I had the following experience with syndicate of Fiat/Concorde/Axis Bank – in nut shell they are all out to give the below average customer experience..
Can’t believe it – take a look and discover the journey of my fantasy drive to hard reality. Yes – this is what a corporate customer gets for shelling out over 8 lakhs for a premium sedan and it’s 2009 (not 1970’s)
Wanted to start with some basic gyan
Some Quotes for the uninitiated souls
”As far as customers are concerned you are the company. This is not a burden, but the core of your job. You hold in your hands the power to keep customers coming back – perhaps even to make or break the company.”
The secret to success is to treat all customers as if your world revolves around them.
- Unknown
”The single most important thing to remember about any enterprise is that there are no results inside its walls. The result of a business is a satisfied customer.”
”Treat every customer as if they sign your paycheck…because they do.”
”There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”
Details of my experience and how I was taken a for good ride are below
A) FIAT
India
1) Every one knows Linea is a great product – there’s ton’s and ton’s of review on the Linea - I will not touch this topic but would rather talk about and process and people perspective
2) Fiat has raised the price twice in last 4+ months – there’s no justification on what are the factors that caused this hike, there’s no predictability to customer on what the deal or price to customer as the price is fluctuating since last three months e.g there was 28K discount scheme in June for 8.48L and nothing except corporate discount of some money with hiked prices now
a. Sent a note to CEO 8th Jul – got reply forwarding to another person ( let’s call him RB ) to look at it
b. No response from RB
c. Sent a follow-up note on 11th Jul
d. Got response from RB on 12th Jul – checking on reason from price hike and follow-up with some dealer/distributors and will get back to me soon
e. Sent a note on 14th Jul to check on the progress
f. No response
g. Sent another note on 21st Jul to both CEO/RB – nobody bothered to respond till date
3) There seems to be no information with dealers on why the prices were hiked
4) No information available with end buyers who could have preponed the buy – from 28K discount on 8.5L to 15K discount on 8.6L – lot of money
5) I can not track the delivery status of vehicle and keep checking with dealer every two days by calling..
B) Concorde Motors –
Dairy Circle
, B’lore
1) I booked Linea on 15th Jul with token amount and clearly explained to sales associate that I was looking for delivery on 25th as it is my son’s birthday
2) I checked with Concorde next 8 days on the status of delivery and where the shipment is ?
3) There was no single time I was called and updated on status – I had to follow-up multiple times
4) For payments – I went to Concorde four times physically – they could neither come to my house/office for payment collection or collecting documents nor offered to pickup cheque/documents anytime
5) I wanted a test drive – had to remind 3-4 times before I could schedule one
6) Some of the people – I have the names – they do not pickup phones and do not respond to SMS’s
7) I was told the vehicle would be delivered on 25th and vehicle will be available for PDI on 24th – I went for PDI – vehicle not found in Concorde office
8) I was told vehicle will be registered on 25th post PDI and to be delivered on 25th itself – that did not happen too – as there was some miscommunication between Concorde and Axis bank – both were not sure who wants what papers
9) They do not seem to have appetite for sales or serious in pursing the prospects and help with decision making – communicating with deals/follow-up on new products etc…
10) Bunch of new people joined in sales team – no body seems to be hand holding them and teach what is customer, etiquettes, basic professional conduct – this could be biggest issue now…
11) My registration number is not fixed – I had to follow-up up 3-4 times on RTO number, they called me once to showroom promising to fix – when I showed up – people could not trace the number plate and had missed it. Wow
C) Axis Bank – Koramangala Branch
1) I approached Axis bank rep for vehicle loans post getting some information from Concorde on options, suggestions and went to Axis Bank
2) They would always call me and inform what they want from Concorde and not follow-up or visit the dealer
3) Big communication gap with Axis and with dealer
4) Though the loan was sanctioned week before the delivery – they were still not giving DD to Concorde expecting some receipts – not communicated directly
5) They do not understand the perspective from customer and rarely heard me
6) Even on the date of delivery – 28th Jul – they had not given the DD to dealer despite several reminders
If someone has eyes to see/ears to hear VOC (Voice of Customer) – I can take ½ day workshop for these guys and probably if I can convince some people and raise the bar to some extent so other people can get better deals – I am done for the day
Thanks