Yup... you guessed it... another rant coming.
What ever happened to the notion of Customer Service? Did it fall victim to the same killer as "company pride", "pride of work", and the notion of employees being more than mere numbers? Or do people just not care any more?
My most recent dealings surrounding my car are what prompt this wondering.
Those of you who've known me for a while, or read past blog posts (not sure if I wrote any of them here, but I'm pretty sure I did at least once on the old blog), will know that I lovingly refer to my car as my "citrus fruit on wheels". This is not really fair to my car... there's remarkably little fundamentally wrong with my car, other than it being a Ford ;) I just had a series of very bad experiences with the dealership where I purchased it and who were responsible for its maintenance until we moved.
Our move pretty much coincided with the expiry of the extended warranty, so after that I just got into the habit of having the bare minimum maintenance done on it until I could find a decent mechanic.
Well, things reached a 'crisis point' when I realized that there was a distinct possibility the car wouldn't pass the emissions test required to renew my plate due to an exhaust issue that I was pretty sure existed, but which hadn't been diagnosed. So, I bit the bullet and took it to the dealership my parents deal with.
That was yesterday. And yesterday went well... they seemed to accept that I might have a brain and know what's going on with the car of which I am the sole driver. They were kind enough to give me a ride all the way home (they're not the closest dealership to me... there are 3 that are closer, 2 of them between me and them), and when they diagnosed my exhaust problem, the actually used the words "you were right" (I had suspected a small hole forwards in the exhaust system... the actual problem was a flex hose from engine to exhaust). BUT... they had to fix it before it could go for an emissions test and they had to order a part and wouldn't be able to fix it yesterday. I explained that it had to get done, because the plate expires on Thursday (yup.. .that's tomorrow).
Not a huge inconvenience for me yesterday, as D was going to be home in the evening. I did, however, want the car back in time to get the sticker today, so that I could treat myself to some birthday pampering tomorrow before heading downtown to meet up with D for a Cirque du Soleil performance.
Yeah... not going to happen.
I called the dealership at about 10:15 this morning to get an update. I'm told my Service Advisor was with a customer and would call me back right away. So I got involved in some other things and at 1:15 called again. Told the receptionist that I had called 3 hours earlier for an update and Dino (the SA) hadn't gotten back to me. She said he was on lunch, but she'd talk to the service guys to see what was happening.... came back and said she couldn't get in touch with "the tower operator", but she'd call me back "in a couple of minutes". 90 minutes later I FINALLY got in touch with Dino (having explained to the third receptionist of the day that I had called 90 minutes and 4.5 hours earlier for an update on my car and still had no info)... upon me identifying myself, he immediately said "they're working on your car now, so that should be done soon and then we'll send it for the emissions test". Hrmm. Yeah... Excuse me for not quite believing that, 'cuz I know you can't see the bays from your desk. So I asked if he'd gotten either of the previous messages requesting an update. Or at least, I tried to ask... but was interrupted with "I've been really busy and haven't checked my voicemail". Nice one... if you were that busy, then you would have been checking your voicemail on your lunch break if you had any sense of customer service. So I told him they weren't voicemails, they were messages left with reception.
Yeah... 30 minutes later he calls and tells me they're just working on it and it'll be done "in a bit" and then they'll send it for the test.
Well, since D isn't home tonight, they'll have to come pick me up to get my car... it'll take them 30 minutes to get here, and 30 minutes to get back (assuming traffic doesn't become an issue) then another 30 minutes (i have no faith in speed) to process the paperwork and my payment. It's 3:30 now... the sticker isn't getting done today, methinks. Which means I now have to make another trip tomorrow morning to get the damn sticker.
So what? So now I don't get to do the majority of my birthday pampering because of where it would have to happen, not having been able to make an appointment because of this fiasco, and when I'd have to leave to meet up with D. It was also something I wanted to do before an event I'm going to on Saturday... well, D and I have had longstanding plans for Friday, so that puts a crimp in THAT plan, too... all because these fucknuts couldn't grasp the notion of customer service enough to return my first call of the day and get my car in BEFORE the ones that came in today (since it was there since yesterday morning, I figure a little "priority service" isn't an unreasonable expectation).
CUSTOMER SERVICE, people... it means providing SERVICE (fixing my damn car) to the CUSTOMER (the person paying the not small bill... that'd be ME!). Gah!
3:45... still no word on it being done.... *sigh*
What ever happened to the notion of Customer Service? Did it fall victim to the same killer as "company pride", "pride of work", and the notion of employees being more than mere numbers? Or do people just not care any more?
My most recent dealings surrounding my car are what prompt this wondering.
Those of you who've known me for a while, or read past blog posts (not sure if I wrote any of them here, but I'm pretty sure I did at least once on the old blog), will know that I lovingly refer to my car as my "citrus fruit on wheels". This is not really fair to my car... there's remarkably little fundamentally wrong with my car, other than it being a Ford ;) I just had a series of very bad experiences with the dealership where I purchased it and who were responsible for its maintenance until we moved.
Our move pretty much coincided with the expiry of the extended warranty, so after that I just got into the habit of having the bare minimum maintenance done on it until I could find a decent mechanic.
Well, things reached a 'crisis point' when I realized that there was a distinct possibility the car wouldn't pass the emissions test required to renew my plate due to an exhaust issue that I was pretty sure existed, but which hadn't been diagnosed. So, I bit the bullet and took it to the dealership my parents deal with.
That was yesterday. And yesterday went well... they seemed to accept that I might have a brain and know what's going on with the car of which I am the sole driver. They were kind enough to give me a ride all the way home (they're not the closest dealership to me... there are 3 that are closer, 2 of them between me and them), and when they diagnosed my exhaust problem, the actually used the words "you were right" (I had suspected a small hole forwards in the exhaust system... the actual problem was a flex hose from engine to exhaust). BUT... they had to fix it before it could go for an emissions test and they had to order a part and wouldn't be able to fix it yesterday. I explained that it had to get done, because the plate expires on Thursday (yup.. .that's tomorrow).
Not a huge inconvenience for me yesterday, as D was going to be home in the evening. I did, however, want the car back in time to get the sticker today, so that I could treat myself to some birthday pampering tomorrow before heading downtown to meet up with D for a Cirque du Soleil performance.
Yeah... not going to happen.
I called the dealership at about 10:15 this morning to get an update. I'm told my Service Advisor was with a customer and would call me back right away. So I got involved in some other things and at 1:15 called again. Told the receptionist that I had called 3 hours earlier for an update and Dino (the SA) hadn't gotten back to me. She said he was on lunch, but she'd talk to the service guys to see what was happening.... came back and said she couldn't get in touch with "the tower operator", but she'd call me back "in a couple of minutes". 90 minutes later I FINALLY got in touch with Dino (having explained to the third receptionist of the day that I had called 90 minutes and 4.5 hours earlier for an update on my car and still had no info)... upon me identifying myself, he immediately said "they're working on your car now, so that should be done soon and then we'll send it for the emissions test". Hrmm. Yeah... Excuse me for not quite believing that, 'cuz I know you can't see the bays from your desk. So I asked if he'd gotten either of the previous messages requesting an update. Or at least, I tried to ask... but was interrupted with "I've been really busy and haven't checked my voicemail". Nice one... if you were that busy, then you would have been checking your voicemail on your lunch break if you had any sense of customer service. So I told him they weren't voicemails, they were messages left with reception.
Yeah... 30 minutes later he calls and tells me they're just working on it and it'll be done "in a bit" and then they'll send it for the test.
Well, since D isn't home tonight, they'll have to come pick me up to get my car... it'll take them 30 minutes to get here, and 30 minutes to get back (assuming traffic doesn't become an issue) then another 30 minutes (i have no faith in speed) to process the paperwork and my payment. It's 3:30 now... the sticker isn't getting done today, methinks. Which means I now have to make another trip tomorrow morning to get the damn sticker.
So what? So now I don't get to do the majority of my birthday pampering because of where it would have to happen, not having been able to make an appointment because of this fiasco, and when I'd have to leave to meet up with D. It was also something I wanted to do before an event I'm going to on Saturday... well, D and I have had longstanding plans for Friday, so that puts a crimp in THAT plan, too... all because these fucknuts couldn't grasp the notion of customer service enough to return my first call of the day and get my car in BEFORE the ones that came in today (since it was there since yesterday morning, I figure a little "priority service" isn't an unreasonable expectation).
CUSTOMER SERVICE, people... it means providing SERVICE (fixing my damn car) to the CUSTOMER (the person paying the not small bill... that'd be ME!). Gah!
3:45... still no word on it being done.... *sigh*
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4 comments:
Or they could have just given you a loaner...
Yeah... based on my last "loaner" experience, I'm not sure I EVER want to do that again.
Anyway... the update: they finally called at 4:30 to say it was ready and seemed surprised when I said I'd need a ride to get there "Oh, are you stuck for a ride"... umm, yeah dumbass, you have my car, remember? 4:45 the cab they called (and paid for) showed up... 5:15 we finally got there... 5:30 I was on the road, $1000 lighter in the bank account and not entirely convinced that they fixed the problem that had them keeping the car for a second day in the first place *sigh*
Eek! After all that, I hope the car is fixed. So how was the birthday night out? :)
Gotta love those car industry reps, eh?
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