Post by ChrisM on Feb 9, 2023 21:19:14 GMT
I dropped the Fiesta off for its annual service and MoT this morning, at the supplying dealer. Loan car lottery was another Puma, this time a manual with mild hybrid but more of that in another thread later, maybe.
The booking was made online a few weeks ago for an "essential" service during the morning (8:30am arrival time) but no price came up on booking and I'd not had any "special offer" deals this year via email. A few days later I phoned to ask about the price and the person I was put through to, did not know if they still gave a discounted MoT price with a service like they used to, nor did they know the price of the service other than it was in a band from £209 to £239... a bit of a lottery then.
Yesterday I had an email to "check in" for the service on line, which I did.
I arrived just after 8:30am this morning and tried approaching one of the service desks and was looked upon as if I were an inconvenience; I was escorted to a digital column where I had to check in again, and a small box opened for me to drop the key into. The entire human interaction element is being removed from the experience :-( So what about my loan car and what do I do with the service book, which every year up until now you request is brought to the desk and handed over with the key? Leave the service book in the car, the workshop will stamp it, and we'll sort the loan car out now. No rules on fuel, take it and bring it back with the same amount of fuel showing. Can the car be ready for 2pm? No idea, but the workshop is open until5:30pm.
Loan car had almost no fuel in it, warning lamp and message to refuel urgently with just over 30 miles range left. So, head straight to nearest petrol station, not a good start to the day so far.
Usually I get a link to a videoclip by 10am showing the underbody of the car and the check on tyre tread depths, suspension etc. By 2pm I'd had nothing, no text, no email, no phone call, but on the DVLA website the car had its new MoT.
At 4pm I was passing by the dealer so called in.... car still not ready, no idea when it would be ready. I expressed my disappointment. This meant that I had to tackle the rush hour/school run traffic taking at least twice the usual time to get to my home from the garage. As I got in, still in my coat and shoes I got a call to say that the car was ready..... not happy, I said I had just been at the garage and you couldn't tell me when it would be ready. If I'd been told another 51 minutes or so, I'd have waited there but why was it taking so long when usually it's ready by 2pm latest? "We're very busy today". (yes, you closed your Bracknell site late last year despite the fact that they offered much better customer service and that's why I'd been taking the car there for the past few years).
So, quick cup of tea and further battle with the traffic which had worsened. Arrived to find all 3 receptionists on the phone so had to wait several minutes. I again expressed my displeasure that I had not been warned that they now operate an "all day" slot for online bookings, and it was to be expected that even if you drop your car off at 8:30am you should expect to wait until 6:00pm for it to be ready, even for "simple" work. They seemingly begrudgingly cancelled the charge for the loan car as a token gesture; I also had to ask for a proper receipt as now they are going paperless... so how do I maintain a file of service history without a printed sheet of what work was done?
Looks like the motor trade (or at least this Group) is going all-out for business "efficiency" whilst overlooking the basics of customer service. My plan was to book the Kuga in for its service and MoT when I collected the Fiesta, but as I told them, I'm certainly not going to book it in now, and I'll have to give serious consideration as to whether or not I rick booking it in with you at all.
Apart from the disgraceful experience I had with the Honda main dealer in Swindon last century when I was lied to about when the car would be ready, and they took from 8am to 6pm to do a straightforward service, I don't recall having as bad an experience as this in over40 years. Was I unlucky? Was I unreasonable?
The booking was made online a few weeks ago for an "essential" service during the morning (8:30am arrival time) but no price came up on booking and I'd not had any "special offer" deals this year via email. A few days later I phoned to ask about the price and the person I was put through to, did not know if they still gave a discounted MoT price with a service like they used to, nor did they know the price of the service other than it was in a band from £209 to £239... a bit of a lottery then.
Yesterday I had an email to "check in" for the service on line, which I did.
I arrived just after 8:30am this morning and tried approaching one of the service desks and was looked upon as if I were an inconvenience; I was escorted to a digital column where I had to check in again, and a small box opened for me to drop the key into. The entire human interaction element is being removed from the experience :-( So what about my loan car and what do I do with the service book, which every year up until now you request is brought to the desk and handed over with the key? Leave the service book in the car, the workshop will stamp it, and we'll sort the loan car out now. No rules on fuel, take it and bring it back with the same amount of fuel showing. Can the car be ready for 2pm? No idea, but the workshop is open until5:30pm.
Loan car had almost no fuel in it, warning lamp and message to refuel urgently with just over 30 miles range left. So, head straight to nearest petrol station, not a good start to the day so far.
Usually I get a link to a videoclip by 10am showing the underbody of the car and the check on tyre tread depths, suspension etc. By 2pm I'd had nothing, no text, no email, no phone call, but on the DVLA website the car had its new MoT.
At 4pm I was passing by the dealer so called in.... car still not ready, no idea when it would be ready. I expressed my disappointment. This meant that I had to tackle the rush hour/school run traffic taking at least twice the usual time to get to my home from the garage. As I got in, still in my coat and shoes I got a call to say that the car was ready..... not happy, I said I had just been at the garage and you couldn't tell me when it would be ready. If I'd been told another 51 minutes or so, I'd have waited there but why was it taking so long when usually it's ready by 2pm latest? "We're very busy today". (yes, you closed your Bracknell site late last year despite the fact that they offered much better customer service and that's why I'd been taking the car there for the past few years).
So, quick cup of tea and further battle with the traffic which had worsened. Arrived to find all 3 receptionists on the phone so had to wait several minutes. I again expressed my displeasure that I had not been warned that they now operate an "all day" slot for online bookings, and it was to be expected that even if you drop your car off at 8:30am you should expect to wait until 6:00pm for it to be ready, even for "simple" work. They seemingly begrudgingly cancelled the charge for the loan car as a token gesture; I also had to ask for a proper receipt as now they are going paperless... so how do I maintain a file of service history without a printed sheet of what work was done?
Looks like the motor trade (or at least this Group) is going all-out for business "efficiency" whilst overlooking the basics of customer service. My plan was to book the Kuga in for its service and MoT when I collected the Fiesta, but as I told them, I'm certainly not going to book it in now, and I'll have to give serious consideration as to whether or not I rick booking it in with you at all.
Apart from the disgraceful experience I had with the Honda main dealer in Swindon last century when I was lied to about when the car would be ready, and they took from 8am to 6pm to do a straightforward service, I don't recall having as bad an experience as this in over40 years. Was I unlucky? Was I unreasonable?
