The First Time

Way back when I heard a customer service mantra that I've always remembered: What brings back customers the second time? The first time.

I hit a deer with my truck the other day; rather, the deer literally hit me. Every thing's fine, save a few dents in my SUV. I took it to a friend-of-friend to fix at his small auto body shop. He had the vehicle three days. When I picked it up, there was a thin layer of dust throughout the entire vehicle, and someone had put a size 12 white boot-print on the front floor mat. Took me 45 minutes to clean it to my satisfaction.

Further, the repair is not great. In fact, I'm going to take it back for them to get it right. When I called, they were amiable about fixing it, but actually stated, "well, they may have rushed things a bit..."

It wouldn't have taken much additional effort to a) fix the job the right way to begin with, and b) clean my truck. As a result, they'll end up spending more time repairing it in total. Due to the experience, I likely will opt to go elsewhere should I ever need repair again (requisite wood knock) and they'll lose both money and a customer.