[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

1. Honesty
2. Competency
3. Ability to keep aside short term interests in favour of customer's long term interest. (like asking for replacement of unnecessary parts simply to get a bigger bill).
4. Ability to trouble shoot problems
5. Ability to own up mistakes BEFORE the customer notices.
6. Hold dedicated TD cars in stock. ;-)
7. I do not want discounts. Just straight forward pricing from the manufacturer.
8. Pass on manufacturer's discounts and their freebies / accessories without making us haggle.
9. Prompt in informing customer about manufacturer recall / replacements.
10. Understand that for the customer, it is a once in a while (often, once a lifetime) purchase. The dealer himself would be selling 10 or even more cars per day - so a car sale is a routine affair for him. Imagine our lot if a huge heart hospital treats its bypass surgery patients same way most dealerships (and their staff) treat the customers.
11. Ditto for service.

If you forget everything else, at least, remember -

12. Recognise the "danger" that a customer may be a T-BHPian!!!

[ram.west]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

If you forget everything else, at least, remember -

12. Recognise the "danger" that a customer may be a T-BHPian!!!

Good One!! Absolutely all the above. And to add one more point to it.

Let the customer watch the work done on his ride!!! May be a disturbance in some cases!! But I always am happy if my ride is being serviced with me around. That helps us to know more about out ride and why the replacement or service has to be done rather than blindly nodding to what the customer representative has to say.

I service my Bullet at JAF, Chennai. And he always insists me to be there when its done. So even if i get a problem with my ride and get stuck i atleast know some basic info on what could have gone wrong. My 2 cents!!

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

ram.west - +1 to that. I too would love to look at my car as she is being serviced.

[hellmet]

Sorry for raking up a real old thread, but I have a question. Would you like if the service center was exclusive? I mean, open ONLY to those who bought their vehicle at the dealership? That would mean premium availability of mechanics, their time and attention on all days? I know that would mean very little revenue to the A.S.S due to lack of other customers, but you know you could include a little "premium" in the cost of the vehicle upfront and others should be able to join this "exclusivity" by paying a fixed "premium" charge at every service.

[Ricky_63]

Originally Posted by hellmet

Sorry for raking up a real old thread, but I have a question. Would you like if the service center was exclusive? I mean, open ONLY to those who bought their vehicle at the dealership? That would mean premium availability of mechanics, their time and attention on all days? I know that would mean very little revenue to the A.S.S due to lack of other customers, but you know you could include a little "premium" in the cost of the vehicle upfront and others should be able to join this "exclusivity" by paying a fixed "premium" charge at every service.

That I am afraid would make the business unviable for the service station. As we buy cars from any dealer where they are available BUT get them serviced from outlets that suit us in terms of logistics or the service levels that are provided.

Also the choice of getting your car serviced at any dealership around India would get negated. So all in all I do not think it is a do-able thing.




Cheers

[libranof1987]

The most imp. things I'd look for in a workshop -

1. Promptness in attending to the vehicle. Most workshops these days require appointments to be taken for servicing. So, I'd like those to be honoured.
2. Be sincere about what's really necessary and what can be put off for some time.
3. Have a separate area and dedicated 2-3 mechanics for small issues/quick fixes like replacing wipers, tightening some bolts etc.
4. Allow the customer to watch the repairs being done and be curious about the technicalities. (!)
5. process the post-service formalities (read : billing and gate pass issuance) quickly.
6. carry out those unnecessary but trivial, inexpensive or FOC activities like touch-up etc. without being explicitly told.
7. Ensure the mechanics drive the cars carefully (at least in front of the reception and customers); and not brake as hard as they can.

8. FIND A REPLACEMENT FOR THE DAMN "THANK YOU, HAVE A GREAT DRIVE" PAPER SHEETS THEY KEEP ON THE FRONT 2 MATS; they make the feet slip!

[Ricky_63]

You have made very valid points.

Some people do not appreciate the time of OTHER people - only their own. That is a huge irritant.



cheers

[ghodlur]

A few things which I would like to be present in any car dealer/workshop

1) Accessibility as far as location is concerned. I mean the dealer and workshop should be within 3-4 km range.
2) Honesty
3) Transparency
4) Knowledgable staff.
5) Courteous service.

Even if the dealer/workshop meet atleast 60% of the above criteria I would be happy which in presently is not the case. I wish the car manufacturers take a note of this requirement before appointing dealers.

[raghav.carfreak]

1) Honesty for sure, If they can't fix a problem,at least have the courtesy to inform us instead of its fixed only to find out it's a temporary fix and returns withing 2days of servicing the car, just to make another trip to the service centre.
This also includes trying to put extra add ons without consent
BIGGEST example being adding mineral oil and charging us for synthetic(don't want to take names but i know its done!), Nitrogen filling. If we were really that particular about those things, we'd get it done independently from outside.
2)give a definite time frame! if they're going to deliver the car the next day, tell us! and not promise us delivery on the same day and surprise(read as shock) us with a surprise in the evening saying the car isn't ready and will be delivered tommorow.
3) Pricing. I'm not asking them to give me everything for free, I believe if they're giving me good service, they should charge for it, they're not doing any charity, They're in the business and if they're doing a good job, they deserve to make a profit! But at the same time, They should be competitively priced so that the difference in pricing(higher than competition by a small justifiable margin) makes me feel worth going to them!
4) At the end of the day, when i drive my car out of the service bay, I should have a smile on my face, it makes all the money spent on the service worth it
simplest way of achieving this easily for any service centre however big or small is cleaning the car, I don't expect professional detailing if i havn't paid for it, but a small interior exterior polish which would make my car shine when seen from a distance would assure me of the fact that they've taken care of my baby!
and with other posts with reference to them being scared of us being a team-BHP member, i would beg to difference with no offense to anyone. I agree they should be scared of Team-BHP members because an opinion on this forum can make/break their sales! Having said that, That's a privilege that we enjoy because we could come up with a decent reasoning to be part of this powerful forum, not something everybody can do. And we can vent out our frustration with like minded people for the respective authorities in the manufacturing company/dealership to take notice, but that doesn't mean non members of this forum arent entitled to the same experience we are, after all they are also paying their hard earned cash, they might treat their vehicles as just a mode of transportation from point A to point B, but that doesn't mean they're cars don't deserve to be looked after or taken care of right?

[shankar.balan]

A simpler way to achieve this would be for the car manufacturer to have a strong CRM programme discipline where members of the CRM programme get this kind of exclusive treatment and peace of mind.

Even a forward thinking dealership/ workshop could easily implement the same - but most of their owners are too short sighted and view their relationship with consumers as "transactional" rather than as a "long term engagement". Sadly this latter fact goes for car manufacturers too - there is not a single properly run CRM programme from any car maker in India. Most of them have some sort of rudimentary CRM programme in place but frankly the quality of the programmes leaves a lot to be desired.

in the earlier times, it was more a relationship thing - where the mechanics at the workshops knew you and vice versa and you could get first class service. now the complexity and sheer number of consumers has increased so the need for a proper scientific programme is a crying one - sadly this need is neglected!

Originally Posted by hellmet

Sorry for raking up a real old thread, but I have a question. Would you like if the service center was exclusive? I mean, open ONLY to those who bought their vehicle at the dealership? That would mean premium availability of mechanics, their time and attention on all days? I know that would mean very little revenue to the A.S.S due to lack of other customers, but you know you could include a little "premium" in the cost of the vehicle upfront and others should be able to join this "exclusivity" by paying a fixed "premium" charge at every service.