Service Cleanliness

Just a poll: How many of you find it important to get your car back from
the mechanic in clean condition? If you got your car back and the seats or
mats were greasy or stained, would you care? Is it Important that the shop
covers your seats and floors so the mechanic doesn't get them dirty or is a
"little dirt" acceptable"?

--
marx404

NO,it's not acceptable! the car came in clean and should come back clean.

> Just a poll: How many of you find it important to get your car back from
> the mechanic in clean condition? If you got your car back and the seats or
> mats were greasy or stained, would you care? Is it Important that the shop
> covers your seats and floors so the mechanic doesn't get them dirty or is
> a
> "little dirt" acceptable"?

No dirt - especially grease - is acceptable. Mine washes the car so it
generally come back cleaner than it went in.

Had them get grease on the seats once. I went back in, found the service
manager who took my work order to find the mechanic's name (number), and he
went out and fetched the mechanic who came up front and cleaned it up. I
could tell on the guy's face he was more than ****ed about doing it though.

B~

Honestly, I would have to be bleeding out of my eyes to go to a mechanic for
any form of service. If I found grease on the interior as well as exterior
(fenders & front end), I would prolly go to the service manager also. I
wouldn't make a scene but I'm sure the bill would be shaved.

Mike

"marx404" > writes:

> If you got your car back and the seats or mats were greasy or stained,
> would you care?

Yes, that's definitely worth complaining about.

> Is it Important that the shop covers your seats and floors so the
> mechanic doesn't get them dirty or is a "little dirt" acceptable"?

Nothing that takes more than a few seconds to remove is acceptable IMHO
- for instance, I don't mind if they leave in the 'clean' paper sheets
they put down in there, because I can throw them away myself in a jiffy.

I care less about exterior parts where, for example, if they've done an
alignment or something, I might notice that the wheels are grimier than
they went in, but I don't mind so much about that because they get dirty
from the road anyway.

-- Mark

On Tue, 13 Jun 2006 07:29:49 -0400, marx404 wrote:

> Just a poll: How many of you find it important to get your car back from
> the mechanic in clean condition? If you got your car back and the seats or
> mats were greasy or stained, would you care? Is it Important that the shop
> covers your seats and floors so the mechanic doesn't get them dirty or is a
> "little dirt" acceptable"?

I'd go fecking ballistic if I had dirty seats after a garage visit. Here
they use the protective paper seat covers for the inside. I can't see why
anything should come back dirty. Today's cars aren't dripping with
lubricant and any messes can be wiped up promptly.

Now if you were running steam locomotives, that would be dirty!

I had my car in for transmission change last winter (too cold to do it
myself) and when I got my car back the seat was pulled as far ahead as it
would go, there were greasy hand prints all over my fenders and the best
part, there were cigarette ashes in my cup holders and all around my
shifter. If someone wants to take a smoke break they can go do it in their
own f**king car.
When I got in my car and saw this I immediately went in to the owner of the
shop and he didn't seem too concerned so I told him I was done using them
and I would never recommend them to anyone again.

My main pet peave is that they ALWAYS leave the seat ahead. I'm 6 ft and
over 300lbs so when I go to get in my car and all of a sudden I'm wedged
between the seat, wheel and door frame I get a little frustrated (usually
because I just smacked the side of my head on the door frame). The good
thing is that I'm starting to get used to it so I usually remember to pull
the seat back first.

Sad thing is I rented a Caravan a few weeks ago and kept hitting my head
getting into that too. And every time I got out I jabbed the seatbelt guide
into my ribs (not sure who decided that was a good placement idea). A few
times I even hit my head on the DVD display built into the ceiling between
the front seats(and yes it was closed). Made me think even a minivan isn't
built for larger people.

Sorry I got off topic there but once I start to rant it's hard to stop.
Hopefully at least some of you got a chuckle out of it.

"marx404" > wrote in message
...
> Just a poll: How many of you find it important to get your car back from
> the mechanic in clean condition? If you got your car back and the seats or
> mats were greasy or stained, would you care? Is it Important that the shop
> covers your seats and floors so the mechanic doesn't get them dirty or is
> a
> "little dirt" acceptable"?
>
> --
> marx404
>
>
>

In article >,
says...
> Just a poll: How many of you find it important to get your car back from
> the mechanic in clean condition? If you got your car back and the seats or
> mats were greasy or stained, would you care? Is it Important that the shop
> covers your seats and floors so the mechanic doesn't get them dirty or is a
> "little dirt" acceptable"?

Where does this greese oil and dirt come from? A lot of times from the
external surfaces of the area's being serviced. It helps out a great
deal when the cars "owner" hoses down more than just the cars body. Hose
out the damn engine compartment and wheel wells now and then! Grrrr...
Though it's also nice when the shop owner actually invest in interior
coverings and latex gloves.

No ONE should ever smoke in your car. Make a note saying so and tape it
to the steering wheel for added insurance. Also if in doubt cover
everything yourself...

Glad to see I'm not eccentric, like some of these dolts want me to believe.
I keep my SC2 spotless including the engine compartment. That way, if
something leaks I know about it. Anyways, I am appalled with the mentality
of the new shop at the place I transferred to. The old shop and every other
Saturn shop I have been to always covers the seats and puts floor mats down
before the car ever enters into the bay.

This place covers nothing. No mats, no plastic visqueen covers. Their
mentality is if it gets dirty (which duh, it will) they have "a process" in
which they will clean the car up afterwards. Now don't confuse that with the
complimentary car wash after service, this is solely a CYA clean-up in
addition to that to remove grease from seats and floors AFTER the mechanic
has grimed the car up, (to save money on paper mats and visqueen seat
covers). Then the standard complimentary car wash. WTF????

Have any of you had a Saturn dealer shop do this? I don't think there are
many out there who practice such ethics and I am not a believer in
Collateral Damage if ya know what I mean. Not how I want my families cars
treated, definitely not how I treat my customers.

Anyways, what's this rant about? I just came from a top-notch Saturn
dealership where this was never an issue. Car in clean - car clean while
being worked on - car out cleaner than when brought in.

So, my mother buys a used car from this dealership. A Beautiful light tan
interior, in near perfect condition considering it was used. I had to bring
it in for a minor repair the next day. An hour after I put it in the shop,
our insurance agent asks me to get the buyers guide. Its in the glove box,
so I go into the garage to get it. No seat covers, no mats. I figure ok, I'm
sure the mechanic is clean. Nope! a big fat black grease stain on the seat,
one on the rug and floor mats and the steering wheel is greasy.

I was coolheaded but went to the Mgr. and asked him to take care of if asap
before the stain set in. 5 hours later, I am given back the car with the
seats sopping wet and just as dirty. I went ballistic. The Mgr. had the nads
to tell me that I am the only one who has complained about this and that I
interrupted their cleanup procedure, that its normal for a car to get greasy
then they clean it up afterwards. Did I have stupid written on my forehead
or is he insinuating that people in this area simply don't care?

His explanation was that it is cheaper to replace owners seats and rugs than
to simply cover them up so that they don't get damaged in the first place.

Great, I cant wait to take my pristine leather seats into him to get them
slopped with grease then returned back to me stinking of orange cleaner.
Please help me, I am in bizzarroland.

marx404

In article >,
says...

> This place covers nothing. No mats, no plastic visqueen covers. Their
> mentality is if it gets dirty (which duh, it will) they have "a process" in
> which they will clean the car up afterwards. Now don't confuse that with the
> complimentary car wash after service, this is solely a CYA clean-up in
> addition to that to remove grease from seats and floors AFTER the mechanic
> has grimed the car up, (to save money on paper mats and visqueen seat
> covers). Then the standard complimentary car wash. WTF????
>
> Have any of you had a Saturn dealer shop do this? I don't think there are
> many out there who practice such ethics and I am not a believer in
> Collateral Damage if ya know what I mean. Not how I want my families cars
> treated, definitely not how I treat my customers.
>
> Anyways, what's this rant about? I just came from a top-notch Saturn
> dealership where this was never an issue. Car in clean - car clean while
> being worked on - car out cleaner than when brought in.

It cost less than 50 cents for the materials needed to bag the steering
wheel, seat, and cover the floor mate. And if need be you can reuse them
so long as you dont reverse them. Ask them how much one complaint or
lost customer cost them?