Health & Fitness
Customer Service Shuttle
I have not spent a lifetime in the car dealer business and have been encouraged to provide some perspective on processes.
Last Friday the first person in the service drive had been promised a shuttle ride downtown at 7 a.m. We have a posted schedule time of 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. A new service advisor employee made the promise without being aware of the posted schedule.
We promised and we did not follow through.
The person was understandably upset. There was an overseas conference call that was not going to be made. At 7:17 a.m. I was dispatched early. No one was happy. No one was on time.
When I got back to the dealer another customer that had specifically called to see about shuttle times had been promised a ride out at 7:30. That person was not written on the board. That person also had to wait ... and be late.
My first two riders were not-happy-campers.
We do have rental cars. I later asked the rental gal if a person was to make an out-of-the-box customer service effort, could a rental car be used as a service shuttle. (I’m new there. I don’t know these things.)
Of course. It only takes a couple minutes to release a rental for house use.
But that factoid is not shared, trained or modeled by management.
Therefore, the advisors think it’s someone else’s job. There are no techs, lot attendants or wash boys available at that time of day - they say. What they fail to see is that they themselves could drive the car. There are four of them that do the same thing. Their work would get done. And, the customer could get what they were promised.
Oddly both these customers were coming back a second time to give the dealer another chance after their first visit to service did not go so well.
The service advisors that write the tickets and schedule the customer repairs did not see that their customer service duties actually extend beyond their computers and the entry drive.
One of these people is VP HR at a name brand software firm. The other is in charge of customer service at a very well known, Big Local Firm. While they were both very unhappy, they also realized they’re with the shuttle driver and excess venting was not going to solve any problems.
I just finished reading The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk about one to one customer service in the online age. It promises more work, but better results.
I have not spent a lifetime in the car dealer business and have been encouraged to provide some perspective on processes. I think I’ll bring this up.
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