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Customer Service: The good, the bad and the ugly!

258 messages,  Last post on Aug 04, 2008 at 8:43 AM

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#1 of 258 Customer Service: The good, the bad and the ugly! by tidester

Aug 13, 2006 (9:58 pm)

Everyone has a story to tell about customer service whether you're on the giving end or the receiving end. Whichever side you're on the experience can be satisfying, a nightmare or downright nasty.
 
Share your automotove customer service stories here!
 
tidester, host

#2 of 258 Re: Customer Service: The good, the bad and the ugly! [tidester] by the_big_al

Jun 27, 2008 (4:16 pm)

Replying to: tidester (Aug 13, 2006 9:58 pm)
I have a few stories to tell... but since it is past my bedtime and I should be in bed but I am still here browsing away, although I am too tired to coherently type anything worth reading... even this post is just a long ramble that doesn't make sense, I'll post a couple stories later...

#3 of 258 Hmmmmmm by fish8

Aug 14, 2006 (7:11 am)

I'm not sure which story to share first...maybe it will be the one where I got my car back after it was in for service and my vehicle was filthy with grease stains on the seats, steering wheel and door or maybe the one where they said it would take less than an hour to finish servicing my car and after 3 hours it was still no where in sight. How about the visit where the dealer was trying to locate a rattle in the dash and I get my car back with pieces of my dash cracked, screws missing and tools still laying on the passenger floor board...oh yeah and they had backed my car into a pole causing damage (which they did end up fixing).
 
Where do I start with all my stories......

#4 of 258 Re: Hmmmmmm [fish8] by tidester

Aug 14, 2006 (7:41 am)

Replying to: fish8 (Aug 14, 2006 7:11 am)
Where do I start with all my stories......
 
You just did! Now it's only a matter of filling in the details for us.
 
tidester, host

#5 of 258 Re: Hmmmmmm [tidester] by au1994

Aug 14, 2006 (8:34 am)

Replying to: tidester (Aug 14, 2006 7:41 am)
Let's see...here's one automotive related:
 
several years ago, took my Chevy Beretta in for an oil change/tire rotation. Walked away to run an errand nearby, came back saw the car was outside, was told it was ready, paid and went to leave. Now the Chevy was a disc/drum set up on the brakes and of course the discs up front leave the tell tale dust on the rims. So what do I see when I get to the car? Yep, dusty front wheels. Back inside I go. Long story short, guys swears the tires were rotated "says so on the work order". I walk him out and ask him to explain the brake dust. No answer. Stick his hand outt for the keys, does the tire rotation without a word. No "sorry", no nothing.

#6 of 258 Vehicle In for Collision Damage by user777

Aug 14, 2006 (9:07 am)

and I wait about a month. come to pick it up once it's finally ready, and it's been hit in the collision shop's parking lot.
 
the expression on the collision shop manager's face was priceless.
 
luckily it was minor and taken care of quickly.

#7 of 258 Re: Hmmmmmm [au1994] by mikefm58

Aug 14, 2006 (10:27 am)

Replying to: au1994 (Aug 14, 2006 8:34 am)
Your story reminds me of a co-worker at my old job. He would always "pre-mark" his tires when he took his car in for tire rotation, claims he's been burned before by them not doing the work.

#8 of 258 Re: Vehicle In for Collision Damage [user777] by the_big_al

Jun 27, 2008 (4:16 pm)

Replying to: user777 (Aug 14, 2006 9:07 am)
You reminded me of one of my service stories I experienced afew years back...
 
I used to work at a Wal-mart Tire and Lube Express (you never had to worry about me not doing work I told you I would do.... yes it was a supposedly a quick lube and tire place, but our shop tired hard and I felt we did a fairly good job taking care of our customers... although I do have a few horror stories that I might get to and I did have my share of cranky customers but... on with my story...)
 
I was on my lunch break and headed back to the store when I nailed an 80's style S-10 Blazer that had pulled out in front of me. He was making a left turn from a side street and pulled out too soon (or is it too late since I hit him?). He ended up taking out my front passenger corner of my S-10. The grill, the hood, fender, tire, bumper, and the mechanicals under the hood in the region needed to be replaced. Since I was new to the area, I didn't know any body shops around and I didn't have a clue as to where to take it. Fortunately or unfortunatley as it would turn out, there was an insurance office at that intersection. As luck would have it, the insurance agent happened to agent of the guy I had hit. The agent came out to the scene to see what was going on. Since it was his fault (he was cited, and not me), that insurance agent listed off a few names of body shops that he knew were approved. I picked one that sounded familier and that the agent told me did good business and told the tow truck driver to take it there.
 
Now my story starts. Since I am out a vehicle I am alloted a rental. I get one from a national rental car company. Since I am planning on taking my family on a 1200 mile trip to visit my parents for Christmas and we are going to be gone for a couple weeks, I ask the body shop how long it will take to get my vehicle ready. Since it is 2 months to Christmas I didn't think that they would have a problem getting it ready. They tell me it will take about a month. I'm thinking that is a pretty long time, but since I had never been through this I don't complain. I am driving a brand new car at someone else's expense so I don't complain to loudly.
 
A couple weeks go by and I call to check up on it. They tell me they had a frame straightning machine go down and now only have one and are back logged. They hadn't even started on my truck yet. It will take a few days to get it repaired. A month goes by and still no action on my vehicle. I begin to wonder what really goes on there. Now keep in mind that this is a HUGE body shop. Not some hole in the wall place in some one's backyard. The body shop is under the same name as the multi brand dealership in the area. As it gets closer to when I need to leave, I am trying to nail down a solid date on my truck being ready. I wasn't planning on taking the rental to Arizona from Oregon, but I also didn't want my truck to be ready in the middle of my trip and since I wasn't footing the bill on the rental, I didn't want to be charged for a rental when I wasn't able to return it immediately. I tell them that I am getting ready to leave and is my truck going to be done by then. I can't get a straight answer. They have trouble getting parts, they can't locate a wheel, and on and on...
I tell them when I am leaving and when I will be back. They tell me it will be ready on Jan XX.... I say fine. It won't be ready till a couple days after I get back. So we go on our trip. We did take the rental. (by this time I am on my 3rd car. The first one needed an oil change, the 2nd was too small for us to take and so I took it back and requested a larger car and we got one. An Altima and Malibu are in the same class although the Malibu has a larger engine and is a much larger car and better road vehicle... Anyway, we get back and what do ya know. My truck still is not ready. I don't get it. Finally the 1st week of February my truck is done. They call me and tell me I can come get it.
 
I go to pick it up. I start checking it out see how it looks. One of the first things I notice is that it has the wrong bumper on it. I point this out to guy that was managing the vehicle and says, no it's the right one. I say so where are the fog lights? The truck is supposed to have fog lights on it, but yet now it doesn't. You have the wrong bumper on it. That is why it doesn't have fog lights. His reply is "well the fog lights had to be special ordered and when they come in we'll call you and have them put in. I say "yeah right". You still have the wrong bumper on. He says trust me.
 
What ever. I knew he was wrong but he wasn't bending. I decided I would wait and make them eat their words. Besides, if I made them change the bumper, I wouldn't get my truck back that day and I was aching to get out of the Malibu. Yes it was a free car, but it was still a car. So I take the truck with the promise they'll call when the lights are in. As I drive down the road, I notice the alignment is way way off. If I let go of the wheel, it's almost as if I were making a left hand turn. Immediately turn around and go back and let them know and demand they fix it. It takes another day but they do. Another thing that I noticed is my radio will now never shut off, and the A/C blower motor doesn't work. The A/C and the radio were working just fine before the accident, but now they don't. The body shop tries to tell me that they are not responsible for those because the accident could not have caused them to go bad. So they went bad during the 3 months you had it?? They replaced the blower fan, but didn't do anything about the radio. I can't say I really blame them. It is possible that it was just my luck it decided to do that.
 
The fog lights come in finally. Like a week or so later. I take the truck down there and drop it off and tell them they can bring it back to me at work since I don't have all day to wait and I'll be at work still when they close. Close to when they close they show up with my truck with... surprise! No fog lights. They couldn't figure out how to put the fog lights into the bumper. Well DER! I told you you had the wrong bumper on it. They can't do anything about it that day. The next day, I go back down there with the wrong bumper still on it with a picture of the truck I had taken prior to the accident and a picture and the truck after the accident. I show them the differences in the bumpers. The manager looks at it and goes "Oh I see now!" What had happened and I had tried to explain this to them weeks ago, was that they had put a 4 wheel drive bumper on that had holes in it for frame hooks. The holes were right it front of the frame rails so that a tow hook could be attatched to it. The bumper that needed to be on my truck had the holes cut into it closer to the ends of the bumper and the lights mounted directly to the bumper. Well they had to eat their words and order a different bumper. Finally, I had my truck all back toge

#9 of 258 Re: Vehicle In for Collision Damage [thebigal] by the_big_al

Jun 27, 2008 (4:16 pm)

Replying to: the_big_al (Jun 27, 2008 4:16 pm)
Wow - I guess my story really is too long . Sorry. So does it really take 3 months to repalce a hood, fender, grill, headlight assembly, upper and lower control arms, tire, wheel, battery and coolant tank? It's not like this vehicle was a ancient classic where parts are hard to come by. The vehicle was less than 6 years old when the accident happened. That particular body style was still being produced! The only thing that had changed was the grill. Every thing else was exactly the same. Was it really that hard to get the parts? Anyway, needless to say, that particular body shop and the dealership name in general left a bad taste in my mouth. Now I know the dealer ship and the body shop are completely separate in management, but my experience just confirmed what I found out later as I asked questions to other people who had had experience with any aspect of the car business that name associated with.

#10 of 258 Re: Vehicle In for Collision Damage [thebigal] by tidester

Aug 14, 2006 (7:41 pm)

Replying to: the_big_al (Jun 27, 2008 4:16 pm)
That begs the question: Are those clowns still in business?
 
tidester, host

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