Help. I screwed up.

[stoffden]

I'm embarrassed that this happened to me.  Need your guidance.

Was wet sanding a scratch and I swear there wasn't any clear coat on/near this scratch.  Yes, I sanded down to the paint and now I'm left with an ugly spot.  I was using 2500 grit paper. 

Also, I will tell the owner what happened.  It's the ethical thing to do.  After offering apologies, do I discount the work and if so, by how much?  Or not charge at all for the complete detail work?  Anyone have experience/suggestions in this kind of situtation?  Thank you.

[Too Stroked]

This is the one I dread and it's just a question of time before I run into it. My suggestion would be that you need to pay for the repair. As for what you can charge for the detailing work, unless you have a signed release form, I'd discount the hell out of it for customer relations reasons. If you handle it right, you won't loose the customer. In fact you may even gain some. Good luck!

[GreyMichFX4]

Here is what I would do.

1. call a body shop you trust and get an estimate, then call or go talk to your insurance agent/company and explain what happened(preferably in person).

2. Call the customer and tell them what you happened, explain you have an estimate from a reputable body shop that you trust and you have contacted your insurance carrier and will fix the damage.

3. Write off what work that's been done and call it a learning experience.

[stoffden]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Regarding insurance, would this fall under my homeowner's policy?  I do not have other insurance coverage, like business coverage.  I do the deailing for friends and family members and do not solicit business.  Is there an insurance policy I should be looking into that would cover this issue if the homeowner's policy does not?

[gipraw]

How I would handle it would depend on the walk through and discussion of expectations I had with the client prior to starting.

If it was a best efforts basis, and they were aware that it was a high probability this would occur, then I would handle it by showing it to them, discussing the outcome, and possible remedies, and probably discount them a bit, depending on how the job as a whole turned out.

My guess is based on how you are asking this question, this was not an expected or anticipated result.

In that instance, I would show the owner, and talk to them about potential remedies. 

If this was totally unexpected by the owner, then I would probably comp the detail, and work with the owner to come to a fair resolution for both of you.  That could be you splitting the cost, or you paying for all of it, or you paying for none of it,  depending on the condition prior to you working on it.  Was it a surface scratch, or was it a deep one already?  Was this a last gasp try to fix it prior to a body shop?  Was there a previous, poor repair done on the site?

All of this factors into how I would deal with it. 


This is not the thread to discuss this, but I would be remiss without at least mentioning that this is why if you are doing this for money, you need to be insured, and you should probably take a look at using a waiver if you are not insured.

[Robby32]

Gip -

Do you have a sample waiver or know where a waiver could be obtained. This would be helpful to a lot of "weekend" detailers.

[gipraw]

I have one somewhere .. I will see if I can find it ..  I used it when I was in Georgia and only had a small policy .. Haven't used it since 2003.  I will look and see if I can find it. 

[Robby32]

Thanks Gip -

If anyone else has one they would like to share please post it.

[stoffden]

Update
Finished the car and called to invite the owner over to review the work.  He and his wife was totally amazed at the detail job.  I then pointed out the damaged area.  His wife said "if you hadn't pointed it out to us we never would have seen it."  I was holding my breath waiting on his reaction.  He looked me and said "honesty plays a big part in my life.  Thank you for being honest with me."  I said that I wouldn't charge him for the job.  He looked at me again and said "you have done a fantastic job on this car.  Mistakes provide a learning opportunity.  If you have learned from this mistake, then all is well."  I was totally shocked. 

[Rollingrock]

Nice....good outcome. 

I too had a job like that for a paying customer...my painters tape pulled up some of the plastic covering on the trip and I about lost it.  I transformed the car and was upfront and honest to the customer and they were ok with that. 

I offered to replace the part but they were totally fine with it.   That is a good customer.  And you did the right thing.

[Too Stroked]

Most important lesson learned? Honesty is the best policy. Glad it all turned out well for all involved.

[gipraw]

Nice to see it ended well.    It almost always does when you are upfront and honest about things like that.