How to Save a Lost Customer

A few weeks ago I dropped my wife's car off at the dealership for them to troubleshoot and fix a squeak. I really hate taking cars to any technician. I know so little about their maintenance that I could be raked over the coals and I wouldn't know it. While I was waiting in line, I saw that a belt replacement was going to cost close to $300. Knowing the belt itself couldn't possibly cost more than $50, I figured the rest of the cost is in labor and the expertise that the technicians had to replace it properly.

When the dealership called me back, they told me the belt wasn't the problem, but it was something concerning the belt's tension (The customer service person may as well have called it a "tensionometer," and I would have nodded my head in ignorance). To replace it, we were going to have to fork over $400. They didn't replace the belt, but when we picked the car up, they said the belt was borderline and would have to be replaced soon.

Why didn't they, we asked, just replace the belt when they had it all disassembled to save us the labor cost. They didn't have an answer.

On Monday, my wife noticed the squeak didn't go away, and she set an appointment the next day to get it fixed, already planning on what she would say to them when she got there. However, on my way home that evening, I got a call from a quality control service person, who asked me how well we were satisfied with our service.

I told her politely that we were a little bewildered that they didn't just replace the suspect belt instead of forcing us to pay for the labor twice (although admittedly, for all I know, they may have anyway). I also explained the problem wasn't fixed and that my wife had an appointment the next day to correct it.

When my wife got there for her appointment, the service people replaced the belt and charged her only for the cost of the part, which amounted to less than $50. Honestly I didn't expect them to waive labor charges without a fight. She didn't even have to say anything to them. They already knew we were dissatisfied because they followed up with me by phone.

I was pleasantly surprised that they didn't quote company policy on me in their own defense. I didn't have to threaten them, ask for a manager, or derogatorily write about them on this blog to get the attention of someone who was frightened of bad publicity. They just fixed the problem and made it right.

So to honor them for doing it right (after all, why should we only call out companies who do it wrong?), the name of the dealership was Vandergriff Toyota. Thanks, guys. - Cam Beck

Photo courtesy of vkdir.

Comments

[Jim Stroup]

It's interesting, isn't it, how our opinion of an organization is colored by our last interaction with it? You had a questionable experience that became more doubtful with the thoughtless and careless attitude about the potential future work, exacerbated by the original work not accomplishing its purpose.

And yet, someone took the authority to make your situation good, and that's what you, appropriately, of course, remember about the place.

I've had a year of problems with my computer supplier, sprinkled with moments of genuine empathy, effort, and support on the part of some of its employees, only to have the unfortunate tendency to spout company policy at me, as though it were some sort of inaccesible Act of God, win out at the end.

And, despite a lot of good work done on my behalf, that poor attitude is what I remember.

So, this customer has been lost. If the company had had one manager who simply took the sort of proactive "customer side of the table" attitude that yours did, that wouldn't be the case.

[Lisa Braithwaite]

It's sad to me that I'm surprised these days when I get good service.

The other day I needed to make an IRA deposit at the bank (a very small branch with about 4 staff), and the guy who usually does it was at lunch. They asked me to take a seat while they figured out what to do. I was certain I was going to be turned away and told to come back when he had returned.

Some ten minutes later, the branch manager came over and, after having spoken on the phone to another branch for instructions, was happy to take my deposit.

I was so relieved and surprised, when really, this should have been normal. There should be more than one person at the branch who knows how to take an IRA deposit!

But they didn't turn me away and that's all that mattered at the time!

[Lewis Green]

Cam,

Thank you for sharing. Isn't it great when people do the right thing?

[Gavin Heaton]

It is a shame that good customer stories are so rare. Goes to show that brand loyalty is only as strong as your last touchpoint/interaction.

[Roger von Oech]

Wonderful story. But what if they'd done the less expensive (perhaps common sense) thing the first time?

[Cam Beck]

When something goes as it is supposed to, we typically treat it as an expected event. I don't think it's that good customer service experiences are as rare as we sometimes make them out to be. It is only when we are given the benefit of contrast that we can see and recall just how much differently we felt when we received the good service.