I have no explanation as to why 6 different service departments never responded to Fender’s phone calls. The possibility of calling and someone being tied up and unable to answer the phone is a possibility as it’s happened to me a few times when calling a dealer parts department. I only wait so long because the world is still turning.
The odds of it happening with 6 of them is baffling and if there is no legit reason for not answering the phone then it’s poor customer service.
Speaking of music stores and service, don’t even get me started on Guitarded Center…
Guitar center, sam ash, (ive worked at both) are horrible.
But the truth of the matter is you get what you pay for in terms of employees. This is a problem at virtually every chain retail outlet in America. Car parts, music equipment, sears craftsman tool center, restaurants, the list goes on and on. My Dad will frequently get annoyed with the lack of employee knowledge or care. Ive come to expect it and accept it. When you pay somebody nothing, thats the kind of service they will give. Now, a dealership not answering phones and ignoring you in person is worse, but you get my point.
Maybe after that wild race to the bottom with WM in the lead, we have hit the bottom and now maybe would like to pay a little more for service. Pay a little more so there is a little more margin to hire people that actually care or know something. Gee just like the old days when you could stop at a gas station and a guy there actually could see what that noise was on Sunday afternoon, and even fix it. And he actually made enough money to support a family.
I don’t want to get too far OT here but working in a Guitar Center would rival the Spanish Inquisition as far as torture goes.
About 4 hours into a shift and listening to the 19th 15 year old in a row shredding away (or 3 of them at once) with the volume on 11 and the distortion pedal cranked beyond the stops would send me screaming into the wilderness…
And often does. And it drives me to turn the music off.
I love great guitar work. I detest those too lazy or untalented to learn how to create great guitar music who try to compensate with electronic devices.
Some service departments are just better than others. And you can’t even blame GM or any other manufacturer for this truly. Just like there’s always that one McDonalds that screws up your order, has stale product, etc., while another always gets it right. I suppose it’s mostly a matter of pride, skilled management, and just plain giving a d*mn about what they’re doing.
+1 to oblivion’s comments.
Some establishments will just be consistently good, and others will be consistently bad.
In line with the McDonald’s analogy, I like to go to Panera for lunch on occasion, and while most of them consistently fill my order correctly, there is one location where they ALWAYS managed to screw up my order.
After sending e-mails to Panera’s corporate folks a few times, I finally just gave up on that location, and avoid it like The Plague. The corporate folks always responded and offered some freebies, but after a while that compensation just doesn’t adequately make up for consistent screw-ups that go on unabated at that one location.
The OP can probably find that “one in a thousand” gem of a dealership if he keeps trying, and then he needs to patronize that one.
In regards to dealer service departments and attitudes which can affect all phases of that department I might add the following.
I recently read of at least one dealer in the L.A. area who is trying to coerce mechanics into signing a form stating they will perform vehicle multi-point inspections for $1.25; and that’s not a typo.
What kind of service should a customer expect and what kind of service is a customer going to receive for less than pocket change…
When I was working at the dealer, we were required to perform those multi-point inspections FOR FREE
It was blatantly illegal, and everybody involved knew it
We spoke up to the manager, that we felt we weren’t being fairly compensated for our time. yeah, some of these free inspections took upward of 1/2 hour, if you actually did everything on the list. It was essentially a minor service, minus the oil change. We were even required to post brake pad thicknesses and attach the printout from the midtronics battery tester . . . !
He gathered all of us, and told us “If you don’t do these inspections, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”
Sure, we might have been able to sue to get our jobs back, but it would have been a big hassle. Why would you sue to get your job back, if the boss doesn’t really want you there, anyways? He needed us, and tolerated us, but we were beneath contempt, as far as he was concerned
In the end, a lot of the savvy customers took the inspection sheet and the list of recommendations, and went to another shop for a second opinion. Many of them actually did get the work done, but at a shop with lower parts prices and much lower hourly rate
The glamorous, behind the scenes world of wrenching at the car dealers…
At one dealer where I worked they came out one time and wanted every mechanic to authorize a payroll deduction to pay for the coffee pot up front which served mostly the car salesmen and car buyers… That went over like a ton of bricks and everyone refused to sign on.
Most of the mechanics never touched that swill anyway and if coffee was desired it was gotten from the McDs next door.
To TwinTurbo’s comment: “…regarding dealership service departments … You don’t bother calling up for appointments anymore. When I tried that the last time, they told me to just drive up and get your car in line. No appointment necessary and they wouldn’t take one over the phone.”
My experience is quite the opposite. All of my dealer service departments (2VW, 1 Subaru), and my independent mechanic will all set up appointments, especially for non-routine work. The dealers also have online scheduling tools if I want to see the schedule & set up an appointment without calling in. For routine maintenance one has an “express” service for which you don’t need an appointment and it’s possible they wouldn’t let me make one if I asked. I find when I make an appointment that I have a much better chance of getting a loaner car.
To Fender’s point: As an additional data point, all 3 dealer service departments I deal with answer the phones without fail. Those departments not answering the phones & not being able/willing to answer a simple question is pretty poor customer service. Given Fender’s experience, I’ll consider myself lucky!
I can echo ccatx’s experiences.
At the dealership that I use for service, appointments are necessary, but they can be made online or via the phone.
I use the phone, and they always answer by the 3rd ring. For most of my visits, I specify a 10:00 AM arrival time, and ask if I can have the service done while I wait. In those instances, I am almost always out of there w/in an hour.
For the “big” 30k, 60k, 90k etc. services, I make an appointment and specify that I want one of their free loaner cars. Naturally these cars are not limitless, so I tend to call about 2 weeks ahead for the “big” services.
When I had a question about the operation of my 2011 Outback’s audio system (unfortunately the audio system’s manual was obviously translated–badly–from a foreign language and is not very useful), rather than phone I simply showed up. W/in less than 5 minutes, I had a mechanic, the service department manager, and the shop foreman at my car, giving me the assistance that I needed.
Yes, there is a considerable difference from one dealership’s service department to another.
Both the Acura and GM dealers I deal with require appointments. I was a little miffed at the Acura dealer when I wrecked a tire. Sure they had the new matching one in stock but couldn’t get it in to mount the tire for four or five days at the earliest. Couple hours at the local Goodyear dealer. I dunno, I guess when you have a new car out of commission, I just kinda expect a little quicker action. Makes me wonder about the future. The GM dealer is never more than a day or two to get it in.
I have been treated very well by the service department in our local Chevrolet agency, and our Toyota dealer. My most recent experience with the Toyota dealer was that the fuel door wouldn’t open and I knew gas prices were going up. I hurried out to the dealer and a technician worked for about 10 minutes and then showed me where to bang on the fuel door to get it open. There was no charge. I hurried back to the gas station and just as I clicked off the pump, the price went up ten cents a gallon. I did go back and have the proper repair made. Another time, I was having trouble pairing the cell phone with the audio system n the Toyota. The service writer did it for free and she wouldn’t take any money. At the Chevrolet dealer, I stopped to get a new battery for the key fob. The service writer didn’t think it was the battery, opened the key fob, bent a contact and it worked perfectly–no charge. When I would call ahead for an appointment at the Chevrolet dealer, the car was always taken right back. If I waited for the car, the service writer would come into the waiting area if there were no customers and talk to me. He was a part time student at the university where I taught and I enjoyed talking to him.
When my son was a teenager, he lost the gas cap off our Ford Taurus. He pulled into the Pontiac dealership. The service writer explained that gas caps weren’t universal and called ahead to the parts department at the Ford dealer to make sure a part was available and sent him up the street. There was not charge and he was treated very nicely by the Pontiac dealer. I called the dealership to leave a message for how impressed I was as to how courteously my son had been treated. I was connected with the owner and had a pleasant 10 minute conversation about his business. I then began taking the 1993 Oldsmobile we had to the Pontiac dealer since it was the same car under the skin as the Pontiac.
For what few times I use it, I actually prefer the drive up FIFO approach. Car service isn’t much different than doctor’s appointments. They never know what will crop up and how long stuff will take. The later in the day, the more backed up they become. You could make an appointment but if it’s a busy shop, you could be waiting a long time before you get to go into the smaller waiting room…
If you show up at 7 am when they open, there is a small queue of cars in line. Each pulls forward to the service desk in turn. Someone takes your keys and drives your car over to the next open bay. The service writer takes down the info and arranges alternate transportation while it is being serviced.
