Mr. Baugher -
Folks that know me will be quick to verify to you that when it comes to taking
the time to write about excellent customer service and a very high quality
experience level, I just don't do it; I actually sort of expect it -
thinking that is the way to do business. In my line of work, excellence quite
often can be the difference between literally, life and death for our Army,
Marine, and Special Ops Forces on the ground; there is no room for sub-par
performance.
Let me first apologize to you for taking so long to write to you with respect
to the repairs performed on my Son's car back in January. Operations got a
little busy here at the Center and quite literally, I had put my draft email
in my draft folder - and then forgot about it! No excuse for me; just
forgetfulness.
Anyway, the "short" of it, is that my son drove his car down to UVA on Sun, 12
Jan for the beginning of the Spring Semester. He noticed his tire was flat
and he called me. Having recently had surgery on his shoulder he couldn't
change the flat himself so AAA took care of that. The next morning, Monday, I
surfed the internet for tire shops in Charlottesville and found University
Tire and Auto. I called the Seminole Court shop and Johnny Tyler took my
call. He was polite, professional, sympathetic, and helpful. He arranged
with me to have my son bring over the car after classes on Monday evening. My
son, Michael, went to the shop late in the afternoon, and Johnny was waiting
for him and took the car right in (I had arranged for tires with Johnny
already during my phone call with him earlier that day). Unfortunately, some
additional work was identified as being needed to be done, and Johnny called
me and talked me through the repairs over the phone (I work in Northern VA).
Since the work was going to take some time and the shop was closing for the
night, Johnny arranged to have my son driven back to his apartment for the
night. The next day, once the work was completed, Johnny let me pay for the
repairs over the phone and offered to have someone go over and pick up my son
and bring him back to the shop to pick up the car. Though my son was able to
obtain a ride to the shop, when he got there to pick up the car, Johnny made
sure everything was taken care of with no unexpected problems or issues. He
even made sure a "UVA Student discount" was applied! My son says now, the car
is riding great and better than it has for a long time. Kudos to Johnny and
his team!
So I want to thank you and of course, Johnny Tyler, for helping me, and taking
care of my son when his car needed repair. You can probably understand the
anxiety one can feel when having to do discuss car repairs over the phone and
in particular, when far away from your "home base", and having to deal with
someone you don't know. While I thought my experience may be painful, it was
tremendously easy and satisfying. You, Johnny, and your staff should be
commended for your efforts. If this is the indication of how you run your
business, I can assure you that I will not only have my son bring his car to
University Tire and Auto whenever he needs service/repairs, but also will
recommend your shop to anyone and everyone. Thank you again.
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