Disclaimers for shop owners

I have owned a couple of mobile electronics stores in the past and recently opened a new one that I solely own ( no partners )  I have  a few questions as I know a lot of other owners, managers, technicians use this site for info and such.  I have always had a signs in place by sales counters with store policies. Now I am not customer bashing because I have been on that side of the counter, but some customers still believe the policieis only apply to others not them. Where I am at we get a lot of customers who think its ok to buy something try it out for awhile and then return it, like we are walmart. Well

I guess my 1st question is do any of you cats have customers sign a disclaimer, copy of store policies or anything at time of purchase?

Currently the only thing we are doing are vehicle inspections prior to the install starting. I reveiw it with customers most understand some complain, but I thinks its totaly necessary.

I also have a small disclamer section of the receipts I print up, but I want something more concrete to use.

Well I guess I only had 1 a multi facitated question. Its a lot harder doind this with out help than I thought and If any of you have tips, ideas or any input to share I am truly greatful.

Thanx again for any insight into this.

We have our disclaimer on the back of the receipt and I don't get them to sign anything unless it's for a special project or special order. I tell ALL customer's that there is no cash returns at the shop & we only accept returns if the package is not tampered with and if it was all parts must be inclusive. We inspect the package and then we issue the customer a credit note..... no cash refunds allowed. This ensures that the customer comes back to you with a purchase and you don't loose anything in the deal.

As far as disclaimer's, I find that this is more for the shops protection than the customer's and we have since waranty all of our work for lifetime, this eases the customer's and find that there is no need to disclaimer's. We haven't had any instances where we needed to enforce anything either where the customer lost something in their vehicle or there was damage to the vehicle that wasn't there prior to having the vehicle dropped off to us.

All I can say Jer is that there are only a handful of customer's out there that have the full intention of getting something for nothing and you can't prepare yourself for them. All the disclaimer's in the world can't protect you from bad publicity but at least in the end you'll have your shirt on.

Thanks Jeff, I will be posting the same policy in my store of no cash refunds. I also warranty my work for lifetime, only shop for atleast 100mi radius that does this. I guess I have only a few customers that try to push the envelope to far and yesterday I think they met up and came the same day. Its just amazing some claims some folks come up with. Remote starts cause every kind of problem from tires wearing out pre-mature to gas lines freezing a month after it was installed.  I guess some of the shops in my area did some poor quality work for awhile which tarnishs the image of all shops unfortuonatily. It will take me a little while to change the views that all shops are out to rip them off.

Thanx again for the information, Jeff. To bad I'm not closer or would buy ya a beer!! or 2.

1st and foremost is we had printed on the back of our reciepts "Terms & Conditions" which are 17 numbered items which are pretty much standard fare dealing with no cash refunds and vehicle damage caused by us and the remedy provided.  We don't dwell on it too much but it benefits both us and the customer.

The second thing I did is right by my cash register and at other locations a sign which says "We are not a library and don't believe in trade-in's, loaners, or buy backs.  We believe that when you pay for a "new" product it should be "new" so please make sure the item you buy is the one you want.  If you have been in the business awhile you can easily spot the "returners" and "not what I wanted" customers and though we will listen to every story and will sometimes refund it is not often and if the presentation was done correctly it should be a very rare occasion.