pbrownrk wrote:
I had my 1993 Dodge diesel serviced at the local quick lube (they do car repairs also). I drove about 3 miles from the place and the truck started vibrating bad, pulled over and called the lube shop. The owner who I have know for three years came to check the truck. He wanted to make sure they didn't forget to put oil in the rearend. It was full so he had it towed back to the shop. He called later and said upon in inspection the rear end had a problem. It was Friday afternoon so he said call him Monday. I called on Monday he said come pick up the truck. This truck had 126,000 miles on it with a lot of heavy towing. The rear end had seized up and he came in on Sunday and rebuilt it himself. When I asked about paying he said there is no charge. Now knowing how hard I used the truck I said Sam the truck is almost thirty years old and worked hard changing the oil didn't cause it to break down. At least let me pay for the parts. He said absolutely not it broke leaving my shop my responsibility. Needless to say any work my vehicles need that I can't do goes to his place.
Wow. Service like that is really, really rare. These days or any other time. BUT, its also smart. I remember my grandfather telling me a story from when he was a kid. My grandfather was a very successful guy, and had been ambitious and a businessman almost since birth. As a kid he worked at the Wilmington Dry Goods selling the various trains that were popular in the day. The store was run by Mr. Lazarus, a very successful guy from whom my grandfather learned a lot. One day a woman came in the store and wanted to return a dress. The saleslady told her that they didn't sell it and she couldn't have purchased it there. The woman insisted. Mr. Lazarus overheard and asked how much she had paid for it. She said $5, so he went into his own wallet and gave her $5 and took the dress. An hour later she came back, red faced and asked to speak to Mr. Lazarus. She apologized and asked for the dress back while holding out his $5, saying she had made a mistake and didn't buy it there. He handed her the dress, but refused the money. She insisted, but he simply said "I have given that to you, and only ask that you spend it in my store". My grandfather asked why he had given her the money when she had no claim to it; he said Mr. Lazarus had wasted $5. Mr. Lazarus said "Freddy, Freddy, Freddy, I didn't waste $5. I spent $5 to buy a customer for life." That made a big impression on my grandfather, and on me by proxy. Its one of the reasons why I've always believed and run my own business with the mindset that if you take care of your customers you don't waste a lot of time or money finding new ones.
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