Customer service – ever hear of it?

In any business that is service oriented, the customer is the most important commodity. Without customers, there is no business. If an existing customer is treated poorly, they won’t be a customer for long. To a voice-over professional, treating customers well is something one hardly thinks about, it is just so obvious a part of the success of the business, that we give our best and go the extra five miles as a matter of course. Similarly I feel it’s in my best interest as a customer to treat service providers well, to give what I would like to get back. It continually amazes me in my life as a customer to see just how blatantly this basic tenet of business is being ignored by the people providing services to me, and nowhere is it more obvious than in the car repair sector.

I don’t have any particular allegiance to any car repair service in my area. I’ve been to nine that I can think of in the last 10 years, not including the specialty shops that just sell and maintain tires, align front ends, fix exhaust systems or lubricate the stuff that needs it. Several factors come up when I consider where to take the car for repairs: the cost of the repair, the make of the car (we have several makes represented), the place where we bought it, the quality of customer service and the location of the shop. My residential street actually has a repair shop at each end. I gave up on one of those when I had to keep taking the Volvo back for the same repair (the parts kept failing – after years of keeping that car on the road I suspect it was nobody’s fault). The other shop, I discovered, is simply too expensive. One car needed a speed sensor last year and that shop diagnosed the problem and wanted $1200 to fix it, but the dealership in town fixed it for $748. It’s really a pity, because the owner always treats me with respect and explains the repairs without either dumbing it down or talking over my head and I appreciate that so much. Plus, he sends out occasional newsletters that are full of interesting articles, not just about cars, and he has literature in the waiting room about cars that has obviously been written locally and with considerable thought and care – I have a few of their flyers just in case I need something for a voice-over demo that has to do with car repair! And of course, the shop is very convenient – I can drop the car off and walk home.

Both of our cars were purchased at the same used car dealership in the next town over (I don’t even know where our truck came from – it’s 40 years old this year and is usually repaired by family members since it’s old and simple enough that mere mortals are able to do that). A decent warranty period was offered with our cars and one of them is still under warranty. This dealership has the lowest used car prices around, the mechanics are really nice, and the business is extremely well run, except for one thing. One MAJOR thing. The two ladies who do most of the dealings with customers are very brusque and are quite skilled at making customers feel like they’re intruding. I dropped off my car this week for some repairs that were estimated to take 2 days. I asked, “shall I just pick it up tomorrow afternoon or will you call me?” “Call us” I was told. Excuse me? You want me to call you to ask if it’s done, and if it isn’t, I should just keep calling? Picking up vehicles from this business is always awkward, since I have to arrange my own ride, they don’t give rides or offer loaner cars. So, I called, the car wasn’t ready. Should be ready Thursday morning. I thought, okay, I’ll schedule an oil change for the other car for Thursday morning so when we go to pick up the first car, we can take care of the oil change at the same time. Well, guess what, I call Thursday morning and the car still isn’t ready. Would it kill them to pick up the phone and let me know? And guess what else? They tell me they’re filming a commercial so I’ll have to drive around to the oil change bay and wait there. As I’m sitting there waiting for the oil change – sitting right down on the pavement outside since there is no place there for customers – I am absolutely fuming. Did they not know about this commercial when I scheduled the oil change? Why are they trying to serve customers that morning when their attention is elsewhere? And while I’m waiting, the repairs on the other car are completed. I’ve somehow never been able to manage driving two cars at once, so I’ll have to get a ride back over there to pick up that car.

One last story of vehicular woe – the old Chevy pickup needed some body work some years ago. We did some research and got suggestions and took the truck to a specialty shop for the work. They did not do a very good job when you looked closely. After a few requests to fix the problems, we were told to take a hike. And as it turned out, they had left the engine block outside and it got water in it and froze and cracked. So it cost us another $2000 to fix that. Elsewhere, of course – we did not let those crooks touch our truck again.

I truly do not get why there are so many lousy car repair establishments. I’m sure my voice-over business would die a quick and spectacular death if I treated people the way I’ve been treated by some of these places. How do they get away with it? And what can I do about it? I think my first step is going to be to write a letter to the place up the street and tell them how much I like them and why I don’t go there. Maybe I will write a letter to our current shop and tell them what I like and what I don’t like and why I won’t be going there anymore. Beyond that, I think I’ll ride my bicycle more and hope the cars keep running with as few visits to the shop as possible. But I do think there’s a niche out there for somebody who knows cars, charges a fair price, and likes people. In my town, that niche is empty.