know for a fact I told them the correct side, but even IF I didn't, it's still their responsibility to at least do some basic checks and not completely rely on me for telling them the problem. THEY are the mechanics after all.
After a heated exchange the owner finally agreed to do it under warranty albeit with a very pissy attitude and I was concerned at this point they may do something to my car.
Now, the mechanic that did the repair would have made his hourly wage anyways with or without the repair and the part cost them maybe $20 which they may have been able to recoup from the manufacturer. I immediately went home and typed up a nasty review on google so every time someone searched that location on google my review was the first thing they saw.
The owner had an attitude of saving every penny he could. I've seen some smaller stores that have the same attitude -- save $10 here at the expense of customer service. One of the Scuba diving shops near me does the same thing. It's hard to return items and they're ONE day past policy forget it, and they try to sell used items with 0 mark down (even really cheap ones). Because it all add's up right?
Wrong.
It's in the same shopping center as a restaurant I frequent. When I drove by there a few weeks ago they had a sign on the front of the store "As of x.x/15 this location is closed" -- which put a big smile of 'I'm not surprised' on my face. The Scuba store suffered the EXACT same fate. No longer in business (I also hear they weren't paying their trainers properly).
Even if you lose $200 from a customer it's not worth your long term reputation.
Turns out they replaced the wrong bearing. I took it back in, but by this time the warranty had expired, literally by 2 days, however it was their fault for not replacing the correct bearing when I initially brought it back in. Initially the person I spoke with at the counter blamed me for the mistake and refused to replace the one with the problem without charging me. After some arguing the owner of the franchise came out and again accused me of the reason the mistake was made (they claimed I told them the wrong side). Now, I know for a fact I told them the correct side, but even IF I didn't, it's still their responsibility to at least do some basic checks and not completely rely on me for telling them the problem. THEY are the mechanics after all.
After a heated exchange the owner finally agreed to do it under warranty albeit with a very pissy attitude and I was concerned at this point they may do something to my car.
Now, the mechanic that did the repair would have made his hourly wage anyways with or without the repair and the part cost them maybe $20 which they may have been able to recoup from the manufacturer. I immediately went home and typed up a nasty review on google so every time someone searched that location on google my review was the first thing they saw.
The owner had an attitude of saving every penny he could. I've seen some smaller stores that have the same attitude -- save $10 here at the expense of customer service. One of the Scuba diving shops near me does the same thing. It's hard to return items and they're ONE day past policy forget it, and they try to sell used items with 0 mark down (even really cheap ones). Because it all add's up right?
Wrong.
It's in the same shopping center as a restaurant I frequent. When I drove by there a few weeks ago they had a sign on the front of the store "As of x.x/15 this location is closed" -- which put a big smile of 'I'm not surprised' on my face. The Scuba store suffered the EXACT same fate. No longer in business (I also hear they weren't paying their trainers properly).
Even if you lose $200 from a customer it's not worth your long term reputation.
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