Hunters Woods Exxon

Fred brought in his MERCEDES and requested the battery to be checked/recharged and the charging system to be rechecked. We load tested the battery, did a complete check on the starting and charging systems and recharged the battery followed by another load test. That consumed a standard 1.5 technician hours totaling $178. (No problems were found other than a dead battery due to a light the owner left on) When Fred and his wife came in to pick up the vehicle, Fred's wife said she did not have enough money or capability to be able to pay $178. When I asked Fred if he thought any work and diagnosing on his car would be free he said Autozone would have done the same thing for free but we were more convenient and he wouldn't need to remove the battery to be recharged. I told him we have to charge for what we do because it costs money to be open and my technicians only get paid by doing work we can bill the customer for. He then replied that it should only have cost something like $35 for the convenience. I said that doesn't even make it worthwhile to have opened the hood on his car and for that small of an amount I would have refused the vehicle. He and his wife got loud and were making a scene in the cashier area so I reduced the bill to $35 (which also means my technician only gets $10 for his 1.5 hours of time spent on the vehicle) so that they could "afford" to pay the bill and then invited them to take their business elsewhere in the future. Fred's wife even expressed that she didn't care about my tech not getting paid for his time spent even though I explained that she was essentially taking food off of his table.

"Just because you can buy a Mercedes doesn't entitle you to special privileges and free service. Nor does it mean that you are better than anyone else"...Unknown

Mark Reichard
Service Manager