The Cost of a Bad Customer Experience

Several months ago when we had severe hail in Missouri, my new car was damaged fairly bad. Not as bad as others, however bad enough that it looked a mess. I took it in this week to get fixed and it took 3 and a half days to fix it. I figured that they’d get every dent out, considering they were getting a nice lump sum of money for the work, especially. It’s also a well recognized company that I won’t mention.

However, I went to pick it up today and as soon as I pulled up, I noticed 2 of the largest dents immediately in the front of the car. At a closer inspection, there were about 3 other small dents that weren’t pulled out all the way. For a well known company, I was really surprised that they didn’t fix everything. In the lobby of the store, they showcased a binder with previous cars that they worked on with major damage and then a picture of the finished product. Amazing results, so we weren’t worried about the work that would be done on our car.

So, how could they leave damage to our car that was so noticeable? Remembering how they explained to us how they get the dents out… “We massage the dent from the inside and slowly PUSH the dent OUT”. Listen to this… when we brought the remaining dents to their attention, they stated… “well, I was afraid that if I tried to get them out, that it would look worse than it did, as it might have been wobbly looking and uneven. They agreed to go ahead and “try to fix them and see how they turn out, which should only take about 15 minutes.” While they were back there, we could hear them using a dent PULLER. They didn’t massage anything. When finished it looked 85% better, as we knew it would.

So, overall, they lied… they didn’t finish the job… and they didn’t even say they were sorry. (While waiting in the parking lot while they fixed our car, we saw 3 other customers bring their cars back in and complain about the damage to their car that was left on it, after it was supposedly fixed. One of them was an elderly man whom had 15 dents left in his car… we actually saw it… and it was all on the passengers side of the car, as if he wasn’t going to notice…. unbelievable).

If you agree to do the job and say you can finish the job, put 100% into it. Don’t, half-way do the work and get lazy. And if something doesn’t turn out quite right, an apology is well called for and should be given. I’ll never bring my car back there for any other type of work, because they’ve lost my trust.

Taking calls for our self storage clients, we must always follow the rules so that we give top quality service without misunderstandings. One way we measure quality assurance is our top notch secret shopping business. Mystery shopping provides us with the customer’s perspective and gives us invaluable feedback.  We must stick to the established sales techniques so that our service results in sales increase and goodwill.

Written by Robin Turner, PhoneSmart call center manager.

Thank you for visiting the PhoneSmart call center blog.  We offer an insider view of the self storage and secret shopping industry.

Your local self storage unit provider in 2445 Crain Hwy. Waldorf, MD. 20601

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Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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