Is it any wonder dealers are going out of business?

Long Onion

I called a local dealership yesterday as my wife's car has a problem with the ASC. The car is still under warranty and as it is the baby wagon, my wife is anxious to get it fixed.

I told the dealer i needed to get it in and they informed me that they could take it the following day (today) she said that someone from service would call me back.

A couple of hours later, having still not heard, I called the garage and they asked me for the reg etc. They asked if tomorrow would suit - I told them it would be fine. The lady then sked me was it just a standard service needed.

I told them that it didn't need a service and explained the issue with the ASC. She then told me that they "had no hours available for warranty work, it will be three weeks before we can look at it".

Me: "but you could take it for a service?"

Her: "yes, we have servicing hours available, not warranty hours"

Me: "But you are the agent, I'm entitled to have it fixed"

Her: "yes, we will fix it but it will be 3 weeks"

Me: "but if no-one books the slot tomorrow, what will the staff be doing? This car is being used to dive my baby around in, I can't wait 3 weeks"

Her; "we have no warranty hours available"

Me: "If I booked a service as well, could they look at the ASC?"

Her: "yes"

Me: *hang up fuming*

I have called the head office of the manufacturers this morning and am awaiting the call back.

This is fcuking ridiculous,

finisklin

That would piss me off no end......I always found reception/service staff shirty in dealerships....I think part of the problem is that garages (motor delaerships) are just not nice places to work in.

Now I just go to the UK to buy my car and give the Irish dealers the two fingers.....:P

Maybe the next nearest dealer may help...but the distance may make it not worth your while.

smash

They're just not interested in warranty work that they wont get paid for. Crappy customer service in my opinion!

OldmanMondeo

I had an issue last week with the Wifes car. The engine management light came on. I rang the dealer at 8:45 and had the car in straight away and the part was replaced next day. Not all dealers are the same.

OP I would speak to the service manager and try get hte car in eariler, failing that, turn up on Saturday and make a scene in front of customers to get it resolved.

Noffles

What a shower of twats!

leitrim lad

i hope all the car dealers of the country go bust ,it would be the stuff for them ,the crooked shower of bull****ting wasters ,withv their clocking and they reckon they have an industry,

i would be annoyed too my friend , and i would burst my way into that office trough man woman or child and pin the owner to the wall and threaten every type of explosion and assualt possible on him especially when your child is going to be in the car every day, a small problem could turn into a big problem very handy,

put the foot down your entitled to it, i know a fair bit about warranty myself and fair enough the dealer only has so many warranty hours per car , but there is nothing stopping them doing the job for a valued customer like yourself, and putting it in next weeks book as warranty work,

under the consumer act you are entitled to full 3 year warranty or else you money back full amount including interest or bank charges if you financed it, i know because i took a dealer to court for selling me a dud jeep , and i also spend a 7 figure sum of money on plant and machinery and lorries and cars ,jeeps every year, so i have a fair idea what your talking about, also you could get that woman removed from her position dealing with the general public, as she was intimidating towards you, and refused to carry out a service to you that is compulsary under law, which can also be classed as a form of bullying.

so if i were you i wouldnt stand down from what your entitled to

smash

leitrim lad wrote: »

i hope all the car dealers of the country go bust ,it would be the stuff for them ,the crooked shower of bull****ting wasters ,withv their clocking and they reckon they have an industry

i would be annoyed too my friend , and i would burst my way into that office trough man woman or child and pin the owner to the wall and threaten every type of explosion and assualt possible on him

Sorry but... WTF? seriously, get a clue!

+1, you'd find yourself in jail or else knocked out cold on the floor if the chap was handy.

niceirishfella

Shoddy, Shoddy customer service from that crowd.
name and shame the feckers please!

robtri

Long Onion wrote: »

Me: "If I booked a service as well, could they look at the ASC?"

Her: "yes"

Me: *hang up fuming*


This is fcuking ridiculous,

So the story is if you are 100% entitled to get some work done to your car with no charge to you... they can't do it for at least 3 weeks,
but if you want to pay for some un-necessary work to be done, they will do it in the morning...

Seriously thats a joke....

Not all Dealers are the same, some are excellent, but crap like that does no -one in the motor trade any favours

cpoh1

steve06 wrote: »

They're just not interested in warranty work that they wont get paid for. Crappy customer service in my opinion!

As far as im aware any warranty work carried out by a garage is covered by the margues head office. So for example kearys bmw in cork carries out warranty work on bmw bought in galway, bmw ireland pays the hourly rate and parts cost on the warranty work done.

Most garages love warranty work its guaranteed income!

niceirishfella

Most garages love warranty work its guaranteed income! - Not on stuff they sold themselves and have to stand over.





IDEA!

Book it in for Tomorrow and get the car fixed.
Then don't pay them telling them it was warranty!
Feck all they can do then.

Drummerboy08

leitrim lad wrote: »

i hope all the car dealers of the country go bust ,it would be the stuff for them ,the crooked shower of bull****ting wasters ,withv their clocking and they reckon they have an industry,

i would be annoyed too my friend , and i would burst my way into that office trough man woman or child and pin the owner to the wall and threaten every type of explosion and assualt possible on him especially when your child is going to be in the car every day, a small problem could turn into a big problem very handy,

put the foot down your entitled to it, i know a fair bit about warranty myself and fair enough the dealer only has so many warranty hours per car , but there is nothing stopping them doing the job for a valued customer like yourself, and putting it in next weeks book as warranty work,

under the consumer act you are entitled to full 3 year warranty or else you money back full amount including interest or bank charges if you financed it, i know because i took a dealer to court for selling me a dud jeep , and i also spend a 7 figure sum of money on plant and machinery and lorries and cars ,jeeps every year, so i have a fair idea what your talking about, also you could get that woman removed from her position dealing with the general public, as she was intimidating towards you, and refused to carry out a service to you that is compulsary under law, which can also be classed as a form of bullying.

so if i were you i wouldnt stand down from what your entitled to

The door is that way

---

>

Please use it. There are alot of people who use this forum that are in the trade - including me - not one would like to lose their job. TBH, it sounds like you have no clue whatsoever. Maybe you should stick to the 4x4 and plant forum.

BTW, if you ever came into a showroom and confronted me like that, your car would be leaving on the back of a Lorry, and you'd be leaving in the back of an ambulance.

Anyhow, back OT, OP what car is it? As others have pointed out, it depends on the garage. There are a lot of garages out there who will look after their customers in a situation like this, but there are others who just have no interest in spending time on a vehicle they wont get paid for.

smellslikeshoes

You done right getting in touch with the manufacturer, get them in hot water and they might change their tune. And whatever you do don't go in making threats like has been mentioned it will do nothing but get you into trouble. A cool head is always the best option for things like this.

Appleguy

Damn you long onion, the title of your post brought me back somewhere i didn't want to go. Thought i'd spread the poison.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOlSeEVVrKY

I'd be fuming after that conversation. Is there another main dealer near you you might get a better reception from?

On a side note the dealers around me seem to be doing alright. They have dropped the prices of their cars ridiculously but are keeping the model of small profit margins and large turnover of cars. I think it works. Getting the servicing jobs too as they have always been competative.

-Chris-

OP, I think that's crappy customer service and like everyone else I think you should escalate it immediately. Call the manufacturer again if you like, but personally I'd be ringing the dealer principal and giving them an earful.

leitrim lad wrote: »

i hope all the car dealers of the country go bust ,it would be the stuff for them ,the crooked shower of bull****ting wasters ,withv their clocking and they reckon they have an industry,

I think this is totally unnecessary - there's a big leap from crap customer service to criminal activity.

leitrim lad wrote: »

i would be annoyed too my friend , and i would burst my way into that office trough man woman or child and pin the owner to the wall and threaten every type of explosion and assualt possible on him especially when your child is going to be in the car every day, a small problem could turn into a big problem very handy,

Again, unnecessary and probably against the boards charter to incite others to violence.

leitrim lad wrote: »

put the foot down your entitled to it, i know a fair bit about warranty myself and fair enough the dealer only has so many warranty hours per car , but there is nothing stopping them doing the job for a valued customer like yourself, and putting it in next weeks book as warranty work,

I'd say the issue in this case is cashflow - the dealer is trying to only do work that pays today rather than doing warranty work that'll be paid by the distributer in a months time.

leitrim lad wrote: »

under the consumer act you are entitled to full 3 year warranty or else you money back full amount including interest or bank charges if you financed it, i know because i took a dealer to court for selling me a dud jeep , and i also spend a 7 figure sum of money on plant and machinery and lorries and cars ,jeeps every year, so i have a fair idea what your talking about, also you could get that woman removed from her position dealing with the general public, as she was intimidating towards you, and refused to carry out a service to you that is compulsary under law, which can also be classed as a form of bullying.

I don't think anyone's denying the OP their warranty.

I don't hear any intimidation in the description of what happened.

I don't think the service advisor is making this decision off their own bat - this is a policy that's come from higher-up. Getting them fired won't help anything.

leitrim lad wrote: »

so if i were you i wouldnt stand down from what your entitled to

Unregistered.

Long Onion wrote: »

I called a local dealership

Name and Shame!!!

-Chris-

Unregistered. wrote: »

Name and Shame!!!

OP, please wait until you've done all your escalations & complaints and you know where you stand before "naming & shaming".

Unregistered.

-Chris- wrote: »

OP, please wait until you've done all your escalations & complaints and you know where you stand before "naming & shaming".

I strongly disagree, consumers talk with their feet! I would very much like to know what dealer this is so they can be avoided - thus giving the decent dealers out there, who have good customer service, the business they deserve!

Long Onion

Folks,

Thanks for the advice. I have just sent a wody e-mail to the head man of the motor franchise and am awaiting his response - I will keep you all posted.

I am loathe to name and shame until I get some clarification and resolution (or lack thereof) on the issue, for all I know at this point, the person i spoke to in the service dept. may just be an ass.

I am fuming over the matter and think that it is disgusting that my wife is driving our baby around in a car with a defect in its safety systems but will hold fire for now. We were going to change our family car next Jan and would have opted for the same again but this is now being put in serious doubt.

Thanks again.

-Chris-

Unregistered. wrote: »

I strongly disagree, consumers talk with their feet! I would very much like to know what dealer this is so they can be avoided - thus giving the decent dealers out there, who have good customer service, the business they deserve!

OK, hypothetical:

The OP names the garage.


The OP then gets through to the DP in the garage who says "oh dear, that's not on at all...".
The DP offers all apologies, gets the car collected & delivered, gets the issue fixed asap, delivers the car back clean & with a bunch of flowers.

It turns out the customer service in this garage is excellent, but this particular service advisor was having a bad day.

Meanwhile, the OP goes back to their busy life and forgets to give a complete update. Next time someone googles for this garage they'll find this (incomplete) account of the dealer's service levels.



I'm not saying any of this will happen, but I'm sure you can see why I'd rather only see naming & shaming where all the information has been gathered and everyone has had an opportunity to fix the situation.

Unregistered.

Long Onion wrote: »

... for all I know at this point, the person i spoke to in the service dept. may just be an ass...

Hopefully! it's well for them that they can afford to lose a valuable customer with things the way they are.

Unregistered.

-Chris- wrote: »

OK, hypothetical:

The OP names the garage.


The OP then gets through to the DP in the garage who says "oh dear, that's not on at all...".
The DP offers all apologies, gets the car collected & delivered, gets the issue fixed asap, delivers the car back clean & with a bunch of flowers.

It turns out the customer service in this garage is excellent, but this particular service advisor was having a bad day.

Meanwhile, the OP goes back to their busy life and forgets to give a complete update. Next time someone googles for this garage they'll find this (incomplete) account of the dealer's service levels.



I'm not saying any of this will happen, but I'm sure you can see why I'd rather only see naming & shaming where all the information has been gathered and everyone has had an opportunity to fix the situation.

Happens on Joe Duffy all the time.

Drummerboy08

:rolleyes:

mickdw

Do the dealers get a really crap labour rate from manufacturer/distributor for warranty work. I was told this is the case. It certainly makes sense as it is like pulling teeth getting anything done under warranty with vw/Audi at least.

-Chris-

Unregistered. wrote: »

Happens on Joe Duffy all the time.

This isn't Joe Duffy.

OP has said they don't want to name & shame.

Please leave it.

furtzy

Very strange. I too thought garages would love warranty work as they get paid directly from head office and no quibbles over hours etc. Personally know of a garage that dropped their Subaru dealership due to lack of warranty work

leitrim lad

chris,

i wasnt trying to encourage violance or break the boards rules ,

but what goes on in some of these dealers is actually criminal, and if that woman refused to do warranty work then it can be classed as intimidation against the individual who bought the car, and he could use this as a lever to claim that he was being singled out and bullied into a service that wasnt required,

i understand their cashflow problems , but thats their problem for mismanaging their company and squandering profits on big fancy showrooms and over priced offices, and its their problem if they cannot undertake their legal obligation to a consumers right to warranty, so i have no pity for them,

this man could park his car and deem it unsafe for his wife and child until the job is done and counter claim for loss of earnings, which would cost ten times more than the small warranty issue.

however it can easily be resolved when you mention the entitlements of a consumer under certain acts and legisl;ation ,that may agetate the dealer,

and a dictaphone is a very handy tool in situations like this when dealing with cheeky go fors, ie, the secratery who told him to wait 3 weeks and bring it in today for a service,

there are several loopholes here in this mans favour, let alone fully fledged laws and legislation,

my opinion stands the sooner the lot of them enter liquidation ,the more eas will be on our shoulders , and we can say i told you so

Robertr

If its still covered by the manufacturers warranty then just drive to the dealer with the car, hand over the keys and tell them to give you a replacement until they can fix yours. If it takes three weeks then so be it. Thats not your problem.

I doubt that the Manufacturer would be very happy to hear that their agents are telling customers to continue to drive a car that has a known safety issue.

themacdaddy

Unregistered. wrote: »

Happens on Joe Duffy all the time.

OK then try empathy...imagine if it was your business and one of your employees acted like this to one of your customers....obviously you would not condone it and would take steps to rectify the situation...however would you like people thinkning your business does not care about its customers just because of one persons actions and thus your business should be eternally painted as a dodgy dealership etc

I am not condoning what happened I just think people should be given a chance to explain their side of the issue and hopefully clarify the situation. Albeit if the garage don't deal with OP issues in a positive manner he will be right to name and shame. I just think it can hold off until things are clarified.

OP what happened to you is horrible. I hope it is a misunderstanding. There are some dodgy garages out there..but there are some good ones too.

Drummerboy08

leitrim lad wrote: »

chris,

i wasnt trying to encourage violance or break the boards rules ,

but what goes on in some of these dealers is actually criminal, and if that woman refused to do warranty work then it can be classed as intimidation against the individual who bought the car, and he could use this as a lever to claim that he was being singled out and bullied into a service that wasnt required,

How can this be classed as intimidation?

i understand their cashflow problems , but thats their problem for mismanaging their company and squandering profits on big fancy showrooms and over priced offices, and its their problem if they cannot undertake their legal obligation to a consumers right to warranty, so i have no pity for them,

The majority of dealers were forced to build new showrooms by the distributor/manufacturer, or else they would lose the franchise. It was not their choice.

this man could park his car and deem it unsafe for his wife and child until the job is done and counter claim for loss of earnings, which would cost ten times more than the small warranty issue.

He could, but it would be dragged out for years, causing the OP even more hardship. Im sure he doesnt need that with a young family. And he wouldnt be "counter claiming", as the garage have made no "claim" against him as yet, and why would they? I think Judge Judy is on soon, just sit back and watch that instead.

however it can easily be resolved when you mention the entitlements of a consumer under certain acts and legisl;ation ,that may agetate the dealer,

You dont need to agitate the dealer - as its been pointed out already, if your reasonable with them, you'll get what you want. There is no need for agressive tactics.

and a dictaphone is a very handy tool in situations like this when dealing with cheeky go fors, ie, the secratery who told him to wait 3 weeks and bring it in today for a service,

That person is possibly only doing what he/she has been told to do - how is it their fault?

there are several loopholes here in this mans favour, let alone fully fledged laws and legislation,

my opinion stands the sooner the lot of them enter liquidation ,the more eas will be on our shoulders , and we can say i told you so

What "loopholes are there?

Why would you want another 100,000 or more people joining the dole queue? Who would you then go to if you had a warranty claim on your vehicle? All the dealers have gone bust sure.

Your not really making much sense here Leitrim Lad.