I’ve always told dealers that letting me loose on a Service Department is like letting a kid into a candy store… there’s so much going wrong on the Service side of the roof from an e-commerce perspective that Consultants such as myself could live on that alone, without ever having to step foot in the Sales side of the mess.
Funny thing is, I was prompted to write this post after my experience as a consumer, rather than a Consultant. Now that I’m nearly a year gone from the days of driving demos, servicing my vehicle is a regular occurence. My local Acura dealer couldn’t hack it, so I started searching around for other options… I located another nearby dealer to try out, and sent a Service Appointment lead in off their crappy Reynolds site. I forgot the format Reynolds demands its users instinctively know in order to complete the Appointment form, so it took me three tries to submit that. And did I get an autoresponder to confirm that the dealer knows I exist? Nah. Did I get a response via email or phone at any point in the day? Nope. Okay, so it looks like in order to give this dealership my money, I’m going to have to set the appointment myself by making a phone call.
Ah, but there’s no Service phone number on the Service Appointment form. And the number on the Service Department page apparently just rings to the Sales receptionist… I know that because when I called, I got the overflow voicemail for the Sales department. Hi folks, it’s me, Mr. Customer - I have $39.95 I want to hand to you… is anyone there? Anyone?
Did I neglect to mention that this is a Penske-owned store? I guess there’s no corporate efficiency trickling down to the franchises these days. What else can you do but shake your head and wonder how much money Service Departments leave on the table every month simply because they make it as difficult as possible for customers to request work.
{ 0 comments… add one now }
Leave a Comment