What Happened To Good Customer Service?

[Brenbo]

I have always been an advocate of my local dealers good customer service.  However on the last couple of occasions i have had to deal with them quality of customer service has become not as it once was. 

The recent event which has led me to question the quality of customer service is when I called the dealer to arrange my Golf R's first MOT and 3rd year service.  My contracted hours of work allow me to have a 4.5 day week.  This has been an advantage as I could use my half day to arrange a service or similar appointment in the afternoon at my local dealership which is over 40 miles away from my place of work and home.  On the afternoon appointment I would be able to sit and wait for the service or similar to be carried out and then once the service dept had finished i would take my car home.

However on my recent call to arrange the MOT and Service, I was informed I cannot arrange for a sit & wait appointment in the afternoon, I can only arrange a sit & wait appointment in the morning or not at all.  If I wanted an afternoon appointment, the car had to be left with VW to service in their own time and they would then let me know when the work was done (in their own sweet time?). 

With this info a Saturday morning appointment would be my only option as I did not want to arrange a weekday morning appointment and be late for work (which is over 40+ miles away). 

However I was then also informed the little gem, which is I cannot sit & wait on a Saturday Morning appointment at all.  The car had to be dropped off and left with them ans they would tell me when the work was done.  So I asked if this was the case, and with Saturday being the only option for me, whether i could have a courtesy car to go in to the city, while the car was being serviced etc,.

But the reply I received was they do not provide Courtesy Cars on Saturdays either.  So if I cannot sit and wait, but also cannot get a courtesy car to leave them to service the car without me waiting for it at the dealership, and if I cannot take it in on an afternoon and sit and wait... what am i to do? 

I managed to kinda get it sorted by going through to the service manager and tell them that I am not happy with their new policy as makes it nigh on impossible for some like myself who lives far away to arrange a service appointment.  The resolution the Service Manager provided was for me to have the special priviledge of being allowed to sit and wait on Saturday morning on this occasion.  But I had to get my car in to the dealership by 9:00am on Saturday morning.  Also it may take up to 13:00pm (when the service dept closes) to get the job complete.  However earlier I was told was only gonna take up to 2.5 hours to complete? This is making me think I am being fobbed off and the service dept will take their sweet time to service my car and I have only been told I can sit and wait while they do it in their own sweet time as and when they can get around to doing it.  This is not the level of customer service I am used to from this dealership. 

[jv]

Make it as difficult as possible so the customer goes elsewhere?!

My local customer shafting dept has 3 mini office cubicle things you can reserve so I have worked from the dealership before. The service is always utter sh!te though but heh, free tea and biscuits right?

[Brenbo]

I am starting to think about going elsewhere for my next car if it keeps going like this with their customer service. 

[Jim_mk7.5]

Can't say I've ever experienced anything other than fairly average customer service at local VW dealerships (5.5 years and 50k in a Passat). Wasn't allowed to use VW for my 1st service this time... 

Local BMW and Mercedes have been pretty good.

It seems the way these days is to just shout a bit louder (or go higher up the food chain). They can normally do what you want them to do but either can't be bothered or don't have the authority. I find it happens with lots of things, not just car dealers.

[Brenbo]

I agree with what you say Jim_mk7.5.  I have also noticed it is the general way most things are going these days.  It seems customer service is becoming a thing of the past.  There are still a choice few places who still try to provide it, but as a general rule most companies are starting to go the way of forget customer service once they have your money.  I also think as I get older my tolerance for such things is much less than it used to be. 

[themaninagolf]

   Take it to the Dealer Principle mate.

Conversation over...

[monkeyhanger]

I agree with what you say Jim_mk7.5.  I have also noticed it is the general way most things are going these days.  It seems customer service is becoming a thing of the past.  There are still a choice few places who still try to provide it, but as a general rule most companies are starting to go the way of forget customer service once they have your money.  I also think as I get older my tolerance for such things is much less than it used to be.

Too many apathetic millenials in the general workforce.

Nobody gives a sh!t anymore.

[hog_hedge]

If you get nowhere with them could you take the afternoon appointment, bring the missus and go and explore the local area or grab a coffee somewhere and have a good chinwag all afternoon?

I know you're used to the old way but surely you can make some sort of positive out of it.

[SRGTD]

If you get nowhere with them could you take the afternoon appointment, bring the missus and go and explore the local area or grab a coffee somewhere and have a good chinwag all afternoon?

I know you're used to the old way but surely you can make some sort of positive out of it.

And you could still take advantage of the tea/coffee and biscuits at the dealership - assuming these haven’t been removed from the waiting area in the dealership’s drive to offer a lower level of customer service.

Presumably even though the dealer no longer offers afternoon waiting appointments, there’s no reason why you couldn’t wait in the customer waiting area if you wanted to. It just means that that won’t give you a specific timed service appointment slot so if you chose to wait, you could be waiting a long time.

[Brenbo]

Unfortuately the dealership is nowhere near the city centre, so taking advantage of drinks and biscuits in the dealership may be the best option.  We are planning on trying to make a positive out of it, as best we can.  It's not so much about having wait a few extra hours either, as I have done this in the past. 

But concerning the weekday option, when i spoke to the dealership they didn't promise the car would be ready by the end of the day on a weekday if I took it in on the afternoon.  But I guess with it being a MOT and Service, surely it would be ready end of the day?

I am also open to change in the way things are done, but it was very much a case of everything I asked about was definitely a "computer says NO! and tough if our policy prevents you from getting your car in" scenario.  There just seemed to be no ensuring customers who live a long distance away are able to be catered for the best they can so they stay as returning customers. 

Which is very much unexpected and unlike my local dealership as up until now they have been really good except for the issue last year that is when there was no understanding about my predicament with just coming out of spinal surgery for Cauda Equine, and they told me I had to get my car in within 1 month after service date with no understanding for my situation (I was unable to drive for 6 six weeks after surgery and the month after service date fell within that time period I was unable to drive). 

When in reality it ended up being the case I actually had 2 months after service date  to take the car in for service which I managed to get the car in for service within the nick of time after my no driving period for six weeks  post surgery was up. It's not even the period of time thing which wound me up then either, it's more the case the stated it was policy to get the car in within 1 month, which was incorrect and stated it was my problem to get the car in within a time slot which was not correct and would have caused me more problems than the truth.  (they didn't even bother to find out and tell me this was the case, it was thanks to some of you guys on this forum pointing me in the right direction and then me ending up calling VW UK to confirm as the dealership was so unhelpful at the time). 

It is since that issue last year that I have my doubts in the way they are handling their customers recently.  Before that time they had been great, but since last year I am not so sure? 

Anyway I will try to make the best of the situation and see what we can do for the morning even it means having to walk a fair way to burn some time? 

My overall point though, is they are keen enough to promise the earth to get your large sum of money for a new car whether its cash or a lease, but when it comes to customer support after purchase, the way things are going these days, customer support is becoming an ugly word for most companies.