I apologize for this bit of rant, but today, for some reason, I’m feeling a bit grumpy. As a REALTOR, we get our cars washed somewhat frequently. For me it’s every 7-10 days, depending on the weather and my appointment schedule.
At one time, I had a great car wash I really liked. The line manager was there almost every day I went, he knew me, knew what I wanted, and made my visit to get my car washed a pleasure. I recall once coming back a second day in a row, due to bird droppings on my hood. He hadn’t seen the bird droppings when I dropped the car off, and assumed I was back because the car wasn’t clean enough. After the car was washed this second time, I offered him a tip which he flat refused. I explained about the bird poop, and he still refused it. Today I relish finding companies of any type that work as well as that old car wash did.
These days, what drives me away is how aggressive the up-selling and side-selling is. If I ask for “The Works”, they’ll ask if I want the car detailed. If I get gas, they’ll ask if I need an oil change. And because my windows aren’t tinted, nearly every trip results in the tint guy coming over and trying to sell tint. Add to that the door ding and cracked window guys and I can be approached by 4 or 5 different sales people before I can get to the cashier to pay for my $15 car wash.
Just down the street from my office, a new Scottsdale Auto Salon car wash is being built. I can only hope that the owners that have decided to name their car wash business an “Auto Salon” have a more relaxed sales approach in mind. If they do, they’ll have a customer for life.
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