Short-sighted customer service moment from a car dealership
Today I find myself at a car dealership in town that is willing to sacrifice a long standing relationship for $50. No more $150 oil changes, no more other service, certainly won’t buy new tires from them, etc all because they insist to charge me to figure out what is wrong with my less than three year old Saab. Talk about a short-sited customer service decision.
After leaving my car to sit for a few weeks while I was on vacation I returned to a car that was just a mess. The lights kept going out, there was a violent vibration from the back wheels (feel it in the seat not the steering wheel), and it just ran rough. Given it is generally a sleep in the garage car I assumed it just didn’t like being outside and/or it is showing its 65K of KM. Although for a Saab 9-5 that shouldn’t be a lot.
I finally managed to get into the dealership a month and a half later. The lights have been an ongoing concern (they have been replaced every time I bring it in) so no worries there, they will take care of it. The vibration might be warranty work or it might not. Just to find out I get the privilege of paying for the time to figure it out.
I realize it is common practice for mechanics to do this. After all, it takes them some time to figure it out (or simply plug in the computer and it tells you) and sure mechanics could spend all day diagnosing things and not get paid. But:
- is diagnosis not built into their $80/hr+ billing rate?
- I bought the car from that dealership and I might buy another (not now)
- The mechanic won’t feel the vibration anyway as he isn’t allowed to go fast enough to feel it (yes it is above the speed limit but not by much)
What I don’t understand is why do people accept this? If more people complained then there is no way it would continue. I am certain the irritation on customers over oil changes is why GM now covers that for the first few years… obviously the service cost is worth absorbing to make customers happy. BMW, Mercedes, and others offer free ‘scheduled’ maintenance as does Cadillac. They probably don’t charge to tell you if something is warranty work or not. Why? Over the ownership time they may have to absorb $200 per customer on average which is pretty cheap for happy people that spend 40k+ on a vehicle.
Our lease is up in a year and I am pretty sure I will not be going back to that dealership for much beyond handing them the keys.
