What’s on your minds?
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Hoping to get some chatter going here on Refinishnetwork. What’s on your minds out there in autobody land. You guys have got to have something to say! What is that one thing that has been on your mind and gnawing at you gut all week? What are you excited about? Lets hear it!
Brad Larsen
The question of the week.
The first thing would be a bad experience with a customer that came in for an estimate the other day. She drives a newer Mercedes Benz that had a bit of rust on the bottom of the fender, front door & quarter. I wrote the sheet at 1 hr repair (I thought was generous on it) for each panel plus refinish. I had a feeling on this one and decided not to charge her R&I times to keep it competitive. It worked out to about $775 which is a great deal for this job. As soon as I gave her the price she insisted my quote was ridiculous and carried on beleiving I was trying to rip her off. I tried to explain the charges and she threw her hands up in the air with the bla bla bla hand gestures and said “oh ya, your right I’m wrong…ya,ya,”. At which point I had enough and showed her the door, it was pretty entertaining. I am somewhat new at working in the office but that was the first customer that really left me wondering what the hell was going on, some people are just so clueless at the cost of a proper body repair.
On a better note, I just got a few new BASF products I’ve been itching to try. I get a bit excited when I get something new in. Among it was some waterborne paint (90 line) and a few blowers to try it out on some smaller jobs. I only have Chrysler PS2 so I’m waiting for the right job to come in. Since we do a lot of Chryslers, it shouldn’t take long. I’m curious to see how it performs at my shop. I have only really sprayed it at the training centers.
Is PS2 the metallic black/charcoal color? Or are you not even talking paint codes lol
I’m short handed by one for 3 months , as 2nd year apprentice is in school now and 1st year apprentice goes for a month when he returns.
I remember back when i was a body person , but of late I’m a secretary/accountant and a teacher/shower and am enjoying getting my hands dirty these days,
B) B) B)
Ya, I’m talking paint codes. PS2 is a common Chrysler silver.
Screwed up two small jobs. Need to repaint a hood on a Camry and 3 panels on an Acura MDX. It’s been a while
so i’m due. There goes my weekend!jimmo, sometimes, there’s nothing you can do. She decided before bringing the car in… When i get attitudes
like that, i return the favor. I tell them, “This is what i do for a living. No advertisements. Just strictly word-of-mouth.
I can’t afford to rip people off and stay in business.There is Maaco across the street that can do it cheaper…”However, gotta be careful too. Sometimes, people are just extremely scared to get ripped off and may show
some attitude just out of fear; not necessarily by the price of the repair. It’s a case by case basis and not always
easy to gauge a persons intentions/personality. So, i make minor adjustments to my “I make a living” bit. I may
leave out the Maaco part and adjust my tone (smile or straight faced). It can be all in the delivery.My main rule is to never push a sale. Never.
What’s on my mind right now is our waterborne conversion.We went to the vancouver training center for the course and when we came back did a huge cleanup of the mixing room and put in the new system.Last week was the first week of spraying and it went pretty good.We are using autowave,so far so good.
I feel for ya Han,I hate re-doing stuff,at least it wasn’t a complete.paints bin changing since the day I started and no doubt before.
it will continue , no doubt , and water born like all it’s predecessor’s , will also one day be a thing of the past.
strong trees break under strain. flexible ones don’t . :pcorn: :pcorn:
Been away from here for awhile. were still doing decent enough.Jimmo don’t sweat it had aguy come in 07 rav 4 both rt doors and rocker needed repairs came to like 1700.00. I thought he was gonna flip out started ranting and raving had to escort him out the door and off the property. he came back the nest day and apologized his carrier wrote it for a few dollars less. got the job fixed it and he comes in ranting again someone got white paint overspray on the lft side suv is green. i go outside and point out that if he drove between the lines thae ne road paint in town wouldn’t be allover his suv. lol had my detailer clean it off ands added him to my list of people we won’t work for.
customers always right :huh: until they ain’t :wak
then they aren’t :huh: (customers) 👿
Stone, who is your BASF paint rep?
CAPS Central Alberta Paint Supplies … in Red Deer
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