b>j)΄!Pԫ&;"kB޶}pSVT(wę!j x;-m@JnQ+պכ7MajfJͱ4jѲ撆RxZMz7vIW/dٞТזcZM~ji ߒsQzԠDW3Den"M+/B:-uIJ7j委9p='mANޭ=/B:-n&nUfqxZM~c Ϲ+,&ᾺܢF[(1*" ϒ"Jԧ<;b" "jܢF[x ,!q қ*]/؝27SMcs"ޭDQ/应ܢF_! :s" 7`F+SVTn"IJnQ/应B 4 wD"IJ׭-`S9DrjiEJ߅gJ应矁[xZM~n"IB؃!'Тѕ+(mIKʭ/|ϐܢF[xZMzG %嬩/c[[Sometimes you do something in business that can\u2019t be repeated or duplicated but the story lives on just because it was so unique. At Van Batenburg\u2019s Garage such a story happened. A woman brought in her car and it had, as we say, \u201chit everything but the lottery\u201d. We \"xshop\"put it up on the lift and assessed the car. It had problems. I asked the woman for a $500 authorization knowing the work would be at least that much. She signed on the dotted line and left. Once the car was apart and diagnosed, the estimate was a lot of money. The woman was hysterical and verbally abusive on the phone when given the estimate. So I said bring me $500 cash, we\u2019ll put your car back together, call a tow truck, and get it off my property. She brought the $500 in cash, caused a scene, the car left on the hook.<\/p>\n

The registered letter arrived and she was suing me for the $1,000. No surprise there. I offered her $500 to get her to go away. She wanted $1,000. Off to court. I put on my suit and we meet in small claims mediation. It\u2019s unpleasant, as many of you know. I had decided that I was going to give her the $500 back because she was expensive trouble. The thought of it made me nauseous as our shop had done our job. The mediator asked if I was prepared to refund the $500. In that moment I had a brilliant idea. I said \u201cI will do better than that, I\u2019ll make it $1000 but the check must be written to the customer\u2019s favorite charity.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so it was.\u00a0 Months later one of our A+ customers was in dropping his car off. He was a lawyer.\u00a0 He said WOW what you did was great.\u00a0 I was perplexed and returned a blank stare.\u00a0 He said, \u201cyou know about the charity check deal with that woman\u201d.\u00a0 Oh! I said, Thanks!\u00a0 He said, \u201csometimes a good story just has a life of it\u2019s own.\u201d<\/p>\n

She never got a penny of my shop’s money but some poor kids had clothes and a meal. I had a tax deduction. She has meet her match.<\/p>\n

Craig Van Batenburg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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