A lesson in customer service “nots.” I rarely write reviews, but this time enough is enough. Every time we take our vehicle in for service or inquire about a service price, it always ends up being more than the price quoted for simple, run of the mill services. When my husband and I were in the dealership a couple months ago he asked a service advisor what the dealership charged for an oil change (with the filter) and to balance and rotate the tires. He was told just under $100. He also asked about a lifetime balance and rotation and was told it was available if the tires were bought and installed at the dealership (these were). Last week, when he set up an appointment to bring the truck in for service he again asked about the price and when he dropped it off this morning, the service rep read the ticket back to him and it was confirmed that every service item my husband wanted to be performed was in fact on the ticket. However, once the work was complete, the total bill came to over $200. Why? In reviewing the ticket, the oil, filter, tire rotation and balance was just over $140. My husband clarified with the service advisor that the quote was for just under $100 and the replied he received was, “That price doesn’t include balancing the tires.” Time out. He asked more than once about the cost and it’s clear someone misquoted the price, which things happen, but the proper way to handle a situation such as that is apologize and honor the price quoted. You should not expect your customers to eat your error as they may never had had you do the service knowing it was going to be that high. Unfortunately, it is a pattern there – it is always $20, $30 - $40 more. Additionally, my husband asked again about buying the lifetime balance and rotation warranty on the tires only to be told that service option isn’t and was never available. Why do we keep getting different answers to the same questions? It’s difficult to know what is correct or not at any given time.
For Father’s Day I bought my husband a set of tailgate lights and pre-paid the labor cost to have them installed. He ended up installing them himself and the pre-paid installation was no longer needed, but it took over 3 months to get a refund. We had to drive up to the dealership twice, as directed by you, and then would get punted back to GM who affirmed the dealer does the install and therefore, received the payment for it – around and around we went.
Guys, you really need to go back to the basics when it comes to working with your customers because as it were, if this is how you deal with things, it shows making a few extra bucks is more valuable than retaining your customers. This type of low level of service leaves you feeling taken advantage of and furious. It should not be this way. Today, my husband addressed the fact that we own/have owned multiple Acura’s, Toyota’s and Honda’s and the service issues he’s experienced with Reed GMC have never been an issue with those cars. The answer he received: “Well, maybe you should stick with foreign made cars.” Seriously??? He has nearly 30 years of GM band loyalty – maybe the issue isn’t foreign verses domestic. Maybe it’s one dealer verses others. We just took in my Acura MDX for it’s first oil change and tire rotation (all free) and the service advisor made no secret that anything less than a 100% perfect score on the service survey was a failure. This is our third Acura and we go back time and again for one simple reason - their service is excellent. You can learn do to better.
