You Charged Me to Change a Bulb

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You Charged me to Change a Bulb?
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• Unravelling the mysteries of the auto repair
  business has been a 20 year journey, and I still
  learn something new everyday, including dealing
  with upset customers.   Fortunately, I have a
  thick skin and hopefully I can turn ones
  negativity into positivity.  But lets face it, I
  picked the wrong career. 

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• Their arent too many career choices where you
  are immediately considered to be dishonest or
  expected to work for free Well, I guess being a
  lawyer could be worse but nobody expects them to
  work for free.

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• A customer with an older Toyota came in for
  an oil change and upon completion I noticed that
  the car had a brake light bulb burnt out. Now,
  normally bulbs take less than 5 minutes to
  replace and we usually dont charge for labour,
  but this bulb was different, it required complete
  removal of the taillight to get to it.  To make
  matters worse the car had a  pesky swinging
  tailgate that was in the way, too.   

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• So we called the customer and asked her if
  she would like us to change the bulb. The total
  cost would be for 20 minutes labour plus the
  bulb.  The customer tells us to go ahead. She
  picks up the car at the end of the day, pays the
  bill and says goodbye.  All is good.. so I think.

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• Enter a new day with fresh possibilities and
  after morning coffee we are ready to take on the
  world.   But wait in walks the customer from
  yesterday and she proceeds to tell us that she
  called the Toyota dealer and they dont charge
  for bulb installation.  She doesnt want her
  money back but she wants us to know, that she
  knows that she has been taken advantage of or so
  she thinks.

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• We now are at the core of the issue.  Dealers
  rarely do anything for free.   While in this
  instance they may have sent out a junior staff
  member to change the bulb, things would have
  stopped once he/she realized that the taillight
  had to be removed to get to the bulb.  But this
  isnt what I want to talk about.  I really just
  want to vent, you see this customer has forgotten
  about all the things I have done for free. 

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• The dealer will charge you 119 each and
  every time they scan your vehicles computer.
   This particular vehicle had an instance 6 months
  ago where its engine light had come on several
  times for different fault codes.  I only charged
  her once at 59 and scanned the car two more
  times for free over the next month.  You can
  figure out the savings on your own.

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• The moral of the story is that regardless
  where you take your vehicle, do yourself a favour
  and develop a relationship with a shop that is
  dependent on trust.   Look at your overall year
  expenditures and if your relationship is based on
  trust, then dont sweat the small stuff.

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• http//allaboutimports.com/