Ah, the joys of working in a garage....

[stevo]

I work as a service advisor in a garage - just aftersales in our site, and, while the money is fairly good, the job stinks! I have to stand and take it while customers have a go, complaining about their repairs.

It's justified sometimes...

We had a car in for 10 days, no-one looked at it, and we gave it back to the customer. He brought it back the same day, unsurprisingly... When we finally looked at it, it took 15 mins to fix :rolleyes:

Car in for headgasket - been with us 3 weeks, still not fixed. We promised one week. I suppose someone will look at it soon....

Car in for MOT - someone scraped the side of it. All the side, every panel. Try explaining that one away! Oh hang on, you don't, you polish the car to get the worst off, then park it so that the customer can't see the nearside when he picks the car up... :(

This is all in one week..... and the tip of the iceberg

My tips - don't take your car to a dealer.

If you have to take it in, inspect it with the person that sees you in, then again at the end. Its a pain for us, but actually makes life easier!

Ask to see the job card / repair order / work sheet. If they won't show you it, ask why not.

We're a bunch of fraudulent swiss tonys, don't trust us :):o

[Lighting90]

Sounds like you may be out of a job soon, do people not realise that if customers get bad service, not only do they not come back, but they tend to tell all their friends... have seen a few dealerships fail for that very reason.... it's so sad to see too... pity you don't have the power to go and kick some up the rear.... makes your job a bit pointless to have to listent o complaints if you can go and sort out the problem at the source... even if it means sacking a mechanic or such like....

[TEMPL4R]

We do updates twice a day. The Receptionist comes over to the workshop and we say exactly where any job is: done, on with it or will get to it by whatever time. It's called communication.

Anyone has a problem with or a complaint about a vehicle, she points them to the salesmen or contacts the workshop. People tend not to be abusive to me, but will have a go at her.
Anyone that gets abusive, gets nothing until they alter their attitude. We will gladly sort any problems out, but luckily we don't get many. It's mainly small, niggly problems with trims, seat catches and the like.

Unlike the sales staff, I have never felt the need to lie, so don't. I don't have to, never have. All I need to know is, Who is paying, company or customer? I still get paid the same.
Any damage to a customers vehicle is always reported, no matter how small. A stain on a trim or carpet is cleaned off, but we tell the customer.
If anyone damaged a panel and tried to hide it, they would be dismissed. Accidents happen, negligence or stupidity warrant a few choice words, then sort out the problem.


Chris

[Big Fearny]

I know it might be easier said than done, but try and get a different job mate. It seems like your integrity doesn't match that of your employer. There ARE good employers and good garages out there... why compromise? You're only here once...

[stevo]

If anyone damaged a panel and tried to hide it, they would be dismissed.

Chris

The MD can't sack himself.... :(


I know it might be easier said than done, but try and get a different job mate. It seems like your integrity doesn't match that of your employer. There ARE good employers and good garages out there... why compromise? You're only here once...

I'm constantly on the lookout, but the money is good. I'm prostituting myself :(

I have no say in the workshop loading, even though there's only 3 of us - the MD, the service manager and me. They choose to ignore certain vehicles, dependent on the person, and the fault...

[stevo]

Sounds like you may be out of a job soon, do people not realise that if customers get bad service, not only do they not come back, but they tend to tell all their friends...

We were ranked 60th out of 250 franchises for customer service last month - thats pretty good for a small outfit. We are really busy, which contributes to the problem.

I've lost count of the number of times I've had to close the bonnet of a car in front of a customer. The other day, I found a radiator cap on a scuttle panel :o

[Gripper]

Different aspect of the auto industry but I have the same, day in day out. Variable quality, late delivery, poor service. I'm the salesman and get all the flack. Just imagine, projects which overun by two or three months and are then delivered unfinished or simply not working. I had a real bad day yesterday as the "issues" multiplied as the day went on. No engineering support (my MD, sadly), and hopeless effort from production mgr. My ego is hurting.

[TEMPL4R]

We can't sack the boss, but the money would be coming out of "his pocket", so the pain would be unbearable for him. :)

If things are that bad, you have a service manager that wants sacking.

We had an apprentice that left a wheel loose after he did a puncture on a pitch car. When we told him he just shrugged and said " get over it.."

His feet never touched the floor as he was thrown out of the workshop. His dad collected his tools the next day.

Chris

[stevo]

We can't sack the boss, but the money would be coming out of "his pocket", so the pain would be unbearable for him. :)


He was the one doing the polishing :eek:



If things are that bad, you have a service manager that wants sacking.

yes we do - he just moans about the workshop, but he's been there about 60 million years, so will never go.



We had an apprentice that left a wheel loose after he did a puncture on a pitch car. When we told him he just shrugged and said " get over it.."



Thats happened too - the boss ended up with having to pay for a new wing, suspension and a wheel, after it came off at 30mph...

the bloke still works for us, it was only his 5th final warning :rolleyes:

[baz]

Sounds like you need a bit of 6 Sigma quality control. It's all the rage in production industry even in China. It can have some silliness like having an experience level designated by martial arts levels eg "black belt" but the clever bit is it uses the workers to run it, not a dictat from management.

I hate dealing with cutomers and seldom have to but the other day I was phoning one who had been having or rather not having the stuff he was paying for. Understandably he wanted a refund but that's not in my power. Later a service tech called me who was about to go see him. He knew he was going to get an earfull and was practically in tears with frustration that he couldn't solve the problem. Luckily my boss managed to agrrange a 50% discount in time.

We do give a lot of our customers less than they should have but what I really have no time for is the spotty geeks who whine that their broadband doesn't allow them to rip off music and films at full whack 24/7. It's like expecting the M25 to be reserved for your exclusive use in rush hour.