A couple of months ago, they told me my tyres had 3mm of tread, and that my brakes were 70% gone and would need replacing within 6,000 miles.  And that the brake discs would need replacing at the same time as the brake pads.  Would I like to do them all now?  No thanks say I, I’ll wait for another 5,000 miles.

Now (5,000 miles later) they tell me that the tyres have 4mm of tread (nice!) and that the brake pads are 80% gone.  Since I’m about to go on holiday with the car, it looks like time for new pads.   But I wonder.  So far as I can tell, I’ve been 50,000 miles on these pads already, so maybe there’s at least 10,000 left to go?

No mention of the discs, either, this time.  So I ask them about the discs, which turn out not to be so urgent after all, but they say that when I do get them changed, I’ll have to change the pads at the same time; and the current discs will not last as long as a new set of pads.  So I can pay now for discs when I don’t need them. Or I can pay later for new pads, when I don’t need them either.

Since there their recommendations are inconsistent (and expensive), I’m not sure what to believe.  It seems to me that either they are incompetent, or they are trying to make work.  Either way, my confidence in them has taken a knock.

Two morals to the story.  If yours is a service business where the customer relies on your advice before purchasing, and especially if it involves “grudge” purchases, then:

(a)    make sure your processes are good enough to deliver consistent outcomes and recommendations.

(b)    when jobs will need doing in the future, tell the customer, and recommend that they do not spend the money now, unless they really feel a need to.

That way, you may be able to build rather than destroy customer confidence.

Sorry if that was a bit of a rant, by the way…