[harry10]

Originally Posted by kavesh55

Behram, its good to see you so committed to start this thread and see it through.
Infact some months back Tata Motors invited agencies to find this cause. They were not sure of the reason too.

Fortunately I was a part of this exercise. It confirms things that are obvious & some dealer woes.

Sir as you were the part of the exercise you must be having some good points to share with us so kindly do it

[greenhorn]

A Mech engg college mate of mine working in an authorized service center said that the wages were pretty low. They just work there for the workex, and leave as soon as they get a better offer. I can imagine the kind of dedication I would have had in those conditions. I've been often puzzled by the TASC's responses, which can often be classified as shooting themselves in the foot. I still dont know why they act so irrationally

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

Thanks Rehaan for mentioning my "correct" age so smilies for you - and . Your points are correct but I want to probe to ACTUAL ROOT CAUSE. Why does it happen? Let the debate continue.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

LACK OF COMPETETION! .. I think. if there is another dealership taking away business.. customer service will improve automatically, but alas OEM do not encourage competetion.

[9tMax]

Few more reasons that I feel

1. Our huge population (of people as well as cars) - even if 10-20% of the customers decide never to visit that dealership workshop again in their life,due to some bad experience, still the dealership will be making enough profits - because they are probably 200% overloaded.

2. Gross unawareness even about the simplest things about their cars among a large portion of car-owners (not T-BHP members ofcourse). These owners will keep going back to the workshops and getting ripped of by the dealers because they simply don't realize that the workshop is simply fooling them.

I have personally encountered the following questions from various car owners who didn't know (all different cases)

Where is the spare wheel in a maruti 800 ??

Where is the silencer pipe in my fiat ??

Battery in a car? And we need to change it too periodically ???

How to change a punctured tyre ? Go to the nearest roadside mechanic.


AMEN !!!

[salilpawar1]

Ah, I went to the service centre just today. And here are my observations:

Overpopulation of cars
As others pointed out, the cars are simply too many to handle. For instance, the cars are serviced with a backlog of three-four days in the peak seasons.

Service advisors
Any car requires some tender loving care for effective problem diagnosis and troubleshooting. But since the advisor is preoccupied in so many cars at a time, it becomes difficult for him to keep track of the progress of every car. So, I guess a lot of work gets skipped in practice due to oversight but its cost still gets added in the bill as all data is entered in advance, i.e., the estimate. Also, good and experienced service advisors tend to leave the dealership for better prospects leaving the dealer back to square one with freshers.

Information / Communication gap
Although all cars of a brand have the same mechanicals, the usage levels vary from owner to owner. However, this aspect is completely ignored and all cars are measured by the same yardstick. I mean, how can you compare the wear and tear of an abused taxi with that of an owner driven car when pointing out problems? Also, owners themselves don't keep a track of what was done in the previous service nor do the service advisors bother to check it either.

General disinterest in the staff
As far as I know, a good mechanic is the one who treats his customer's car as his own. This attitude is found lacking. Many a times, I've observed that they are not even patient to listen to our complaints properly and make their own conclusions as per their liking.

Exhorbitant rates
The prices of spares and labour is too high.

[greenhorn]

I thought taxi's and private vehicles had seperate tracks ( not physical) for servicing. I mean, the first thing they ask you when you go to a TASC is if its a taxi or private vehicle.

@ salilpawar - i wonder what petrol indicab they might have used as a frame of reference for your car !

[Sowmya]

I also feel that It is our negligence on the matter. Chalta Hai Kind of Attitude.
When they do something wrong we does not protest at all. This service guys are from typically wrong attitude people. They just think that its not there belongs so handle the Car as they like... I think Company/Dealer/Worker need a improvement too continue the business.

[ankit.jhamb]

i think the other thing is the "SALES Target".false commitments to meet the sales target.(happened with me).also taking time to resolve any of the complaints after the sale as been made.NOT taking every commitment in writing,false assurances etc.
also i have noticed that the sales executive is not scared of his seniors.dont know whether why the seniors try to protect their employees?
the only thing which i have seen working is when you complain about the attitude of the dealer to the company.(incase of maruti.)prompt action is taken .

[married2speed]

Really interesting thread this.

1. Insensitivity by person offering customer service is most likely the root cause of bad customer service.
2. Ignorance
3. Misinterpretation
4. Wrong Perception
5. High expectations
6. False representations
7. Greed
8. Negative Attitude
9. Unjustified demands/requests
10. Education
11. Complete disregard of safeguarding customer interest

This is what me think. It's not just 1 but so many different reasons.

[mmmjgm]

Sir, (Dhabar saheb)

having extensive experience of a service industry i can tell that retaining people is a challenge, i have known personally people within Sai Service and the ones which have moved on and the ones which have remained behind.

Remained behind are the ones who have a side business.

Root cause to having a bad experience with service is simple, he/she is not able to diagnose the fault within the vehicle.

The experiences posted on T- bhp with wrongful twists to cars given for service, Shiva, our own moderator Dippy & GTO to that extent is a nightmare by the service companies namely dealers, GTO for that matter twice, once his City was damaged & again his Mercedes was smashed by the petrol pump attendant. However not able to understand the customer is a BIG PROBLEM today.

I yet am heading a very successful global customer service organisation I know where and HOW to recruit. If i am not successful in combating attrition within my own org, i do not reserve the right to pick up remuneration.

Average time for a service advisor to understand a customer begins from one year to two years depending upon the aptitute of the person on the job.

If he/she is remunerated for generating a happy job card/ relieving warranty tensions, its better for the organisation overall.

Lets say for e.g. i had an issue with Airtel (being a platinum customer) they came home to deliver a new sim card at 10 pm at night. That's what I call service.

Within my own organisation we have have issues where things have gone really wrong, however being the head of a luxury service organisation we cannot understand to wait what went wrong. My staff has not gone home till the error has been rectified, without me stating them so.

My margins to state are sorry, least but not I would never imagine to do what happened with Dippy, GTO and Shiva (BLR Fiesta customer) these are names off my head, there may be more silently suffering and names where i cannot offer to state.

My directors are very very very meticulous in what they do and they insist that beyond profit a service be provided.

An auto dealership has and will have better margins than my organisation, however I have never shirked, since my service is a luxury service.

In a nutshell its never a one way street. Its a two way street, have metrics in place, everything solves it according to your process stated down.

Cheers
and for further info please PM

warm regards

M M

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Dear all - I am so happy to see very good comments from you all. Let me share with you the verbatim contents of the first and last slides taken from some of my communications in this regard - A CUSTOMER'S FIRST TWO MINUTES IN AN AUTOMOBILE SERVICE STATION.

The first slide goes like this:

THE FIRST COLD CONTACT - IT CAN MAKE OR BREAK YOU IN YOUR CUSTOMER’S MIND. THE FIRST 2 MINUTES CAN MAKE A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE. THE FIRST 3 SECONDS BEFORE EVEN ENTERING A SERVICE AREA IS VITAL. THE WORKSHOP GATE SHOULD OPEN WITHOUT THE SECURITY GUARD’S BODY LANGUAGE CONVEYING TO THE CUSTOMER WHETHER HE SHOULD OPEN THE GATE AT ALL. IT ALL STARTS HERE.

The last slide goes like this:

WHEN THE CUSTOMER ACTUALLY DRIVES AWAY, STAND OUTSIDE THE DRIVER'S DOOR AND WAVE TO HIM WHEN HE STARTS DRIVING, (LIKE IN CASE OF AIRCRAFT TAXIING - AS THE GROUND CREW DO). STAND AT THE SAME SPOT AND LOOK AT THE CAR TILL HE DRIVES AWAY. REMEMBER, HE IS LOOKING AT YOU THROUGH HIS REAR VIEW MIRROR.

WHEW! THAT'S CUSTOMER DELIGHT!

How did you like that? Please continue the debate.

Best regards,
Behram Dhabhar



Post EDITED since it contained various [FONT], [COLOR] and [SIZE] tags. Posting with such text formatting should be avoided on Team-BHP as it is inconvenient for members to read post.

Kindly go through Announcements section before proceeding.

Thanking You for your anticipated co-operation

The Team-BHP Support Staff

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Berham
I will give you my side of the story and tell you what was/is right with the service station from where I get my vehicle serviced (been going there for the last six years or so). Incidentally they are the country's first Maruti dealership !! Yes you read it correctly - the country's first Maruti dealership opened in Calcutta. The owner is Swaraj Paul's nephew.

1. I have been dealing with the same service advisor for the last six years or so. His mobile number has remained the same during this period.
2. It is more of a one to one relationship that I have with him that has grown over the years. There is an element of trust and dependability with him.
3. I have often woken him up at odd hours on his mobile seeking clarification on certain points and he has always obliged me with a smile.
4. I am not his only very satisfied customer. This boy has a host of customers like me who literally swear by him. Virtually all of us hand over blank signed feedback form to him and ask him to fill it in.
5. He remembers each and every customer individually by name and car model. He knows their car's characteristics, the owners' driving style etc.
6. He is fairly knowledgable but does not hesitate to tell you - sir I don't know this. Will find out and tell you. And then he will call you up on your mobile and give you that information.
7. I have also seen him avoiding difficult customers who start with "why don't you send your senior? You can't understand the problem." And he sends the oldest (but not the best) advisor who is probably now junior to him in rank. Incidentally he looks very boyish and always looks charged up.
8. He is generally to be found near the entrance and he indicates to you where to park etc from there. I don't know how he manages to do this. He also looks genuinely pleased to see me.
9. He quietly follows the golden rule of under promising and over delivering.


Now the question is, is this boy something rare and is not found in other dealerships? And such boys are only born and cannot be made or trained? I don't think that's quite the case. I am sure such boys can be trained to behave in the positive way that he does. But I wonder how much money dealerships spend on training their service advisors. Most are paid just a pittance for a salary.

Problem is most dealership owners (essentially petty and small businessmen) look at these service advisors as just another employee and don't have the depth of management to value and retain good people. They make do with the cheapest that they can get away with and don't really mind if one goes and someone else walks in.

This is perhaps just one side of the whole picture. But I can give only my perspective.

Sudipto

[ajmat]

Inability to diagnose
doctor knows best attitude are the two that come to my mind

[greenhorn]

Now the question is, is this boy something rare and is not found in other dealerships?

a problem that affects all industries, due to high attrition, he'd become senior and be promoted to some other role eventually. if I were him, I would wonder why I am stuck in the same role for 6 years. Isnt 2~3 years the norm for a lot of us? Why should we judge others differently? The peter principle comes to mind

The truth is , lack of dedicated staff is one of them. But they are hard to find for any industry in general

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Of course he will grow out of the current job. But as long as my dealership replaces him with someone equally cheerful, attentive, personal I will have no problem. I like this guy but he can definitely be replaced by someone else who is more or less similar. I think he himself can train others.