Main dealer complaint

bener

Hi Folks,

Just looking for your opinion on an issue I have with a main dealer. I had my car in with the dealer to get repaired 4 weeks ago. They said it would take 2 days but ended up taking 9 days. They gave me a replacement car on the 5th day so that wasn't too bad.

My issue is that I noticed on Tuesday that they didn't put the plastic under tray that goes under the engine back. I've been driving around for the past 2 odd weeks without. I rang them Tuesday when I spotted this and was told they would check with the Technician and call me back, they said not to worry and you can continue to drive away without the tray. Didn't receive any call back so rang again on Thursday and was told the same thing. Again no one got back to me. Rang again today and at last they confirmed that they have the under tray and told me to call in and get it fitted on. They apologised for this mistake but I'm wondering should I make a complaint. The leverl of customer service has been dreadful and after paying nearly €1500 to have my car fixed, the least you would expect is to have it returned with all the parts put back together. I also live 30 miles from the dealer, so its a bit of an inconvenience to have drive in and get the tray put back on.

Is this level of customer service the norm to expect. Would it be worth asking for some sort token of goodwill for the inconvenience.

Thanks,
Bener

tcawley29

I'd ask for something myself and see what they say.
If you get no joy then go ahead and report them to the head office and see what happens.

Toyotafanboi

I don't know if having to come back to have your undertray refittted is really something that warrants a tangible level of goodwill? Sure it's an inconvenience but still, it's not really the dealers fault that you live so far away from them, although it is their fault you had to come back.

Do we need to be compensated for every little thing these days? Naturally you know that isn't "the norm" level of customer service but sometimes, with everything in life, problems happen. Can we not sometimes just handle the acceptance that a genuine error has occured without wanting a pound of flesh to boot?

What age/ mileage is the car and what work did you have done? Was it the dealers fault that the car was held over for 7 additional days through dealer level incompetence or did the job become more extensive after inspection/ were parts unavailable etc? Are you fully sure you are angry at the dealer and not angry at the car?

I'm not saying your not angry and that there may be an issue but I'd love a bit more perspective. For example if your car was fixed in the original 2x days estimates and you had to return to have your undertray fitted, would you be less angry?

tcawley29

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

I don't know if having to come back to have your undertray refittted is really something that warrants a tangible level of goodwill? Sure it's an inconvenience but still, it's not really the dealers fault that you live so far away from them, although it is their fault you had to come back.

Do we need to be compensated for every little thing these days? Naturally you know that isn't "the norm" level of customer service but sometimes, with everything in life, problems happen. Can we not sometimes just handle the acceptance that a genuine error has occured without wanting a pound of flesh to boot?

What age/ mileage is the car and what work did you have done? Was it the dealers fault that the car was held over for 7 additional days through dealer level incompetence or did the job become more extensive after inspection/ were parts unavailable etc? Are you fully sure you are angry at the dealer and not angry at the car?

I'm not saying your not angry and that there may be an issue but I'd love a bit more perspective. For example if your car was fixed in the original 2x days estimates and you had to return to have your undertray fitted, would you be less angry?

If it was me I wouldn't mind about getting the tray refitted if all would have been arranged with one phone call.

In this case the op had to hound the dealer to get a resolution.
This is what drives me insane and in my opinion, yes the op should get something.

Even something as small as 30 euro of fuel and a car wash would go a long way

enricoh

It's the plastic under tray, it's not the be all and end all.

Toyotafanboi

Yeah, repeatedly missed phone calls can be a PITA. I didn't really consider that.

tcawley29

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Yeah, repeatedly missed phone calls can be a PITA. I didn't really consider that.

It's not even missed phone calls its the fact that the technician would not call back. Just bad manners is all.

nailer54321

Its they way he was dealt witb that i would be complaining about, and if they can miss fitting something that big i would be woundering what else do they miss that you can't see.complain to there head office op, you paid a lot of money and you should expect a first class job, thats why we use main dealers.

Toyotafanboi

tcawley29 wrote: »

It's not even missed phone calls its the fact that the technician would not call back. Just bad manners is all.

The problem is main dealers in technicians don't make phone calls. It's most likely the service receptionist forgot, repeatedly.

The service receptionist may just be crap at their job. That's not really good enough from your point of view, which is fair. I guess I was more focusing on the forgetting to fit the undertray, which can happen. No man is an island and all that.

What would be a fair attempt at reconciliation?

tcawley29

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

The problem is main dealers in technicians don't make phone calls. It's most likely the service receptionist forgot, repeatedly.

The service receptionist may just be crap at their job. That's not really good enough from your point of view, which is fair. I guess I was more focusing on the forgetting to fit the undertray, which can happen. No man is an island and all that.

What would be a fair attempt at reconciliation?

Yes thats more than understandable that the receptionist forgot.

Ah it wouldn't even take anything huge.

Maybe just a small token like cover their fuel costs plus an extra tenner or so for the hassle and also a car wash if they offer these services.

It's not gonna kill the garage to do this and it will take the sour taste out of the ops mouth

wexie

I think in a case like this even just a genuine 'we're terribly sorry we screwed up' goes a long way.
It's the ignoring of the fact that there is an issue and carrying on like it's just business as usual (maybe it is for them) and OP is making a nuisance out of himself that would get to me.

challengemaster

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

I don't know if having to come back to have your undertray refittted is really something that warrants a tangible level of goodwill? Sure it's an inconvenience but still, it's not really the dealers fault that you live so far away from them, although it is their fault you had to come back.

Do we need to be compensated for every little thing these days? Naturally you know that isn't "the norm" level of customer service but sometimes, with everything in life, problems happen. Can we not sometimes just handle the acceptance that a genuine error has occured without wanting a pound of flesh to boot?

I'd be of the opinion that as a main dealer and brand ambassador which enables them to charge over the odds for their services, they don't get to make those mistakes that inconvenience people without being challenged.

You'd understand the same sympathy being offered if it was a local mechanic with his own garage and he's the only guy there who's overworked and forgot to refit the thing. When you're paying a premium for the job, you should get the premium service.

nailer54321

Why is the op making a nuisance out of himself? If he feels tbere is ground for a compliant then he should do so,

Toyotafanboi

challengemaster wrote: »

I'd be of the opinion that as a main dealer and brand ambassador which enables them to charge over the odds for their services, they don't get to make those mistakes that inconvenience people without being challenged.

You'd understand the same sympathy being offered if it was a local mechanic with his own garage and he's the only guy there who's overworked and forgot to refit the thing. When you're paying a premium for the job, you should get the premium service.

That's sort of what I was getting at but the other way around.

If you get a poor experience at an indy, you just walk away and say "ah the poor fellas are under pressure" but if you get a bad experience at a main dealer you need blood.

You'd never dream of asking an indy for compo because they forgot to refit your undertray. The people in the main dealer are only mere mortals too. You don't need to be a one man band, owner - operator to be able to make a mistake, it happens us all.

I agree with an above poster, an honest and genuine apology would be the best possible solution here, it would suggest they have appreciated the grievance they have caused and aim to avoid it in future which is far more meaningful and constructive for both parties than €20 diesel and a crap wash and vac. By the sounds of it, the likelihood of getting a phone call back from them with that apology is slim :pac:.

JohnBoy26

challengemaster wrote: »

I'd be of the opinion that as a main dealer and brand ambassador which enables them to charge over the odds for their services, they don't get to make those mistakes that inconvenience people without being challenged.

You'd understand the same sympathy being offered if it was a local mechanic with his own garage and he's the only guy there who's overworked and forgot to refit the thing. When you're paying a premium for the job, you should get the premium service.

Ya but to be fair the mechanics at main dealers are only human too like the rest of us. That said you are going to notice something as big as a tray lying around the workshop so they must of known they left it off someones car.

All that aside the way it was handled afterwards is where the real issue is. The dealer was really unprofessional in the way they dealt with the op by not returning their calls. The op shouldn't of had to chase the dealer for a solution.

CiniO

IMO that's dreadful.
Main dealer steals OP's plastic undertray (probably they needed one) hoping OP will never realise (as most people wouldn't).
Once OP realises what happened, they come up with explanation that undertray is not needed.

It's beyond ridiculous IMO.

JohnBoy26

CiniO wrote: »

IMO that's dreadful.
Main dealer steals OP's plastic undertray (probably they needed one) hoping OP will never realise (as most people wouldn't).
Once OP realises what happened, they come up with explanation that undertray is not needed.

It's beyond ridiculous IMO.

Ah come on they hardly stole it. They forgot to put it back on. These things happen.

Isambard

i find it hard to believe a large part like that could hang about the workshop unnoticed.

Toyotafanboi

CiniO wrote: »

IMO that's dreadful.
Main dealer steals OP's plastic undertray (probably they needed one) hoping OP will never realise (as most people wouldn't).
Once OP realises what happened, they come up with explanation that undertray is not needed.

It's beyond ridiculous IMO.

That post is ridiculous IMO. There is nothing to suggest thieft whatsoever.

Guy:Incognito

Plus, they can't have needed it very urgently that they still had it there over 2 weeks later. They'd have had one delivered from whatever brand they are in a couple of days.

Seth Brundle

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Ah come on they hardly stole it. They forgot to put it back on. These things happen.

Actually it shouldn't.
The undertray was presumably off for access and would have been evident one way or the other. It suggests that the work wasn't double checked.

rex-x

In my experience from being in the industry (and people are free to disagree) good mechanics don't tend to work at main dealers. If someone is truly good at what they do then there are far better ways as a mechanic to make alot more money for more interesting work. I have in the past done work for dealers as a call in specialist and I have seen some things that make me shudder.

JohnBoy26

kbannon wrote: »

Actually it shouldn't.
The undertray was presumably off for access and would have been evident one way or the other. It suggests that the work wasn't double checked.

Nobody said it should but It does occur sometimes.

JohnBoy26

rex-x wrote: »

In my experience from being in the industry (and people are free to disagree) good mechanics don't tend to work at main dealers. If someone is truly good at what they do then there are far better ways as a mechanic to make alot more money for more interesting work. I have in the past done work for dealers as a call in specialist and I have seen some things that make me shudder.

That's nonsense and a tar everyone with the same brush statement.

markc1184

Skoda main dealer forgot to put the service book back into my car. Called back in to collect and I got a winter care kit off them for the inconvenience without having to ask. No harm in asking.

wexie

markc1184 wrote: »

Skoda main dealer forgot to put the service book back into my car. Called back in to collect and I got a winter care kit off them for the inconvenience without having to ask. No harm in asking.

How long ago was that?
Would you be likely to buy another car of them? Go back for servicing?

bucketybuck

CiniO wrote: »

IMO that's dreadful.
Main dealer steals OP's plastic undertray (probably they needed one) hoping OP will never realise (as most people wouldn't).
Once OP realises what happened, they come up with explanation that undertray is not needed.

It's beyond ridiculous IMO.

Most ridiculous post I've ever read.

Trust me, nobody want's your damn undertray.

Isambard wrote: »

i find it hard to believe a large part like that could hang about the workshop unnoticed.

What if its a workshop with over a dozen cars in there, all work in progress and so most with the tray removed. There is now lots of trays sitting around, how does the casual observer tell that one of the 12 shouldn't actually be there?

kbannon wrote: »

Actually it shouldn't.
The undertray was presumably off for access and would have been evident one way or the other. It suggests that the work wasn't double checked.

Or that the tech left it off precisely so that the work could be checked, and the breakdown in communication came when the foreman got called away and didn't designate anybody to refit it?

rex-x wrote: »

In my experience from being in the industry (and people are free to disagree) good mechanics don't tend to work at main dealers.

The very best mechanics work in main dealers. And some of the worst.

Don't kid yourself, level four master techs aren't scratching about doing DOE's or services out of their own shed.

markc1184

wexie wrote: »

How long ago was that?
Would you be likely to buy another car of them? Go back for servicing?

About 6 months ago. It was them that spotted that it was not put back into the car half an hour after I collected. I received a call from the service dept to let me know, apologise and arrange for me to collect the following morning or for them to post it out. Wouldn't stop me from going back for servicing and we have a new car on order with them at present. Genuine mistakes happen sometimes, just means I'll check for my service book straight away from now on.

Toyotafanboi

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Plus, they can't have needed it very urgently that they still had it there over 2 weeks later. They'd have had one delivered from whatever brand they are in a couple of days.

Yeah true, that and everybody knows, if you are stuck for a part you steal if from a sales dept. car :pac:

wexie

markc1184 wrote: »

Wouldn't stop me from going back for servicing

No I meant exactly the opposite

markc1184 wrote: »

and we have a new car on order with them at present.

Like that.....

markc1184 wrote: »

Genuine mistakes happen sometimes, just means I'll check for my service book straight away from now on.

They made a mistake, admitted it and dealt with it well, without making you jump through hoops to get it rectified.....

tis how you create a loyal customer.

bucketybuck

tcawley29 wrote: »

Maybe just a small token like cover their fuel costs plus an extra tenner or so for the hassle and also a car wash if they offer these services.

Advice I'd give to anybody, if you are asking a dealer for something, ask for something that the person in service can give you without having to hang himself.

That tenner for example, no service advisor is going to go to the accounts dept to ask for cash so that he can give it away to somebody, because he would just get his ass chewed out. And no service advisor wants to agree that he will pay for anything that generates an invoice, pay some private company for a valet for example, because that generates paperwork that leads to questions which leads to hassle.

Ask for whatever you want, but remember that you are far more likely to actually get it if it is in the power of the service manager to give it. He can tell one of his lads to fix something free or give the car a wash. He can't simply give you cash or pay some other garage to look at the car just because you don't want to drive so far.

rex-x

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

That's nonsense and a tar everyone with the same brush statement.

I said in my experience and I have experience with quite a few dealers. Not every main dealer mechanic is bad but again as I said in my experience the best don't work there and I stand by that.

wexie

bucketybuck wrote: »

Advice I'd give to anybody, if you are asking a dealer for something, ask for something that the person in service can give you without having to hang himself.

That tenner for example, no service advisor is going to go to the accounts dept to ask for cash so that he can give it away to somebody, because he would just get his ass chewed out. And no service advisor wants to agree that he will pay for anything that generates an invoice, pay some private company for a valet for example, because that generates paperwork that leads to questions which leads to hassle.

Ask for whatever you want, but remember that you are far more likely to actually get it if it is in the power of the service manager to give it. He can tell one of his lads to fix something free or give the car a wash. He can't simply give you cash or pay some other garage to look at the car just because you don't want to drive so far.

No **** that! You loose my fuel filler cap I want a bloody unicorn

beertons

Do you really need it?

I removed mine years ago.

Hardly worth losing sleep over.

tcawley29

bucketybuck wrote: »

Advice I'd give to anybody, if you are asking a dealer for something, ask for something that the person in service can give you without having to hang himself.

That tenner for example, no service advisor is going to go to the accounts dept to ask for cash so that he can give it away to somebody, because he would just get his ass chewed out. And no service advisor wants to agree that he will pay for anything that generates an invoice, pay some private company for a valet for example, because that generates paperwork that leads to questions which leads to hassle.

Ask for whatever you want, but remember that you are far more likely to actually get it if it is in the power of the service manager to give it. He can tell one of his lads to fix something free or give the car a wash. He can't simply give you cash or pay some other garage to look at the car just because you don't want to drive so far.

This is 100% understandable. I never meant cash either, I had meant in the form of fuel, however getting something fixed for free down the line would be a perfect resolution also.

bucketybuck

wexie wrote: »

No **** that! You loose my fuel filler cap I want a bloody unicorn

If I can hide that unicorn on a warranty claim somewhere then no problem at all.

challengemaster

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Ya but to be fair the mechanics at main dealers are only human too like the rest of us. That said you are going to notice something as big as a tray lying around the workshop so they must of known they left it off someones car.

Absolutely, but being a main dealer is like being any other corporate entity. You step out of the little league charge more because these things aren't supposed to happen because you have SOPs and checks in place and paperwork to be completed for everything.

colm_mcm

beertons wrote: »

Do you really need it?

I removed mine years ago.

Hardly worth losing sleep over.

To be fair it’s there for a reason and it’s part of the car that was on it when it went in.

blackbox

beertons wrote: »

Do you really need it?

I removed mine years ago.

Hardly worth losing sleep over.

They mainly help with aerodynamics and improving fuel economy. They also protect engine and transmission and suspension components from dirt and debris.

Unfortunately there is usually a bit of work involved in removing them to work on the car, especially if you don't have a lift.

Guy:Incognito

other they've also been known to be deleted at stages in model runs along with other things to shave costs.

ofcork

I lost part of mine on a previous car and thought the car felt lighter at the front at speed.

Truckermal

markc1184 wrote: »

About 6 months ago. It was them that spotted that it was not put back into the car half an hour after I collected. I received a call from the service dept to let me know, apologise and arrange for me to collect the following morning or for them to post it out. Wouldn't stop me from going back for servicing and we have a new car on order with them at present. Genuine mistakes happen sometimes, just means I'll check for my service book straight away from now on.

Things like that would want me to do business with a place like that!