An attempt to `double up` a labour charge would be bad enough. (long gone, following temporary weakness due to surgery-no DIY) But if them being caught and challenged led to a later`blanking` from the service manager, on having to pass the desk to get to parts..
To say nothing of the sullen looking girls forming the reception staff (allegedly told off) looking anywhere but your face. Eye contact and a smile for a repeat new purchase customer. You must be joking.
But then, It`s perhaps not much of a customer who just comes back for parts..
Best perhaps to try to look straight at the parts dept, when in the showroom and ignore it back.... It could be resented though.. and that will eventually extract its price.
Edited by oilrag on 20/08/2008 at 12:58
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But what exactly, do you expect them to do? Perhaps make conciliatory non-verbal gurning gestures, hold up a sign with 'Sorry!' on it, grin/smile - or just maybe not know what to do so just look away?
Looking at this another way - at least you've got a genuine reaction (even if in the breach), not just the throwaway plastic greeting taught in CRM school!
Edited by woodbines on 20/08/2008 at 13:14
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I like that Woodbines, best laugh today ;)
Edited by oilrag on 20/08/2008 at 13:37
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They sound very childish and churlish - best is to give a big smile as you walk past to show you don't give the proverbial.
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I've visited 3 different dealerships with our cars this year and they were all sullen.
I guess it must be a pretty horrible job - they're generally beyond clueless and as they spend their day passing on the workshop's rip-offs then there can't be too many happy customers.
My experiences this year:
Mitsubishi dealer - they simply tried to steal £50 off my daughter. Unlikely we'll be going there again. (The friendly sales director who sold us our Colt and wanted me to try an Outlander, hid in the background and while we "discussed" the service price).
SEAT dealer: I'm in the middle of writing them a nasty letter after they charged extra for something that (in my opinion) should have been included in their service package. They also messed up the MOT renewal so have lost a month of it.
Mercedes dealer: They hate me as my car has Mercedes ServicePlus, so they can't scam me for loads of extra work. Downside is that they won't do anything to the car other than the bare minimum - every issue is dismissed as "no fault found" or "they all do that, sir". It's astonishing how little servicing a Mercedes *needs*.
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1. I have a friend that uses the dealer almost 50 miles away after having a bad experience with the local dealership. They messed up his old car. He got them to remove the stuff they'd fitted got a refund and got 2 days pay of them too. They fitted a new alarm. It killed the battery. They put it on their battery tester and said 'coincidence'. He spends £50 odd on a new battery. Two days later it's flat.
So it would seem that some staff at dealers are indeed useless.
2. I needed an interior bulb. I visited my local factor, they didn't have one at the right size. So I call my local dealer - "yeah, we'll that in stock just come over". So I trek over there. They didn't have it. I have to order it. It's 70 odd pence and they want payment now. I had 70p in my pocket and declined their suggestion that I put it on a card, and say that I'll give them the remaining pence when I collect the bulb. When I return days later to collect the bulb it's the same size mini as the one my factor suggested. After some discussion a more senior chap emerges from an office behind the parts desk and says "there was some notice about that original bulb being replaced" and suggested another bulb which while not the same size as the original, was quite a bit nearer in size than the one be offered. I said "here's the odd pence that I owe you" and they wouldn't take it.
As ever it seems procedures and methods have eroded the ability of people to think for themselves. Give it another few generations and they won't have a clue if it's not on a computer screen.
3. Merc. dealers? Yes, I have not heard good things about them. A friend got out of a C Class diesel estate and into a Lexus, but I think they were giving away a Golf Club membership incentive.
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I think there's a big difference between how the manfacturers see the service agents and how their end customers see the service agents.
And I think that difference is growing ever wider.
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Surprising really that directors of car companies don't visit main dealer and servicing outfits masquerading as clueless (but not unduly provocative) punters, to assess the sort of treatment they are given. A bit of that would concentrate minds.
Harun al-Rashid, the much-admired third (I think) Abbasid Caliph of Islam, Baghdad having been founded by his grandfather and being by his time a great and rich city of a million people, used it is said to wander the streets in mufti to take the political and social temperature.
In case he came across anything that really annoyed him, he was followed discreetly by a giant eunuch with a big scimitar to dispense summary justice. Not sure what the Ford, VW or Subaru equivalent of that might be.
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well toyota are big on customer surveys and regularly do a sample survey of i guess about 10% of customers after they have had a service at one of their garages
the service desk managers are clearly very scared of what happens if you mark them down, and helpfully explain how to fill in the forms in case youre in the 10% that gets asked
but dealer quality in the toyota network varies quite a lot too, i generally like the ones further away from london, and hate the ones within a few hours of london
this is think is one way to drive up standards, and good on toyota for trying
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I have experienced Audi, MB, BMW and now Toyota servicing (to say nothing of Ford,Rover etc)
Best experiences:
Sitting waiting for service: BMW and Toyota
Best service: Toyota
Cheapest service : Toyota
And they (Toyota) are always friendly ...and helpful..
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Years ago when I ran new cars I used to love receiving customer satisfaction surveys.
Used to phone up the salesman and request his help filling it out over lunch at his expense. They don't often get the opportunity for a free lunch so were always grateful for it and would use the occasion to help sort any niggles with the car.
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>Not sure what the Ford, VW or Subaru equivalent of that might be. <
Michelin guide ?
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Michelin guide ?
I don't know what you could possibly mean Dawg old buddy.
But actually in this context you are what I believe is known as Haram owing to your handle. You might just as well have picked Pig or Oyster. Anyway as a representative, in a sense, of the Abbasid dynasty, I'm not allowed to talk to you. Sorry and all that.
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There is absolutely no excuse for this: the reception staff are being paid to deal with customers, who are in turn paying the dealership for (a) friendly service, and (b) some proper communication with what has been done in the workshop.
Too many of them rely on British people being far too patient and tolerant and not reporting them to their management. We shouldn't have to, but it's important that we make the effort to complain about poor service.
As I've said here many times, go to a family-owned outfit and you have a far greater chance of getting good service.
Good examples - Octagon Toyota (Bracknell), Greenoaks Mercedes (Reading) and Cross Roads Garage (Renault in Oxfordshire).
Ridgeway VW (Reading) are greatly improved and give you a satisfaction card to fill in at each visit. I took the Golf there the other day to have an iPod connector fitted - not even a service - and they still washed and hoovered it.
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People could learn a lot from American customer service - although by the end of my first week there it became a little wearing - maybe there's an opening for the spotty little oik that has discovered a whole new definition of "serving" at our local shop.
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It all derives from the energy of the senior management. If they really want to improve, they can mystery shop. CEO or underlings would soon be spotted, if they ever ventured out of their comfort zone. On reflection, at some dealers I know, its no use turning up at all. Like a ghost town. Even the tumbleweed's at rest. Like the CEO.
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People could learn a lot from American customer service - although by the end of my first week there it became a little wearing -
You are right... it's almost embarrassing how the dealership staff here bend over backwards to help. I've never had a single bad experience in the various dealerships I've visited (of numerous manufacturers, domestic & foreign)
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The only "off" experience in nearly three weeks of larging it was in a restaurant in Ipswich MA.
The waitress was drunk - this was duly reflected in the tip (a bottle top). Mrs P reflected that the service provided was down to the fact that staffing levels were high - putting on the "Dumb Brit" act helped us out on more than one occasion - especially in one memorable visit to a rural petrol station on a hot Sunday afternoon.
Edited by Pugugly on 20/08/2008 at 21:46
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The Peugeot dealer I was forced to use for my old company 306 was the complete opposite. The service was shocking, fault finding skills non existent, and the bills astronomical (thankfully I wasn't paying), but the service desk was staffed by two absolutely charming young ladies who I just couldn't have shouted at if I'd wanted to.
A clever plan. It worked.
cheers
DP
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Ha - BMW do that as well at my branch - Skoda locally is sullen but very efficient !
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I've long been of the opinion that the service reception desk is where the most experienced and customer oriented mechanics should see their last few working years out, a sort of middle man/woman, paid by the company but with responsibility to do their best for the customer and give value for money, its that repeat custom that really matters, customers feeling conned do not return, i wouldn't.
Don't suppose it will happen in more than a handful of dealerships.
One of my favourite midland dealerships ( i deliver their new cars often) is just the sort of place most here would love, no glass palace, lovely pleasant lady on reception (coffee always for me.;), senior sales chap been there over 20 years, strangely enough he doesn't resemble a doorman either, and the service reception, admin and mechanics have mostly been there donkeys years, no sullen faces, even i'm welcome...;)
It works though, they have loyal customers of all ages but many mature ones as you would expect, and they are still selling a good steady quantity of vehicles, that come back for servicing, and will usually be traded back again.
Wise owner of dealership, if it aint broke etc?
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i used to know a rover director 20 years ago that would have a go at the dealership which serviced his car for rubbish service, never seemed to work, and we know the story there, i think the toyota approach of customer surveys and basing bonus etc on what the customers feedback is a better approach
funnily i think the best routine servicing i ever experienced was the old halfords garages when they still owned the workshops attached to their larger outlets, always good natured, and you could sit and watch and read the paper no problem
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What a good idea, GB - a real win/win situation.
Perhaps you could name the dealer in question? Sounds very like Cross Roads Garage but they're not quite in the Midlands.
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Reminds me, my local Audi place had a really good young parts 'kid' made eye contact, used your name. Leaving you think 'he's just been on a course'. I think he got promoted as he presented me with a business card with a job title on it. We once figured out what part I needed via remote electronic means.
Last time I was there, he was gone on some unkempt, bored looking chap was there.
If you got a 20 year old Audi it seems some really don't what you darkening their door. I quite like leaving it parked up outside the showroom door.
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Many years ago I got so fed up with bad service that I now just buy old cars and service them myself.
If I can't fix anything I just put the car through the auction and get another one.
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Perhaps you could name the dealer in question? Sounds very like Cross Roads Garage but
Avant.
I wasn't ignoring you, i just wanted to check with the garage that they wouldn't mind if i named them as requested, been there today and happy for me to do so, sorry for the delay.
Spot of Chasetown. Citroen dealer.
Chasetown is very close to Burntwood.
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