Would you or would you, this is a test

[kevin j]

Q I've heard it as an engineer's motto. You can choose two out of three, quality, speed, or low price, but not all three. Q



Another version of this: Price, performance, schedule
Pick one and manage two.
Pick two and third one floats uncontrolled.
Pick three and not get any of them.

 

[computeruser]

Depends on how it came across. If it was humorous or obviously a friendly, joking thing, I'd be receptive. If it was obnoxious, then I'd thank you for the information and take my business elsewhere. Either way gets the point across, but one way does it better and earns you a repeat customer...

 

[THALL10326]

Lol, reminds me of a similar situation.

The bossman bought a fs130r from the local shop a few months back and it started ####in up on the second day of me runnin it. We both gave it a quick lookover but nothing obvious so instead of ####in with it we took it back at the end of the day. (My guess was a fuel line, my boss wagered a carb problem)
By the time we got to the shop it was after closing time but my boss had called ahead and the shop owner grabbed the trimmer and started tearing down the carb. (He suspected water in the carb but my boss and I are pretty sharp about our mixed gas)
After that didn't fix the problem we traced down the fuel line to the tank and noticed where the hose goes into the tank was not seated properly(problem from the factory.) The shop owner billed it warranty work and had us out of there in 15 minutes.
I've bought my bar and mix oil there for awhile and actually bought a used Husky 254 there for really cheap (another story) but customer service like that is almost unheard of in the modern day big box store world we usually see these days.

True there were some early issues where the fuel hose would come unhooked from the tank connector. Look in the tank and you would see the hose floating or laying in the bottom of the tank. Thats warranty no matter how old the unit is. A new connector, 10 minutes, see ya later. Sounds like you got a pretty good dealer there,

 

[THALL10326]

Depends on how it came across. If it was humorous or obviously a friendly, joking thing, I'd be receptive. If it was obnoxious, then I'd thank you for the information and take my business elsewhere. Either way gets the point across, but one way does it better and earns you a repeat customer...

Exactly. The tone of voice is where it counts. Making your point without hurting someones feelings is the best way to get your point across,

 

[willsaw4beer]

True there were some early issues where the fuel hose would come unhooked from the tank connector. Look in the tank and you would see the hose floating or laying in the bottom of the tank. Thats warranty no matter how old the unit is. A new connector, 10 minutes, see ya later. Sounds like you got a pretty good dealer there,

Well, the guy does live out back the shop so it wasn't like he was dying to go home or anything but yeah...

 

[spacemule]

OR when, how is she Space, she walking ok today, LOLOL

I keep telling you, her goat is a he. And he's walking fine.

 

[THALL10326]

Maybe a little late to jump into this thread, but here it goes:

The note says "He would like the chain by 4PM." I may be reading too much into this, but he didn't demand it. When he came in at 2PM, he probably wasn't expecting someone to be at lunch then and was probably expecting to talk to someone to see if it could be done when he needed it.

How I would have handled what you said depends a lot on the attitude you had while saying it. If you gave me too much, I'd tell you off, or at least not buy anything from you. If you made it like a suggestion that I ought to have a backup if I needed a chain that quickly, I would be ok with that and would have likely agreed with you and bought one. I have gone into places before hoping that something could be done quickly, but understood when it couldn't. People that are nice about it, I go back to or buy what I need. People that aren't nice, I leave and never go back and tell everyone I know an a$$ they are. Never hurts to be polite, even when you can't help.

Way ahead of ya. Its a well known fact you treat a customer good, real good he may tell a freind or two. Treat him bad, tick him off he will tell anyone thats willing to listen. Lucky me I get to hear all those stories all the time. Some stories are real goodies but some I know are BS but I listen and let them vent. I'm sure some have went out the door and told others "man that guy is a prick" or "I can't beleive he told me I was a real prick and get gone". It works both ways but most customers, 99.9% are easy to deal with and easy to treat good...

 

[THALL10326]

I keep telling you, her goat is a he. And he's walking fine.

I wasn't referring to her goat, she never mentions you to me,hehehe

 

[spacemule]

Heck, my friends that complain what an ass some business was don't hold much weight with me, because I know them.

 

[matt9923]

Heck, my friends that complain what an ass some business was don't hold much weight with me, because I know them.

we know you don't have friends.

 

[Taxmantoo]

I would have three piece suit guys walk in with two filthy duck guns, that hadn't been cleaned in ages, and tell me they needed them tomorrow. No problem. Here is my "tomorrow price" (twice normal).

There ya go. Want special treatment? Then pay special. Fair all around.

 

[flimflam]

In California its normal and even expected to sharpen chains on the spot(commercial clowns)only. I wish I could tell people to just buy a chain but these guys are so dirt cheap that theyll just go to the next shop and get it sharpened. Lot of shops dont even sharpen a chain correctly. They grind unnecessary amounts, 1 tooth longer than the next, burn it up, don't lower depth gauges. Now a regular consumer thats a diff story. Pay upfront and leave it til I tell ya to pick it up.

Thall you sound like a 1 man show, whos watchin the shop while you eat?

 

[J.W Younger]

Everyone is welcome to state their opinion and I won't fuss with ya at all unless you call me a name or call me out.

Here goes.

I went to lunch today at 2pm. I came back at 3pm and I find a chain sitting on my counter. Someone has dropped it off while I was at lunch. On the tag was his name, phone and a note "he would like to have it by 4pm". I think hmmmmmmmm, ok Mr. Special, you get ahead of everyone else.

I sharpen his chain and at 4pm on the dot he comes in to get it. Seemed like a right nice guy but no one is nice enough to jump ahead of everyone else in my book less they is tipping or spending some BIG bucks.

I go are you the 4 o'clock man looking for his chain. He goes yeah. I go is this the only chain you have, he goes yeah. I go well let me tell ya you need to buy some spare chains because this 4 o'clock stuff isn't happening again. I wasn't mean or nasty but merely letting him know this isn't how it works. To my surprize he understood fully and proceeded to buy a extra chain along with a bunch of other stuff.

How would you have reacted, would you have taken it like he did, would you have bought another chain or would you been fussing and boo hooing and telling me to go f---k myself? Be honest with your opinion!!!!!

heres the way I look at it.In the 1st place if you can't maintain your own chain you need more than one.If you have too have it in an hour you need more than one. And last if you been to Tommys before you know you're gonna buy a chain before you leave anyway.

 

[beavis331]

About 13 years ago, when I worked at a shop near Lexington, a local
"businessman" came in and talked to the owner, wanting to know if
he left his push mower, could we sharpen the blade while he was at lunch, and he could pick it up in @ an hour.

The owner explained that we are real busy, etc., and finally gave in and
said that we would do it. So I go out with the p/u delivery guy to help him get the mower out of the trunk, as this guy was in a suit, etc..

He is standing there exclaiming" Easy now! Set it down real easy!".
We kind of look at him like is is a nut, I push the mower in the shop as he is driving off. I go to zip the blade off, and there is no resistance whatsoever
the bolt just fell out, broke...........

I looked at the bolt closely, it had some sort of glue on the broken end where
the guy tryed to glue it back up in there. The boss came back when he heard me laughing, and he got real pissed when I suggested that he was
going to try to blame us for breaking the bolt, which is no big deal normally,
he said "leave it sit!!!".
When the guy came back, the owner confronted him, and told him we were
going to charge him an extra $20 for extracting the bolt, etc...

The guy was pretty quiet and said OK fix it. I'll pick it up

The funniest part was that the remaining part of the bolt I spun out with my fingers while the boss was standing there, he charged him anyway........

I'd have been tempted to sharpen his blade and glue the blade and bolt back on.

 

[woodyman]

I would just be happy the guy didn't walk away with a few new chains and whatever.You did say you were gone for and hour and the chain was on the counter when you got back.Have you checked your inventory lately?

 

[lambs]

Courtesy cuts both ways.

As a customer, if I go into my dealer with a problem and they start looking at it on the spot, I make it a point to not leave there without buying something, a spare chain, oil, a couple new plugs. This is usually on a Saturday morning. I know they're making some money off the service, but the way I see it, they earn it. And I don't have to make a return trip.

I have three Stihl dealers to pick from, and I drive out of my way to the one that takes care of me.

 

[parrisw]

Tommy, if it was me, I just wouldn't of done it if I had other **** to do, good thing I don't really have to deal with customers too much at work, otherwise they'd be getting an ear full some of em. People all the time figure their frigging more important then anybody else.

Now about chains. To this day I can't understand someone who runs a saw, cant sharpen their own dam chain!!!

 

[belgian]

I live in a big city, so my perspective may be different than others, and I do not know how big a shop you have Tom. But, I know that just about anywhere here I can drop a small project off in the morning and have it back by the end of the day. I have taken rotors in and had them turned, have had tires changed and re-balanced, have had a new catalytic converted installed - all while I waited. I have done all three in the last four months and the guys had them done within 30 minutes: literally, every example I listed. Point being, time is money and on small metal work and jobs, you gotta move fast to get enough work done to pay the bills.

Again, I do not know your shop. I think a lot of guys would assume that sharpening a chain only takes minutes and is probably done by the kid behind the counter selling the saws and bar oil. I expect something that needs to be seen by the tech to require a day, but not something like sharpening a chain. It wouldn't even cross my mind to pay the guy extra; it's just a chain. I bet a lot of other guys might make this assumption too.

This is a good post while it adresses a view from both sides of the counter. When I visit a dealer over here, there are always a few fella's in line to have their chains sharpened. I agree about most people assuming a chain sharpening only takes a few minutes anyway, and while most dealers have automated equipment or at least a grinder, they expect their chains to be sharpened while they wait. Buying a new chain for them is not always a solution, while next time they bring in two chains to sharpen instead of one....

and given traffic and time involved, as a customer, I am not looking forward to driving two times for a chain to be sharpened anyway. Fuel and especially time is expensive, at least to me.

So, if I were a dealer, I'd try to offer a chain sharpening while you wait, for a price that generates a decent margin. If it becomes too much of a burden, you could eventually hire a cheap temporary help (insert : get dapper dan involved !)

So, if the guy behind the counter had been a jerk about it, I would have taken my business elsewhere. I would have never expected sharpening a chain to cause any kind of angst, and I would have been caught completely off guard if the guy had been a jerk when I came to pick up the chain. Just like with anything else, if handled nicely with good communication, then everyone is happy and you earn loyal customers. JMO...

as most people pointed out, good communication and the right attitude is key in getting/providing a good service. And ole Tommy knows it all too well...he provided the service and educated the customer at the same time.

H@ll, I am pretty sure that if I have to handle Tommy myself, while telling a naughty joke and with some elvis music in the background, I could even persuade him to get me a few things for FREE !!! :hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange:

 

[madhatte]

I'm thinking Thall is as much a diplomat as he is anything else. Much props for making a good deal out of a potentially-frustrating situation!

 

[belgian]

I'm thinking Thall is as much a diplomat as he is anything else. Much props for making a good deal out of a potentially-frustrating situation!

Bingo ! I see that $$ sign blinking in his eyes all the time he does a customer in....LOLOL.