John's Golf Cart Service Exceptionally bad customer service. Shody Repairs Peachtree City, Georgia

Ken's golf cart was delivered to our shop on July 13^th, 2009, not on July 9^th as he stated. The car was delivered in extreme disrepair, in the back of his pickup truck.  Had I been at my shop, I would have had him unload his vehicle in the public cul de sac as it is an extreme liability risk for people to unload vehicles in this way on my property.  Additionally, I would never have allowed my employees to aid him in this task as this is an extreme liability as well, so I am severely upset that they allowed this to happen. 

He has complained about us not giving him a written estimate.  It is not our policy to give written estimates to our customers. 

I waited three days before contacting John's to see what progress had been made.  This is incorrect information as Ken was contacted the afternoon that he dropped his cart off (July 13^th) about a basic estimate of repairs.  He contacted us twice the next day, once the day after that, and we have no record in our phone log book of an outgoing call again until July 16^th.  I apologize for this as my receptionist (from here on referred to as my public relations person) was not following policy.  As for waiting until 45 minutes before the close of business and stating that the mechanic had just arrived is simply not true.  The mechanics show up to work at 830am.   

I was rudely asked by the mechanic to leave the garage. It was perfectly fine to be in the shop when I dropped the cart off.  Ken followed my lead mechanic into the shop the first time he came in, but it is company policy to not allow customers into the repair bays for insurance purposes.  I suspect that my lead mechanic was simply being nice the first time Ken was in the repair bay the second time my mechanic pointed out that he wasnt allowed in there. 

The receptionist then told me there would be substantial additional costs to the repair. My Golf Cart was torn apart so I could not very easly take it at that point.  The vehicle was, once again, in extreme disrepair and was not completely immobilized; we could have reassembled it with minor charges.  However, Ken approved the repairs that needed to be done, although he wasnt happy that he had to spend the extra money. 

The mechanic returned to the office. He was very argumentative.  I told him that if I couldn't get a written estimate that I'd like communication on what repairs were being done.  He became very argumentative.  Eric, my lead mechanic, was not argumentative with Ken, but rather was in a hurry as we were very busy, and he had to explain to Ken several times the work that needed to be performed.  He accused me of calling three times that morning and I was preventing him from work.  Ken apparently wouldnt leave a voicemail when he called us, instead, he would continue calling several times at one shot until he got though.  As we prefer to deal with our customers on the phone without interruption, this becomes distracting when someone constantly is beeping in. 

In fact I called a total of 3 times over three days and spoke to a person that was clueless once.  Ken called a total of five recorded times during the four day period that we were working with his vehicle.  He attempted to call many times during each of those recorded times, i.e. one recorded call was actually three or four calls in a row in some cases.  My employees have all been told to answer the phone if the public relations person is unavailable, so he probably dealt with someone who didnt know about his vehicle but was told that someone who did have knowledge of it would call him. 

I was told that my cart would be ready late Friday.  I returned Friday evening to pick up the cart.  There were several unexpected miscellaneous charges a preventative service of $60 and a bogus $10 charge for shop supplies.  The car was ready Friday afternoon and he did come to pick up the cart.  The day that we received the cart, we discussed the annual preventive maintenance with Ken along with the price, and he agreed to do it.  The bogus shop supplies charge (that ALL automotive shops charge on EVERY bill) ranges from as low as $5, depending on the amount of miscellaneous hardware and chemicals that are used during a job.  I wanted this to be over with so I paid the outraigious $885.24 bill with cash.  The outrageous bill included all parts and labor that were approved by Ken prior to the work being performed.  Additionally, we did not charge him "actual" hours, and instead charged him at least one half-hour less in labor ($30) than his bill should have been.  I gave him $890 And with out apology was given Aprox $4 in nickels  change short by 50 cents.  We searched the shop and our pockets for change for Ken, and found that we only had large bills.  The only change that we could provide was a few rolls of nickels valued at $2 per roll, he must have been accepting of the fifty cent difference at the time, or we would have given it to him right away.  We apologized to him about the nickel rolls when we gave him his change.  

I asked if some one could help me lode the cart on my truck.  The recepionist told me that their ramps were broken.  I could see the ramps were perfectly fine.  They had no problem helping me unload it. As I was present at the time that he picked up his vehicle, I didnt allow ramp loading of his vehicle.  Additionally, the ramps are stored in the rear corner of the shop area and theres no way that he could have seen them broken or otherwise at the time of pickup. 

He told me to drive it home or I could pay an additional $35 delivery fee.  I was unfamilliar with the trail home and had my infant son with me.  First off, our pickup and delivery fee is $15.00 EACH WAY, I have no idea where his $35 one-way fee came from.  He did have his infant son with him, and I discussed the directions with him before he left, along with my concerns about driving home, and he told me that it would be fine to drive home. 

On the 15th of august I noticed my golfcart wheels were very loose. There was allot of play in the front wheels.  I paid the shop to replace the bearings.  I decided I was not going to return to John's and succeed to an expensive lesson.  I took the wheels off to find that the bearings had not been packed with grease.  The first thing that he should have done was come to the shop with the cart so I could have corrected any problems that may have existed.  We replaced one front hub and all four front hub bearings on his vehicle while it was in for service.  It is IMPOSSIBLE that his bearings had no grease in them.  When we repack bearings we have a system that we follow to ensure that the proper amount of grease is installed in the bearings and hubs and that the hubs are tightened to the proper torque levels.  Overpacking the bearings and hubs can lead to damage.  Overtightening the bearings will also lead to bearing damage.  I advise him to look up bearing packing on the internet and make sure that he has performed it properly. 

At this point I knew these people were trash.  All I can say about this line is that I REALLY dont appreciate his comment and couldnt disagree more with his statement.  I prefer to think of my company as the best golf car dealership in town.  I built this company on honesty and integrity over ten years ago and have many, many satisfied customers.  We have an extremely high return rate for our customers, many of whom we have been serving since I started the company.  I am proud of the reputation that I carry in Peachtree City, and have had many people tell me how happy they are that my company is here to take care of them.  I understand that you cant please everyone all the time, that is impossible, but we do our best to provide excellent customer service to all of our clients.