I used to have car porters that loved to give advice over the phone

In most cases they could even give it in the caller's native tongue

The question is always the same "Is there someone there that can help me with a repair question?"

If a tech is not specified, none is needed

I never give advice over the phone unless someone is stranded trying to get their car started so they can bring it to me for repair. I will offer any tricks I know to help. I will not help do it yourselfers unless they have already purchased something from me and they are having problems. I have been doing this for a long time. The fastest way to get rid of a time waster is to ask: "would you like to make an appointment to have your car looked at? " that will usually flush out the non profitable customers from the good ones. Remember, that 80% of your problems will come from about 5% of your customers. So it is important to do your best to get and keep good customers.

Steve Hixson

For me,
Most of my tech's are field service,
( they're not in the shop to take calls)
I field those types of calls.

If they describe a problem, and
you're exactly shure what it is,
I'll tell them what to look for.

Otherwise,
vague questions get vague answers.

It seems like, most of the time,
they're not giving you the whole story,
and you end up "chasing your tail".

I'll give out spec's, fax/ e-mail repair procedures,
even to my competition, as long as the'll do the
same when I need info from them.

Its simple, we don't do diag's over the phone. Just like doctors, we have to see the patient. Now if its another shop we deal with, I will help if I can but I still won't try to diag a complex problem via phone line.

When I used to own a powersports business, if the question was not one we could easily answer over the phone, I would ask the caller for a credit card number and tell them I would bill them at our standard hourly rate. When they hesitated (which they all did) I would politely explain that's how we stay in business, we charge for repairs. Most were very understanding. The ones that don't, you probably don't want anyway.

Well said.

I too always tried to help other shops..Never had a problem with that

Users are sure to find in repair pst and email repair tool, simple yet versatile, to solve potential problems and stay in control of personal data.

If it's a good customer or friendly shop,I'll help.The others,I tell 'em to put the phone by the car so I can hear it !! Most say "really?"Ofcourse it always sounds like a "muffler bearing" problem.BOB

I can tell you that as a customer I called around some boat shops when I got my new 525efi and wanted to talk to a tech to find out if they had worked on any. When the service advisor would not let them talk, I just kept calling till I found someone and was comfortable and than I traveled to THAT town to have my boat worked on. I think there is different kinds of customers. car or boat people and than there is just customers. I'm in the first category. I don't want some dumb ass kid salesman telling me my car probably needs a muffler bearings so I will need to leave for the day to be checked.