Getting Great Customer Service: What Not To Do
Jason Lancaster | May 08, 2008 | Comments 3
A few months back we published a post with tips for Toyota customer service, with some advice for people having problems with their Toyotas. This post gets us a steady stream of emails from people asking for help and advice. We’re happy to help – it’s part of the reason we started this website – but every once in a while we come across an email that just blows our minds. Here’s a great example of what NOT to do when you’re trying to get your problem solved. This person decided the best way to handle his or her problem with his or her 07 Camry was to bring his or her car to the dealership along with a nasty letter:
Problem with Toyota Camry 2007
Dear Sir,
My Toyota Camry 2007 car was showing following problems earlier at around 4000 miles for which it was brought to your repair shop on Dec. 8 ,
Filed Under: TundraHeadquarters.com
You would be correct in your advise that one shouldn’t insult the technician “Before” he does the work. The same scenario applies to almost anything in life i.e. never unsult the umpire prior to your child coming to bat. It’s most likely that you wont accept the three strikes your child got as opposed to recieving four balls.
Rickey – True. Insults are the least effective way to get what you want. That’s what made this letter so amazing.
What if the the dealership looses their copy of your walk through showing the scratches you found and want them to fix it, and the sales manager states I’m not spending $500 to fix that brand new truck? That happened to my wife on our 98 Silverado. What if the factory rep accusses you of pulling down your headliner 3x and that the dealership only fix your headliner the last 4x just to please me. This after you talked with another factory rep and he stated the headliner is a defect. The dealership already claimed to fix other headliners. You go through arbitration just to have them side with manufacturer and state they need a final attempt which they replaced the headliner 5x already and it fell again. The truck wasn’t a year old yet. One factory rep tells you it may take 8 to 10x till you get one that works. This wasn’t the only problem with this truck. Both taillights fell off. Brakes twice. First time was a clean and adjust. Had to go back 3 days later to have rotors turned. They charged me $100 the first time and $200 the second and was told I won’t get back the first $100. I’m not suppose too insult the tech!!!! How hard is it to tighten up an oil filter???? I had oil on my driveway and turned the oil filter 3 1/2 times to tightened it. Don’t insult the tech????? That’s what we got this day and age is poor workmanship. Pay alot for shoddy work. 3x My headliner fell 2 days after it was so called replaced. Why is it when the first one ordered I received in the mail a card from the parts department. That I believe to be the only time my headliner was replaced. I never received one since. If I get shoddy work you better believe I will be in their face and the tech’s if he’s there too. After paying $36,000 for an LT3 top of the line silverado I expect better/demand better results. Same would go for the Tundra which I paid $43,000 for the top of the line. So far things have been great. At 15,000 miles pass mirror wouldn’t auto close. It was fixed in 45 minutes but part was ordered. At 25,000 miles middle console box wouldn’t stay close. Fixed that day before paper work done. In less than 10 minutes. They replaced the whole cover. This is the difference that I experienced between Toyota and the rest.