| Not being a MINI owner (yet), just a car owner in general and someone in sales specifically, that seems to be the worst customer "service" attitude you could imagine! First of all, you weren't that much over the magic number. Secondly, you drove 4 hours for service! That is unbelieveable to me. They need to up their dealer count, since I am 3 hours from the closest MINI dealer, and to drive that far for routine service gives me pause. Right now I work about 200 yards from my local mechanic, who does all the work on our family cars. Drop it off, walk to work and pick it up!
Lastly, lets say they stick you for the $200/$300 service charge. What type of marketing is that? How many people (besides the ones on here) would you tell about your rotten experience at that dealership? If it costs them one sale, the lost profit is greater than the cost of a lousy oil change and inspection. This is what is referred to as "viral" marketing. You tell a few people, they tell a few more, etc., pretty soon a lot of people have a negative opinion about the place without ever stepping foot in there!
Contrast that with a welcoming, positive experience, and how much goodwill and enthusiasm that would generate, and it is a VERY inexpensive and very effective campaign. Idiots they be.
As an example of how much of a plus good service can be, go to the NY/NE Social thread and look at the later posts on "Visit Me at Herb Chambers" by NoNo. There you will see that a little thing like a free key chain absolutely made her day, along with a Can-Do attitude. Be Different, and it will pay big dividends. You just have to do a little bit extra to be extraordinary!
Last edited by MaxaMiniBro; Aug 13th, 2005 at 02:43 PM.
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