Looks like Fiat have started to appreciate the importance of customer satisfaction.

http://www.just-auto.com/article.aspx?id=102410&lk=dm

The mighty Fiat seem to have a policy of
'ignore the customers and they might go away'

Incidentally Humberstone claimed to have visited all UK dealerships too -
although some dealers say that seems to be a load of boll0* too.

Seems like a good idea really, will enforce much better practices within the dealer network.

sounds like a good idea but

"If we can address the small things then we can quickly move up the league table in terms of customer satisfaction. These are simple process issues such as calling customers before and after they bring their cars in, making sure we have the right parts available or cleaning their cars. These are not major cost issues but will go a long way to improving customer satisfaction."

I think it may take a bit more than just the small things for some people!

the large dealership chains do what they want, the only ones to suffer (get bullied) will be the small garages who 9/10 offer best service!

Quite! I don't have one independent left within striking distance; the three nearest dealers are all part of the same group. There was a small independent, which looked attractive, but it has lost its franchise

How is the public going to be able to inform Fiat of the service standards exactly; do we just email them and tell them of our experiences, and what we think of the individuals we have encountered?

It will be reports from the SSI, which is the questionnaire that fiat run through post delivery with a customer. We already have the results, just that they're not published.

T14086 said:

the large dealership chains do what they want, the only ones to suffer (get bullied) will be the small garages who 9/10 offer best service!

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Rather.....

elation said:

It will be reports from the SSI, which is the questionnaire that fiat run through post delivery with a customer. We already have the results, just that they're not published.

Click to expand...

CSI?

Anyway.........heres the flaw, customers responses!

1) Anyone phones me up in the early evening when i'm having my dinner is going to get told to f*ck off. At best I might (if its a nice sounding female) give a average score of 5 to everything in the hope of finishing it quickly so I can get back to my dinner before the chips are cold.

2) Mood....phone someone when they arein a bad mood to carry out a survey will result in bad scores, phone them in a good mood will result in opposite, not a overall good reflection of customer service.

3) People condem a whole dealership on the basis of a 2 minute chat with salesman, wrong part supplied by parts or over priced repair by workshop...again not a true reflection of the whole dealershiop but more of a individual.

4) large dealership chains dictate what happens not fiat.

5) Techs are always singled out for more training as a result of poor survey results but reading through this forum (the largest and by far the best) the vast majority of issues are with sales, reception or Fiat themselves!

The only true way to monitor a dealers performance is for someone to arrive unannounced at the garage and check job cards, workshop jobs in progress, watch the reception and talk to waitinig customers and in general making sure the garage reaches dealer standards and if not doing something about it on the spot. For £30k + expenses/travel I will do this.

What of those dealers who don't get many stars at all?

"Well, we probably will not come to that as poor service will be picked up and addressed during our survey," said Humberstone.

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, andrew, you've been in the job two years, and over that time we still get people coming in here showing up the network and fiat uk as a laughing stock. evidently the air is really thin at the top of that tower in slough....

oh and are we seriously going to believe that negative returns will be posted up? that one and two star dealers will be on the website? hell no,

I've never had a problem with the techs, the opposite in fact; it's the salesmen (man!) who really upset me, and the whole culture that seems to permeate car sales, which is not to genuinely help the putative customer but rather to flog anything to seal a deal, and to hell with the poor bugger afterwards. I remember a salesman years ago trying to get an old couple to buy a Doblo with the old 1.9 non-turbo engine - a remaindered and not even cheap car - thirsty and slow in fact. I knew there was the new 1.3 coming in a month, and mentioned it to the old people when they came over and meekly asked me how I found my car. The salesman hotly denied the existence of such a new car when I mentioned it to them, and told me I was wrong about its existence! A month later the 1.3 hit the showrooms. They didn't buy the car, as I later discovered, but I have never forgiven that salesman, and the culture at that dealership hasn't changed. Crooks basically.

There are always exeptions to the rule though. That attitude was one that I found myself being forced to adopt by the upper echelons of my previous employer, a large chain of dealerships.

Now I work for a much smaller dealer group who can see the benefit of repeat business, referrals and genuine customer service, which sits much better with me.

Well done! That is exactly the point I was making. Small family businesses get to know their customers and are in fact 'buying' a customer for life by offering decent and fair service. If Fiat could inculcate the same ethos it would become Britain's best seller.

judging by the number of posts seeking cheap services (you buy a £12k car and moan about a £149 service) money seems to be the biggest factor the majority of people seek.

However, friendly local dealerships are welcome but can they provide the same standards/service of larger dealerships? In general they cant provide low cost as they do not have the bulk buying power, dont have the finances for large scale training, unlikely to be able to cater for the customer coming in off the street like the larger dealerships with more techs, cant provide big discounts...etc etc theres loads of pro's / con's to both typres of outlet.

Ulpian said:

Small family businesses get to know their customers and are in fact 'buying' a customer for life by offering decent and fair service.

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In the 70s and 80s my dad was in the habit of buying a new car every 3 or 4 years. For many years (until the dealership closed down) he went to the same showroom and was served by the same salesman, this saw him buying three different makes of car.

A couple of years ago I discovered that salesman was working at a local Ford dealers in their secondhand showroom. I mentioned it to my dad and within a few months he had a nearly-new Focus. Customer satisfaction is everything.

Yup. Problem is, as a salesman I sell a customer their first car, but after that really its the service department that sells the second and third.