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I asked him if the oil change done in that 30K car service would be “of the exact same premium quality as the $19.95, using the same premium oil and the same tools?” He responded with a confident “yes“, telling me that it would be “exactly the same thing you expect from Honda.” I then asked him that if the 30k car service specialists could just do an oil change since, like he said, they were qualified to do that. The look on his face was a very interesting one at that exact moment. He looked at me for about 2 seconds, then opened his mouth to say something, while breathing at the same time, and looked at the side wall without moving his head or saying anything; I’m guessing he regretted answering my question with such enthusiasm. After a few seconds he said that those 30k specialists were required to work on the 30k service customers as a priority, and that they already had customers waiting in line to get a 30k service. I could see no cars waiting anywhere other than the ones that were already being worked upon. I left the place, hoping to get up early tomorrow morning and going to a service center nearby.

What’s up with businesses not wanting to be more flexible? They can use the services they already have, utilize any resources that are available, like those 30k specialists who were not all busy, and use them to have another satisfied customer and a little bit more money? Those mechanics work there fulltime as Honda specialists, and thus get paid by the hour, regardless of how many cars they actually work on. Management could avoid having too many customers on certain days to give the mechanics a break for the rest of the day, which can be understandable on some levels. However, the management staff was willing to put those mechanics to much more work, which would take hours compared to a 20 minute oil change, when that work brought in $130 instead of the $19.95. Thus, if money is the focus, why not get something instead of nothing?

This narrow-minded approach to doing business would work great when you’re selling only one service, or only one specific product which cannot be customized. However, if you have more than one product or service that overlaps with other products or services offered by you, it is wise to teach all staff to be more flexible into customizing a service or a product to meet the need of a customer, who otherwise would not be a customer.

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I didn’t know, and I kept driving the car. The “Check Engine” sign in my car comes and goes, since I have to replace a tube in the car manually and I haven’t done it. But yesterday, the sign remained on the entire time. What had happened? Later on during the day, I turn around and notice the inside lights in the car, the one that turns on when you open the door, had been on all this time. Somehow that may have put a drain on the battery, I’m assuming. I turned the lights off, wondering when and how I could have left them on the previous day. The “Check Engine” sign is still bright orange, though the car isn’t shaking like before.

Here’s a picture of the check engine sign, and the odometer in my car; this was taken yesterday, April 7th, 2006 while I was stopped at a red light. My car has went with me to many places, and I love it because of that. Hmmmmmmmm.

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I decided to take my car to Walmart Tire & Lube Express Services the same week to see what they had to say about it. I didn’t tell the Walmart associate anything about the recommendations that Honda service center had said to be critical. I had the option of touring Walmart itself while my car was being checked. I decided to sit right in the empty parking area in front of their “auto” center, which is almost always located in the back of majority of the Walmart locations. Emily was on the phone with me, and we talked while my car was being fixed. After checking the car for about 30 minutes, a Walmart associate called my name and told me that my car needed two new things; a new battery and a new air filter, and these were critical. Nothing else needed emergency repairs or replacements other than the air coolant which could be replaced some several hundred miles later if I wanted to wait. The total cost would be around $145, plus tax, and would take less than 45 minutes.

I was confused; both companies were tell me contradicting things within a very short period of time. During that time span I hadn’t driven much either. I decided to just wait a bit and check things at another mechanic later on, since my car was running smooth still. Since then, I drove several thousand miles, and thus it was time for another oil change last Sunday. I went to Jiffy Lube, which was located right next to a big car wash. I waited for about 4 minutes in a small waiting room while the oil was being changed for my car when one of the mechanics came in. She told me “The air filter needs changing also. Would you like to do it now?” I asked about the price, and told her to go ahead. She then came in again after about 10 minutes and told me that if I needed a car wash, I could get a discount next door at the car wash, or she could vacuum the seats and clean the windows instead. I decided to hold off the car wash for now, and went ahead with the vacuum option and put all the things in the trunk, and went back to the lounge.

After about another 6 or 7 minutes, she came back in and told me that the fan belt needed changing also. I asked about the price, and it was about $150. I asked her if it was critical; she and another mechanic behind her told me that it wasn’t. I asked if they can check the car and tell me if anything other than the oil change and the air filter was critical and needed immediate changing. They checked and gave me a list of recommendations totaling about $380, none of them being critical, and consisting of all the belts, gearbox “cleaning” and transmission fluid. I told them I will come back later and do those changes either later this week or next month. They told me I can come until the end of this month to get a $52 discount on those recommendations if I go ahead with all of them. I thanked them, and went on my way. May be ignoring all these recommendations is a good idea, or may be going ahead with any of the set of recommendations at one of these places will fix everything that might be wrong with the car and actually save me from the day when the car might stop working. May be I really need all of these changes, or may be each of these companies is playing a game and simply labeling anything that is “used”, and still working well, as being “critical.” If only the transportation system in OC was as good as Chicago, New York or San Francisco, I would rarely drive my car.

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