How Not To Treat Your Customers

I was going to write something completely different today, but as it just so happens a great friend of mine stopped by to discuss an issue that I believe most of us have had some experience in- dealing with companies who have failed miserably when it comes to keeping their word on resolving warranty issues. 

In his case, his wife had taken their new car into the dealership to have some relatively simple concerns addressed. Needless to say,things have not gone well for them as it is approaching the 45-day period since the issues were first brought to the dealership’s attention. Compounding the dissatisfaction with the dealer’s responses to them was the statement from a service writer questioning “why they didn’t buy the vehicle at their location.” Kind of a dumb question given the service department’s inability to deal with the issue. 

My friends had contacted the manufacturer’s 800 service number should they be experiencing problems; this wasn’t a cheap purchase and after numerous calls, they were advised that the regional office and specialists had conferred with the dealership itself and had arranged for them to take the vehicle into the dealer on a specific day and time and they would be conferring with the dealer directly in an attempt to resolve the issue to at leastisolate the problem and provide the shop with the appropriate parts. 

I do love the wonderful technology we see in these new cars. From the innovations such as backup cameras, proximity warning devices, automatic high beam dimmers, smart cruise control, the ability to open your truck by simply waving your foot under the rear bumper or a camera system that allows you to see a 360-degree view of where you are within your parking spot to eliminate your co-pilot’s need to tell you that you are over the line on their side, requiring you to reposition the vehicle. 

God, there is so much technologybuilt into these vehicles today it drives you crazy. This is sure to require that there is a baby boom sometime soon to provide all new car owners a very tech-savvy genius abouteight years old riding with you at all times. All of that, in addition to watching Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune in the evenings, we will soon be convinced how lacking we are in dealing with today’s faced-paced technology advancements.  

The saga continuesMonday afternoon when the vehicle’s owners are requested to have the car at the dealership bright and early at 8:00 AM that day. From Marco they drive the 25 miles to the dealership based upon instructions they had received the previous Wednesday for what they were told would be a one-hour downtime when the small part would be replaced and they would be on their way.  

After waiting for 30 minutes, the service writer, who had been the point of contact throughout this frustrating process, informed the owners that an Uber driver had been arranged to take them back to Marco. It seems now the repair would take longer than expected and there are no “loaner cars” available. No explanation was ever offered, but they were assured that the same service writer would deliver the vehicle to them that day. 

The first boss I had out of college was a major car dealer in the Hartford, Connecticut area and had always told me that excuses were a recipe for disaster in sales. I always remembered that statement. It stayed with me throughout my career, and I always impressed that upon the dealers I worked with in my 35 plus years in the business. It was simple - telling me the truth would be the foundation for fixing the issues we faced. 

One of the lessons I’ve learned from this experience is that the brick and mortar that you see in these new fancy buildings mean less than the quality of the people, and the investment in those individuals who work inside those buildingsis much more important than fancy chandeliers or plush couches. We as a nation should take that into consideration as we move forward in this very competitive environment on the world stage. 

I’m sitting here at 6:41 PM on Monday having a drink with my frustrated friend and his wife, and we’ve still not heard a peep from the dealership. A simple phone call back to this customer could have gone a long way to ease their anxiety regarding their ownership of this product and maybe they would become a customer next time.