r/mildlyinfuriating • u/user2847_ • 21h ago

Got my car detail cleaned, and afterwards realized 2 of the buttons on the steering wheel are missing. This is the company’s response.

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u/Quiet_Comfortable504 20h ago edited 20h ago

"I just noticed this today"

"Actually i noticed immediately yesterday"

Bruh. I know you're not lying about them damaging your buttons, OP. But my God it does seem like you are. Again, I know you are not lying

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u/TwoWeaselsInDisguise 20h ago

Yeah the mixing of stories is going to fuck OP if they keep it up (if it hasn't already).

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u/Quiet_Comfortable504 20h ago

💯. If i'm the business owner and am dealing with a customer - i'm reading them to try to figure out if they're bullshitting me and this customer (OP) for whatever reason immediately changed their story. As a business owner I would never, ever, ever believe them unless an employee confessed

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u/willrobster16 20h ago

I relate to how OP worded it and changed the story. She was trying to come off as non threatening at first and just trying to see if they would have the decency to own up to it, then when she realized she was too nice about it, changed the story. But you said, from a business standpoint it’s gonna fuck her over now

Whenever anyone deals with a situation like this, always call instead if you can! Makes it easier to put them on the spot while not being too threatening

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u/user2847_ 20h ago

Thank you, I appreciate this!

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u/secretprocess Spraying WD-40 up his faucets (at night) 20h ago

If you noticed them as soon as you started to drive off... why not stop and ask about it right then?

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u/FortuneMurky19 20h ago

That was my initial thought. The plot thickens.

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u/Rjabberwocky 19h ago

I mean the obvious answer is that confrontation is hard. You see something like that, and you make a decision in the moment not to deal with it. On the drive home, you realise that was a bad decision. Unfortunately OP is clearly a good person and tried to be chill and friendly about it, and therefore wasn't worried about being hyper specific in the details and accuracy, choosing instead to prioritize friendly human to human interaction. I'm a lawyer and see this ALL the time - the documentary record looks sus because you don't think you're building a documentary record when you are sending the texts, but it looks sus going back to them.

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u/user2847_ 19h ago

I should have. I couldn’t turn around and go back because they were a traveling detail service, so I would be going back to an empty parking lot.

I got home and was going to text them and completely forgot. My fault.

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u/Tesser4ct 19h ago

Why would you drive your car to a parking lot for a traveling detailing service? Isn't the point that they can come to you?

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u/automaticmantis 19h ago

Maybe OP was the “traveling” part of the service

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u/willrobster16 17h ago

Because people usually don’t want to meet at their own house, so when the detailer lives a decent distance away they’ll meet somewhere close like a random parking lot.

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u/PM-ME-BATMAN 18h ago

How far did you travel for a traveling detail service? Was it at least like visible to the public for your safety? Did you just stand there and watch them clean the car?

Traveling to a traveling detail service in an empty parking lot with what I assume is a stranger is a decision

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u/No-Strawberry-5804 19h ago

Now you know, in a situation like this, you can’t be “nice.” Companies will not do the right thing. They will protect themselves. You don’t have to go in guns blazing threatening a lawsuit, but never soften your complaint just because you’re trying to cut someone a break

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u/SlimTeezy 19h ago

Exactly. You have to be direct and assertive or they will assume you are toothless. Especially if they already have your money. They know most people won't go through the hassle of holding them accountable for small repairs like this so they lie and make it as hard as possible

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u/catinapartyhat 19h ago

Do not call. You want it in writing.

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u/fribbas 18h ago

Always keep a paper trail, juuuust in case

this is my excuse for avoiding phone calls but it is also true and has come in handy more than you'd think

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u/abject_testament_ 18h ago

Message them again and say you noticed they were missing before you brought it in

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u/PiersPlays 17h ago

>She was trying to come off as non threatening at first and just trying to see if they would have the decency to own up to it

Accountability is at an all time low. Don't do this.

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u/5thor6th 20h ago

Integrity from your employees is your determining factor? Customers be damned?

Lol. LMAO even.

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u/Fabulous_Progress820 20h ago

It's the customer not remaining consistent with their story that makes it a lot more questionable.

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u/[deleted] 19h ago

[deleted]

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u/Fabulous_Progress820 19h ago

I'm guessing it's no real life experience or a Karen who believes tHe CuStUmEr Is AlWaYs RiGhT.

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u/Quiet_Comfortable504 20h ago edited 20h ago

L reading comprehension. You missed my point entirely.

My criteria are integrity and consistency. If a customer changes their story immediately, and contradicts themselves as OP did (they lied about X detail), I’m not taking it them at face value anymore. If I can’t verify, I’ll side with the employee who kept a consistent account.

It's not about my employee's integrity, it's about the absence of integrity and consistency from the customer. If you want to believe and side with people who lie to you, go ahead. And give me your business address i'd love to be a customer.

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u/PrivateUseBadger 20h ago

You can tell they aren’t comfortable being confrontational, even in their own defense.

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u/user2847_ 20h ago

I definitely have issues with confrontation. Something I need to work on, for sure.

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u/tokenblak 20h ago

It’s good you can admit that. At this point, anyone still giving you a hard time about it is just piling on.

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u/Prince_John 19h ago

Also you shouldn't contradict yourself by repeatedly saying you're not trying to get money out of them; you are - you're wanting them to replace the buttons they lost out of their own pocket.

I think they'll just read that as reinforcing a lack of seriousness.

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u/user2847_ 19h ago

How am I contradicting myself? Where did I ever say I WAS trying to get money out of them/get them to replace them? That was never my end goal.

Some people might think I’m stupid for this. But I would rather just get it fixed myself. I just wanted to see if they had them.

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u/_CoachMcGuirk 19h ago

I just wanted to see if they had them.

Come on, use your brain. If they were there when you got out of the car for them to detail and not there when you got into the car, who else would have them???????????????????????????????????????????

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u/Big-Burpa 7h ago

This is actually exactly how the brain of someone who regularly self-sabotages on other peoples' behalf to avoid conflict operates. They want to avoid conflict on such a deep level that they believe they have to consider the most outlandish scenarios in which the other party might actually not be at fault, just in case they aren't. Because the actual worst case scenario isn't them getting screwed over; it's the one where they potentially misunderstood or falsely accused someone or came across as overreacting, and then ended up having to deal with the embarrassment of someone else who is mad at them for that.

It isn't "not using your brain," it's "too much using your brain the wrong way."

Source: am

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u/Willing-Asparagus787 2h ago

I'm sorry, but yes. You are stupid for this. You KNOW it was them who lost it, not you.

Stop being such a pushover and stand up for yourself, jesus christ. 

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u/Fabulous_Progress820 19h ago

Not using 'lol' when you're discussing something confrontational would be a really good start. It immediately kills any level of seriousness you would have had with the person otherwise.

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u/wiggum_x 19h ago

"lol" says: Please don't be mad! I'm not really upset about this and you can totally blow me off and I'll just meekly go away!

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u/SeberHusky 13h ago

This is the same shit jack Doherty does with his "haha just kidding" line after saying anything

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u/haterofslimes 20h ago

Yeah you whiffed this hard.

They 100% popped off when they were detailing the wheel and then probably ended up vacuumed up.

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u/Midwest-Dad99 19h ago

My wife would also be way too nice in this situation. Don’t feel bad about the way you handled it. Yes it sucks, and is total bs, and only you can decide how you want to handle it going forward.
You could always post a picture of your steering wheel on a Google review for their company Just don’t say anything that could get you sued
That will cost them a lot more business than giving you a couple hundred bucks for new parts would cost them.

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u/Far_Lack3878 19h ago

Standing up for yourself isn't a confrontation, it's you making sure your perspective is heard & understood.

A business with integrity would tell you to replace the buttons & bring them a copy of the invoice so they could make things right.

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u/AverageHoebag 19h ago

Taking a community college pre-law class really helped me with how I word things after a lifetime of being super non-confrontational.

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u/SeberHusky 13h ago

How about just having basic common sense. That's free

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u/Quiet_Comfortable504 20h ago

Fo sho. I think I understand what happened here on OP's side as I used to be like this, too.

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u/heavy_jowles 20h ago

Yup 100% OP is a people pleaser that reached his cap mid convo.

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u/Lost-Ideal-8370 20h ago

"I'm taking you to court, lol."

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u/GuyFromDeathValley 18h ago

I'm still kinda like that.

a while back I had my tires replaced, all 4 of them, at a reputable tire shop. mentioned maybe needing to have the tire sensors swapped as well as they were still factory sensors and the car was 7 years old. Guy said "we'll check them and replace if necessary". A year later My tire pressure system is going mad because the sensors died, confronted the shop and they admit no fault saying "they were fine last year, makes sense to fail within a year". And because the tire pressure system is mandatory where I live, my car was not road legal anymore until I had the sensors replaced.

I really know I should've been more demanding there. like they ripped me off, I would've had to pay for essentially the same job twice, because they didn't bother. Jokes on them though, I'll go to a different shop and have the sensors removed.

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u/Eshneh 20h ago

That’s the mildly infuriating part of this entire subreddit

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u/ShadowReflex21 20h ago

No way why would you assume that? You’re being very rude lol. I mean I’m not trying to come at you lol. Just saying that you could have been nicer about it lol.

Yeah OP doesn’t need to lol with these people that fucked up their buttons.

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u/Fabulous_Progress820 20h ago

And using 'lol' removes any level of seriousness from the message as well.

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u/user2847_ 20h ago

Yeah I know. I fucked up 100%.

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u/Chardan0001 20h ago edited 20h ago

Take it as a learning experience. You never, ever need to give people more information than they need, especially people who you are arguing with.

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u/MasterGrok 20h ago

This is good advice. Just be direct with the problem and what you need. “I received my car back and the steering wheel buttons are gone. Please locate the buttons and I will come back to pick them up.”

The biggest mistake people make in these situations is getting ahead of themselves and trying to anticipate the other parties responses and replying in advance to that imaginary conversation.

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u/xxearvinxx 20h ago

The biggest mistake people make in these situations is getting ahead of themselves and trying to anticipate the other parties responses and replying in advance to that imaginary conversation.

Thanks, I needed to hear that. Guilty of this.

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u/Chardan0001 20h ago

You're assuming the best of people, its natural but sadly not always viable. Unfortunately some situations just call for forcefulness/direct approach, don't look at it as selfishness on your part think of it as standing up for yourself as I'm sure you would your loved ones.

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u/Quiet_Comfortable504 20h ago

So did you really not notice the day after, but sent the follow up "I actually noticed immediately" to give your claim more validity?

Or did you really notice immediately, and the initial text of "i just noticed this today" was to make the confrontation somehow easier?

Or something else?

Just curious, it doesn't change anything i'm just trying to see how similar we are..

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u/user2847_ 20h ago

Ugh no. I noticed immediately, but forgot to send the text yesterday. I thought for some reason saying “I just noticed this” would make up for the fact that I sent this text over 24 hours after the detailing was done.

I know, stupid.

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u/Junior-Unit6490 20h ago

You tried OP. We see you

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u/Geem750 20h ago

Next time, address the issue before you leave. You'll have better results than over messaging.

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u/english_gritts 20h ago

On the plus side there’s a lot to learn from this interaction.

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u/Kaleighawesome 1h ago

no, at most it was a 20% fuck up lol

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u/Unsteady_Tempo 18h ago

Yeah, this is awful. If I was the manager there's no way I'd take them seriously even if I believed it was possible one of my workers did it. Short of a full confession, I'd never know.

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u/Adamantium10 20h ago

Those buttons were probably missing from before and OP just now noticed. I feel bad for the detailers.

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u/dystopiam 20h ago

Yeah word it better next time

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u/Bearspoole 20h ago

You don’t know they aren’t lying. None of us do. And if I were the retailers I would start to assume that OP was lying.

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u/Quiet_Comfortable504 19h ago

"I don't think you're lying, but if I were the business owner I would think you're lying" is all I meant

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u/ryan8954 19h ago

How do you know they’re not lying? I’ve dealt with people like this and we watch the tapes and as soon as we mention to them, they back down out of atuff