refund?

[pete f]

As we have hashed out before, my position on refunds is they should be given fairly easy, putting the customer first. And as we know, many times it is the customer who was at fault, not our machines. Here is a reason why:; a couple nites ago we go to a store to collect, clean, etc. As we walk in, this lady hails me down, says she has trouble with a washer. I check it out, it is a Neptune, a little water left in it. She says it stayed for an hour and never advanced. My first reaction is nothing is wrong, she did something, but I say, let me test it, I will get you a refund, don;t worry. I start the washer, it seems to go thru the wash cycles. I explain to the lady I think the washer is OK, she may have not had the door shut tight, or maybe if she had she may have needed to press the " select cycle" button. She is talking a mile a min, and I don;t understand much of what she says, I think is is a French Haitian. I notice her and her husband have massive amounts of laundry they are finishing up. She tells me she has been there since 3 pm (it is now about 9 pm) and spent some $140 in laundry. Turns out she works for a local nursing home, she brought many of the residents' laundry to do. I guess the home gave her $100 and she said she got another $100 in qtrs from me. I know it does not add up, but still, big boost. She tells me she loves the mat, she had been to the one down the street, to dirty, not enough machines, etc. She says she ran every washer I had. Now, on a Thursday afternoon this is fine by me. I give her the $2.25 refund, she is thanking me, all happy, and WILL BE BACK. Apparently the home has trouble with their in house laundry from time to time, they give the staff a bunch of cash and say go do laundry, so she picks the mat. So moral of the story: keep them customers happy.

[Andy]

We have a nursing home down the street, their laundry goes haywire four or five times a year as well and since we are attended I tell them to make it easier we will start the machines and send them the invoice they like it because they don't have to give cash to the laundry staff.

[SmartCard]

$2.25 refund to get $140.00..sounds like you did the right thing. I had a lady in my mat that came from the competition. She had asked for a 25 cent refund on a dryer because it didn't get hot enough. The owner refused..she now spends $20.00 a week with me about a $1,000.00 a year. Pretty stupid on the other guys part.
You have to look at the big picture, be the hero,don't take refunds personally, it's just part of the business.

[DAVID BLANTON]

Our Policy Is To Always Give A Refund. It Doesn't Matter If It Was A Month Ago We Always Give A Refund, Cheerfully. I Am Sure We Have Been Taken A Few Times. If They Can Live With It I Can Too.

[detlaundry]

I let attendants give refunds up to .75 anytime and more if they call me and i can verify a LEGITIMATE problem. The rest fill out a "request for credit" form and i call them within a day either way. Generally, if the attendant gives a refund back during a busy period, there will be a minimum of 3-4 more requests for refunds within five minutes for everything you can think of and many reasons you would have never thought of. I still hear new ones every day. (The soap valve must be clogged because there were no suds in one of my machines even though i have dried and folded all of my clothes i want ALL of my $$$$ back?????)

As a new business, you have to keep customers happy, but once established, i believe you have to weed out the customers you don't want in your mat, i.e. the ones that don't pay.

[Anonymous]

I had one recurring refund request guy that I finally cut off when I got a note saying he lost $4 in the 'kids toy machine'.

That machine takes 50 cents - so he tried it 8 times before he realized it wasn't working? Hmmm.....

Yes, some folks are just deadbeats. And not very smart ones at that !

[KJD]

But Runchman, He probably did lose $4 in your machine.

He just didn't win a toy,lol.

[pete f]

I had one recurring refund request guy that I finally cut off when I got a note saying he lost $4 in the 'kids toy machine'.

That machine takes 50 cents - so he tried it 8 times before he realized it wasn't working? Hmmm.....

Yes, some folks are just deadbeats. And not very smart ones at that !

I probably would have cut that one out of my refund pile! Ok, question, What do those toy machine make? at least $4? There is a used one for sale for about $750 in my area. worth or not? partly attendened?

[gjnic]

I give refunds for most claims. 25 - 75 cents a week is not a big loss compared to the repeat business and word of mouth of my mat. However, when there is a claim of machine malfunction, I do look into it if time allows. Example: Lady stated that she put 3.00 on the front loader and it did not start. Luckily for me, I had emptied the washers a few minutes before she arrived. I took my key and openend the coin box. Guess what...empty. I showed her the empty box and and told her the coins must of disappeared because the machine is empty. She looked at me and smiled and stated that she must of put the money in the other machine and she thought it was that one. Moral....It's ok to give refunds, but be aware of the folks that just want a free ride.

[Anonymous]

(in reference to the toy machines....)

My mat is small, $1350 or so gross per week. It has 4 (or 6?) of those cheesy 50 cent kids machines, you know the ones with a ring in a capusle, or a little plastic guy, whatever. Mine are owned by someone else, I get a cut of the profits. $50 or $60 shows up under my door every 5 or 6 weeks. They don't take up much space, I don't do anything, so I suppose it is worth it. I really couldn't fit anything better in their place, since I'm very space-challenged.

- John