Customer complaints...

[starion]

Had another customer complaint today about our Monsoon automatic. They weren't happy with the job it did.

I am having a hard time formulating an appropriate response to customers with this complaint because of my own experiences and research into the "problem".

I have taken my own personal "dirty" vehicle to all of my nearby competitors IBA and to many others around the metro area, ranging from high-end to hole-in-the-wall. My conclusion? Nobody else's IBA does any better than ours.

In a fit of disbelief one day, I went a step further and washed my car in our automatic, then went up the street and washed it again (no improvement) and yet again at another automatic (again no improvement). The car didn't look any better than it did the first time in our own automatic!

I am also beginning to feel like soap salesman are akin to snake-oil salesmen from the old west. Every last one of them has promised that their product is the greatest thing since sliced bread, run tests on their product to make sure of proper application, and yet we still have the problems. We are now on our third "trial" of different company's products to determine if any one works better than the other. So far, the only difference seems to be cost, customer service of the company and color/smell of the product. NONE of the different products clean any better than the other. The soap salesmen clam up pretty fast when faced with the facts.

I once told an unhappy customer that I would be happy to give him 30 minutes free to high pressure wash his vehicle in one of our self-serve bays, telling him that simply spraying high pressure water on the car will not get it completely clean, the only condition was that he could not use the foaming brush.

Guess what? 30 minutes of spraying the car with presoak, soap, water, even tire/engine cleaner had very little effect on cutting the film. After he was finished, he said "I see your point, can I use the foaming brush now?" I gave him remaining time to finish it and it came out perfect.

Am I missing something here, or is my perception of reality wrong?

 

[DiamondWash]

Just curious who are you using for a chemical supplier? Have you checked your water quality? are you dwelling long enough,

 

[starion]

We have been through KO, JBS, and are now using CK.

Water softness is less than 1 grain.

What is considered "enough" dwell time?

 

[DiamondWash]

I'm assuming you are 2 step lo/hi I have my lo dwell at 20 secs and my hi at 15 secs

 

[Whale of a Wash]

If you are happy with 90 percent of the cars and just get an occasional car that isn't clean, i wouldn't change a thing. Just give those few self serve time and don't worry about it. Or start with testing the strength of your chemical.
A little more dwell time and new nozzles may get you a few cleaner cars.

 

[washtubman]

You are probably doing as good as you can if nobody else does any better. I used to worry about the occasional complaints, but you have to accept that a touchless has limitations and cars with a lot of road film on them are not going to come completely clean. Its been raining here all month and when it finally clears up (if ever), I know there are going to be cars that are very tough to clean. I think most regular touchless users understand that.

 

[starion]

At present we do not run a two-step pre-soak. Requires modifications to the wash, new solenoid, another hose running out the track to the bridge, programming changes.

There is a low pressure pre-soak pass, then everything else is high pressure until the end which is low pressure spot-free. Nozzles are brand new, we change the entire set every year.

We have played with the amount of chemical from the recommended ratio to something stupidly wasteful. No difference in how good it washes, so we are obviously back to the recommended ratio.

I'm just trying to find the right words to the customer, as I have a tendency to take it personally when we work so hard to keep the thing running and at the proper levels.

I don't want to tell them to go somewhere else, but on the other hand, I have had customers get upset when you tell them that a touchless won't do as good as getting out and washing the car in a self-serve bay.

 

[washtubman]

Are all your washes just one pass of presoak? If you're not doing a 2 step process, have you considered a second round of Hi PH presoak? That's what I do, and I know it does better than my cheap wash with only one pass.
We have a full time attendant, so if they come back we'll try to take care of the area that did not come as clean as they'd like by spot brushing, etc., and then run them through again. That usually satisfies them. Another thing we do if they are extremely dirty or have tree mildew or are the "once a year" washers, is to let them know before they go in, that they may not come completely clean and they may want to consider using the self serve. Normally, the answer is "It'll look better than it does now" and they go through anyway. Prewarning them gets you off the hook. Of course if you don't have attendants, that would not work for you.

 

[Waxman]

First off, toughen up, cowboy! This is a hard business and you will get conplaints. ALL carwashes do (the tunnel guys have their own set of them, so no one is immune).

Secondly, I put on hi ph, 10 sec. dwell. Then another hi ph and 10 more seconds dewll.

If your water is soft and hot (sounds sexy) and your chems properly strong, the dwell time is your secret weapon.

All the other ideas mentioned are good, too.

I used to get upset about an occasional complaint, but running SS bays too plus a detail shop, I will get the car acceptably clean one way or another. Sometimes a car needs a good scrubbing. Nothing to cry about. Just a fact!

 

[starion]

Thanks Waxman. I think I already believe what you are saying, I just needed to hear it from someone else. I'm kind of in my own little world here on the barren end of town here...I need this forum to keep me from going off the deep end...

 

[Wash-it]

Yes, some cars do need a good scrubbing (every once and a while). An application of a quality protectant afterwards will almost always help with the next iba touchless cleaning process. It will create a barrier so that the soils, protiens, oils etc... have a tougher time bonding with the automobiles finish, thus making it eaiser to clean. Touchfree washing super funky cars safely is tough. We have changed to a tri color foam chem that has silicone properties and have noticed positive differances. Easier cleaning and shinnier finishes. The product costs a little more but the results are worth the extra cost. A wise man once told me "NO COMPLAINTS = NO CUSTOMERS = NO BIZ" An occasional complaint is just part of biz.

 

[rph9168]

I once heard a chemist describe road film as what is left after a touch free wash. Some companies products do better than others on road film but no one gets it 100% of the time. It is almost impossible without doing a two step process. I have always gotten the best results with a low and high pH approach but have seen some double passes of high pH do a pretty good job. In colder weather heating the presoaks also helps.

As others have already said, complaints are part of the business. If possible check each one out. In many cases the vehicle probably hadn't been washed very frequently and probably needed to be prepped before washing. If the vehicle was not in that bad of shape you may need to check your setup.

 

[SHINEY2]

Can't really ask the customer about the pre wash condition since I believe every complaining customer says "It wasnt even very dirty"

I have tested all the competitors too, I know my wash is now the best touchless around these parts, and I still get a complaint once a week. Anywhere from "your door dripped as I exit" to "I didnt clean under my wheel wells"

I offer to send them thru again or in one case, simply told him that when your truck is packed with mud, some times you just have to wash it by hand in the self serve side of my wash. - He was the one who complained about up under his wheel wells where still full of mud....go figure.

 

[Waxman]

That's precisely why I have 2 types of wash: self service and automatic. There are many instances where the self serve bays do the best job.

Just ask JJJakubowski; he'll tell ya.

 

[Nick]

maybe you could use the complaint as an opertunity to educate the customer on the principle and benefiet of maintaining a clean car rather than letting the car get filthy and then using the least expensive and least effort way of attempting to whip it back into shape. i would give them the option of a free re wash right now or they could forgo the free wash and purchase a discounted wash pass, they feel like they are still getting something from you and you are getting a possible repeat customer with a fresh education on how your machine works, the pre pay forces them to get in the habbit of coming back to your wash and if they don't come back you still keep their money.