TTEC4849
Business Practice and Vehicle Safety
Customer Story of a
Bad Experience
Instructions: Divide up into small
groups. Read the following story, and
discuss the following
questions in your small groups. Then write your answers
in the space provided.
This is a true story.
The year was about 1958, in
California, before there were strong consumer
laws. Don Higgins owned a
laundry and dry cleaning business, in which he
used one of the new
Volkswagen bus trade vans for his deliveries. He would
pick up dirty clothes from
businesses (like restaurants and auto repair shops),
clean them and deliver them
back. He liked his Volkswagen van: it had lots of
space to hang the clothes
and it got good fuel economy. Up until recently, it
had been very reliable. But
lately the engine wasn’t running very well. The
engine was regularly
missing and had low power.
So in the morning, Don took
his van to his local auto repair shop. He told them
it needed fixing, maybe
just a tune up, and he got a ride back to his cleaning
business. Then in
mid-afternoon, he went back to pick up his van.
To his surprise, the van
wasn’t ready. If fact, the repair shop owner showed
Don the engine that was now
out of the van. The exhaust valve for number 3
cylinder was burnt, causing
the poor running engine and lack of power. The
shop owner said he could
have the engine fixed and back in the van in 3 or 4
days. And the bill would be
about $400.00. (In 1958, this was a lot of money.
Don’s monthly mortgage on
his house was only about $120.00 per month.)
Don was very upset. He was
so upset that I (Steve McAfee) heard about this
as the little boy who lived
next door to Don.
Discussion
Questions:
1. From Don’s point of
view, what was wrong here? What did the shop do
wrong that upset Don so
much. (After all, they were fixing his van.)
The shop went ahead and took Don's motor out without consenting him beforehand, making the total cost so high
2. From the repair shop
owner’s point of view, what was wrong with Don
getting upset at them? What
did they do right or wrong?
Don told the repair shop that his van "needs fixing". In the view of the repair shop, they thought they were doing Don a favour in diagnosing the problem and beginning to fix it. However, they really should have consulted Don first before going ahead and taking his motor out.
3. What should have been
done in this circumstance? If you were Don, what
would you have wanted to be
done?
If I was Don, due to the unfair and awkward circumstances, I would enquire about paying off the repair shop slowly, as the repair shop really is in the wrong. If they had good business etiquette, they should do this for Don.
4. When the repair was
finished, and Don went to pick up his van, he took the
van and did not pay the
whole repair bill. Did the repair shop have the right to
hold the van until they got
paid?
If Don had pre agreed that they were to finish the van, then yes, the repair shop has the right to hold it until paid.
5. If Don took the repair
shop to court, what would you have ruled if you were
the judge? Should the
repair shop pay for a replacement rental vehicle?
Should Don pay the whole
repair bill? Should the repair shop pay Don for lost
business because he could
not pick up and deliver clothes to his customers?
I would make the repair shop repair Don's van free of charge, due to Don's business losses.
6. What New Zealand laws
relate to this story? What do New Zealand laws
say should have been done
in this case?
The "Consumer's Guarantees Act", and the "Fair Trading Act".
The repair shop was vague and bad in communication, which lead to Don being worse off.