Thursday, June 16, 2005

Most Customer Service Sucks

I had a speaker in my SUV fixed (I think) today, under warranty. I took it to the dealer where I bought the vehicle, but it wasn't the first time I had it in to have the speaker fixed. Actually it was the fifth time.

Visit 1: Took vehicle to shop. Told the "Service Manager" that there was a buzzing from the speaker area that I thought was a torn speaker, loose bolt, or some such thing. The Repair "Technician" determined that the speaker was damaged (must be too much Recliners at 18 volume).

Visit 2: Two weeks later I get a post card in the mail that my part was in and to please call for an appointment. It almost got chucked as junk mail. I make the appointment and take in the SUV. "Oh, we're sorry we received the wrong part." Sigh.

Visit 3: Get a call, right part is in. I want to schedule the appointment to coincide with the upcoming oil change. "I'm sorry, if we don't get the part installed soon our parts department will have to send it back." If only I had a job where I could wreak havoc with peoples day-to-day lives. "Fine, how about next Monday? Great. Yes, I can leave it."....[Next Monday]...."I'm sorry, we got the right part but for the wrong door." Then what you're telling me is.....you got the wrong part. Am I missing how the fact that the part is either the right one or the wrong one is based on something other than if it fixes the problem?

[One month later]
Visit 4: [Voice mail]"blah, blah,blah your part is in. Please give us a call to schedule an appointment."...beep....[*]...[6]....Get Bent.

[One week later]
Another voice mail. "Our parts department will have to...blah, blah, blah." Even equipped with my trusty sarcasm I am unprepared to defend myself from the "we'll be forced send your part covered under warranty back to the manufacturer" speech. I schedule the appointment.

me:"Are you sure you have the right part this time?"
them: "Well, we can't be sure until we take it out of the box and attempt to put it in."
me: "You can't? Isn't there a part number or a picture book or some method of divination you could use? Maybe you could take it out of the box before I come in to make sure it's not broken, or reeking of urine, or something?"

[Okay, I didn't really say that but it's what I wanted to say. My real response:]
me: "Sure, yeah I understand. How's Thursday look for you?"

[Today]
Visit 5: I drop the SUV off. They tell me it'll be ready by 11. I get a voice mail: "blah, blah....Just wanted to let you know your speaker is fixed. It was the right part this time. Oh by the way, you'll be receiving a warranty service survey from Nissan, I know we had a couple of issues getting the right part, but I hope you can rate our service as "Excellent."

Sad part is, about halfway through this ordeal the speaker stopped buzzing so I can't even tell if they actually put in a new one.

[Next Week]
Hey, where's the "Piss Poor" checkbox on this survey?

If you've got a craptacular customer service story please share it with the rest of us using the cool comments link below.

2 comments:

Donkey Punch said...

Do you REALLY want to hear about my Cingular Wireless carnivale freakshow?

Uncle Jimbo said...

Yes, either post it here or somewhere else and link to it.

Sarcastic minds want to know...