Had a customer yell at me for 10 minutes about their "broken" transmission yesterday

I work at a shop in Portland and this guy comes in fuming, says his car won't shift right and it must be a full rebuild. I popped the hood and noticed his battery terminals were caked with corrosion. Cleaned them up, tested the battery, and sure enough it was at 10.2 volts. A weak battery can mess with the transmission control module on these newer cars and make it act like it's slipping. He was ready to drop $3,500 on a rebuild when all it needed was a $20 battery terminal cleaning and a $130 battery. Has anyone else dealt with customers jumping to the worst possible conclusion before checking the simple stuff first?

2 comments

2 Comments

hall.nina3d ago

Did you ask him why he jumped straight to a rebuild without checking the easy stuff first?

felix_lane993d ago

Right, the "jump straight to rebuild" part is exactly what got me. That sounds like a rough spot to be in, hoping the guy would check the simple stuff first.