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he said he noticed that the service light was still on. He ran after them and caught up before they could drive off the driveway. he told them about the light, and told them they needed to take it back. The driver apparently faffed about complaining about his timetable, and got on the phone to the dealer. They suggested that our customer could drop the car when he was passing the dealership. ‘I am never passing your place’ he replied – ‘take it back and turn the light off!’ “While this was going on, he wandered around the car, making sure everything was in order. On the tyre that was changed, his eye was caught by the fact that the dustcap did not match the others on the car. Then he realised the markings on the sidewall seemed wrong too. Before he had chance to pull them up on this, they had to go. “While our customer was waiting for the car to come back, he had time to peruse the paperwork. Going through it, he noted that there was apparently dampness around the sump, and on the MOT front one of the headlights was slightly out of alignment. The dealer’s previous service desk person was used to our customer and his extended warranty, and so knew that if this was pointed out he would instruct them to investigate and correct the problem. Yet here he was, reading about it after the car had supposedly been delivered. The car then came back again, with the light off. “By now, he had chance to check the tyre situation, and yes it was the wrong tyre. The car now had three Pirelli P Zeros, and one Pirelli P7 Cinturato. Plus the non-matching dustcap. Knowing our customer, I’m not sure which annoyed him more, the tyre or the dustcap. “So, there he was, with a car that had been mis-equipped, and with work left undone, and it was the weekend. It was then that he realised he had received a text from the dealer, asking for feedback on his experience. He certainly had some, so he started clicking through to have his say. He didn’t want to be overly pushy, plus he had his own things to do, and the family and all that. Plus the car was going to sit inside until it was rectified. They have various options on delivering feedback, but the only one that would work for him was Facebook. He left a pretty succinct surmise of the shortcomings from his experience, and said that he expected to see it rectified as soon as possible. He received a standard ‘sorry you weren’t satisfied’ response’ with a promise that a manager would be in touch to rectify the situation. It was Saturday, so he left it at that. “Come Tuesday, there had been no response. His comment was the top user feedback response on the dealer’s Facebook page, and yet no one had though to follow it up. He left it a bit longer – and then he called them. Comeback “He ended up speaking to one of the service managers. It is hard to be as angry in real life as it is online, so he was his usual sunny self on the surface, going through the many issues he had with how the work had been performed, and the total lack of comeback following his feedback. “Luckily, this young man took ownership of the situation. He called back and apologised for the poor service. The tyre issue was worse than he realised. Even he missed that he was billed for the right tyre, even though the wrong one was put on. The service manager noted the service history showed that the car was being comprehensively fixed every time it was in – and that something was seriously lacking in the service side. To make it up to our customer, all the extra work that needed doing was performed for nothing, and obviously the tyre was swapped out for the right one. Still had the non-matching dustcap. A week had gone by in the end. “As I tell you this, a week later still, his negative feedback is still the top comment on the dealer’s Facebook page. I know, I have looked myself. It’s amazing how many mistakes were made” Something to say Wow, where do you begin with this? We often come back to the issue of customer care. For a garage, if you don’t keep your customers happy, then you are going to lose them, and then you are going to go under. Despite experience, despite the facts, there is often the perception that the franchised dealers are better at this side of things. They have the comfortable waiting areas, they have the frothy coffee machines, and all of 10 AFTERMARKET DECEMBER/JANUARY 2020 BIG ISSUE www.aftermarketonline.net For a garage, if you don’t keep your customers happy, you are going to lose them ”