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In recent years it’s becoming more difficult to contact dealerships regarding new car sales. Either the initial contact via a unified one-size -fits-all email goes unanswered or telephone calls -if you can make them from your workplace- are never returned. I accept that once you have that sales advisors business card you then have a direct email contact, unless that person leaves the dealership that is !
Nearly two months ago, I received a text from a non-reply number saying my car was booked in for (they didn’t say for what) on 7 Sept. Despite trying to contact the dealer to find out who booked the car in and for what work, I couldn’t secure a reply. I contacted Motability to see if they knew, they didn’t but did confirm a third service wouldn’t be required, and my MOT had already been carried out.
So, I waited to see what would happen. At 9pm on the evening of the 6 Sept I was bombarded with texts and emails (all from non-reply communications) informing me to be at the dealership for 8am the next morning for a service and MOT (that I had not arranged). The 7 Sept came, I arrived in work at 8am and expected a telephone call asking where I was, it never came, and I’ve not be contacted by the dealership to this day.
So, either the dealership overbooks meaning a mechanic isn’t sitting around tapping their fingers, or they intended wasting my time travelling a nearly 100 mile round trip just to be told Motability wont sanction the cost – will you?
Makes my piddle boil, it really does.
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In recent years it’s becoming more difficult to contact dealerships regarding new car sales. Either the initial contact via a unified one-size -fits-all email goes unanswered or telephone calls -if you can make them from your workplace- are never returned. I accept that once you have that sales advisors business card you then have a direct email contact, unless that person leaves the dealership that is ! Nearly two months ago, I received a text from a non-reply number saying my car was booked in for (they didn’t say for what) on 7 Sept. Despite trying to contact the dealer to find out who booked the car in and for what work, I couldn’t secure a reply. I contacted Motability to see if they knew, they didn’t but did confirm a third service wouldn’t be required, and my MOT had already been carried out. So, I waited to see what would happen. At 9pm on the evening of the 6 Sept I was bombarded with texts and emails (all from non-reply communications) informing me to be at the dealership for 8am the next morning for a service and MOT (that I had not arranged). The 7 Sept came, I arrived in work at 8am and expected a telephone call asking where I was, it never came, and I’ve not be contacted by the dealership to this day. So, either the dealership overbooks meaning a mechanic isn’t sitting around tapping their fingers, or they intended wasting my time travelling a nearly 100 mile round trip just to be told Motability wont sanction the cost – will you? Makes my piddle boil, it really does.
From a business perspective, speaking with existing customers on the phone or via e-mail is very time consuming and often results in no profit generation. Far better to automate these non-revenue jobs. For example the automated service booking. Many customers will just accept it has to be done and turn up on the appointed day (okay, maybe not Motability customers where the service isn’t required)!
It will only get worse from a customer perspective as Artificial Intelligence takes over more and more customer contact roles.
Plus, it is better to get a customer or potential customer to visit the premises, where they are somewhat captive and potentially open to new ‘profit generation’.
I doubt the mechanics (or technicians nowadays) will be twiddling their thumbs. There is almost always other vehicles stacked, awaiting full diagnosis, strip down, repair or previously ordered parts to be fitted that they will be cracking on with. It is good for the business to have these sort of jobs stacked as it keeps the mechs/techs productive in case of servicing no-shows.
Re car sales, a dealer will only take you seriously if you visit in person. Phoning or emailing is a waste of time, as they will assume that you are just shopping around to get a price to get another dealer to match.
Sadly, not being able to speak to a real person these days is increasingly difficult and, when you do, they are very often in India 🙄
I have communicated to a lovely Ella from BYD Crewe. She promised me all the gold in the world. Plus that someone will come back to me with a spec for a given VIN. Then spam email began. Then that lovely Ella (AI agent obviously) asked me if I had received a great service…. So I had to mark it as spam.
I think an only good AI agent on the market today is Cognigy from NICE. Lufthansa group uses it and so far in my case it was impeccable with minor requests and changes I asked for.
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Apologies for briefness and spelling mistakes.Motability Skoda Enyaq SportLine 85x April 2024 - September 2026 (won my case with Ombudsman)
Motability Mazda CX-60 PHEV July 2023 (early termination on mechanical grounds)
Motability VW Touran Family Pack May 2019Re car sales, a dealer will only take you seriously if you visit in person. Phoning or emailing is a waste of time, as they will assume that you are just shopping around to get a price to get another dealer to match. Sadly, not being able to speak to a real person these days is increasingly difficult and, when you do, they are very often in India
The nearest dealer to me is over 30 miles away. In my village and those surrounding me, the vast majority of cars are over three years old despite a demographic of wealthy retired, or close to retired population. For example, my neighbour owns three cars, all over four years old which he buys from a local respected used car dealer. He’d love a new car, but the dealership he would rely on is over 50 miles away and they don’t respond to his calls. It is a common story from the owners of the local used car lot, they’re quite happy to take the money and provide the service, but they also fail to understand the potential customers these dealers are losing. I like them, won’t travel that distance to visit a dealer unless I can first communicate with them to establish they have the car in the showroom I’m interested in, otherwise it’s a wasted journey.
When looking for my replacement Motability car, I had no choice but to test drive the model with the go faster stripes, coffee maker, back massager, foot spa, and indian head massager built into the roof liner. I’d have given anything to test the basic model that lacked the lumber support to see if I could drive it without being crippled for the next two days. The salesman wasn’t the sharpest tool in the box and kept asking me if the lumbar support was okay during the test drive of the Plus +++ model. I said it’s great, but the cheap Tesco value model I was looking for didn’t have it ! I ended up driving a friend of a friends car to see if it was suitable otherwise I’d have to stick with the bus.
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