Poor "****" Service, Unprofessional and Immature Behavior

Would a doctor refuse to treat a patient simply because he/she does not like said patient? Would an educator refuse to teach a learner simply because he/she does not like said learner? In both instances the simple and most immediate answer is a resounding “no” from many a reasonable and mature adult. Three of the main reasons for this are professionalism, ethics and legalities. Sadly, however all three were lacking in my dealings with Baileys Mobile Auto Mechanics in Cape Town, in particular in respect of the individual with whom I communicated via their website chat as well as telephonically. Since I am not in the habit of naming and shaming I shall refer to such individual as one “LB.” The main reasons why I am committed to publicising my sad and in brief, appalling experience with this company and in particular one “LB” are 1) I would be remiss were I not to exercise my rights under Section 54 of the Consumer Protection Act to complain and raise awareness about a level of service with which I was certainly not pleased and 2) as advocates of the Act have expressed if we all keep quiet about poor service we become part of the problem ourselves, as essentially we, through inaction allow other unsuspecting customers/clients etc to fall victim to the same set of circumstances under which we found ourselves. Rather than continuing to ramble, let me set out in brief what my complaint centres on; which is basically the following: In the world of business and in the adult world you neither need to like nor agree with an individual in order to conclude a business deal. Life is certainly not a popularity contest and where individuals such as “LB” allow their ego and inability to handle criticism to get in the way of providing a service and concluding a business deal, clearly, in my view, a lack of professionalism and maturity is at the heart of the problem. “LB” refused to provide a service to me, subsequent to agreeing to do so via the company’s website chat simply because “LB” had a problem with, well rather in her words “did not appreciate my sarcastic tone” as well as my use of the word “****” when describing the shockingly poor service which I had received from “LB.” Stated as simply as that, how stupid is this situation, how immature and how unprofessional? I was not happy with the service that I had been receiving from “LB” in the build up to actually getting a vehicle inspected on my behalf, and again The consumer Protection Act affords me every right to express that I am not pleased with the poor “****” service received by a provider. I simply exercised that right by stating via the company’s website chat that their service NOT the individual was “****.” However, one “LB” being as unprofessional, immature and dare I say ********* as she was simply could not and would not move beyond that. All one “LB” had to do was simply provide me with a three line response either telephonically or in text, and since she took my use of the word “****” to heart and didn’t appreciate my supposed sarcastic tone, communicating these three things to me via text was all that was required in order for us to conclude our business transaction and basically never have to deal with each other again.

What three things, you might ask. 1) Banking details, 2) amount due and 3) reference to use when making payment. However “LB” was just incapable and/or unwilling to do so because heaven forbid someone should call her out on her poor “****” service. Again, a complete and utter lack of professionalism and maturity is at the heart of this problem. How did all of this play out?

Note the following: I required a mobile mechanic in the Landsdowne area to go out and inspect a vehicle on my behalf on Friday 8 January 2021. I google searched for such a mechanic on 6 January 2021 and came across the website of this company. It was close to midnight (6 Jan) but the company’s website had the facility to fill in a request so I did so. Naturally I did not expect a response at that hour, I merely filled in the request because I may have forgotten to do so, or lost the search result had I left it for latter. Many companies have this facility and it is not an issue if one fills in the request outside of working hours because people only expect a response during operating times anyway. Roughly after 7 am on Thursday 7 January, I received a response requesting further details from me concerning the service I required. I provided such response and was immediately assured that an email would follow providing me with all the details so as to make payment etc. Now, speaking of legalities, this in itself flies in the face of the Consumer Protection Act because nowhere in South Africa is a consumer legally required to make upfront payment for a service as this leaves the consumer in an unnecessarily vulnerable position. Nevertheless, I was prepared to make payment in full prior to receiving the service as I just needed to conclude a business deal by completing the purchase of a vehicle. I waited the entire day on Thursday and received no communication from “LB” After 3 pm I sent a message on the company website chat indicating that I was still waiting for an email. After 6 pm that day I received a response not from “LB” but from someone else who worked at the company and they explained that they had not received my request until then. Nevertheless, it was agreed that a mechanic would go to the required site to conduct the vehicle inspection at 8:30 on the Friday, 8 January. I have screen grabbed the entire conversation so one can clearly see that in essence there was an agreement reached and so there was indeed a meeting of the minds, thus a valid contract already existed between myself and Baileys as any court will confirm an actual “contract” which states “contract” is not required when one can prove, as I can in my case through the screenshots that we had reached a mutual understanding of what would be done. Despite this communication after 6 pm on Thursday 7 January, I still did not receive any details as to where and how to make payment etc. Friday morning, 8 January 2021, just after 7 am, suddenly I get bombarded with messages over the company chat, two emails in my inbox and at least two to three missed calls from Baileys (One LB in particular, the one who did not communicate properly in the first place)asking for payment. Thus putting me under pressure to now open an attachment in my email, which I could not do on my phone so I needed to boot up my computer, and then log on to my banking app and do the eft. Understandably at this point, I was annoyed. Hence, I expressed on the company chat that I found the service provided to be “****” which indeed it was. However, I was prepared to simply go ahead and make the payment anyway and thus conclude our business deal to which we had already agreed the day before. Instead of just providing me with the details required, three simple lines 1) Banking details, 2) amount and 3) reference this unprofessional and immature“LB” phones me and tries to engage in a debate about her not appreciating my quite justifiable supposed sarcastic tone. I had to stop her right in her tracks because I am certainly not so immature and petty, I thus simply explained that I was really not interested in what she does or does not appreciate and she should just send the details to me so we can conclude our business. She would not shut up, so I cut the call expecting to receive the details for payment as that was what I had requested prior to hanging up. Instead immature and unprofessional “LB” called me back only this time she wished to debate my use of the word “****” in my description of her terrible service. Again, I just demanded the details for payment and cut the call as I will not be lowered to such a level. Still o details arrived. By now I had managed to open the attachment on my computer so all that I could not find was a reference to use when making payment. So, now it was just one thing that unprofessional “LB needed to give me. So, I phoned the company, I am not afraid to do so, I am a mature, well-educated and sophisticated adult, thus I recognise that we really do not have to like each other in order to do business together. It should never become personal. Again “LB” simply refused to give me the details. I requested and even demanded the reference several times over the phone, but instead she persisted in trying to get me into a debate about the use of the word “****” my sarcastic tone and her being a human being. She even made references to the fact that I sent my request on their website at midnight. So, several things were at play: 1)What does my submitting a request on a company website at midnight have to do with anything when the very reason companies have such facilities is for customers to use in instances when they wish to submit a request outside of business hours? 2) Why on earth would I be interested in what ‘LB” does or does not appreciate when I do not know her from a bar of blue soap? I am not looking for friends and/or a relationship I merely wanted to get a job done. The fact that ‘LB” does not appreciate a sarcastic tone is no concern of mine, and I will not entertain such discussions or debates. There are people out there who get paid to listen to such nonsense (Psychologists) perhaps someone as overly sensitive as “LB” ought to consult one and have that kind of discussion with them about what she does and does not appreciate. Because as I explained on the Friday, and I reiterate now, I really am not interested in what a grown woman, whom I do not know at all does and/or does not appreciate. 3) The use of the word “****” when describing the service provided by someone is really not a personal matter as said person was not described as “****” even the attitude and/or personality of this person was not described as “****” but rather the service provided by this person. Again, I have every right under Section 54 of the Consumer Protection Act to state when I am not pleased with service received. In addition, similarly to point 2, above I do not know this ‘LB” from anywhere, she is neither a friend nor a family member, thus once again I really could not care less as to how she feels about the use of a word. As such I will not engage in a debate with her about it when all I wanted were three simple things, 1) Banking details, 2) amount due, 3) Reference to use. All the rest was totally unnecessary and it remains absolutely appalling and rather concerning that a person whose job it was to provide those 3 simple things simply could or would not. I suppose this is what happens when you either employ someone or involve them in a business because they are a family member , OR when you as an individual open a business with absolutely no knowledge and understanding of customer service.

Remaining on this aspect of the risks associated with employing or involving someone in a business simply because they are family OR opening a business yourself when you have little to no knowledge of how to deal with customers as well as the laws governing the relationships between service providers and consumers, I will now move on to the legalities of what happened. Nevertheless, they remain closely related to the risks of having someone like “LB” involved in a company or opening a company themselves.

The legalities:

We had a contractual agreement for them (Baileys) to inspect the vehicle on a specific date and time. The discussions between us on their website chat (which I have screen grabbed as proof) would certainly hold up in a court of law as a meeting of the minds. Thus, for them to pull out of the agreement at the last minute constitutes a breach of contract and I am entitled to sue on such grounds. In addition, had I lost that vehicle and thus had to purchase another similar make and model at a higher price as a result of their unprofessional actions, I could even push the envelope further by attempting to sue them for the difference in cost of the vehicles as this added expense would have been a direct result of the immature and unprofessional behaviour of one “LB.” It is therefore imperative from a legal perspective that one “LB” seriously consider her actions and behaviour in future dealings with customers as her inability to accept criticism and sensitivity to the use of the word “****” when not directed at her personally, but at her level of service could very well land this business in a very precarious position. She may indeed think that I am as bad as they come by going to such lengths saying these things and publicising this terrible experience, however I am certain that there are far worse out there. Indeed people who would , without batting an eyelid drag this business through every court available to them for the reasons expressed above. If one “LB” cannot handle criticism of her poor “****” service as well as a subjectively construed “sarcastic tone” of a customer then perhaps the world of work, business and indeed life as an adult in contemporary South Africa is not for her. All of this could have easily been avoided had she behaved in a more mature and professional manner by doing exactly what I gave her several opportunities to do, i.e: Shut up about your personal feelings, provide the customer with the details required to make payment and say nothing more. The vehicle would have been inspected and the mechanic would have provided a report. Our business would have been concluded and we would never have to speak to or hear from each other again. That is certainly how most mature adults deal with disagreements concerning the work and professionalism of each other as well as the criticism thereof. But of course one “LB” could not do this she had to take the criticism of her ghastly “****” service to heart and constantly try to engage me in a debate over the phone about the use of the word “****” when describing her service as well as my supposed “sarcastic tone”. As a result I was forced to hang up on her at least three to four times as, quite frankly, not to be boastful but I am a Doctor, researcher and lawyer, in essence I am a very busy man and accordingly have neither the time nor desire to go back and forth over a telephone call with some overly sensitive individual who really has no business in the world of work or business given that they are so thin skinned. Again, all that need to be done was: provide the customer with the payment details and then keep your mouth shut. We had absolutely no reason to ever speak to or deal with each other again. We are neither friends nor family and therefore I really don’t think that I should have to be concerned with what she does or does not appreciate in respect of one’s tone or the use of the word “****.” That is just blatant childish, immature, unprofessional and dare I say bordering on ********* behaviour to do what she did. I accordingly caution all other potential customers in dealing with this business and in particular one “LB” as this is the kind of lack of professionalism, pettiness, and childishness you may sadly find yourself having to contend with should you choose to use Baileys Mobile Auto Clinic.

Thanks

Dr. Wade Cafun