Those sound like Raleigh prices. Those prices wouldn't fly down here in Fayetteville.To make it even worse, it would take about two minutes for that man to find about 150 YouTube videos on how to do it. I gutted my first deer in pitch darkness, in a swamp nearly a mile from my truck, using YouTube.
You know the only thing I haven't seen on YouTube? HVAC repair. I mean, you can watch videos on how to fix anything on YouTube, except your a/c or furnace. I don't know if the techs have to sign a secrecy pact or something, but it's just not there. But it seems their whole business model is built on secrecy. I had an ARS guy do my annual maintenance and he told me I needed a new capacitor for $220. I asked him to show it to me. While he was upstairs, I googled the part number and found a brand new one, OEM brand, for $22. When it arrived I replaced it in five minutes. ARS will never ring my doorbell again.
Had a local place fail my inspection cause of third brake light out. He quoted $30 to replace the bulb. I asked why not just sell me the bulb for $5 (twice the price) and let me fix it right then and pass and move on. He got snotty and made some snide remarks about people wanting stuff free. I left, bought a bulb at local parts place down the street, then had it inspected elsewhere. Haven't been back since for anything. Neither has anyone else in my family. Met the owner a couple weeks ago. He was offering to do work on my vehicles or at least inspections. Should have seen the look on his face when I told him what happened and that I had been diligently avoiding his place for years. I live in a small town so stuff like that can make it break a business.
Bottom line, treat me, the customer, like crap and I'll go to great lengths to avoid the place and you can be darned sure I'll tell folks why.
I guess bojangles should sell you the chicken only and let you cook it yourself, then eat at their place?
Had a local place fail my inspection cause of third brake light out. He quoted $30 to replace the bulb. I asked why not just sell me the bulb for $5 (twice the price) and let me fix it right then and pass and move on. He got snotty and made some snide remarks about people wanting stuff free. I left, bought a bulb at local parts place down the street, then had it inspected elsewhere. Haven't been back since for anything. Neither has anyone else in my family. Met the owner a couple weeks ago. He was offering to do work on my vehicles or at least inspections. Should have seen the look on his face when I told him what happened and that I had been diligently avoiding his place for years. I live in a small town so stuff like that can make it break a business.
Bottom line, treat me, the customer, like crap and I'll go to great lengths to avoid the place and you can be darned sure I'll tell folks why.
One day you need to look into what it cost a shop to offer the inspection service. I bet you more times than not your inspection is actually subsidized by the shop in some form or fashion. You then wanting to bet them down even farther on the tiny profit margin and expect them to tickle your hinny over it?Yes, I was charged for a failed inspection and was offered to replace said bulb for $30 labor plus parts and then reinspect by the same jerk.
Again you miss this salient point- my issue was with SNOTTY McWRENCH. I don't do business with those types of people unless there is absolutely no alternative and state mandates only exacerbate this attitude in workers in that system. I replaced the bulb on my own and took my business from that point on elsewhere and my family and friends have done so as well. One employee with a very bad attitude cost them lots more in lost business than a truck load of brake light bulbs.
Another example- waay back when BOA was NCNB, they made an error that was clearly their fault in my account. Branch mgr admitted as much, then he went on to say that there wasn't anything he could do to fix it and I should just get over it. That attitude and the $25 they STOLE from me has meant that since the days of NCNB, I avoid BOA whenever and wherever possible. And for those of you unfamiliar with BOA, that's more than 35 years ago. Yeah, I hold grudges against businesses who don't take measures to correct their attitudes towards their mistakes and how they treat customers. Further examples, I have't bought anything from Hyatt's in over 30 years nor from Carolina Sporting Arms. I escaped from CLT over 20yrs ago and here we have a LGS here in my AO with an indoor range. The couple times I've been there, just listening to the staff interact with other customers, with one exception, left me not wanting to go there ever again and I'm suprised that they manage to stay in business. The flip side of this, I patronize businesses who have great customer care and especially if they're small or local. I value a good relationship with those I do business with.
Uhmm, actually I do know what's involved. I'm a small business owner and very aware of customer relations and expenses in small business operations. Once again you missed the point about customer service and employee attitude. Diss the customer enough and they'll get the hint and go away.One day you need to look into what it cost a shop to offer the inspection service. I bet you more times than not your inspection is actually subsidized by the shop in some form or fashion. You then wanting to bet them down even farther on the tiny profit margin and expect them to tickle your hinny over it?
The shop is better off without you as a customer in the long run.
When I have the time, I like to do my own rotors and pads. For les than having the dealer replace the pads and resurface the rotors I can do new pads and new rotors.It's funny what constitutes DIY vs pay to have it done like it's a tiered system. Some will change their own bulbs and think paying someone is crazy, but pay to have their oil changed. I change my own oil, but paid to have my radiator replaced, and my FIL thinks I'm crazy.
My pop worked on cars his entire life, but toward the end I could see him paying to get a bulb replaced just so he wouldn't have to figure out what asinine procedures the designers had put in place to complicate a simple job.
Customer service is paramount, in my opinion.
I just had a wheel bearing replaced on my car at Firestone. Not a difficult job, but I didn't have the time just before a road trip to do it myself. And, because Firestone had always treated me right, that's where I went.
Turned out they had replaced that one nearly 2 years ago, and it was 10 months and 32,000 miles out of warranty. BUT the Firestone guy told me a wheel bearing had no business going bad in only 32,000 miles (correct), so they replaced it at no charge for parts or labor... only cost me $9.99, essentially for the paperwork.
About $180 worth of work for $10.
This is why I go to Firestone... they treat me right whenever I take my car to them for work.
For me, it's not all about cost... is a cost- benefit-analysis thing.
You would be the last customer I would want at my business whether it be mechanic, barber shop, or chicken restaurant. What a jerk. Hahaha. Pull in someone’s garage and ask for tools and a bulb to change? Jesus you have issues.You might have a point if Bojangles actually had chicken worth eating.
You've also missed my point and that is customer service. Get snide and snippy with a customer and they'll go somewhere else. It's said an unhappy customer tells 10 people about their experience and a happy one tells three. Snotty McWrench wanted $30 to take out two phillips head screws to remove the lens cover and replace a $1 bulb and told me that I wasn't allowed to change the bulb myself for an inspection, all in addition to charging for an inspection that I had to make an appt for. I run a business and know what overhead is and there are times that unscrupulous people gouge the public. In addition to charging inspection fees, expecting me to fork over $30 labor and be charged $5 for a $1 bulb, removing 2 screws to install it while holding my inspection hostage is not good business. What he should have done is sell the the bulb, let me put it in while he was running the emissions test. Instead he chose to cop an attitude and lost far more than the $30 he would have made in labor to replace the bulb.
Because of his snotty attitude, Snotty McWrench missed out on inspecting all of my cars (varying between 3-5 depending on time frame), my parent's cars, my brother's cars, and cars that I'd been issued for business purposes over the course of 15 years in addition to any other service I or others in my circle might have wanted, again, all over $30 for a bulb. Do I hold a grudge in business, d@mn skippy I do. Maybe I'm old school, but business should be about relationships with people you can trust to be honest and fair and be treated like a decent person instead of a greasy rag on the shop floor to be stepped on.
At one point, I was a wrench in a shop and I know the economics of running a garage. It doesn't take much to reinforce that idea of wrenches being cheats and swindlers by not treating customers as if you value their business. One employee being a jerk cost that guy any business from me for a long, long time.
So your entire Boj analogy is completely false in this case but if we follow it, it would go thusly. I order a state mandated chicken combo, but find that they are short on salt and breading mix. The $6 for my state mandated chicken combo only covers the cost of the combo but because they have to run to the grocery store to restock, they expect me to pay for 10lbs of salt and 50lbs of breading and the cost of the guy making the run, bringing my $6 combo to $55.17 all the while there is a truck unloading in the back with said stuff. Silly? yup, but so is trashing a customer who has choices and isn't afraid to use them. There's a reason I won't shop at Hyatt's in Charlotte nor the current iteration of what used to be Collias Lawing.
You would be the last customer I would want at my business whether it be mechanic, barber shop, or chicken restaurant. What a jerk. Hahaha. Pull in someone’s garage and ask for tools and a bulb to change? Jesus you have issues.
Inspection, sell me the bulb, let me change it myself- adds up to much the same.I don't think that's what he said at all.
Inspection, sell me the bulb, let me change it myself- adds up to much the same.
This thread is funny as hell. First these know it alls with YouTube should be smart enough to check all the lights operation before they pull into a garage for an inspection. Then there would never be a thread, right?
Inspection, sell me the bulb, let me change it myself- adds up to much the same.
This thread is funny as hell. First these know it alls with YouTube should be smart enough to check all the lights operation before they pull into a garage for an inspection. Then there would never be a thread, right?
Suuuure you checked the day before. It just went bad in less than 24 hours.First off, I'm a contractor, I have a few tools on my truck so borrowing was never mentioned nor on the agenda.
Second, you're making an assumption that I hadn't checked for functionality. I did the day before. Did I mention I'm a contractor and it's my WORK vehicle and oh yeah, I'm pretty sure there were some tools on it at the time.
Third- if you don't understand the concept of customer service and how to interact with the public you have no business running a business. If you do try it, you probably won't be operating long.
Life's too short to put up with clerks and employees with an attitude. I, as the customer, have choices and I vote with my dollars and my feet.
Depending on the turd $150 might be a bargain.Imagine how many people pay to have then do basic things like replace filters, wipers, lights, etc
Most people won't even. Attempt to fix basic things. The modern man isn't a hands on type which is good for business. My brother in law is a plumber and tells me all the time it's shocking how many times he gets called to a house to plunge a toilet when there's a full grown man living there. Easiest $150 you can make.
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After 34 years dealing with the public and last 20 of that owning my own business, I have found that life is easier and more profitable if I get get ride of the pain in the butt customer fast rather than worry about kissing their ass for a few dollars.