[Mayavi]

Originally Posted by amit

When we start taking a look at the car the guy with me is as clueless about the car as the earlier guy. I take my chances and ask him what size engine the car has. The guy says and I quote him here, "It's in the brochure sir. Didn't you get it?!" I open the trunk and tell him its a pity the rear seats don't fold down. The guy says, "Sir, they do." I tell him to check it out and he actually opens the rear door and starts trying to see if the seats fold down!

I am amazed Maruti tops customer satisfaction survey's year after year. Or is it that for Indians, good customer service is being addressed as sir and being offered coffee?

Well, I went to a very big Toyota Dealership in US and the sales guy didn't know that they have Yaris hatchback model. He insisted that there is only a sedan version of it and gave me a test drive of it. After the test drive I walked around the lot and found a hatchback and showed it to him. Sales guys are the same everywhere, they usually do not know **** about cars. Even if they do, they pretend to not know it for some reason.

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by amit

Or is it that for Indians, good customer service is being addressed as sir and being offered coffee?

actually not even that. indians are very shrewd shoppers. nothing can fool us. give us the VFM, and we will take it even if you talk in street slang.

[kaushik_s]

Originally Posted by amit

Thats one question I'd like an answer to, too.

I am amazed Maruti tops customer satisfaction survey's year after year. Or is it that for Indians, good customer service is being addressed as sir and being offered coffee?

I guess salespersons in most of the places are like that only. Most of them are doing that job just for the sake of doing a job. But the actual story starts after you get your car delivered and then after sometime go to service stations. Atleast I found the guys/mechanics working in few of the service stations to be quite capable of their job.They know there job well(speaking from my experience with Smart car and vari motors, Bangalore) and do it properly. Overall I can say that I'm quite happy with maruti service. Only grouse is that they don't work on Sundays. Another point is that spare parts of Maruti is quite cheap and people do like that.

[mail4ajo]

Originally Posted by amit

I am amazed Maruti tops customer satisfaction survey's year after year. Or is it that for Indians, good customer service is being addressed as sir and being offered coffee?

Amit, Maruti tops CSI study which is not just based on sales man skills. Its an overall satisfaction study that covers many factors like quality issues, service, service delivery, user friendilyness etc. Skoda has won only the sales satisfaction.

Nothing new in the sales guy not knowing enough about the car. During my test drive of the Logan, the salesman kept saying Italian design saar. German engine and Indian manufacturing.......

I let him say everything and gave him a 20 min study class on the Logan and its features.

[vikrantw1]

Even I have found Maruti Salespeople rather lazy and uninformed. On the other hand Skoda has good salespeople though unscruplous- the same ones who lost their livelihood when Brooklyn bridge got sold - otherwise they would be still at it.
On the other hand Maruti After sales ie their mechanics/workshop people tend to know their stuff and also the company responds to your complaints quickly.Maybe that is why A.S.S. is good while the sales suck - because the former is more company driven and the latter is the dealer's responsibility to a great extent

[GTO]

Originally Posted by mail4ajo

How does Maruti manage to do this year after year?? The industry average seems to be pushed up by Maruti's figures.......

Fiat, Mitsubishi and Opel have been ommited from this study.

1. A person spending 3 - 5 lacs on a car has lesser expectation than a person spending 8 - 15 lacs.

2. Maruti's products are simple. Simplicity leads to superb reliability and lesser headache for the service stations. Also, it keeps the product easier for service techies to understand.

3. Widest service network.

4. Cheap cost of ownership. Service and parts included.

5. All are good in FE. Trust me, any Indian customer is happy as long as the FE is good. Just ask any Indica / Indigo diesel owner and he will reap praises on the car. Atleast an overwhelming majority of them.

And of course, Maruti has only gotten more pro-active in the new millenium. The management is A+ grade.

[benbsb29]

GTO has pretty much summed up why Maruti scores. Well-put.

I would also add they are smart, when it comes to their lineup.
They ensure that a customer who doesnt like one of their products can move on to another from the same stable.

[androdev]

Originally Posted by GTO

Simplicity leads to superb reliability and lesser headache for the service stations. Also, it keeps the product easier for service techies to understand.

Very true. It is not fair to expect the high-end car service people to "know their stuff." They are neither highly educated nor sufficiently trained to grasp the complexities of modern cars. If it is a known problem, then it will be fixed immediately. Otherwise it will be a bit of a hassle to get it fixed. You will come across denial, cluelessness, longer turn around times, etc. I am happy as long they are sincere in their attempt to solve my problem.

[iraghava]

Originally Posted by androdev

Very true. It is not fair to expect the high-end car service people to "know their stuff." They are neither highly educated nor sufficiently trained to grasp the complexities of modern cars. If it is a known problem, then it will be fixed immediately. Otherwise it will be a bit of a hassle to get it fixed. You will come across denial, cluelessness, longer turn around times, etc. I am happy as long they are sincere in their attempt to solve my problem.

Agreed, but look at it this way, I just spent 18-20L on a new car then I would expect it to be 100% reliable for atleast the first 3yrs/1L kms. I don't think I am expecting too much from modern cars am I?

And if I do pay that kind of money & premium to the company then I expect them to spend a percentage of it to ensure that their technicians are educated & know the products inside out. That is the company's responsibility & there is now way they can pass the buck onto anybody else. Lots of companies/buyers try to say that you know car X is very reliable since the parts produced by its manufacturer Y are dead reliable but parts like the electricals which are outsourced from another company Z are the problem makers due to poor quality, reliability or whatever.

Here, I disagree, as my point is I paid company Y my hard earned money to give me a car which is reliable from day one, no matter whether they produce all the parts themselves or source them from a 1000 different manufacturers. I buy it as an assembled, fully functioning product from company Y and I will hold them responsible for any problems in it. I didn't buy the car piecemeal & assemble it so how can they justify shifting the blame to a component manufacturer? They are charging a margin for developing the product & doing the necessary R&D, and they are responsible for it in totality.

[GTO]

Irags : Thats where Mercedes shines. However, complex their cars, the service advisors are damn competent. Even if I dont give their cars a 10 / 10.....I will give their service staff a 20 / 10. And thats saying a lot!

[androdev]

iraghava I am in total agreement with you. I was trying to say a kind word for the exploited mechanics.

It is difficult to be the devils advocate but my point is dealers are in for profit and skilled people and proper training costs a bomb. I am not saying the service technicians are incompetent - on the contrary, they are extremely smart, resourceful and they enjoy solving problems. But they are not adequately trained.

Manufacturers should take up the training responsibility. A case in point is Toyota started a training program to increase skilled labor. It won't be economical (who is not greedy?) for the dealer to do the same.

[amit]

Skoda has topped the Sales Satisfaction Index, 2008. Ford came second.

Source: rediff.

PS: I didn't understand the title of the article posted on the Rediff website. It says "SKoda emerges India's most popular car."

[shackman]

For a second time in a row, Skoda, a unit of German car maker Volkswagen, topped the customer satisfaction survey in JD Power Asia Pacific 2008 India Sales Satisfaction Index study. The study, in its 9th year, surveyed 5,416 new passenger car owners in 20 Indian cities having an ownership tenure of two to six months. Forty-one different passenger car brands were assessed in the study.
On a 1,000-point scale, Skoda scored 799 points.
Tho know more about these carmakers who top the customer satisfaction list, read on. . . .
Skoda Auto is an automobile manufacturer in the Czech Republic. Skoda became a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group in 1991.
The company originated in early 1890s and initially it used to manufacture bicycles and motorcycles. By 1905, Skoda started manufacturing cars. During World War I, Skoda was engaged in war production.
At present, Skoda has several manufacturing and assembly plants across the globe. In India, the company has an assembly plant at Aurangabad, Maharashtra. The unit, which was established in 2001, is known as Skoda Auto India Private Ltd.


Ford: Ford stood second in the customer satisfaction survey with a score of 792 points.
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational corporation, founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903.
The company started with a capital of $28,000 pooled in by 12 investors.
During its early years, Ford produced just a few cars a day at its factory on Mack Avenue in Detroit, Michigan.
Groups of two or three men worked on each car from components made to order by other companies.
At present, Ford is the world's fourth largest automaker based on worldwide vehicle sales, preceded by Toyota, General Motors and Volkswagen.


here's the link: Skoda emerges India's most popular car


2008 India Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) Study | J.D. Power and Associates



regards
shackman

[neoranjit]

With protests against the showrooms somewhere in Haryana (?), complaining about the service, how could skoda top the survey. This was probably in 2006.
Does that mean in less than 2 years, Skoda has pulled up their socks and become that customer friendly ? Dal me kuch kala hai

[speedzak]

ROTFL! Oh? There's a smiley for that.

Used to have some respect for JD Power surveys some time ago. Now, it's all mathematics and business.

2nd time on top! That should've been very costly for Skoda.