Local business an example for community

I always appreciate good customer service, but sometimes — on rare occasion — I come across a person or business that stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Those of you who have read my previous articles know that I grew up working on my own cars. From the time I was old enough to turn a wrench, my stepfather had us help him in the garage. It was pounded into our heads that only a lazy man took his car to a mechanic since it was far easier and cheaper to do it yourself. Of course, that was when cars had a half-dozen electrical wires and didn’t get any more complex than the carburetor and distributor. Opening the hood on a car now and you get to gaze at some weird, plastic contraption that looks more like something from “Tron” than an engine. Still, I always tried to the best of my ability to at least troubleshoot my car problems and fix what I could.

After waiting for years, my family finally got the opportunity to move back to Alaska in 2007. We packed up all our belongings, loaded the cars up in Bellingham and I arrived three months ahead of my wife to begin work and get us settled. Soon after arriving in Wasilla, my little black truck developed some problems. But being up here by myself and spending 15 hours or more per day, seven days a week, at the new job didn’t leave me with any time to take care of the truck. So, with great hesitation, I flipped open the yellow pages to look for a local repair shop. I honestly couldn’t tell you why I chose Master Auto, but I’ve been forever glad I did.

I dropped off my truck and waited for what I thought would be the inevitable call telling me that I owed all of my next three paychecks, two of my children and one leg to cover the cost of repair.

Due to my upbringing, I had come to know that the shop would try to con me into fixing every little issue they found (and maybe even some that they made up). So imagine my surprise when they called and told me they had found the problem, gave me a rundown on what the optimal fix would be, but then volunteered some alternatives that were less expensive that could work better for my budget. They gave me an honest assessment of other problems and told me whether they thought it was something worth fixing or not. No pressure. No gloom-and-doom tales of how these things must be fixed now or else I was risking certain death. They just provided good customer service to let me know what shape my old truck was in.

Wow.

Of course, we all make mistakes and I’ve never been one to get upset when a person or a business makes one. I wouldn’t want people to treat me poorly when I made an honest mistake, so why would I be irrational when somebody else does? About two winters ago, I had the misfortune of developing another problem with my rig. I dropped it off at Master Auto, they diagnosed the problem, called me with the usual alternatives and fixed it. But when I picked it up, I had only made it a few blocks when the problem returned. This is where any good business makes a customer for life and they didn’t disappoint. Within minutes an employee was there to grab my truck, apologized and immediately went back to work on it. They then directly and honestly told me that the mechanic had misdiagnosed the repair and exceeded all my expectations regarding making it right.

Obviously, I’ve been a loyal customer ever since. I’ve recommended friends and co-workers to them and, so far, I’ve been pleased with what they have told me. One story involves a couple who I had just met as they arrived in Alaska only to find that the job the husband had been promised had fallen through. Down to their last dollar and in dire straits, they then had the added trouble of having their truck break. He somehow got it to an auto parts store and spent his last $60 buying the part he needed. As he struggled to fix it in the parking lot, an employee from Master Auto (which was just next door) noticed him. This employee walked over and began to help him, using his tools from work. He didn’t offer to cut him a deal on the costs of repair or some such, he just did what a good neighbor would do and helped the man.

I heard about all this afterward and thought, “Yep, that’s Master Auto.”

Last year I developed some very serious medical problems. While trying to recover from surgery, I grew quite ill and was literally stuck in bed for weeks. Of course, this is when our main vehicle broke — badly. We were in financial distress and it was just the last straw. While we didn’t have the money to afford repairs, I felt I had no choice but to drop the truck off at Master Auto and figure out how I was going to afford it later. They diagnosed the problem and then did something I will never forget; they gave my oldest son, AJ, a rundown on what needed to be replaced (AJ was still fairly new in auto shop at Palmer High School) and towed my truck over to the high school so he could fix it. It saved me a lot of money at a time that we were truly at our most desperate. They didn’t just shrug their shoulders and not worry about something that wasn’t their problem. They didn’t hold out in an effort to make money off my misfortune. I was dumbfounded that a repair shop would do that.

The Valley is growing, but we’re still very much a small town, and it’s encouraging to see a business that keeps that in mind. Perhaps you look at my submission this week as some sort of a plug for a local business. You’d be wrong. This article is about the appreciation and comfort that comes with finding people who know what it means to be a true neighbor and member of the community. You have to admit, it’s getting harder and harder to find these days. Thankfully there are still those people out there who “get it” like the fine people at Master Auto.

Ben Compton is a Palmer resident and publishes his column under the tagline “Compton’s Corner,” the same title used by his grandmother, Phyllis Compton, a longtime Frontiersman columnist.