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Dealing With Comebacks

Autosphere » Tires » Dealing With Comebacks
Drop whatever you’re doing, and make them a priority. Credit: Jack Kazmierski

The key to success is not how you did the job, but how you take care of the problem afterwards.

Comebacks are a fact of life for those of us who work in the auto industry. Sometimes you’re to blame, and sometimes you’re not. Either way, you now have an angry or frustrated customer who expects you to do something about their problem.

The new problem they’re experiencing could have been caused by a faulty part, a faulty install, or the fact that the new part you installed is now creating an issue that wasn’t there before. Modern electronics can be particularly finicky, and can trigger issues and problems that will result in comebacks.

The same can happen when you install a new set of tires, or when you replace worn brakes. Your tech could have taken the vehicle for a test drive afterwards, and everything felt just fine. A few days later, however, the customer calls you to complain that they feel a vibration or a pulsation, and although there’s no way to tell what happened to their vehicle between the time when they picked it up from your shop and when they started feeling the vibration, they will blame you for the new problem.

Don’t delay

Regardless of how the issue started, your customer is now on the phone complaining, or worse, in your store and angry, and you have to do something about it.

In my experience, the best approach is to take them seriously, and to take care of them immediately. Drop whatever you’re doing, and make them a priority. The worst thing you can do is tell them that you’re too busy and that they’re going to have to make an appointment to see you in a couple of days, or longer. They have already paid you to do a job, and right or wrong, they need you to do something about their problem, and do it now.

Diffuse the situation

Giving the customer your full attention, and doing so immediately, will go a long way to diffusing the situation. They need to know that you’re taking them seriously and that they’re important enough to warrant your full attention.

Take them for a test drive, if it’s a problem they’re experiencing when they’re driving (vs. a check engine light, for example), and let them vent. Listen carefully, acknowledge their concerns, and let them get it off their chest.

Getting the customer into their vehicle where they feel like they’re in their own domain goes a long way to making them more comfortable. Having this conversation at the counter doesn’t work as well, because that’s where customers feel the most vulnerable and exposed.

Paying for the problem

Once you, or one of your techs determines what’s causing the new problem, you’ll have to decide how to move forward with a solution. If it’s something minor, then you might be better off just fixing it and eating the cost, which will go a long way to building customer loyalty.

If the problem is completely unrelated to the work you performed on the vehicle the last time the customer was in, and the new repairs are going to be costly, then you’ll have to have a frank conversation with your customer about their new problem. This may not be easy to do, but it is a fact of life in our industry.

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