Customer Work Done On Vacation?

[Sauvageaus]

Not exactly sure where to put this topic, so if there is a better place feel free to move it there.

We have a loyal customer (the people we actually bought the land from) that come here for everything. Well, anyways they drive down to Florida every winter for a few months. This year they added about 10,000 miles onto their vehicle and she stopped in here yesterday and told me they had an alternator put in and also rear brakes. She wanted me to add this as a note to their vehicle so she has record here of what's been done. I wasn't sure where to put it so I just went to revision and added a note under revision of the work she had done and a rough idea on the day she had it done.

Is there a better way of doing this?

[brianp87]

I use the memo field and date it and after a while( warranty is up) remove it.

[artadot]

I had something similar, a regular customer of ours won a free oil change at a different shop but he relies on the oil change reminders that we send out, so he came in to let me know about his free oil change but wanted to make sure I would send him a reminder, so I just did a no charge invoice with a memo to send a reminder. You could do a no charge invoice with the info regarding the brakes and alternator using the appropriate categories, that way it will be in the vehicle history.

[Sauvageaus]

I use the memo field and date it and after a while( warranty is up) remove it.

They don't necessarily want it there for warranty, I think they just want us to have it in there so they know what has been done.

[timbre4]

From our Manager 20th Anniversary tips booklet (from an idea on the forum)

10. Entering Customer’s Previous Vehicle History Performed Elsewhere

“We have a new customer who has kept good records on all of the work that has been performed on his vehicle. Is there a way we can input this history into his new Mitchell 1 account that we have set up for him? This way we can track information like when his timing belt was last replaced, etc. Thanks.”
1. “You can’t enter work you didn’t do. Use a Revision; list relevant items, dates & mileage. Delete them when obsolete.”
2. “Another option if you're just trying to track certain services is to use Recommendations. You can enter estimated due dates for those important services based on when they were done last. That way you have a visual reminder every time you open an order for that customer, AND an opportunity to send them a reminder if you are utilizing that component.”
3. “What we do when we have a customer give us history is to put that information in the Memo area on the Vehicle tab page. This memo area can hold a lot of information. When we do vehicle inspections, we put information in the Memo too, that we do not want to put in the Recommendations area (rear disc brakes, timing belt & transmission filter, etc.). This way all of the history & other info can be printed on Tech sheets so the techs & office staff can see it quickly.”

memo1.png (1.72 KiB) Viewed 4045 times

memo2.png (4.96 KiB) Viewed 4045 times

[ARS]

We use the Memo field for everything.... any notes that we do not want the customer to see or to remind us for the next time the vehicle is in...they do print on the the tech ticket but not on invoices- make sure you have it set up that way. We put notes in there for work done elsewhere, we also put in history we have done to the vehicle.... including
LOF info- 5.0 qts 10w30 21040mp;
Tires- size & brand name; date & miles
Tpms- yes or no:
drivetrain- 4WD , AWD, FWD, RWD:
Rotate & Balance- date & miles,
Fuel filter- NA or date & miles,
Cabin AIr Filter- na or has
Transmission filter or screen- date & miles
Coolant flush- date & miles
Water pump- date & miles
timing belt or chain- date & miles
tune-up- date & miles
brakes- disc or drum - date & miles
transfer case fluid change- date & miles
Differential fluid changes- date & miles

This is not everything we do to the vehicle but gives a quick snap shot of what we have done to the vehicle... really helps when doing inspections & LOF & we only put in the info that pretains to that vehicle.

We currently have to manually type this in--- we looked into using bolt-on report pro- But that does not have the info. we want--- we tried to manipulate it but still does not have the info. we want.

It does take a bit to set up but i have done this for 2-3 years now so most of the info is already in for each vehicle... so goes pretty fast..

Hope it helps...
ARS

[artadot]

We made files for each customer and a spreadsheet for each of their vehicles with the maintenance services and recommended intervals, we then add the date and mileage when the services were done. It took a bit of time to set up originally but is well worth it. Now we can easily see what services are due for each vehicle. It would be great if that was incorporated in Mitchell, maybe use one of the revision slots as a vehicle maintenance schedule.

[madmoneymike5]

My two cents: Use the memo field for easy reference by techs, but also do a no-charge invoice so that it prints out on the vehicle's history report if one is ever asked for.

[steven kiser]

If the customer had work done at a shop I have affiliation with through one of my coast to coast groups I'll also create a work order for the vehicle. I'll list the parts used, numbers long with any other information I can add. I make sure every bit of information is used including other shops name. order #, date, and anything else on the order I may need or think I may need paying strict attention to any suggested work turned down by my customer. A few occasions I've mentioned work that was refused and suggested a look to see if it was needed or not and got work from it.