What has happened to customer service?

[Cooter]

First off, lemme state that while working on the cousin's 2nd gen. Camaro, I had heard good things about TCP.(Tri City Plating).
He calls me just now and wanted a picture (digital photo) of his parts before they ship out. Just for his piece of mind.
not that we were questioning the quality, just wanted a damn pic.

Cousin Wayne "Hey there. Just wanted to check up on my bumperettes for the 73 Camaro?"
TCP. "Oh! You the guy that wants the pictures??"
"Yes"
"We don't do that. If you aren't happy with em, you can just send em back or find someone else to do em, but we don't send pictures"
"Hold on guy. I'm spending money with you guts because you came recommended for doing good work. I'm not questioning your quality, I just wanted a pic of them. Kinda like buying off ebay without pictures. Everybody wants a picture nowadays??"
"We don't do that"...

Tri City Plating might do good work, but this billy badass attitude when your whole freakin business is built on people spending money that's "extra", or not ness. Is bullsh*t! These guys can kiss my ass. I think I'll go to Carlisle this year just to let em know how many forums this will be across. Bastids. WTF???

Ya fuc*ed up boys. Really? Digital pic is too hard or will cost you too much?
Screw TCP.

[Troy]

But if they charged an extra $5 for having to stop and take pictures of every part thousands of people would be on forums bitching about it. That isn't a small business and they get paid for how much they can produce. I know much smaller businesses that can't manage to find the time to work a camera because they're too busy doing their jobs! If their reputation, countless glowing reviews, and good return policy can't sway a person then a few pictures aren't likely to help. If it were my business I wouldn't mind losing those types of customers.

Troy

[TUFCAT]

I got my rear bumper from them when the Coronet got damaged... they do beautiful work.  I had no hassles but that was almost two years ago.  I didn't ask for pictures. 

[Cooter]

But if they charged an extra $5 for having to stop and take pictures of every part thousands of people would be on forums bitching about it. That isn't a small business and they get paid for how much they can produce. I know much smaller businesses that can't manage to find the time to work a camera because they're too busy doing their jobs! If their reputation, countless glowing reviews, and good return policy can't sway a person then a few pictures aren't likely to help. If it were my business I wouldn't mind losing those types of customers.

Troy

I call bullsh*t. No way in hell it needs to cost an 'extra' anything when your paying top dollar as it is.
what bothered me the most is how condescending the asshat was. Ok, you don't do that? No problem. But to act as if it's gonna make or break you to take a digital pic on a phone that nine times outta ten, your kid/workers are on anyway, is asinine.

You wouldn't believe how much customers think we 'have' to do for free doing State Inspections. I put on license plates on cars from outta state with no brackets and rusted up, or broken off bolts, I've installed customers wiper blades for free, and countless other things.
all for a damn $16.00 sticker.

Your gonna tell me that it will kill the chroming industry to take digital picture???
I bet if other chromers began this as part of cust. Satisfaction, these douches would be the first through the door with it.
By that thinking, why do they bother unwrapping a part at Carlisle before you buy???
I mean unwrapping HAS to take longer than sending a digital picture...

[Troy]

But if they charged an extra $5 for having to stop and take pictures of every part thousands of people would be on forums bitching about it. That isn't a small business and they get paid for how much they can produce. I know much smaller businesses that can't manage to find the time to work a camera because they're too busy doing their jobs! If their reputation, countless glowing reviews, and good return policy can't sway a person then a few pictures aren't likely to help. If it were my business I wouldn't mind losing those types of customers.

Troy

I call bullsh*t. No way in hell it needs to cost an 'extra' anything when your paying top dollar as it is.
what bothered me the most is how condescending the ashat was. Ok, you don't do that? No problem. But to act as if it's gonna make or break you to take a digital pic on a phone that nine times outta ten, your kid/workers are on anyway, is asinine.

You wouldn't believe how much customers think we 'have' to do for free doing State Inspections. I put on license plates on cars from outta state with no brackets and rusted up, or broken off bolts, I've installed customers wiper blades for free, and countless other things.
all for a damn $16.00 sticker.

Your gonna tell me that it will kill the chroming industry to take digital picture???
I bet if other chromers began this as part of cust. Satisfaction, these douches would be the first through the door with it.

Let's try this:
your boss comes in and says that from now on you have to take pictures of everything you touch on a customers car and email them. What's your reaction?

Ok, so the person on the phone could have been nicer. Probably should have been. Calling multiple times and asking for special treatment is wasting their time and isn't helping their mood.

Troy

[myk]

"We don't do that.."

Dangerous words to live by when there are several choices out there when it comes to vendors, no matter what the product or service is...

[Cooter]

But if they charged an extra $5 for having to stop and take pictures of every part thousands of people would be on forums bitching about it. That isn't a small business and they get paid for how much they can produce. I know much smaller businesses that can't manage to find the time to work a camera because they're too busy doing their jobs! If their reputation, countless glowing reviews, and good return policy can't sway a person then a few pictures aren't likely to help. If it were my business I wouldn't mind losing those types of customers.

Troy

I call bullsh*t. No way in hell it needs to cost an 'extra' anything when your paying top dollar as it is.
what bothered me the most is how condescending the ashat was. Ok, you don't do that? No problem. But to act as if it's gonna make or break you to take a digital pic on a phone that nine times outta ten, your kid/workers are on anyway, is asinine.

You wouldn't believe how much customers think we 'have' to do for free doing State Inspections. I put on license plates on cars from outta state with no brackets and rusted up, or broken off bolts, I've installed customers wiper blades for free, and countless other things.
all for a damn $16.00 sticker.

Your gonna tell me that it will kill the chroming industry to take digital picture???
I bet if other chromers began this as part of cust. Satisfaction, these douches would be the first through the door with it.

Let's try this:
your boss comes in and says that from now on you have to take pictures of everything you touch on a customers car and email them. What's your reaction?

Ok, so the person on the phone could have been nicer. Probably should have been. Calling multiple times and asking for special treatment is wasting their time and isn't helping their mood.

Troy

funny....I have to do that with dents....I've been blamed before. Have to show old parts.

[Troy]

But if they charged an extra $5 for having to stop and take pictures of every part thousands of people would be on forums bitching about it. That isn't a small business and they get paid for how much they can produce. I know much smaller businesses that can't manage to find the time to work a camera because they're too busy doing their jobs! If their reputation, countless glowing reviews, and good return policy can't sway a person then a few pictures aren't likely to help. If it were my business I wouldn't mind losing those types of customers.

Troy

I call bullsh*t. No way in hell it needs to cost an 'extra' anything when your paying top dollar as it is.
what bothered me the most is how condescending the ashat was. Ok, you don't do that? No problem. But to act as if it's gonna make or break you to take a digital pic on a phone that nine times outta ten, your kid/workers are on anyway, is asinine.

You wouldn't believe how much customers think we 'have' to do for free doing State Inspections. I put on license plates on cars from outta state with no brackets and rusted up, or broken off bolts, I've installed customers wiper blades for free, and countless other things.
all for a damn $16.00 sticker.

Your gonna tell me that it will kill the chroming industry to take digital picture???
I bet if other chromers began this as part of cust. Satisfaction, these douches would be the first through the door with it.

Let's try this:
your boss comes in and says that from now on you have to take pictures of everything you touch on a customers car and email them. What's your reaction?

Ok, so the person on the phone could have been nicer. Probably should have been. Calling multiple times and asking for special treatment is wasting their time and isn't helping their mood.

Troy

funny....I have to do that with dents....I've been blamed before. Have to show old parts.

Not quite the same thing - but I'm still positive you aren't cheerful and gracious when it happens.

So let's say the pictures show perfect parts. What's the plan? They wait for a response that it's "OK" to ship them? (Meaning the employee has to move on to something else while these are taking up space on a bench or shelf.) If they aren't perfect would the company bother sending the pictures? Since they warranty them it's smarter just to redo them and THEN take pictures. What if the pictures show a false defect (a spot on the ceiling or glare from a light)? Take more pictures? Wait longer? What if they take pictures and ship them any way to avoid gumming up the works? Nothing can be done until they are returned so, again, pictures are useless. I've worked in high volume warehouses before and it is incredibly time consuming to try to find an order as it's being processed. We'd only do it on rare occasions (ie. something with custom paint/engraving was going to be completed incorrectly and we'd have to take the loss and start over). Maybe 1 out of 5,000 orders.

The guy said they didn't do it. Badgering him isn't likely to get the desired result. I'm sure he gets to deal with people all day long who believe they are special and the rules should be bent for them. Tends to make a person jaded. Sounds like people you've complained about before!

Troy

[TUFCAT]

What if the pictures show a false defect (a spot on the ceiling or glare from a light)? Take more pictures? Wait longer?
Troy

That very true. if you've ever photographed chrome, you'll know its very hard to get the right lighting to reduce glare. I don't like photographing chrome!

[JB400]

"We don't do that.."

Dangerous words to live by when there are several choices out there when it comes to vendors, no matter what the product or service is...

Another one to add to the list:  "That's not in my job description"

Times are changing unfortunately.  This isn't Mayberry.

[TUFCAT]

I agree that the person on the other end should have been nicer about it.

[ws23rt]

I agree also that the attitude is the problem.  If they don't or can't take pictures this could have been addressed and solved with both parties content.

If it was me in your place Cooter I would be pissed as well and not that I could not get pictures.  When I run into an attitude like you did that becomes the problem and is greater than the issue that started it. 

We are talking about customer service and a relationship with a new company is fragile to begin with. It seems that they were first at being abrupt or short with you. A first contact like you had is enough for me to shop around some more.

[Baldwinvette77]

I would be pissed too, imagine paying someone to restore a car, and he doesn't want to take pictures of the work being done to it 

[daveco]

The KMA attitude cuts both ways.
"I want it cheap, perfect, and documented"
"FU, I will do what I do. Don't like it? go elsewhere."
Who is wrong?
Both.
Civility is dying, do your part to revive it.

[Cooter]

Thing that pissed me off, was the cousin Wayne, is new to this chroming/resto work, and ALWAYS wants pictures just for his piece of mind. For these asses to act like this is unacceptable.

Hell, they unwrap bumpers at Carlisle BEFORE you buy, so why is it so hard to take a picture??
Yes, he woulda come to me with any 'concerns' about the picture. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that their whole business is built on money people don't have to spend, and they have an attitude like this.

Funny, I called a few other chromers and while they thought it was a strange request, two said they would and one politely declined statingb he 'didn't have anyone with a camera'. At least he was cool. I try to treat EVERY customer, especially the ladies as if they are my only customer. Take my time and try my best NOT to talk over them. I show them respect even if I have them at a disadvantage.
I show them their old parts and why they failed. I make attempts to combat their concerns BEFORE I get blamed for the leftc rear tire going flat when I worked on her wipers, cause you know 'it wasn't like that till you I worked on it'. I just cannot understand why a simple picture caused these guys so much grief. Like they were above it.
I call bullsh*t on photographing chrome. It ain't that hard. Especially if you been working with it for 30 years.
Funny, they didn't mind snapping pics for a website....

[stripedelete]

I sell a commodity, therefore, the only thing that separates me from the competition is customer service and we're are pretty good at it.

With that said, I would have told him the same thing on a couple of bumperettes.  

[bill440rt]

Never had anything done by Tri-City, but like others I've heard good things about them as well.

Might not have been a bad idea to have asked up front if they provided pictures of parts before shipment, not as as afterthought.

I sent some stuff out to Paul's a while back, they provided detailed pictures of all the bad areas of the parts BEFORE any work began and a detailed estimate of what it entailed to rechrome each part. If you decided you did not want the work done, they boxed them back up & sent them back to you at no charge.

[Tilar]

Civility is dying, do your part to revive it.

It's hard to save a world that doesn't want saved.

[Cooter]

Never had anything done by Tri-City, but like others I've heard good things about them as well.

Might not have been a bad idea to have asked up front if they provided pictures of parts before shipment, not as as afterthought.

That's just it, he sent a detailed letter with them in the box. Only when he called to check on them, did he get the attitude.
so, he DID ask before. They just want what every business wants, customers who just trust until part is delivered screwed up, then try and return/get money back and then, get the runaround. Today's shopper isn't that stupid anymore I'm afraid.

EVERYBODY wants some sort of piece of mind today, even if it's a simple picture.
I have no doubt they do good work, but to put themselves above the little guys with two pieces is like saying you only want to order two door trim pieces? Well, screw you pal, we don't mess with such little orders.


In business, one should treat the little guy who's 'only' getting two small bumperettes done As a test, like the potential customer that will send $10k worth of chroming on his Camaro later on, if they treated him right and did a good job.

That's ok, I have ALOT of high dollar friends that spend tens of thousands on chrome and polishing. Bottom line is, TCP screwed up.
one 'Christine' owner, right here on this site, has over $25k in chroming. Guess where I'm telling him NOT to go?

Sure, you might not ever run up on another cust. That wants pics of The finished product, but to treat the one with such disregard is trifling to say the least.

[HemiFish]

Maybe it would have went a little better if the caller had started off saying that he understood that it would take a few minutes of their time to go and take pictures, load them into a digital folder and e-mail/text them to you and that you would be willing to reimburse them some $$ for the time it takes to do that. Maybe have them add $20-$25 dollars to the bill for taking the time to do the picture thing. That could have made all the difference in the way that whole conversation went down....   

[pettybird]

when your paying top dollar as it is.

out of curiosity, how much were they charging?

[Cooter]

when your paying top dollar as it is.

out of curiosity, how much were they charging?

That's kind of another thing I didn't/don't like. Never gave a quote or nothing, just began work and whatever the bill is, is...
I had Wayne prepared to pay around $150.00 each as I figured with the things I had heard, this would/should be more than enough as the parts were Arizona clean. Not like they would have to spend hours and hours repairing rusted up junk.
thing is, nobody repos these, so here we go.
Problem is, Wayne isn't like me. He won't get all up in someone's ass when done wrong, he'll usually let it slide and pay em back later.
elluva nice guy. They really turned him off. I'm all but positive he will get the 'asshole tax'  added to his bill wrongfully.

[Steve P.]

Civility is dying, do your part to revive it.

It's hard to save a world that doesn't want saved.

I agree that many do not think before they talk or say no. Everything today is driven with a whip. MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!!!  When I had my shops I had to make money, but knew if I wasn't keeping my customers happy they could easily go to any number of shops nearby. Chrome shops are fewer between than repair shops. So they don't have to worry so much about chatting it up. They only have to put out a good product.

If someone asks me about something I have had done I give them the entire picture. I had bumpers done by a place in Miami that absolutely sucked. Their customer service was great. They took back the bumpers with huge apologies. I was with a buddy at a large local show and he bought bumpers from the BUMPER BOYS.. The work was great and chrome was show quality but much cheaper. They seamed really cool to chat with while we were buying. A few months later I saw them again at the MATS with VegasMike. What they had there looked like hell. The same guys were there and I chatted again with the same guy as in Florida. His attitude was shitty and their bumpers all looked like hell for a 68' Charger..

It was very hot in Vegas then, but these guys are from the South and it was hot and humid in Florida. So to me there was no excuse for their lousy attitudes and the poor workmanship.

Consistency of the people and the work is key in any business, but when you are under the whip things tend to get crappy.. 

[Troy]

How about waiting to get the parts (or having them returned) before making assumptions? So far you're assuming they have lots of free time and are just too lazy/rude to take pictures. You're assuming the person on the phone has a personal vendetta against a single customer. You're assuming all their customers are buying something they can't afford. You're assuming they randomly change prices based on whether they like the customer. You're assuming they have something to hide. Sounds like you decided the experience would be a bad one before ever picking them to do the work? Not to mention we're hearing this third hand (you weren't there either).

What happens if the parts come back looking outstanding and the bill is $90? Still gonna be mad about some pictures? If I get upset about a company (that I've actually done business with) it's due to the way I was treated when there was a problem. Missed deadline? Overcharged? Missing/broken/unusable part? Refusal of return of wrong/broken/unusable part? Inexplicably cancelled order? Bill significantly larger than estimate without approval? The only problem I see here is self-inflicted - expecting preferential treatment. The guy said they don't do it. End of discussion.

Troy

[hatersaurusrex]

How much $$$ do they typically charge for a front and rear b-body bumper, including prep?