Discussion
Readers on this forum may remember my earlier post and that a failed rear brake light on my beloved db9 left me almost £600 lighter as the whole assembly has to be replaced. My run of bad experiences continued at the weekend.
I won't name the dealer at this point. All I will say is that the car went in 6 weeks ago for 3 specific jobs - the common paint bubbling issue, this time around the drivers side door handle and on the leading edge of the roof, and the air bag warning light had come on.
Yes, you read it right. 6 weeks. They returned the car at one point but with only 2 of the jobs done so they re-collected it to do the 3rd job. On Friday, I got the call that the car was ready for me. What joy. Nice sunny weekend. We've had our ups and downs, the dealer and me, but I finally have my car back after all those weeks. So I get over to the dealer on Saturday afternoon, get the keys, start it up and see the petrol warning light and ' --- MILES TO EMPTY TANK'.
Even though I dropped the car off to them with between 1/4 and 1/2 a tank a petrol they've used it all up (admittedly) taking it to and from the paint shop - twice at least -, delivering and re-collecting it and presumbly generally moving it around the site.
Now, it would be fanciful but nice if they'd put £20 of petrol in as a nice gesture but surely, at the very least, someone could have said 'Mr Norgrove, we've noticed the petrol is low as we've used it all up moving the car about..do you want us to put £20 in the tank so you can get it home'?
Instead, I have to enquire where the nearest petrol station is and hope against hope I'm not going to run out of petrol before I reach there and have to call the AA out.
This is supposed to be a premium product. Does anyone know who at Aston Martin themselves I can complain to? If I was driving a Kia Picanto maybe I'd expect crap service. But I dont.
Synter Lamborghini Birmingham look after my Gallardo Spyder and the experience is totally awesome. My db9 is beautiful but the experience is let down by the after sales.
I won't name the dealer at this point. All I will say is that the car went in 6 weeks ago for 3 specific jobs - the common paint bubbling issue, this time around the drivers side door handle and on the leading edge of the roof, and the air bag warning light had come on.
Yes, you read it right. 6 weeks. They returned the car at one point but with only 2 of the jobs done so they re-collected it to do the 3rd job. On Friday, I got the call that the car was ready for me. What joy. Nice sunny weekend. We've had our ups and downs, the dealer and me, but I finally have my car back after all those weeks. So I get over to the dealer on Saturday afternoon, get the keys, start it up and see the petrol warning light and ' --- MILES TO EMPTY TANK'.
Even though I dropped the car off to them with between 1/4 and 1/2 a tank a petrol they've used it all up (admittedly) taking it to and from the paint shop - twice at least -, delivering and re-collecting it and presumbly generally moving it around the site.
Now, it would be fanciful but nice if they'd put £20 of petrol in as a nice gesture but surely, at the very least, someone could have said 'Mr Norgrove, we've noticed the petrol is low as we've used it all up moving the car about..do you want us to put £20 in the tank so you can get it home'?
Instead, I have to enquire where the nearest petrol station is and hope against hope I'm not going to run out of petrol before I reach there and have to call the AA out.
This is supposed to be a premium product. Does anyone know who at Aston Martin themselves I can complain to? If I was driving a Kia Picanto maybe I'd expect crap service. But I dont.
Synter Lamborghini Birmingham look after my Gallardo Spyder and the experience is totally awesome. My db9 is beautiful but the experience is let down by the after sales.
I'll email Chris today - thanks.
The car covered 69 miles while with the dealer, which is about 3.5 gallons of petrol. 38 miles would have been when they returned the car to me - erroneously as only 2 of the 3 jobs had been done - the other 31miles presumably toing and froing to the paint shop etc. If they had done the work properly, with one trip to the paint shop and one delivery back to me there would have been more than enough fuel.
All of the times one of their staff have got in to move the car, either no one has looked at the perol guage (which I find unbelievable) or no one has bothered to do anything about it.
The car covered 69 miles while with the dealer, which is about 3.5 gallons of petrol. 38 miles would have been when they returned the car to me - erroneously as only 2 of the 3 jobs had been done - the other 31miles presumably toing and froing to the paint shop etc. If they had done the work properly, with one trip to the paint shop and one delivery back to me there would have been more than enough fuel.
All of the times one of their staff have got in to move the car, either no one has looked at the perol guage (which I find unbelievable) or no one has bothered to do anything about it.
Norgrom said:
I'll email Chris today - thanks.
The car covered 69 miles while with the dealer, which is about 3.5 gallons of petrol. 38 miles would have been when they returned the car to me - erroneously as only 2 of the 3 jobs had been done - the other 31miles presumably toing and froing to the paint shop etc. If they had done the work properly, with one trip to the paint shop and one delivery back to me there would have been more than enough fuel.
All of the times one of their staff have got in to move the car, either no one has looked at the perol guage (which I find unbelievable) or no one has bothered to do anything about it.
Write to the Dealer Principle first, its his direct responsibility, not Aston Martin.The car covered 69 miles while with the dealer, which is about 3.5 gallons of petrol. 38 miles would have been when they returned the car to me - erroneously as only 2 of the 3 jobs had been done - the other 31miles presumably toing and froing to the paint shop etc. If they had done the work properly, with one trip to the paint shop and one delivery back to me there would have been more than enough fuel.
All of the times one of their staff have got in to move the car, either no one has looked at the perol guage (which I find unbelievable) or no one has bothered to do anything about it.
A sorry tale really and reflects some dealers not actually "getting" what customer service means and how important it is in keeping business. They probably work to individul department budgets and cut costs as they can to protect those budgets but dont recognise that customers dont see their organisation the way they do. Consumers see a good customer service as being "beginning to end" where promises are kept and we dont expect to - nor should we - have to suffer because of others failures or incompetance or desire to save a few quid on a particular budget head.
I believe that you only truly know how good an organisation is when something goes wrong and how they respond to that. A good organisation will recognise that a sale is not a point in time but the continuation of a relationship over a sustained period of time. The true cost of service is beginning to end, not in individual transactions or contacts along the way. Looks like they may have lost any future opportunity to make money from you because of the desire to save 4 gallons worth of petrol. I'm afraid many organisations need to learn that good customer service is much more than smiling and being polite.
I believe that you only truly know how good an organisation is when something goes wrong and how they respond to that. A good organisation will recognise that a sale is not a point in time but the continuation of a relationship over a sustained period of time. The true cost of service is beginning to end, not in individual transactions or contacts along the way. Looks like they may have lost any future opportunity to make money from you because of the desire to save 4 gallons worth of petrol. I'm afraid many organisations need to learn that good customer service is much more than smiling and being polite.
Edited by steveatesh on Monday 3rd October 09:54
Edited by steveatesh on Monday 3rd October 09:56
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