It’s funny how people’s perceptions and actual reality works out sometimes. We had a customer’s vehicle towed into the shop the other day. It had lost power and had broken down on the road. After opening the hood and inspecting the damage, we had found that an idler pulley bearing was failing. The pulley had locked up, causing the main fan belt tensioner to literally break and pull out of it’s mounting bolt holes in the oil filter housing. After making an estimate, I had also noticed they were due for their oil service, past due actually. The customer told me that they had already had the oil service done at some quickie lube place about a week ago. They said they had received our notification that it was due, but thought our price was too high and our hours to inconvenient.
Upon reflection, they found their perception to be false. After the oil service at the “cheap” lube center was performed, it was no longer the advertised price, in fact, it turned out to be more expensive than ours. Also, had they brought the vehicle into the shop, we would have noticed the pulley and told her about the pending failure of her vehicle. See, these are the only cars we work on. There is a reason for that: we know these cars. We could have told her abut the pulley being worn, how it was making noises it shouldn’t.
So, with our expensive oil service and inconvenient hours, they potentially would have been without the car for one day and a bill of about $600.00. Instead, they got the cheaper oil change that was more expensive, a vehicle that had broken down conveniently on the side of the road, then had the convenience of waiting for the tow truck, us having the car for 2 days with a bill that added $750 to the normal repair.
OK, we may not have the most convenient hours, but this is our job, just like you have yours. But in this world of instant gratification and convenience, be careful, some things are better with a little time, thought and inconvenience.
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