What Would Dan Druff Do? - Employee Vomit Edition
Apologies if this is a bit tl;dr, but I value the opinions of Druff and this community when it comes to customer service disasters.
So my sister had a weird experience getting her oil changed and car washed. She sent the following letter to the owner, but never received a reply
Quote:
To Whom it May Concern:
On Tuesday, November 19, 2013 I took my vehicle to the ****** Car Wash on ***** ********* Street around noon to have my oil changed. When the car was finished with its service, the employees of ***** put my vehicle through their complimentary car wash and delivered my car to me.
When I got back in my car I noticed an unusual smell but I ignored it. However, the next day the pungent smell could not be ignored and I went as far as to asking a coworker if they could also identify the smell in my car. My coworker obliged and climbed into my car and confirmed what I had been thinking---it smelled like vomit.
I called the ****** Car Wash and asked to speak to the General Manager. When I got a hold of Roy, I explained the situation to him. He began questioning me, Did I leave my car outside? Are there cats in my neighborhood? Did I have my carpets shampooed? I insisted that an animal had not died in my engine and that the smell was not there before my car had been serviced, and he replied that there was nothing he could do without seeing my car. I said I would bring my car in on my lunch break, again.
When I arrived at ****** this afternoon, I told the young woman at the front desk that I wanted to speak with Roy, and she said he was on the phone. I said I would wait outside. After waiting outside for ten minutes, I go back inside and Roy is speaking to one of his employees in his office. The young woman then goes into the office to tell Roy I am waiting, and he walks right by me but as I am making eye contact with him, he stops and says, "Are you the one with the Corolla?" I said Yes and he begins walking outside.
First, Roy opens the car door and sticks his head inside. He says he cannot smell anything. Then he asks for the keys and says he wants to drive the car around with the AC on. He does this, and when he gets out of the car he says that he can smell exhaust and he believes I have an exhaust leak. I tell Roy that I know what those fumes smell like, and I know those are there, but the smell I was referring to is not that one. He then has one of his employees get in the car, and asks him if he can smell anything. I begin to tell Roy that I had my coworker also get in the car and he said he could smell vomit too. Roy's response was, "I don't care about your coworker. Your coworker isn't here." At this point, I realized that Roy was more interested in disproving my claim then trying to understand what had happened.
I told Roy that I wanted a refund because I was going to have to take my car to a professional car wash to have the interior cleaned to extract the vomit smell. He then accused me of trying to get him to wash my car for free. I asked him, "Why would I want you to wash my car again when the last time you did it came back smelling like vomit?" Our conversation became increasingly argumentative as I tried to hold my ground because he would not accept for a moment that his business may have caused the smell in my car. He said that his employees did not vomit in my car. I told him I never said that (although, as my father pointed out, how does Roy know? Was he watching them?) but I did suggest that maybe dirty rags were used to wipe the interior. Roy then goes to another employee and gets rags from that employee, and brings them to me and says, "Look, *******, these are the rags we use." I told him that him showing me those rags did not prove anything, that all I knew for a fact was that my car did not smell the way it did before it was serviced at ******.
Then, Roy tells me, "I don't mean to be....but..your car is dirty." I replied, "Now you're just insulting me." He replied, "As I said, I don't mean to cause offense." No matter what Roy could have followed up with, the damage was done. I found the mere insinuation that my car was dirty incredibly insulting and hurtful. He mentioned there were stains on the floorboards and suggested that if "maybe I cleaned the stains out" the smell would go away. I reminded Roy, again, that the car did not smell that way before I brought it to ****** but he would not accept what I had to say.
Roy's demeanor and attitude towards me was profoundly more offensive than the smell of vomit in my car. Not for one moment did relent and give me the benefit of the doubt that perhaps what I was saying was true. Instead, he continually belittled and degraded me not just in front of his employees but in front of other customers.
Sincerely,
******* *******
Feeling helpless and defeated, she suggested that I write a song about the ordeal. I don't think that would solve anything and probably wouldn't make for a very good video anyway. But I'm not sure what else to advise her to do about this. Aside from leaving a bad Yelp review, I'm not sure that she has any recourse.
Druff, has anyone ever vomited in your car? How would you handle someone like Roy?
*not giggling*
