[HudsonValleyTitan]

Originally Posted by Clancy

I just sent mine in yesterday. My dealership hasn't hounded me for it once. Then again, their level of customer service is a bit lacking... Witness this fine letter I attached to the survey:

I had to bring my truck back for service a few weeks after delivery to have some “we owe” work done. I arrived the night before to drop the truck off and there was still someone at the cashiers counter. When I inquired about leaving my keys, she politely directed me to the after hours self-service box outside to fill out an envelope and drop the keys through the mail-slot. I completed the envelope and as I dropped it through the slot, I noted 4 or 5 others already on the floor.

When I picked the truck up the next night, the cashier gave me my receipt and keys and that was it. Luckily for me, I had spotted my truck on the way in and knew where it was, but I could have spent a good deal of time trying to find it if I didn’t know where it was.

When I got in the truck, I found two boxes of “parts” and no note or no instructions for their use. When I got home, I looked up the part numbers online and determined they were relays for the receiver hitch kit that had been installed.

I have yet to tow anything, so I haven’t needed these relays yet, and I’m sure when I do, I’ll figure out what I need these relays for and where they go. I may also then figure out how to plug the power into the receiver hitch plug as well (it appears to be on a temporary mount tucked up in the bumper – smart, but I can’t figure out how to unplug it from the temporary mount and it’s been too cold and wet outside to mess with it so maybe when it warms up I’ll figure it out.)

So – what I see here are a bunch of missed opportunities to delivery a higher level of customer service.

• The cashier (assuming she’s not busy with a customer picking up) should be in-taking the keys from the customer. (Even if this means the customer fill in the stupid after-hours envelop inside, in the warmth.)
• When delivering the vehicle from service, someone should be on hand to direct the customer to their car. (my previous, umm, Toyota dealer, had someone bring the car to the door).
• If there are things that require explanation upon deliver (like, extra parts!) then at the very least, the phone call from the service writer notifying me that the work is complete should include tips and help with these things.

Agreeably, all of this stuff is nit-picky. The only requirement I have of my automobiles service department is good, honest, dependable service at reasonable rates in reasonable timeframes. Everything else is fluff. But again, how does a customer know that they’ve received good, honest and dependable service? The fluff goes a long way in creating that experience.

(I wrote the paragraphs above a week ago, but I didn’t print and send this yet. Now it seems there may be more to this story...)

While my truck was in for the service described above, I asked the service writer to also take a look at my power steering fluid level. I noticed that it was low and I’d been hearing the pump moan. He promised to look into and when he called back to say that the truck was ready, he informed me that they did not find a leak and simply topped of the fluid. None of this was noted on the service receipt. And it was no big deal at the time, or so we hope.

I’m bringing the truck back to drop it off tonight. It’s only been about 300 miles since the last service and already my power steering pump is moaning and the level is low. I guess this will be where I test the good, honest & dependable part I wrote about above.

LOL..Oh man, your dealers gonna LOVE you now! Anything less than excellent goes against them. You have every right to tell them the things you wrote. Maybe however...next time, you could tell the service manager first and see if he could have been more helpful. Just a thought.