Posted by Peter Holland on October 4, 2005, 7:19 am
With the cost of parts and time required to diagnose and repair vehicles, we appear to be experiencing an increasing problem of customers who can't afford to pay their bill. We've got a classic case at the moment, customer brought in a horrible Renault 19 16V with a running fault. I spent a couple of hours checking the car through and rang the customer to warn him that the job was going to be expensive and did he want us to continue. He was happy to proceed, telling us that he had been given the car and was willing to spend a few hundred quid to sort the problem. When we eventually sorted the fault, his bill came to just over £400. Rang him to tell him it was ready, he seemed happy and said he would collect in a couple of days. That was two weeks ago! It turns out that he's given us a false name and two mobile numbers that are now never switch on. Talking to a few other trade customers, it sounds as though this happens quite a bit. Possibly the same guy? :-) Trouble is, what on earth do I do with a hanging Renault 19 that owes me £400?