How a GM defect can ruin your life, but not mine.

I was working at the local auto parts store on Saturday when a woman entered, 18 month old child in tow.  I asked her if there was something I could do and she collapsed into a gush of tears.  "My car is leaking...I took it in for an oil change and now it is leaking from the transmission and antifreeze....THEY BROKE MY CAR!" she said.

Now, in the past this particular shop she took her car to has done some shady things to other cars.  I won't however name names.  Suffice it to know that it wasn't a Perfect Auto.  This time.  When she cornered them on why the car was leaking they told her it needed an intake gasket and a transmission pan gasket.

I stood there and tried my best to extract as much information as I could to determine what really was wrong.  I asked her if she had oil drips on the ground prior to taking it in.  I asked her if she had had to add coolant before.  She said, yes, she had indeed had to add coolant.  Before I could ask how much she had had to put in and over how long of a period of time this had been going on, she melted down into a tale of woe.  She explained how she had moved from Minnesota, alienated her family ties, moved in with her boyfriend, he dumped her and now she was practically living out of her car with the daughter she conceived with the boyfriend.  She was trying to make money by donating plasma this particular day. However, her friend didn't like being dropped in on at the last minute to watch an 18 month old girl, so she went and got an oil change instead.  This all makes sense right?

I volunteered to go out to her car and see what was going on.  It was a 1999 Buick Century with a 3.1 liter V6 engine.  I observed under the car fresh coolant and that the transmission pan was damp from ATF, but this had to have been going on for some time.  On opening to hood I could squeeze the upper radiator hose and hear a light hiss from the intake manifold.  The other shop was right.  Additionally she admitted to adding coolant, but she said she had never had a visible leak like this.

Truth be told, she has a 3.1 liter GM V6.  If your intake manifold gasket isn't leaking now, it soon will.  It is worst when you don't regularly replace the coolant.  The plastic intake gaskets eventually rot out and no longer are capable of holding the pressurized coolant in the passages and it typically will leak into the engine crankcase.  Worst case scenario is from the gasket to outside the head to the ground.  Truthfully it happens long after the original factory warranty has expired, so the manufacturer flatly does not care.  Fel-Pro makes a "Problem Solver" gasket kit to resolve the problem and with that particular gasket in use, it eliminates a lot of the concerns with that engine.

I had no recourse but to give her a card to the shop and the price of the gaskets and send her down the road.  She asked if she could use our restroom to change her daughter's diaper so pointed her to it.  After she got out I handed her a quote for the price of the gasket.  She asked what it would cost to install it.  As I looked up the labor on my phone she went into a rant on how she was unemployed, had little to no money and felt hopeless.  Once I had the price looked up I looked at her and said, "I know that things are tough for you right now.  Have you thought about going the the unemployment office and seeing what programs are available.  I mean you might not qualify for unemployment, but they might be able to help with training or workshops so you could find a job.  If you could make some money it would definitely lift you out of this bad place and help you have a steady home, food to eat, a running car, and a good life for your child."

She looked at me with repulsion.  She told me that work and a job would not help her.  Somebody needed to help her.

I thought about that response for a minute.  That thought is absolutely foreign to me.  Why would I ever put my family through that type of hell?  She was adamant about being saved by the good will of others and free assistance from the government.  And folks, race did not play into this story either.  This woman was fairer skinned than myself.  What played into this was the concept that she was a victim (of her own poor choices) and somehow victims don't need to be accountable for their own poor decisions.  I offered the best advice any person in my position could.  I told her she had control and with some work she could be made whole again.  Her response was pathetic and self indulgent.

I asked her to have a better day and told her she needed to save some money and get her car fixed.  I could have torn into her over a number of things, but I declined.  She bought a gallon of antifreeze, I put it in for her and she left.

But I still fear for the influence that her daughter lives under.

Schmoozing has no place in Business

Schmoozing is a practice best left behind in the somewhat dark ages of customer service.  Yes.  I said it, and there is good reason why.  When I hear that word it naturally conjures up an image of sleazy used car salesmen.  Why, then, would we say when we are out with a customer trying to get their business that we are schmoozing them?

Schmoozing, in my opinion, is a process where we treat the customer as if his only asset or benefit is his money.  Hardly ever is there a genuine business-client relationship built.  The customer gets a superficial "warm and fuzzy" feeling but deep down the only aspect you as the service provider care about is his money and your profit margin.  Sounds pretty shallow doesn't it?  

The problem is that corporate America in general operates this way on a day-to-day basis.  Have you watched a single commercial in the last decade?  For example, I went into a local AutoZone and when I went to check out they tried to push me to buy Techron fuel injector cleaner. The sales person insisted it was the "best."  I kindly refused but was given warnings of how I was neglecting my vehicle maintenance and hurting my car.  I brushed that warning off.  I heard it two months ago when they were trying to peddle Gumout brand injector cleaner and two months before that when they were pushing Lucas fuel cleaner.  If I remember I was told those were the "best" as well.  So which is the best really?

We constantly think sleazy used car sales tactics when we think schmoozing, but I generalize it more as a specific interest in just the money the customer brings to the table.  When we think that way, we leave a lot on the table.  True, the bottom line is important.  Profit and loss is important.  Invoicing and collecting payment is important. The trouble is that at some point a schmoozer is going to be perceived as disingenuous and that is where he gets in trouble. Some businesses will do everything they can to extract as much out of the customer they can monetarily. They try to steer you to high profit products as impulse buys and give you reminders to get everything you need to complete the job. Nothing wrong with this practice, until you have a customer service representative borderline lying to get you to buy something. I consider this schmoozing.

So what is right? First, build a relationship of trust with the customer. When the customer trusts you and you show genuine concern for them, you will steer them to what they need. When you care more about the customer than their money, you will not only earn a fair wage for what you do today, but you will have their trust for as long as you don't damage it. And since you aren't being superficial, you won't do anything to ruin their confidence.

Here's another benefit. Customers can provide you with more than just money. They share with their friends and neighbors about your honesty. They stop by to check on their car and buy lunch for you. They are just a phone call away when you need to use their car in a car show. They can be a creative influence and an honest opinion when you are stuck. There is more, but I think you get the point.

They don't have to be your inner circle of friends. All that is required of you is to be honest and hold fast to your principles. You need to act as a professional and avoid being a schmoozer. Some folks think it takes special means to do this, but in reality it is just that simple. Maybe that is why so many people are schmoozers and wonder how they don't have good customer service skills.

Additionally some folks fear being honest will drive people away since in certain circumstances what the customer needs at the time might be expensive. They rationalize that the customer needs to be brought down slowly and maybe a little white lie inserted into the spiel will help lends credence to the story. I was told this by people I used to know. The truth is, you don't bluntly approach in that case. You lay out the facts and how you came to the conclusion. You act in honesty. If your customer rejects what is needed after that and they trust you, then they don't have the means to do what they need to have done. Plain and simple. In fact you might have earned a long standing customer just for being so honest, though maybe not at that moment.

So be customer service oriented and try being honest. I can say that I'm always working at this. I am in no means a perfect person, but I pledge to do this better as the days go by.