Fraud Customer Service

[Grudgee]

It's pretty average, but I ask you...

How much time have you spent on the phone, or at the dealer, or writing letters to Ford? then how much do you make at work, then calculate your work lost compared to the replacement cost of the CD's

I've learnt that if it costs me more to F around than what it is that is broken et al then its not worth wasting my breath. $200 worth of CD's is not worth a quarter of a day, let alone being on their case for 9 months...

Just my POV

It's sad, but I entirely agree. I'm huge on principle, but sometimes it's just not worth the time.

You want the worst customer service in Australia, start with OPTUS, who are a pack of blithering f*ckwits. Then move onto Origin Energy, who are also not the full quid and don't give a damn.. Sneak on through to Commonwealth small business banking with the worst business banking setup in the history of the world. Awesome online setup, but if you need someone, it's quicker to do a banking course yourself.

It all comes back to big business not having proper procedures and structures in place, due to mismanagement, or rapid growth that overtook the development of the business' internal setup. It makes me so frustrated, so I now pay more for everything, just to get service.

[tmac450]

No. The reason poor service is becomming so common, particularly with the bigger organisations, it that they know people couldn't be bothered giving them grief over it. From that they've figured that it is cheaper to provide poor service, whith very little effect to their income.

If we all madejust a bit more noise about crap service, there'd be less of it.

[Grudgee]

I disagree. Rather than wasting time making a bit more noise, simply change to a different supplier. I absolutely guarantee if people did this, the organisations would shift focus very quickly.

I'm quite sure the companies in question aren't supplying a sh*t service intentionally. The pros from good service far outweigh the pros from sh*t service. They may dodge a few costs here or there, but that's not going to result in a better outlook for the business. Customer retention is #1

[tmac450]

Not true. Not only are people not making a noise, they are not changing brands/suppliers. Recent surveys show that more than 90% of customers in several industries, simply shrug off bad service and accept it as 'Just the way it is now'.

In the car industry, you only have to look at Expensive Daewoo for rpoof of this. The Late model camira is Asutralia's top selling car, it is also tops the lists in Australia for most recalls (which are Government enforced after a problem becomes too big), most break downs and most customer issues. Yet they do nothing, in fact it has been Holden's practice for years to deny rather than correct. Comments from Expensive Daewoo managers in interviews confirms this attitude when they say that their customers are just being too fussy.

Changing brands/suppliers is a start, but you have to back that up with reasoning. Our company prides ourselves on great customer service, but to acheive this we need customer feedback, with out it we don't know what we're doing wrong. The difference is, if one of our customers has a problem, we fix it, not fob it off with lame excuses.

[Grudgee]

I like how you start each of your posts with a firm statement telling me I'm straight-up wrong. It's a nice touch.

In big buisiness, poor service is indeed "Just the way it is now", but there are also good mobs out there that excel in the service stakes. You're asking Australian's to dedicate their time and energy into complaining until something gets fixed, filling up the Ford bins with negative feedback, with the assumption that it's going to actually change anything.

You said yourself that people shrug it off, so you should also ask yourself if it's something the buying public now expect and acknowledge. If it is, then you can't complain about the service, as you knew it was sh*t when you jumped on board. I agree the service is sh*t, but I still buy a ford. I buy a ford because I see them as a good value for money purchase. I'd like to buy a car that was backed by a company that stood by the product and provided a good service, but I can't justify the extra expense. There are products to suit everyone out there, but they come at a sacrifice of one thing or another. We get a decent, affordable car but sacrifice on service. Buy and Audi and you'll get a good vehicle, backed with good service, but sacrifice by paying up.

You can't get pissed at everyone for not jumping up and down, as the ordinary service doesn't jump out of the shadows. Anyone with half a brain knows what to expect. If the service sh*ts you to tears, it's probably best to change to a brand that focuses more on service. What do you want more?

[tmac450]

I like how you start each of your posts with a firm statement telling me I'm straight-up wrong. It's a nice touch.

I have to admit, that is a good line.

All I'm tring to say is that poor service is a bi-product of customers allowing themselves to be treated like crap. Like you, I see the Fords as good value, but unless we tell them when they stuff up, there is absoloutly no chance they will improve. It's like Lotto, you have stuff all chance of winning, but you most definatly won't win if you don't buy a ticket.

People shrugging off poor treatment has nothing to do with acceptance of it prior to service, that is a very odd comment indeed. In my case, do you honestly beleive I bought a car knowing Ford wouldn't pay for something they broke. I may have expected some resistance, but not a complete fob off.

By the way, the problem is not isolated to Ford, and the more money you spend does not mean you receive better service. In fact, some businesses reduce their service levels based on a lack of complaints. Take Qantas, not the cheapest airline to fly with by a long way, yet the CEO admitted that they paired back their service levels more and more because they didn't see an increase in complaints, and the cost reduction was greater than the revenue loss.

The term 'The squeeky wheel gets the grease' is oh so true, and weather you like it or not, if more people complained, service would improve. Accept it and the offenders will continue to push the boundaries until we push back.

[Grudgee]

I hear you, mate and it sounds like you've been unfairly mistreated in the past by Ford. I think we're on slightly different tangents here too, as I'm talking about service in general, not dishonoring a fair claim.

When I bought my TT, I knew I'd have issues with their after-sales service, but if they continually fob'd me on a genuine claim, I'd be inclined to drive my car through the front of they sales window, or use their car-yard as a trampoline park, jumping from one car to the next. I'm a temperamental *beep* though.

It's bloody hard to change a beast such as Ford, so I think a change in supplier is the easiest option. We can agree to disagree on this one.

If you come into my print business with negative feedback, I'll thank you with open arms and rectify the issue. This is due to customer satisfaction and repeat business being a key business principle we focus on.

It's not all about money either - as some of the guys said, there are low-rent brands that have great service. Oh what we'd do for a complete package of great car, great service and reasonable pricing!

[tmac450]

Yep, and not all the problems are created by the manufactureer.

I have a KTM, recently they had a recall for leaky fuel caps, and initially issued all of the dealerships with ribber seals to stop the leak. the dealers then went ahead and charged customers up to $15.00 for the part. While this was a dealer based rip off, and not for alot of money KTM was unaware this was happening until a customer complained (not me by the way). In the end they replaced all of the fuel caps completely, but took the matter into their own hands, bypassing the dealers and sending them directly to the customers.

Ah well, we can either learn from our mistakes, or just keep on making them.

[ZAP]

I agree that service has gone down the toilet across all industries.

The reason is the almighty dollar.

Big Businesses do not always see that after sales service is not where they should be cutting costs, but it is always the easiest way to save money.

This primarily due to service needing people and people cost money, each and every month.

A perfect example is Telstra. They made redundant 3/4 of their service techs. They now have 4,000 service techs Australia wide, where before they had 16,000.

Now they are patching up the network with plastic bags and ducktape.

The Dollar is Service's evil. People do not want to pay high prices, so they get bad service and businesses do not want to charge a high price, so they cut back on service.

It is a vicious circle and will only be broken when people pay a fair price for a produce or service.

I run a IT service company and only deal with the top 10% of Small & Meduim businesses that understand that good quality service costs money and they are happy to pay for it. I will not accept bad service from a company, and will happily tell a company when they have provided me with bad service, unfortunatly this is often.

[Grudgee]

Correct. There are definitely good companies out there, but you pay that little bit more for them.