When it was Bailey's we had a great experience. So...

When it was Bailey's we had a great experience. So I figured I would take our other vehicle there...Bailey retired and sold the business to one of the employees I gathered. Mike Thompson talks a great talk. Unfortunately he needs to work on his business practices and professionalism. Not saying that they do not do good work, they do great body and paint work, but either they are still learning the ropes or just haven't developed the skills to run the business side yet. We have bent over backwards trying to accommodate their schedule on several occasions because we wanted the work done there. But, this last experience means we unfortunately will have to have the work done elsewhere.

* Dropped vehicle off in October on a Friday. Mike's mother calls me on the following Monday to say they are not going to be able to paint the vehicle due to an employee's family problems necessitating a leave of absence so they didn't know when they would be able to do the vehicle. So they put it back together and we pick up the vehicle and after talking with them agree to check back to see if they are are able to schedule at a later date.

*A few weeks later we check in with Mike to see if his labor problems have been resolved or not. We go by the shop to talk with him and his sister talks with Mike and she says he told her to have us drop the vehicle off on 29th of November. Both my wife and son heard them confirm the date and even watched them look it up on the calendar. They agreed to have us drop it off that Friday and would have a loaner for us.

*Show up 11/29 to drop off vehicle. Mike's sister says she doesn't see us on the drop off schedule and they don't have a loaner available. I don't know if she "forgot" to put it in the book or what, but she proceeded to basically hide for the next 20 minutes a few feet away out of sight..only reason we knew she was still there was a parts guy making a delivery looked behind the wall to find her standing there.... about 15 minutes later Mike shows up and says he doesn't know why we are there. That they don't have us on the schedule and don't even know when they could put us on the schedule. His sister (still hiding) would have put us on the book if they had scheduled something. I explained his sister was the one who told us he said to schedule the 29th and he says that's not possible. C'mon...we didn't pick the date...you guys did...but now both he and his sister deny it like my wife and son are going to make it up? I asked Mike if they just didn't want to do the vehicle to let us know instead of repeatedly putting us off. He said they did but again at this point could not do it at all in December because he was having a baby. Look, I'm not heartless, but that has nothing to do with us or our vehicle. At this point he suggests we call back in January to see if something comes open or not. Gotta say Mike, overall... very unprofessional. A few tips from someone dealing with customer service businesses for almost 30 years(Not that I know it all, but I've see a lot)

* Don't accept work without being sure you can do it.

* Don't make promises you can't keep.

* Put it in writing...so there's no room for confusion or misunderstandings.

* If you make a mistake...admit it. Everyone is human and makes mistakes, but don't pretend it never happened or basically call the customer a liar.

*Make time- if a repeat customer has tried to schedule with you for three months and now you tell them to wait a fourth month just to wait and see...don't. Either commit to a schedule and stick to it no matter what...or tell the customer to walk. You think they are going to get mad and see it as rude? I'm much more upset wasting 4 months and taking time off of work only to be repeatedly stalled and disrespected.

"Doug"