Customer service
2003-03-21 07:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mdlbearTook my car in yesterday for an "intermediate service", which has a list price of about $225. But it also needed a wheel alignment (I'd noticed a slight wobble at low speed, and the service guy spotted the differential tire wear), and it turned out to be time to clean the fuel injectors and throttle body.
Around noon they called to tell me I had leaky seals on the power steering and oil pan. So the total damage was a bit over $1100. Ouch!
But (to paraphrase Arlo) this post isn't about the car, it's about customer service.
In spite of the potential for sticker shock (which I was kind of expecting), the whole experience was basically positive. The free loaner car was only part of it, and a small part, as was the recently-remodeled service area -- mostly it was the cheerful, competent, knowledgable people I dealt with at all phases of the process.
Computer companies (are you listening, Dell?) can take a few pointers from this. See this post for details; the main point is that the droids I dealt with, almost without exception, seemed to be triggering on keywords (Linux) rather than actually listening to, or reading, my detailed description of the problem.
I finally, after more than a week, got a phone number for a customer service person who knew enough to escalate the problem to somebody who could actually understand it. It shouldn't have taken a week.
I think the main difference is that Honda only sells equipment that they know how to support.
Around noon they called to tell me I had leaky seals on the power steering and oil pan. So the total damage was a bit over $1100. Ouch!
But (to paraphrase Arlo) this post isn't about the car, it's about customer service.
In spite of the potential for sticker shock (which I was kind of expecting), the whole experience was basically positive. The free loaner car was only part of it, and a small part, as was the recently-remodeled service area -- mostly it was the cheerful, competent, knowledgable people I dealt with at all phases of the process.
Computer companies (are you listening, Dell?) can take a few pointers from this. See this post for details; the main point is that the droids I dealt with, almost without exception, seemed to be triggering on keywords (Linux) rather than actually listening to, or reading, my detailed description of the problem.
I finally, after more than a week, got a phone number for a customer service person who knew enough to escalate the problem to somebody who could actually understand it. It shouldn't have taken a week.
I think the main difference is that Honda only sells equipment that they know how to support.
