Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
The Gearbox Podcast brings on industry professionals to explore the day-to-day operations of owning and operating a shop. From common frustrations to industry-wide shifts, this podcast covers it with fun and insightful conversations.
Jimmy Purdy [00:00:13]:
My name is Jimmy Purdy, shop owner, master tech transmission builder and the host of the Gearbox podcast. Here I talk with new and seasoned shop owners as well as industry professionals about day to day operations within their own shops and all the failures and successes that come along the way, from what grinds your gears to having to shift gears in the automotive industry. This is the Gearbox podcast. Well, I appreciate you taking some time. Anyway, that was pretty cool that you decided to make some time for me because I'm sure, I'm sure you're pretty busy, so.
Steph [00:00:48]:
Yeah, I've always got time to throw a major corporation under the bus for shady stuff, so it's fine.
Jimmy Purdy [00:00:54]:
Touche. I can appreciate that. So tell me a little bit about yourself as far as you've always kind of been hands on with, with wrenching. What's, what's the story there as far as your background in automotive industry.
Steph [00:01:10]:
So, yeah, since I was a kid I've been the take it apart and put it back together fix stuff kind of kid. And I didn't start my career in mechanics. I tried to start my career in mechanics but I had no like. Yeah. Experience. So trying to get taken seriously and this was like almost 20 years ago when I was trying to get into the industry. And it's changed now, but yeah, like 17, whatever years ago. Being an 18 year old female in Alberta, which is kind of the Texas of Canada for people that aren't super familiar with Canada.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:55]:
Oh, nice. I like that. Okay.
Steph [00:01:57]:
Yeah, it's, it's good. Except it's just, you know, one, one more old boys club. So I ended up getting into like search and rescue and did some medic stuff in the oil field. Finally managed to get into elevator mechanics a little bit and then automotive and then off road heavy duty equipment, which is kind of where I'm at now. But I've always had a passion for automotive and done that recreationally. And then as far as off road, heavy duty and automotive, it's kind of all the same things just put together differently.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:34]:
So that's fair. That's pretty rad though.
Steph [00:02:38]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:38]:
Because. Because up there you got to have your, your license for it too, right?
Steph [00:02:42]:
Yeah. I recently learned that you guys don't need licenses.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:45]:
Yeah, I thought that was pretty interesting as well. I think we should, I 100% stand behind that wholeheartedly that I think everyone should do that. But the problem is you talking about US government and one more aspect of what we're doing. Okay, maybe we don't want that. Like, I like the idea of It. But I don't do not like the idea of the government having us telling us one more thing we got to do and then it just turns into a money grab. Right?
Steph [00:03:11]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:12]:
I don't know. We have the ASE program. Right. So that's like, it kind of sets the bar. What's that?
Steph [00:03:19]:
Is that the master mechanic thing?
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:21]:
Yeah. So you can. Right. You have like all the different aspects, say a one through a eight, and then you get your L1 as advanced. But each one, a one, a two, a three. Right. Is all different categories of the vehicle. And so it kind of sets the bar as far as knowing kind of the basics, you know, and it's, it's a big polarizing subject right now in the States because a lot of people say it's way too easy.
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:44]:
It's like, well, I mean, it's better than nothing. Right. Like, in my opinion. Right. Like, even if it is easy to get in. And then these, well, the guys get these master certificates and they don't know, you know, their head from their ass. Right. Like, like that's a real thing.
Steph [00:03:59]:
Yeah, it's like, okay, we'll take it away. Does that solve the problem? Are you happier now?
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:04]:
Exactly, exactly. Right?
Steph [00:04:07]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:07]:
So yeah, setting the bar somewhere, like at least they can sit down for an hour and focus. That's my thing. Like if I'm hiring a new technician, like I want to know that they will sit down for an hour and just take a test. Like, do you have the ability to focus for an hour?
Steph [00:04:24]:
Low bar is better than no bar.
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:26]:
That's true. It's very true. But the whole, yeah, the whole license thing and up there and down here, a big division, how did that work for you with, with getting the testing? Obviously that's second nature for you, but how does that work?
Steph [00:04:39]:
So up here it's generally either a three or a four year apprentice, depending on what industry you go into. For automotive, it's four years. So you have journey people and apprentices. There's a ratio you can only have. Again, it's industry specific, but like two or three apprentices to a single journey person, and then they work so many hours, go to school for whatever four weeks, sometimes eight, and then again work another chunk of hours, go back to school. And so you've got first year, second year, third year, fourth year. And then, yeah, you write your journeyman test. And then you can also write what's called a red seal.
Steph [00:05:30]:
So each province has their own apprenticeship board and apprenticeship rules. But a red seal allows you to work in any of the provinces. So that's kind of the like top tier of certification here.
Jimmy Purdy [00:05:49]:
Okay, so that's like, that'd be like, similar to like the master, I guess you would call it, right? A master technician.
Steph [00:05:55]:
Yeah, pretty much.
Jimmy Purdy [00:05:57]:
Definitely sounds pretty well organized.
Steph [00:06:00]:
Sounds like it does sound that way, doesn't it?
Jimmy Purdy [00:06:05]:
There's like everything else with government jurisdiction. I'm sure there's, there's all the different nuances.
Steph [00:06:11]:
Yeah, there's a lot of mixed feelings about in Alberta anyways, the Alberta apprenticeship board, but that's another story for another day.
Jimmy Purdy [00:06:21]:
I could only imagine that's probably the reason why we don't want it in the states as far as having a government over me overreach program. Right. But it's still, it still amazes me and I'm sure being, you know, the influencer that you, you are, you see all the videos of repairs gone sideways, right. All the different people posted, I mean, brake pads going on backwards and this and that and the other thing, and you're like, man, something as simple as that and, and people are just going for the low was bitter. Right. There's calling around who can do my break job for $50 less. Right. Then you got the other side of the coin where you go try to go to a professional corporation and you get hosed the other way.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:00]:
Which leads us to the story of what got my attention when I was watching your content. So speaking of brake pads and speaking of that, so you're in quite. You're in the litigation right now with it, is that correct?
Steph [00:07:17]:
No, it hasn't actually gone to litigation. They kind of low key, threatened, they dropped the corporate head office lawyers bomb. But when I turned around and said like, please, I would absolutely love this to end up in court, like, this is what I'm going to school for. I have a passion for this. Like, let's go. He immediately was like, oops, bluff was called. So I, yeah, I don't think they're planning on doing anything and well, I probably have a case to take them to court at this point. I think the negative publicity is they need.
Steph [00:08:00]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:08:01]:
Are you, are you looking at trying to push that farther or you think you're, you're feeling good about the amount of bad press they've had over the situation.
Steph [00:08:11]:
I'm, I'm feeling decent about, you know, actions having consequences. I don't think that dragging through, dragging them through the court system isn't going to dissuade them any more than the attend the negative attention and the business they've lost already has dissuaded them. So as much as it would be a super fun time for, like, the small amount of monetary loss that's involved, I don't think it's. Yeah. Not worth the cost. Outweighs the benefit at the end of the day.
Jimmy Purdy [00:08:55]:
Yeah. Because, I mean, it is. It is your time too. So you always gotta think about what's the best use of my time. Right. And. And at the end of the day, the goal is just try to put the spotlight on them. And I think you've done a really good job doing that.
Jimmy Purdy [00:09:09]:
With that being said, can we go back just towards the beginning of this whole process and kind of reiterate what exactly happened? So the vehicle was brought in, and there was a bunch of stuff that was not. That was called out. You would call or upsold that didn't need to be done. And I know the brakes was the big one, but what else was there in that report that you saw?
Steph [00:09:30]:
Okay, so my aunt and my cousin took their truck, which is actually my old truck, in just to get a flat tire repair. They had one tire that was leaking, and it didn't even have a puncture. It was just the bead that was leaking. So they took it in and said, hey, we've got a slow leak in this tire. Please fix it. And they said, sure, no problem. They bring the truck in. My aunt looks through the window and says, why is the hood up? Like, I.
Steph [00:09:58]:
I don't know much about trucks, but I know my tire is not under the hood. And. Yeah. So they're like, oh, we're doing a complimentary inspection. She's like, oh, okay. And so, you know, they give her the bill for the. The flat repair. They just put some sealant on the bead and everything was all good to go.
Steph [00:10:18]:
And then they hand her.
Jimmy Purdy [00:10:20]:
So they fixed the tire. So I guess that's one step in the right direction.
Steph [00:10:24]:
Yeah, I'll give them that. The tire seems to not be leaking. So, like, two thumbs up for them on being able to repair a flat tire.
Jimmy Purdy [00:10:32]:
That's fair.
Steph [00:10:32]:
But, yeah, they then gave her this estimate. Oh, well, no, first they told her, yeah, your brakes are metal on metal. You know, you need a bunch of parts, you've got a bunch of leaks. Yeah, this. This truck needs a ton of work.
Jimmy Purdy [00:10:51]:
You think they were using, like, scare tactics or do you think it was?
Steph [00:10:58]:
I personally think that, yes. If you tell somebody that their brakes are metal on metal and they're not, that's intended to create a sense of urgency. And so whether or like, I don't know how they arrived at metal on metal, I don't want to come right out and say for sure, 100%, this was malicious. They absolutely knew that those breaks weren't metal on metal, because I don't know that for sure.
Jimmy Purdy [00:11:28]:
Well, did they say it was not safe to leave? They told her that she couldn't drive it out of there.
Steph [00:11:33]:
They didn't. As far as I know, they didn't tell her that she couldn't leave. But if her brakes were metal on metal, they should have told her.
Jimmy Purdy [00:11:40]:
I guess it goes without saying. Yeah.
Steph [00:11:42]:
Yeah. But she lived pretty close, so she said, yeah, give me an estimate. And then went home and immediately called me and said, oh, my God, the truck, like, needs a whole new front end and brakes and tires and it's got oil leaks. And like, okay, you're like.
Jimmy Purdy [00:12:03]:
And you're the. You're the bad person because you gave her that truck. Hey, this truck you gave me is just terrible.
Steph [00:12:09]:
Yeah. And I'm like, okay, you haven't. You're just like this really sweet old lady. I know you don't drive that truck like you stole it. It was pretty mint when I gave it to you. This is bizarre. But I still.
Jimmy Purdy [00:12:30]:
You weren't immediately like, they're ripping her off. You still had a. You still had a reservation of like a doubt. Like, oh, maybe does need some work that I missed.
Steph [00:12:40]:
Yeah. So I kind of just gave them the benefit of the doubt. Like, it might have crossed my mind briefly, but I'm. I can be pretty naive myself. Like, I. Even though I'm in it and I see it and I know it's there, I don't always jump to the conclusion of, like, everyone is trying to scam everybody.
Jimmy Purdy [00:13:03]:
Absolutely. Yeah. You're open minded. That's a humble approach to especially this industry. You can. It's always a possibility, right?
Steph [00:13:10]:
Yeah. And I've also, I mean, like, nobody's perfect. I've made mistakes. I've miscalled and misdiagnosed things in the past. Like, I don't necessarily fault in. But again, at the time I wasn't like, oh, this is for sure a mistake, or these parts have been miscalled. So I look at the estimate and I pull like the parts that it said it needed and I go on Rockauto because they're like a quarter of the price of what we can get parts for up here.
Jimmy Purdy [00:13:46]:
Sure.
Steph [00:13:46]:
So I pull most of this stuff up out of the States with the exception of the brake rotors. Just because they're heavy and shipping them and ended up being cheaper to get them local. But pretty much everything else, like control arms, tie rods, ball joints, pads, I don't. Yeah, I'm not even sure what else at this point. There's a whole bunch of front end stuff, bunch of brake stuff. And yeah, I brought it all up, made the plans to go up because I don't. Yeah, I live maybe about an hour and a half away from her. So I didn't bother going to see the truck beforehand because it's a three hour round trip and I just took their word for it.
Steph [00:14:32]:
So I get up there, I take the front end all apart and this is bizarre. Like, the pads on this side are fine. Same thing with the rotors. And I go to the other side thinking like, okay, maybe one side has a seized caliper and. And it's metal on metal on that side.
Jimmy Purdy [00:14:53]:
Sure.
Steph [00:14:54]:
But no, I go over everything and yeah, like the lowest, the lowest brake pad was seven mil.
Jimmy Purdy [00:15:01]:
I'm like, wow.
Steph [00:15:02]:
Well, that's bizarre. And then, yeah, I started like testing all the front end suspension. There was one, I think it was a lower ball joint, had like just a smidge of play in it. Like just barely, barely moving. Everything else was tight, Everything else was fine. Um, and so the, the brake pads are objective. Like you can stick a measurement on there and like 7 mil is 7 mil. You can't argue it's actually 5 mil.
Jimmy Purdy [00:15:42]:
Sure.
Steph [00:15:42]:
Suspension's a little more subjective. Someone can say, oh, like, yeah, I would call that. Someone else might say, oh, no. Like it's not as easy to measure. So.
Jimmy Purdy [00:15:53]:
Yeah, yeah, play in a joint. I mean, you should have a dial indicator. Right. And like, if you're going to call out stuff like that, know that 20 or 30 thousands of play, that's, that's kind of where you. But you're right with the brake pads. That's very. Percentage is. Percentage is the way I think I've seen other places use that to kind of be a little more or less objective about it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:16:13]:
Right. Like your 20%. My 20% could be different. Right. But if you're doing millimeters, like that just cuts all that BS out. Like, see this gauge? This gauge right here shows 4 millimeters. So 7. This is what it is, you know.
Steph [00:16:26]:
Yeah, you can round, you know, 18% up to 20. You can round 26% up to 30 if you're really feeling creative. But and same thing with the tires. The tires. And you know what the funny part about the tires is? Is that, that like that truck was just kind of a third vehicle for me. It almost never got driven. It had really nice good firestones with lots of tread on them. But they, they've been on there forever.
Steph [00:16:57]:
So they're starting to weather a little. And they could have fairly called the tires as weathered, but they didn't. The tread was totally fine. But they said that all four of them were low on tread and they, yeah, again, objectively, were not low on tread. They didn't have funny uneven wear. They didn't have cupping like that. The tread was fine. But if they, if they wanted to upsell her tires, they could have and should have said, your tires are starting to weather, your tires are starting to crack.
Steph [00:17:32]:
This could be a safety issue. This like, you know, they're put the.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:37]:
Date code or something, right? Like.
Steph [00:17:39]:
Yeah. So, so the fact that they called good pads metal on metal. They called all four tires low tread. And then. Yeah, all this suspension. Ah, the other thing on. There was multiple oil leaks there. There was one leak at the oil pan.
Steph [00:18:03]:
It was like very obvious which gasket it was, where it was coming from, but it was just a one. Nothing else was even sweating. But they called multiple oil leaks and then they wanted time to diagnose that. They also, her high mount light for the box was out and they wanted half an hour to diagnose that, which was a burnt out bulb, which is what it is 99% of the time. But instead of just popping the two screws out and seeing if the bulb was burnt out, they're like, you're going to have to pay us half an hour of labor to diagnose why you don't have a light. So it's just all sorts of like one thing on top of the other. And as I'm going through the truck and as I'm reading through this invoice, I'm just like, no, this is a little excessive.
Jimmy Purdy [00:18:50]:
So I go in each individually. Could be, could be chalked up through. Yeah. All of it together was like, this is just one too many strikes.
Steph [00:19:02]:
Yeah. And I told him when I went in too. I'm like, you know, if it was just the breaks or if it was just one thing, I might assume that like, you know, somebody wrote down a seven, but it looked like a one. And so like the service writer might have gotten confused and. But like it's the entire invoice. There's, there's nothing on here except the one ball joint that I'll give you.
Jimmy Purdy [00:19:35]:
That'S remotely accurate.
Steph [00:19:36]:
Yeah, that, that's yeah, that's remotely accurate. And again, you know, I've. I've brought you the brake pads. Obviously, you know, I'm not, like, bringing you the whole truck, so we're not gonna sit here and argue about whether the suspension is good or not. But, like, you cannot in any world tell me that this brake pad sitting in front of you is metal on metal. And, yeah, he was kind of flustered.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:04]:
How. How did that. When. So I'm gonna commend you for going back in and calling him out. Right. Like, that's. That takes a lot for most people. Most people.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:12]:
And I appreciate a negative review for my shop because it, like, I will never know unless someone back. Right. The problem is 95% of people out there are just like, don't want. Don't have the time or don't even want to deal with the confrontation. Right. They're like, you know what? I'm just going to go ahead and move on with my day. And that doesn't give me the opportunity to fix it. And the one thing I want to do is fix it if I screw up.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:32]:
Right. So I commend you for going back to try to, you know, to show them what went wrong. But how did that look going into the. So when you get back there, were you able to talk straight to the manager or how did that.
Steph [00:20:45]:
So when I went. When I went, it was actually one of the two owners behind the counter. So I just immediately, conveniently. Okay, conveniently walked in and started talking to the owner. And, yeah, it was. It was a. Hey, this is what happened. She brought her truck in for this.
Steph [00:21:04]:
You guys did this. It's. It's not right. And he. Yeah, he had a lot to say that the service writer who did that estimate. Because this was on a Friday. No, sorry, this was on a Monday. And he said, oh, Friday was that service writer's last day here.
Steph [00:21:33]:
So, yes, we can't talk to him. Okay. So then he finds the tech and goes in the back and talks to the tech who called all these things and comes out and says, yeah, the tech is adamant that he didn't call these pads. And then he goes on to say that the tech told him, sometimes the service writers will just make stuff up or like, put stuff on a work order that the text didn't call, which in itself was a pretty big red flag for me that your. Your tech just admitted, apparently, to being aware that the service writers are doing something that I would consider fraudulent. And he didn't seem overly pressed about that. So we kind of went back and forth a little bit. And then I brought up the fact that, you know, I brought all these parts up out of the states to do this and to ship them back across the border.
Steph [00:22:43]:
Like, it, the shipping that I paid to get them up here and the shipping to pay to get them back. First of all, those are expenses that were incurred because you provided false information to a consumer in the course of a consumer transaction. So. And then he, he just immediately said, like, no, I'm not paying for your parts. And to be fair, the, the parts that I pulled up out of the states were only about $150, which I think is like US$100, because, you know, our monopoly money isn't worth anything. So it was, it was like monetarily, it was a super small amount of money for the parts. And like, I'm not asking him to pay me for my time to come out and like, travel up here and do the work and take everything all apart. Like, I just wanted my aunt to not be out the money for the parts.
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:47]:
Sure.
Steph [00:23:47]:
And he said no. He said he was going to get the physical notes that the tech wrote because there's like, you know, the handwritten work order and then what the service writer puts in and call me back. And so he called me back and said, yeah, I found the text notes and I guess he did call those. You know, I've had a chat with him that, you know, if he's going to call something, he needs to be sure about it and blah, blah, blah, whatever, but we're not, we're not paying you for the parts that you bought based on this. And his reasoning when I went in to the shop was kind of like, you need to verify these things before you order the parts. And I don't know if that was specifically because I told him that I am a mechanic and I own my own service truck and I own my own business and like, I'm not just some angry nobody off the street. Like, you know, I understand the industry a little bit. And I don't know if he would have expected anyone to verify before they bought the parts or if he's just holding me more accountable for believing him.
Steph [00:25:05]:
I. But whatever. He wanted to accept no, like, financial responsibility for the losses that my aunt incurred because of the misinformation that they either knowingly or didn't knowingly provide my aunt. And that's what got me. If I'd gone in and said, hey, you guys dropped the ball, this is super not right. And he was like, yeah, Wow. I have no idea how that happened. I'm sorry that happened.
Steph [00:25:37]:
Let's fix it. Let's make it right. Then it would have been a non issue, which is why I didn't just immediately go on the Internet and blast them and post negative reviews and like, because, yeah, you know, sometimes there's mistakes or there's miscommunications and the human element.
Jimmy Purdy [00:25:57]:
Is always a factor in all this stuff. Right, Right. But, but it's also the only way to fix it too is having that. And I think there's a huge lesson here for a lot of people listening.
Steph [00:26:10]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:11]:
Because this, this is a polar, this is a super polarizing subject. And I love that you brought this up because it's, I can, I can hear the negativity and coming from a complete like over a third party, you know, like the 30,000 foot view as I'm viewing this. And I gone down that road before and everyone always wants to step over a dollar to pick up a dime. Right. In the grand scheme of things, 100 bucks. Right. How much did it cost that company to get your aunt in the door, marketing wise? Right. You know what that costs? You know what marketing costs? Every single time that phone rings, it's 40 to $60.
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:49]:
Right. On the low end, like it costs money to have them come in. Right. And he admitted accountability at least. He said, oh yeah, the tech screwed up. But then the ego stepped in and said, but that's as far as I'm taking it. If I give her money, then I'm, then I feel this is my opinion. I'm then admitting 100% fault.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:10]:
I feel like from what you're telling me, he had enough accountability to say, yep, the text screwed up, but he would not point the finger at himself and say, this is my shop and I'm gonna, I'm gonna cop up the money to pay for our mistake. Right. Like he just had enough to say, well, the advisor might have done it. Oh, you know what? It was the tech. And still the ego would not let him admit that it was his shop that screwed up. You know, and that's where that check, that handing you that check would have admitted 100. That he was at fault. And I don't think his ego was going to let him do that.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:40]:
But also I've, I've, I've heard this and I've seen it on all the Facebook, for Facebook posts that I watch and all the other social media stuff. And I see these guys like no refunds. You know, you can't let the Customer dictate your business. And it's like, at the end of the day, the customer is what pays all the bills. Right. And if it would have made you happy to just say, I screwed up, let me pay. Let me pay for those parts. I'll either put them in my stock, I'll buy them from you and put them in my stock, because I'll use them.
Jimmy Purdy [00:28:08]:
Right. Or you know what? I'll just pay them and you keep them, like, even better. Like, it's just. Why is that so hard to, like, conceptualize that? And, like, I don't know. It's just there's so much ego in this industry, especially with the guys I talk to. And it's so refreshing hearing you coming from that aspect of, like, that's all it would have took to make you happy. And it's like, oh, wow, like, we're in the business of fixing cars and fixing people, really? And it's like, that's all it would have took to fix that situation. And he decided not to do it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:28:38]:
It just blows me away.
Steph [00:28:40]:
So on the subject of accountability, I think that. So to your point. Yeah, he did say, oh, yeah, the tech miscalled it. But he then came back and said, things get miscalled. You need to verify. Like, I'm not. This happens all the time where people miscall parts that aren't needed. But if you're the one going to be doing, like, ordering parts, you need to make sure before you order the parts.
Steph [00:29:08]:
That's on you. So in the end, I think he still didn't really like. Yes, he admitted that his tech made a mistake, but he still had trouble admitting that anything that went wrong after it left the shop was caused by them or had anything to do with them.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:29]:
Right.
Steph [00:29:29]:
It's like, yeah, we can give you a quote. Oh, and then. And then they doubled down. I don't know if you saw this part. They doubled down and made a Facebook post saying, well, this was just an estimate for work that would be required in the future, which opens a whole another.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:47]:
Oh, so they were saying it was, like, based on mileage, not on what they saw. I guess that's. Was that the idea?
Steph [00:29:55]:
I don't know what the idea was. Their. Yeah, their wording was just that it was a quote for services that will be required in the future. But at that point, you can just quote a whole new engine and a whole new transmission and.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:07]:
True. Yeah.
Steph [00:30:08]:
So, yeah, they. They unfortunately, really mishandled the situation. And obviously, this isn't the first time this has happened. They, they already have some pretty gnarly Google reviews they've got. I think there's more than one Google review view of a wheel off on the highway, which, yeah, they, they clearly haven't had a great track record so far, but I don't think they've really been held accountable because nothing's really changed. So I'm, I'm hoping that, yeah, this motivates them a little bit. It's unfortunate that it had to play out this way, but sometimes when you're dealing with people like that, it's the only way that there's going to be any sort of change.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:09]:
Yeah. Kind of going over their head in a sense, especially with a corporate structure like that. It's. It's a tough, it's a tough situation. Right. I mean this is, this is like one of the. Another polarizing subject in some of the groups that, that I run with. Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:24]:
And as far as auto shop owners and, and doing the DVIs. Right. The digital vehicle inspections. And it's, it's one of the big things that it looks like we're just trying to upsell a lot of stuff. And it's shops like that that gives that process a bad name. Right. One of the things I like to do is charge for our inspections. That way we're not trying to upsell stuff to make up that lost time.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:49]:
Right. Because if you're doing a free inspection, like, who's getting paid for that? How are we getting paid if everyone in the shop's doing a free inspection? It's the text time. It's the advisor's time to write it up. So immediately the first thing you start thinking of is the advisor is going to start calling out stuff that maybe the tech didn't see just to try to sell that ticket or vice versa. The tech could start calling out stuff. Man, this car is way too clean. Now I got a half hour into this thing. There's nothing to sell, you know, and I'm not going to have any work later today.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:16]:
So they, they start calling out stuff. So we've always charged for it. And I'll pay the text for their time. I pay the advisors for their time. Like, even if we don't sell anything, that's fine. I do not want to go down that. I don't want that possibility there. Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:28]:
So you'll get your time regardless of what you find with the vehicle. I want to make sure the car is just safe. And that's the good part about an inspection. Right. Like, we want to make sure that the vehicle is safe when it leaves. Like, that is the good part about it. But then you have the bad part where you're just trying to find stuff to sell to pad your bottom line. And it's unfortunate that still, in this day and age, there's still shops that are getting away with it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:53]:
Because you think with the social media, with the Internet, with the Google reviews, the Yelp reviews, whatever, you would think that that's not going to happen anymore. And I think that almost makes it worse because a lot of consumers are thinking, there's no way this place can rip me off. Because everything is so transparent. In quotes, it seems like everything's so transparent. And then you add pictures to it. But then you got guys that have a folder, pictures on their computer, and they're just loading pictures in and sending them out, right? Because who actually knows what the underside of their vehicle really looks like, right? So there's that fraud going on too. And it's like, really, in 2024, this stuff is still going on. It just blows me away.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:30]:
And then to not. And then to know that as a shop owner and not just stand behind and say, okay, I'm going to go outside my. My comfort zone here and I'm going to pay you for your parts because we really dropped the ball and screwed up. And that's 100% against the reason why we're doing inspections on the vehicles, right? You gotta look like, look inwards a little bit. Like, why is it that you're inspecting these vehicles? Why is it you're taking the time to do this, to make sure that the. That the client is safe and that they trust you and you lost all that. So, like, just pay up, man. Do whatever it is.
Jimmy Purdy [00:34:04]:
And whether it's pain or, like, taking the time, but, like, if that's what you're asking, it's like, that's what you should get, right? Like, that's what solves this issue here. Why would you go against the grain anymore? It's just watching your videos about that, I'm like, man, I. Like, I get it now because I was that owner that was like, I would never give refunds. We do what we do. The big ego comes in, right? And I'm like, I'm right. They're wrong. Like, this is my shop. I'm not going to let the customer dictate the way I do my.
Jimmy Purdy [00:34:31]:
But then you see the other side of it where you're like, oh, there's people that are actually, like, trying to rip other people off and we have to keep that in the back of my mind. Like we have to make sure we don't even go down that path. Right.
Steph [00:34:46]:
Yeah. And I think there's definitely something to be said. Like it's, it's easy to forget. Like, yeah, I didn't, it didn't cross my mind that like, oh yeah, some artists or some shops are scammy and like maybe this entire invoice and I should really double check like, no, you.
Jimmy Purdy [00:35:02]:
Wouldn'T bought all the parts and you were ready to spend your Saturday afternoon doing the work.
Steph [00:35:07]:
Yeah. And it's, it's easy to forget when you're an honest mechanic in the industry that, that not everybody is that way. Like because your, your default is. No, this is right, this is honest. And so yeah, I'm, I think I need to do that with my customers too where when I you quote them something, especially if it's a more major repair, not just taking pictures and saying like, oh, see, this is what your part looks like. Because some people don't know what a good brake pad looks like compared to a bad brake pad. Very true. And you can even take a part that is completely good and solid.
Steph [00:35:50]:
It's just like rusted or corroded, but like functionally and structurally it's still fine. And then show them a picture of a brand new one that's all shiny and the, the boots all shiny black on the whatever and say like, yeah, this is your old one and this is your new one. The old one is shot and just because it's, you know, like rusty or covered in road salt, they're like, oh yeah, that looks terrible. So sometimes even just showing them photos.
Jimmy Purdy [00:36:17]:
Doesn'T it's not the end all be all right? Like, it's not. Yeah, it's a little more transparent but, but also it still can be manipulated. And I'm like, you, I'm like, that's, that's. People would actually do that. And it's like, yeah, they are right. And it's like you got to be aware of that stuff and know that that's the cus. Because you came in as the customer, right, as the client. So you came in from the other side of the industry, I guess we call it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:36:44]:
Right. And that's how every single person, every new person is coming into all of our shops with that in the back of their mind because that's all they know. And it's, it's really, it is unfortunate that we have such a stigma in the industry that, that as. As a new customer, somewhere in an automotive shop. Your first instinct is that you're being ripped off.
Steph [00:37:02]:
Yep.
Jimmy Purdy [00:37:02]:
Right. But it is. And so we have to do everything in our power to make sure that we are standing behind what we're saying, what we're doing. Right. Like, 100%. And sometimes you screw up. And even though maybe in his mind, it's not that big of a deal. This happens all the time.
Jimmy Purdy [00:37:19]:
Right. This is. And we. You and I both know that, yes, it does happen all the time, but you're not making it right.
Steph [00:37:25]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:37:25]:
You know what I mean?
Steph [00:37:27]:
I'm. I was fine with the fact that they made a mistake. That's why, you know, I didn't go in there screaming and yelling and saying, you know, I lost, like, a whole day's worth of revenue running my truck to be here and to do this. And, like, I want $2,500 compensation because you guys are lying pieces of garbage. Because if somebody came at me like that, if I'd made a mistake, I would. I would immediately get defensive, and, like, rightfully so. But, yeah, it's. What am I trying to get at here?
Jimmy Purdy [00:38:01]:
Well, it's kind of a. It's kind of a fine line between wanting someone to stand behind and be accountable and then just being a money grab. Right? And so that's the biggest thing for me. And I have. I have the same issues in the shop as well, and I appreciate someone coming back and giving me the opportunity to make it right. But I also have people that will just email me, say, I want my money back. You didn't do this job. Right? Like, can I see it? Can you bring it back so we can, like, make this right? Nope.
Jimmy Purdy [00:38:29]:
I just want you to send me a check. Okay. So no. Like. And that's the other side of it, right? Like, that's. That. That's a no for me. Okay? Now, if you want to bring it back, I'm more than willing to, like, have the guys do what they need to do.
Jimmy Purdy [00:38:44]:
I'll go out there personally and do it myself. If I find out that it's beyond. And you don't want me to touch your vehicle after that, I get it. Like, I'll pay you, but you need to come back so we can have a conversation together. And I have people that don't do that. They just want to email me, call me, and just say, I want my money back because you didn't do this alignment. Right. Or whatever.
Jimmy Purdy [00:39:01]:
And it's like, that's. That's not. That's not how this is gonna work. That's not how warranties work. Right. Like, I'm not a corporation. I can get how Amazon can do that and just give you your money back. So there's like the consumerism, right, Where a lot of clients are more of a consumer and they just think everything works like Amazon.
Jimmy Purdy [00:39:18]:
And it's like, no, you definitely need to come back so we can have a conversation. At that point we can figure out what the next step is. So I think that's why what you brought up is such a polarizing topic because a lot of people just want to draw that line in the sand. Right? It's black or white. I mean, they're going to.
Steph [00:39:35]:
Yeah, it's a bit of a double edged sword in that. The, the, the infamous. Ever since like. Yeah, ever since you. Yeah. Put air in my tire, my transmission started making a noise and I get, I get people conflating causation and correlation. Like that's a tale as old as time. But the customer sometimes doesn't know.
Steph [00:40:06]:
Like they might have a legitimately deeply held belief that what they're saying is accurate. And like, sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. But when that customer comes in, they always think that they're accurate. Like, not always, but most of the times when somebody comes to you and says, you know, you screwed this up, they're not doing the tire craft thing. They're not like blowing smoke up somebody's ass there.
Jimmy Purdy [00:40:44]:
Oh yeah, yeah. They truly believe that there's something wrong. They're not there just for their good health.
Steph [00:40:49]:
Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:40:50]:
They're not bringing their vehicle back to you because they have nothing else to do. Well, maybe there might be a small percentage of people have nothing else better to do, but for the most part, you're right. Like they're coming back because they really feel like they were wronged.
Steph [00:41:02]:
And I think that that's also part of why it's so polarizing, especially within the industry is I think a lot of times the customer isn't right, which is like the worst thing that you could possibly say.
Jimmy Purdy [00:41:19]:
Well, it is, but that's okay. Like, I think that's what the main thing here is. Right. They're not always right, but that's okay. Like, and I think a lot of people just take that and then they get upset and then they're, the ego comes in and they're like, see, told you you were wrong. It's like, well, no, just, just clearly communicate and explain the situation so they can better understand it. Not just for you, but for the next service center that Gets to, you know, handle them, like use that as a learning opportunity, right. I think that's lost.
Jimmy Purdy [00:41:51]:
And I'm not going to say I do that every time I have the same problems as everybody else, right? And I have the ego coming away and it becomes all of a sudden becomes a pissing match match, right? And we're like trying to like prove who's right and who's wrong. And it's like, well, hold on a second here. We're the professionals here in the service industry, right? So if we know our craft well enough, we should know it well enough to, to be able to explain, to get someone to understand it, you know? And I think that's, that's a lost art. In this day and age. No one's wanting to take the time to clearly communicate that stuff.
Steph [00:42:23]:
It really is a lost art.
Jimmy Purdy [00:42:25]:
I have a, I'll go off on a little tangent here, but I had a situation with another shop here locally and they did a service on a transmission. And I don't know all the thing, but the main thing is the transmission started slipping, right? Started having issues, okay? And he's like, I think I'm gonna buy a used one. Well, I'm like, dude, just bring it to me. I'm a transmission builder, man. Like, why didn't you just call me like two weeks ago and this started happening? Well, you know, this, that and the other, right? I just didn't want to bother you. I'm like, dude, just give me, just bring it in and so I can just get it done for you. Pull out the trans, bring it to me, I'll put it on the bench, I'll tear it apart, I'll find out what happened. The overdrive clutches were burned up.
Jimmy Purdy [00:43:05]:
So I go through it, I do my thing on it. Well, the valve body, there's, there's a switch, solenoid switching valve. It's on an RFE Trans and a Dodge. And they're super common for the solenoid switch valve to wear out the bore. And it was, it was like severely leaking. It was really bad. So I had to, I had to ream it out, resize the bore, all that stuff. Anyway, I do my thing, put it back together, give it back to him.
Jimmy Purdy [00:43:24]:
Well, the cus. His customer had come to my shop because this is on a Wednesday and he's like, I need to go camping with my family on Friday. They've had my truck for three weeks and I need you to get this transmission done so I can go camping on Friday. So obviously it's like, like take a step back here a little bit. Like, I. I've had about two days so far on this thing, right? And sure, I get it back to him the next day. And I think he, he went on, this was last Friday, so I think he ended up going on his camping trip. Everything's fine.
Jimmy Purdy [00:43:50]:
But I'm explaining to him, you know, like, look, I'm just trying to help my friend out because he. We're all trying to help each other out. This is what we're doing. And so I just wanted to explain to him, hey, look, so what I found kind of indicates that the transmission just kind of failed on its own because he was bad mouthing him, you know, oh, man, I've used him for years. And I can't believe you can just screw up a transmission service like that. I'll never go back to them. I just can't believe he's just not competent. And he's going on and on and on about it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:44:19]:
And I just was like, look, I just want to explain to you what I found, but it's like he just didn't want to hear it, right? And I'm like trying to explain. Like, I don't 100% think that the service is what caused the failure. Like, there was other things that I found that might have contributed to it, right? And it was just interesting how he was just so adamant, even though he was a loyal customer for the last 10 years to this guy, this one mistake, all of a sudden it was like, game over. Like, I'm never coming back there. And then he was like, and you have a really nice shop here, so I think you just picked up a new customer. Like, no, no, no, no. We that, like, I'm going to do this, but I don't want you back here. Like, I had to tell him, like, I'm not, that's not what I'm doing this for.
Jimmy Purdy [00:44:58]:
I'm doing this to help him. And you need to go give him another opportunity because he's paying me to make this right for you. And he did. Like, it was hands down. He was like, he was ready to drop four grand to buy a transmission to put it in there. I'm like, no, bring it to me. I'll help you out, man. I'll rebuild this thing.
Jimmy Purdy [00:45:12]:
I'll get it back to you. And he didn't. He didn't care either, like, which. What happened. He. All he was worried about was getting this guy's truck back to him. Him, right? Like, that's, that's it like the rest of it doesn't matter. I just need to get this transmission fixed and get his truck back to him, and that's all I cared about.
Jimmy Purdy [00:45:26]:
Meanwhile, the customer comes in and he's like, has this, this stigma. Like, he like purposely tried to screw him over. It's like, I don't like, it's just such an interesting thing, right? And I'm like, no, no, you're not coming back here. I'm not picking up a new customer. That's not what, what's going on here. But it's like they didn't want to hear that. They just, they. All he saw was that they did a service, it screwed up the truck, and you fix it now for free.
Jimmy Purdy [00:45:50]:
And I think that's that kind of scenario is what gives us all as owners of automotive industry shops, that stigma is like, want to fight. We just all want to fight and like, prove who's right, who's wrong. You know what I mean? Because it's like, man, I don't think it was what you did, man, to be honest. But none of that matters. You should have enough money in your bank account. You should be charging appropriately so that you can just handle that situation and move on with your day.
Steph [00:46:21]:
I very much agree. And at the risk of entirely taking a stab at our industry and our people, I find people generally don't get into automotive or the trades because they're well adjusted human beings with great people skills, like always exceptions to that very point.
Jimmy Purdy [00:46:41]:
But we're all, we're all, obviously we're all on the spectrum just a little bit.
Steph [00:46:46]:
Just a little, just a little tiny bit. So I think that kind of adds to the industry is the inherent nature of the type of people that like working on big pieces of metal that don't have personalities and you don't have.
Jimmy Purdy [00:46:59]:
We're typically like dog people.
Steph [00:47:02]:
Yeah, yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:47:04]:
We're not like people people.
Steph [00:47:06]:
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So it, it causes some stuff to get lost in translation.
Jimmy Purdy [00:47:14]:
Absolutely. Yeah. And the really interesting part is the shops that do really well are like the corporate ones. And because they have these like really squeaky clean sales guys.
Steph [00:47:25]:
Yeah, they've got the whitest of white collar people just thrown in with us, blue collar weirdos in it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:47:31]:
Right. And some of the best shops are the guys that don't communicate well, but they do fantastic work. Right. But then the shops that actually succeed and do well are kind of like the opposite. And I don't want to, you know, throw anybody under the bus either and say like, it's one or the other. There's a lot of gray in there, but I've noticed that too. And it's a lot of these big corporate firestones. A big one right where they just put a team of really good sales advisors up front to just make people feel good and appreciate.
Jimmy Purdy [00:47:59]:
Oh man, this is really nice. And makes people not even care what's going on in the back of the shop. Right? Like I don't care. I mean they're so nice up front. That's all I care about. And it's really interesting for me over the years to really realize that and like understand it's not. It is about fixing the car. Like that's, that's what we're doing.
Jimmy Purdy [00:48:17]:
We have to fix the car. But it's not all that. It's about right. Like for the longest time I wanted to be the best transmission builder. Like I was going to put all the best stuff in it. I'm going to make sure this thing, you know, never is going to fail. And no one sees it. Like literally no one sees any of that stuff.
Jimmy Purdy [00:48:32]:
And all they care about is they get in the car and it goes down the road and they leave with a smile. And I missed that for so many years. That aspect of it and like having that switch flip and knowing that now, it's like it's changed everything. Like, man. And it's really sad because it's like I really enjoy the craft and I'm sure you do too, right? Like really enjoy getting there and fixing the problem, but it almost like it doesn't matter.
Steph [00:48:58]:
Yeah, I like, I love a good high quality fix with everything done to the like all the T's crossed and all the eyes dotted and like, like everything great and pristine. And it takes, you know, twice as long and it costs twice as much to get like the premium parts. They're going to last twice as long. But at the end of the day, somebody brings something in that's broken and you fix it in a way that's going to make it last a year or you fix it in a way that's going to make it last five years, they don't care you brought. They brought it in broken and it's leaving functioning. It doesn't super like it's. And it's a really unsexy thing to spend money on a transmission rebuild. Like that's like the least sexy way you can spend your money.
Steph [00:49:41]:
So. Yeah, they just, yeah, they, they unfortunately don't see what we see. And it's easy to forget that.
Jimmy Purdy [00:49:53]:
Yeah, in the Face in the face of the companies ends up being either the advisor or the owner, whoever's at the counter. And that's all they, that's all that's perceived from that, from that shop. Not the guys in the back or girls in the back doing the actual work. Right. It's unfortunate, right? But also it's a lot of pressure that's put on that guy up front too to make sure he does the right thing. Like in this instance we were talking about like how hard would it have been just to like a mean to you and just say, hey, you know what, I want to pay for your parts. And because we screwed up, why don't you come in, I'll give you a free oil change, right?
Steph [00:50:28]:
Like yeah, something that has more value to the customer than it does to you because you know, it's just your operational costs at that point. And they seemed to be pretty slow anyways. It wasn't going to be taken away. Whatever.
Jimmy Purdy [00:50:42]:
Too much of the time.
Steph [00:50:43]:
Too much of the. Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:50:46]:
Do you think it's like a fear thing? Like because if you put yourself in that situation or in his shoes and some words was to come back to me and I was just thinking of that right now, like how would that situation kind of unfold for me if that happened, right? Say you hired someone and they screwed up, called out a bunch of stuff and there's almost like a fear based instinct to just try to negate that and try to make it go away instead of just really, really accepting that you made that mistake. Right. Like it comes from that place of fear, right, where you're just too, you're kind of scared to like really fully admit that and then try to capitalize on that in a way. Like, and that's one of the things I like to think about too is try to capitalize on the situations. Like not so much how you, what you do every day, but what do you do when you get knocked down? Like what happens when things go sideways? And I think like giving them a free oil change, give them a free alignment. Like how do I get past this but still retain you as a client?
Steph [00:51:42]:
You know, And I think so that's a super great point that you bring up. And I hadn't considered that, but I think yeah, there might have been this notion in his mind, you know, when I told him that I've got my own company, I run my own service truck, that if he admitted to, you know, the hundred and fifty dollars in parts that he should be liable for, for giving her bad information that he might be opening the door. Like as soon as he admits to that $150, he's admitting to, you know, my call out fee, my hours, the whatever, like that it kind of opens this can of forms maybe, or that that story would get out that he miscalled something and then ended up reimbursing a customer. Because if, if this is not an isolated incident, which I don't think it is, if that were to get out and he sets that precedent now you've got 20 people knocking at your door saying, well, you said I needed this. And then I took it to another shop and they said I didn't need it, where's my refund, where's my whatever? And so it, yeah, it can be a slippery slope. There's.
Jimmy Purdy [00:52:59]:
But isn't that the right thing to, Isn't that like the right thing to do though?
Steph [00:53:03]:
Yeah, I think, I think it is.
Jimmy Purdy [00:53:07]:
Wouldn't that be like the way you'd want to go? But sure. It's all made up scenarios in your mind too, right? Like, is that really what's going to happen? Right. Because you're the only one at the door right now. So just focus on the problems that are immediately in front of you. Right.
Steph [00:53:22]:
Well, and I gave him something to be scared of in the alternative. And this is, this is probably my favorite part about this whole story is, yeah, I've got this TikTok account. I ended up before I started my company, switched companies and kind of stopped making mechanic content. But I knew I'd still had this account that been dormant for however long. And I told this guy, I'm like, look, if you don't want to make this right, that's fine, I will make it right my own way. But you're not going to like how I choose to make it right. Like I have a social media account with like a half decent sized following. I can post this story and you can have the negative publicity around it and that will cost you significantly more than $150.
Steph [00:54:19]:
And I think I told him that, you know, if I posted a video, it would probably get like a million to a million and a half views, which generally, you know, I'll get maybe 200,000 views. And so I just completely inflated the number just to like scare the bejesus out of him and be like, look, just make it right, it's not going to go well for you. And so I posted this expecting that I might get like 100,000 views, even though I told him it would be well over a million and then I woke up the next day and it was already at 200,000, and now it's at almost. Now it's at almost 3 million. So I completely BSed to this guy, and I was like, I'm gonna make you super famous. And then I walked away like, oh, no. And it ended up panning out better than I anticipated anyways. But, I mean, and you shouldn't have to, like, you shouldn't have to be scared that, you know, you've stepped on the wrong toes and that somebody that has the ability to make you faint, like, you should just do the right thing, regardless of who it is.
Steph [00:55:26]:
Whether it's, you know, a senior citizen that lives at home and knows, like, three people that they ever talk to, or whether it's somebody that has reach and can reach hundreds of thousands of people.
Jimmy Purdy [00:55:37]:
Oh, absolutely. Yeah.
Steph [00:55:38]:
But sometimes, yeah, with a certain type of person, that's the only thing that will motivate them. And I don't know if he thought that I was bluffing or what, but.
Jimmy Purdy [00:55:50]:
Well, it's.
Steph [00:55:51]:
I feel like that should have frightened him a little anyways.
Jimmy Purdy [00:55:53]:
Yeah. Well, it's one of those things, too, where. And you've probably dealt with this, too, with. With being held ransom over a negative review. And it's one of the things that really drives me crazy. Right. And if it comes to that, then it's like, write your review because you know what Google, the Google algorithm likes when you're at a 4.8, not a 5. So I could use a couple negative reviews.
Jimmy Purdy [00:56:15]:
And I know that's pretty egotistical to say it like that, but it is. Sometimes it's like being held. Being held ransom over a negative review. It's another thing that's not black and white. Right. Like, sometimes they're out of line. Like, what are you talking about? Like, why. Why do you have to threaten me to get what you want over a negative review? Like, it's obviously not going to work out.
Jimmy Purdy [00:56:38]:
Like, so when you bring that up, it's obviously kind of sets the tone of, like, where it sounds like the other way, right? Where you're, like, trying to get in there and you're trying to hold someone ransom over the fact that, like, you're gonna take this and you're gonna make. Give them negative publicity or else. Right. But there's a lot more nuances to the story. Right? Like, they were actually wrong. Like, there was actually wrongdoing in that situation. Right. And a lot of the time there isn't.
Jimmy Purdy [00:57:05]:
And people will use that. You know, Yelp. I'm gonna put you on Yelp. Or, you know, if you. If you don't give me my money back, then. Then you'll hear about me on Yelp. It's like, really, man? Like, that's what. That's.
Jimmy Purdy [00:57:15]:
That's what we're using in this day and age. Like, you can't just come have a conversation, but you went and had a conversation and tried to make it right, and the next best step was that. So I know it seems like if someone's listening, like, it sounds like you were doing that, like, as one of those. Let's call them the bad customers or where they call them bottom feeders that go in there. But it's like, that's not the situation at all. You know, you were using it appropriately to try to get. Make sure that, like, the next one in line, someone's mom, someone's grandma, someone's aunt, doesn't. Doesn't get ripped off.
Jimmy Purdy [00:57:49]:
Like, that's the main thing here, right?
Steph [00:57:51]:
Yeah, there's. There's people that use negative reviews as a shield, and there's people that use negative reviews as a sword. Like, some people just want to take a stabilizer.
Jimmy Purdy [00:58:02]:
Nice. Nice analogy.
Steph [00:58:04]:
Yeah, some people want to, you know, protect other people. And, yeah, there's. You can see patterns in reviews if there's a stellar shop and then one negative review and you can tell that this person's just unhinged and off their rocker. And I love. Nothing brings me greater joy when there is a Karen customer that's trying to use a negative review as a sword and goes on, like, Facebook or something and makes this post about how awful this company was, and everyone immediately sees right through it and sees what's happening. And it's like, you know, a local business and everybody knows and loves this business, and the OP just gets drug through the comments. So, I mean, there is a little bit of natural justice in court of public opinion to kind of, you know, wean out the legitimate negative reviews from the. I'll call them illegitimate negative reviews.
Jimmy Purdy [00:59:02]:
Well, it's what. And it's like, what you're trying to accomplish, like, doing all what you're doing with this situation, like, what is the why behind it? Or what's. What is it that you're trying to make sure that is communicated to the shop?
Steph [00:59:16]:
It's. It's not about communicating to the shop so much at this point. Like, I tried to communicate to the shop, anything that was communicated to them kind of after I posted was by proxy. The reason for Making this specific story public is because I learned a long time ago that if you see something that's not right and you don't say or do something about it, you're partially liable when it happens to the next person. Like, if you just take the easy way and are like, oh, I don't want a confrontation, I don't want to deal with it. All you're doing is passing the buck to the next person because the same thing is going to happen. So, yeah, this wasn't so much for the company as it was for anybody else that. Yeah.
Steph [01:00:28]:
Might fall victim to the same scenario.
Jimmy Purdy [01:00:31]:
Right. Yeah. Someone's got to stop the pattern. And it's like that.
Steph [01:00:37]:
Okay, I'll throw one caveat in there. I forgot about this part. There was one part that was meant to communicate a giant middle finger to tirecraft, and that was I'd gone on Amazon after. Yeah, after the video really started to take off. I'm like, oof, this is definitely going to affect business for them because they're still like, I try to be nice and reasonable and cooperative and mature and professional, but every once in a while the cheeky, petty stuff still comes out. And so I went on Amazon and I bought the most recent version. I bought the most recent version of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency act of Canada and had that shipped to them. So the message to the shop in that was, you know, so I.
Steph [01:01:38]:
In all fairness, I need to clarify that part.
Jimmy Purdy [01:01:41]:
Nothing like a little. A little jab to the side, I guess they call it. Right. There you go.
Steph [01:01:47]:
Yeah. A little immature, but also for the fun of it. Also hilarious. I mean, I needed to have my phone in all of this.
Jimmy Purdy [01:01:55]:
Yeah. If you can't have any fun with it, then what's the real purpose? You know? But, yeah, but, but to, to your point of like making sure the next one in line is not affected, I think. And you being in, you know, a service professional in the industry, like, it's important that you bring it up to. And I, when we started this, I appreciate when someone comes and tells me or leaves me a negative review and gives me the opportunity to make it right. Like, that allows me to make sure that I don't screw up again. Right. And so that's the idea behind it. And it's like, whether it's an employee or a business or a vendor or a salesman, like, I got guys come in that try to sell stuff to me all the time.
Jimmy Purdy [01:02:32]:
I'm like, look, man, you need to email it to me. Right. And it's like they get persistent and I'm like, look, if you need to sell it to me this bad, it probably means that no one else is buying it. Right? So then I don't want it like, and just having these conversations and just being blunt and honest about it, it's important. And it's probably hard from your position as a woman because it comes off totally different than when a man does it. Right. And my wife has that same problem. It's like she's very straightforward and blunt about some stuff and it's taken in a completely negative connotation.
Jimmy Purdy [01:03:03]:
And I don't know if this had any effect of like your situation when you went in there, but watching your video, you're very calm about it. It wasn't like you were yelling or screaming, you weren't demanding for a lot of stuff. So I couldn't imagine that was the vibe that they got off from it. But it doesn't matter. Regardless, call people out, tell people how it is, be straightforward about it and, and make sure the next one in line doesn't either have to deal with that or those kinds of businesses slowly fade away. And I don't know if your bankruptcy thing that you sent May might have put them in that. In that. But we don't want anybody to, you know, go bankrupt.
Jimmy Purdy [01:03:41]:
Right. Like, and your heart of hearts, like you can't, I couldn't imagine you actually want to see them and their families fail and like suffer. Right. You just want to make sure that they don't do that again. Right. Like that's the main goal here.
Steph [01:03:52]:
No, and I'm sure, I'm sure the guy that I talked to is great as a technician. Like I'm sure that he like give him something and he can fix it and everything's good and hunky dory there. But as far as owning a business and being customer facing and solving issues like this, I think that, you know, he needs to not be the person that owns the business that's responsible for these things. So yeah, like, I don't want, you know, to see his whole life fall apart by any means, but I don't think that that business should exist in the structure that it does.
Jimmy Purdy [01:04:36]:
Yeah. Conducting itself the way it is, Right?
Steph [01:04:38]:
Yeah. You need those like shiny white collar fancy sales people that you talked about.
Jimmy Purdy [01:04:46]:
Well, conduct yourself as professionals, you know, and just, and for those listening, like sometimes just give it up. Right. Like, don't be so hard headed when you make a mistake, you know, and that's one thing, a lesson that I'm learning this morning talking to you, there's one more thing that's reinforcing that for me is just make it right. You know, in the grand scheme of things, you're talking about refunding 150, $200, $300. Even in the grand scheme of a year long in revenue, you should have no problem just making that situation right. If you're charging appropriately and you're doing what you need to do, like just make it happy and put your ego away for five minutes and look at the bigger picture. And sometimes for me, it's looking at like the numbers. And like I said with, with marketing, like 60 bucks to get that person to call your shop and come in.
Jimmy Purdy [01:05:40]:
Right. How many people, especially now with your platform, how, how many people are, how much money is it going to cost now that you got, you know, 3 million people looking at this video and not going to go to that shop? Like, the impact there is, I mean, that's too much math for me to do on the fly, but it's definitely an expensive hit. Right over 100, 199 or 200, whatever it is you were asking that you. They were clearly wrong about. So I don't know, it's. I draw the line in the sand when they don't give me the opportunity to make it right. Like, if you don't want to come back, give me the opportunity, then, then I'm not, I'm not doing anything for you. But if you come back, we screwed up.
Jimmy Purdy [01:06:19]:
It's time to open my checkbook up a little bit more and say, look, I really screwed up here. I'm going to do this or this for you to make it right. Because that's what it's about. You know, especially now in the economy that we're in, you're probably not having too much better up there, but it's not, not the greatest state of affairs for us in the, in the States now with the election and everything going on. So anything you can do to help people give back is, is important.
Steph [01:06:45]:
Yeah. And I think it's not always just about the checkbook either. And yeah, a lot of people just want money back or they want a discount or whatever. But I think there's also something to be said about just acknowledging because he kind of acknowledged, but then he kind of spit it back at me. If he, if he had just said like, I'm really, truly sorry that this happened. This is like unbelievable to me that this happened. And he was just profusely apologetic, but was like, you know, I understand that you bought these parts that. And you have all these, like, shipping charges and whatever.
Steph [01:07:27]:
And, like, I would really love to help you, but I just can't, like, I just can't reimburse you for that for a whole bunch of reasons. But I am, like, so super, incredibly sorry. That might have even been enough for me to be like, okay, like, you know this. Like, you truly have remorse over this. You feel bad. Something is going to change. Yeah. Money.
Steph [01:07:55]:
Money is good and quick and easy as a solution, but sometimes there's other solutions for whatever that's worth to whoever's worth.
Jimmy Purdy [01:08:05]:
I think that's a lot harder for.
Steph [01:08:08]:
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. That's. And that's.
Jimmy Purdy [01:08:10]:
Yeah, for us guys, that's really hard. I'd rather just. Everything you just said sounded really hard.
Steph [01:08:15]:
No, you know, it's true, though. It's so true that, like. But yeah, if there's somebody out there that's like, really super stingy that just, like, refuses to give refunds or discounts or whatever. Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [01:08:30]:
Be genuine about it, you know?
Steph [01:08:32]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [01:08:33]:
You know, be genuinely apologetic.
Steph [01:08:36]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [01:08:37]:
But again, it's probably easier just to pay.
Steph [01:08:40]:
Probably.
Jimmy Purdy [01:08:42]:
Well, I appreciate you to telling your story. This is. This is awesome. And if you're looking at that, Tool Girl, is your handle on Instagram. Tick Tock.
Steph [01:08:53]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [01:08:54]:
You're on Tick Tock, right? Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that Tool Girl. Check out the video, check out the story. You got any updates coming for us on this whole debacle or are we.
Steph [01:09:05]:
No, I think the. The waters have kind of smoothed over. They might come back at me with litigation down the road for who knows what. But it's kind of been radio silence for the last little bit. I haven't. Haven't really heard anything. They haven't actually. I don't know if they've posted anything more on Facebook because they blocked me.
Steph [01:09:28]:
But, yeah, I don't think there's. There's too much more coming down the pipe, but I will definitely immediately go to TikTok. If anything new and exciting happens.
Jimmy Purdy [01:09:38]:
We'll go like. And add her on your TikTok. Follow so that you can get any updates. Because the last time I was watching it, I thought it was going to litigation. I'm like, oh, we're going. Oh, this is going to get good. This is like watching Court tv. Here we go.
Jimmy Purdy [01:09:52]:
Everyone's worst nightmare. We've got to go to court over this. That sounds terrible.
Steph [01:09:58]:
Sounds like fun to me, but I'm a little mentally unwell that way.
Jimmy Purdy [01:10:03]:
Aren't we all. Thanks again for your time. It was good to have you.
Steph [01:10:08]:
Thank you so much for having me.