Dealership Complaint - Conclusion

[buster356]

MNBoxster, Sorry But I think you have missed the whole just of this post.
He was upset over the lack of service. It would not matter what type of industry you are in when you make an appointment to have something fixed or corrected then it should be taken care of. If the part was miss ordered or one of the tech's had a family emergency then the service adviser has a responsiblity to contact his customers and inform them of the problem.
If not then why bother making the appointment and plan on taking time out from your day? You could just show up and hope...

buster356

[z281974]

Regarding your dealer honoring the appointment, here's a related excerpt from a Seinfeld (big Porsche fan incidently) episode. Unfortunatley it seems more and more businesses are following this attitude.

JERRY: I don't understand, I made a reservation, do you have my reservation?

RENTAL CAR AGENT: Yes, we do, unfortunately we ran out of cars.

JERRY: But the reservation keeps the car here. That's why you have the reservation.

RENTAL CAR AGENT: I know why we have reservations.

JERRY: I don't think you do. If you did, I'd have a car. See, you know how to take the reservation, you just don't know how to “hold” the reservation and that's really the most important part of the reservation, the holding. Anybody can just take them.

[MNBoxster]

Originally Posted by buster356

MNBoxster, Sorry But I think you have missed the whole just of this post.
He was upset over the lack of service. It would not matter what type of industry you are in when you make an appointment to have something fixed or corrected then it should be taken care of. If the part was miss ordered or one of the tech's had a family emergency then the service adviser has a responsiblity to contact his customers and inform them of the problem.
If not then why bother making the appointment and plan on taking time out from your day? You could just show up and hope...

buster356

Hi,

I didn't misunderstand his thread, nor am I discounting the errors of the Service people involved. But I do think there's a middle ground between taking it all in stride and Off With His Head!

IMHO, the lister is making waay too much of the incident. He got inconvenienced - unfortunate, but not the end of the world. I'm sure his Lumbar will survive another day.

Do I think the Dealership will want to know of his displeasure? My 25 years running Service Industries make me certain that they will. But calling people Morons and Idiots over a Lumbar Support seems to me at least to be slightly over the Top.

There's truth to the addage about catching more flies with Honey. Service Techs get around and have occaision to meet. Even if he moves to another Dealership, his reputation as a Demanding Complainer may follow him and insure that he gets more of the same. If on the other hand, one were to express their concern politely and work with the SA, he might be surprised how far out of their way they'd be willing to go to make ammends in the future for dropping the ball this time...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

[eslai]

I understand you, Jim, but I think you could find a way to make your point without belittling his opinion on the matter.

I used to huff and puff over every little customer service issue. I've found over time that yes, remaining calm is the order of the day. People will **************** up and as long as they're courteous with you, they should get courtesy in return. However, if they're jackasses and disrespect you, sometimes you have to unleash the dogs of war.

[mach schnell]

i think one of the most beautiful things in life is how a Seinfeld episode seems to have relevance to every situation we face in life!

in my opinion, customer service (no matter what industry) in calfornia is the absolute pits! its a gamble, what you might get when you show up and i've come to think that the attitude in california is that 'it doesn't matter if i don't retain you as a customer, b/c there are 22 million other people in the state.' it stinks to have so much of what we depend upon in daily life be managed by people who don't care about anything.

[Uncle Bob]

I think I understand what you are getting at, Jim. In my opinion? It comes down to the "which hill do I want to die on". I save my real solid unmoving complaints for big issues, lumbar support may not have fit that. What happens next place? You gonna end up in Santa Barbara getting service?

I'm really in a pickle in WA......the next dealership is in Bellvue, about 80 miles one way! I pick my hills carefully and ask how important it really is. Over the years, the dealership has been very gracious. They assisted in having VW buy back a brand new Touareg with over 42 separate warranty items in <30k miles.....don't think I didn't have to get firm on more than one occasion. When the service dept (who mostly only do what the manufacturer tells/allows them to do) wasn't giving me satisfaction, I went around to the sales manager and told him how disappointed I was in my purchase. At one time the conversation went like this:
Sales: "Well, Bob, perhaps you just need to get angry. Sometimes that's what's needed to get their attention."
"Well, I don't think you want me getting angry."
"Well, it might be worth it"
"OK, not that I haven't given it some thought. I had an idea....I'll go to Yeager's (sporting goods store) and buy a case of Sterno. I'll fill the back of the Touareg with it, light it on fire, put a brick on the accelerator and point it at that Turbo Carrera (appx $100K) in the front showroom window. I figure I can report it (the Touareg) stolen and come out pretty good. What do you think?"
"Bob, why don't you just remain calm and let me get angry for you."
"I was thinking the same thing myself!"


It got resolved the next day!

[Adam]

Originally Posted by MNBoxster

Hi,

I didn't misunderstand his thread, nor am I discounting the errors of the Service people involved. But I do think there's a middle ground between taking it all in stride and Off With His Head!

IMHO, the lister is making waay too much of the incident. He got inconvenienced - unfortunate, but not the end of the world. I'm sure his Lumbar will survive another day.
Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

I agree with Jim and was thinking this from the get go. Yes, it sucks, but in the scheme of things how big is this? Inconveniences happen everyday..it's part of life. You accept it and move on. I mean, the guys mother was sick....Hippo didn't get his car worked on that day. Big wooooppdeeedooooo.

[Brucelee]

Personally, I have spoken to BHP several times on the phone. I think they were arrogant and not very helpful.