23 Point Safety Checks

The best mechanic is the one that does a good job when your car isn't broken. He calls you and suggests a weld on your muffler to save you a hundred and stay on the road. He calls you to tell you that it was a wire to your tail light and it'll be $20. Of course sometimes he calls and it's the master cylinder that needs to be replaced or that both sets of brakes need to be fixed. But it's the time he calls to say that they checked out my "engine service" light and the only reason it went on is that the sensor was dusty - so they cleaned the sensor and my engine is fine - it's because sometimes it is not a problem that I believe him when he tells me that it is.

There was a lame article in the newspaper this morning about customer service. But after I got off with the phone with my mechanic who is charging me a minimal fee for cleaning a sensor and an oil change, I thought about how important customer service can be, but I don't mean cheery and overly friendly. By customer service I mean that I want the truth and I want to trust what people say when they are talking about something that I don't know anything about.

The thing is that this garage is downtown near a lot of offices and near the University and I am sure they have tons of business - they don't need mine. They don't send me Christmas cards or give me calender. They don't do 23-Point Safety Checks to tell me that my cupholder is broken, when I brought it in since the tail light doesn't work. They have never offered me "free" coffee. The place is greasy and the guy who runs the register is the same one who works on my car. They just give me the truth about my car and I really appreciate that. That's customer service.