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Unknown Parts Counter Guy: The Service Advisor, Also Known As The Whipping Boy


Unknown Parts Counter Guy: The Service Advisor, Also Known As The Whipping Boy

Those of us who work behind the scenes, trying to keep your vehicles alive, have a brotherhood mentality that is oddly similar to the military: sure, we will give each other hell about different jobs, but we will come together in a second to support each other when things go real bad. We’re all used to being the first person the vehicle’s owner sees when trouble hits, and we’re all used to being the first person the same owner attacks when things aren’t going their way. Sometimes it’s extremely easy to communicate the “don’t shoot the messenger” message to them and sometimes it doesn’t matter what you do. Out of the three main groups (mechanics and technicians, service advisors and parts and supply), I pity the service advisors the most. They are already at a disadvantage since most of the time the customer has a problem, needs it rectified and the advisor is now the face of the company. If things go well, he is praised. If things do not go well…well, you know.

I was sitting in the waiting room of a oil change/maintenance garage location the other day, waiting for the mechanics in back to finish up an inspection on a vehicle I had brought in. It was the first time I’d ever been in this place and the staff and wrenches were reasonably courteous, informative and once they figured out that I was a gear head who was paying a shop fee to basically borrow a lift, all but gave me carte blanche to walk in the back and assist in the inspection. I’m glad to say that they did a good job and that they didn’t try to tack in anything that wasn’t needed, and they were very knowledgeable about what they were looking at. About the time I went back and let them get to finishing up my car, a mid-1990s Chevy truck was wheeled in. From what I caught, there was a steering shimmy that the guy wanted checked out. Should be a piece of cake…that era of GM C/K is a pretty stout piece and it takes effort and concentrated abuse to hurt them. Except for some wheel well rust, the truck looked absolutely mint…polished paint, nice interior, not a trace of brake dust on the stock wheels. I resigned to the waiting area and got back to a riveting game of Angry Birds.

About fifteen minutes later, the lone service advisor returned with some bad news for the Chevy owner: the idler arm was about shot and would have to be replaced, otherwise things looked great underneath. No bent wheels, no bearing issues, and no warped rotors. That’s when things got weird, as the Chevy’s owner proceeded to, rather calmly, inform the service advisor that the truck had done 240,000 miles of flawless operation and that there was no way that he was replacing something as major as an idler arm. He wouldn’t listen to the advisor, who was doing his best to tell him that two nuts, two cotter pins and a new part would do the job. At one point I looked at the advisor and just shook my head. Calm but obviously irritated, he paid for his inspection and left.

I’d been walking between the advisor’s desk (the only location I could see my car) and the waiting area, and when I walked back up the advisor could only smile and say, “Some people just don’t want to hear it.” I’d hate to see what happens when he gets a real doozy of a customer, the one who is hyper-stressed, with a hair-trigger temper and an absolute shitbox of a car, who loses their mind when they get a bill for what amounts to a complete rebuild. At least behind the counter, they can take it or leave it. There are certain situations where the advisor and mechanic can look at a car, realize that it’s too dangerous to operate and hold it until either a tow truck shows up or it’s repaired. Imagine telling a customer, “Sorry, but for the good of society, unless you sink some money into that bucket, you will have to call a cab.” And then there’s the balance that they have to strike with the mechanics, who are a nearly-feral bunch that have been given tools and told to actually touch said bucket. Nope…a hat tip to service advisors everywhere, but no way in hell would you find the Bag-Wearing One in that position. There isn’t enough sensitivity training available.

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11 thoughts on “Unknown Parts Counter Guy: The Service Advisor, Also Known As The Whipping Boy

  1. Garry

    I watched a customer come charging at an advisor one time with fists up and full intent of doing bodily harm, the advisor promptly put his lights out with one punch. He got fired even though it was self defense.

    1. JKady

      I have a friend that was a service writer at the last place I worked that had a similar experience when he was writing/managing at a Jiffy Lube. Had the “I don’t want anything extra” customer come in. His tech popped open the airbox to check the filter, which is part of the free inspection and the dude ran into the bay and started yelling at the kid. My buddy followed and tried to defuse the situation, and the guy shoved him. He asked the guy to not do it again and he shoved him a second time and asked wtf he was gonna do about it. That customer woke up on the floor of a Jiffy Lube next to his car, and my friend was back to work the next day.

      1. Garry

        I was pissed when they fired that dude, the way it came down most guys would have done the same. He was caught off guard and it was a natural reaction.

  2. Gary351C

    I was a service advisor for 2 years, Acura and Honda. The day they finally fired me was one of the happiest days of my life!

  3. TheSilverBuick

    I worked three years in a dealership service department, and folk that always seemed to drive complete pieces of junk too.

  4. Fmr Mopar Adviser

    Between the recall phone calls, the complete pieces that other shops mangled and Dealership/FCA management, it’s a wonder I didn’t become an alky!

  5. bill W

    I was at a muffler shop that a woman had brought in her car for a brake check, with a baby in a car seat. The car was so bad, that they wouldn’t let the woman drive it away..They held the woman’s baby in the office until the cops and the local Ministry of Transport rep showed up. After she calmed down, she realized the shop was right to hold the car, she might have survived an accident, but would her baby??

  6. Robert

    I’ve been an advisor for over 20 years. How I haven’t become an alcoholic is beyond me. It used to be a fun job but things have changed over the years and it REALLY got bad after 9/11 for some reason. Dealerships are a blend of hysteria, greed and paranoia. Especially after the manufacturers started sending out customer surveys. The service advisor’s nsme is on it and is held responsible for the techs work, the parts dept and even things as absurd as the cleanliness of the waiting room and the difficulty of driving into and out of the premises. Getting a few bad surveys will get you fired. People who are just trying to make a paycheck burned by some “inconvenienced” customer opinion. It’s a total load of crap.

  7. RacerRick

    Many years ago I was working as as oil change/tire change peon at a local chain stores garage, and we had a woman come in with her husbands truck. He had her take it in to get new wheel bearings because he thought they were bad and told her to only get new wheel bearings. It was a mid 80’s Chevrolet 3/4 ton 2WD and was rusty as all hell and had a plow harness on the front. Why a 2WD with a plow harness? I don’t know.

    The mechanic drove it in and put it on the lift and started putting it up in the air when I hear a small bang, followed by a much larger buh -bang. As he was putting it up, one of the passenger side ball joints pulled apart – the first bang. The second bang was the coil spring exiting the vehicle into the the wall next to the service desk, embedding itself into the sheetrock after bouncing off the ground.

    An inspection showed the front end was completely shot – it needed everything. Even the steering box was only holding on with one bolt since the others had rotted away, There was no floor or cross members in cab, and the frame had a big crack in it right behind the cab on one side, and putting it up on the hoist opened up the crack enough you could see light through it.

    The lady hit the roof when we told her everything it needed and threatened to sue us, was going to call the cops, etc. She did call her even more belligerent husband who had to leave work. yada, yada, yada….and was simmering and looking to explode when he showed up.

    Our service advisor, just told him to come out and look at the truck before he said anything. Showed him the broken ball joint, the cracked frame, the steering box holding on by a thread, and exactly how loose the front end was. He just looked at it, and without a saying a word the whole time, took the plates off if it and left with his wife, leaving the signed ownership on the seat.

    We never saw them again, but at least we came out ahead after figuring out how to get the turd off the hoist. Scrapping the truck paid us much more than was owed for the inspection.

    I really think half the people don’t realize how bad their cars really car.

  8. Leevon

    Shop owner here…you hit the nail on the head. Failing state inspections is the worst too and results in all kinds of difficult conversations. The unfortunate part in today’s internet age is that this guy is the one who leaves a bad internet review for all the world to see. “These guys are crooks type of stuff” yet he never spent a dime. People who can’t be honest with themselves about their finances are the worst customers. On the flip side when folks have needs but less means, yet honest and trusting we bend over backwards to find a solution. 99% are great, the other 1% keep you awake at night!

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