Customer Service, Relationships, and Expectations....

[QD MBE]

Shame I'm posting on my phone, could have said a lot in this thread.

I've not read the thread to which this is linked, but my gearbox one is closely linked I'm sure.

I've said before, but will say again. I do find RR's comments to be very opinionated and sometimes blinkered and I see the same sentiments here as well.

It's a shame, but I do read a number of comments now wondering what the personal gain of the poster is as the comments almost seem to be given oblivious to the fact there are issues.

We all have different expectations, but unless there are favours to be done, everything costs money and a service of reasonable quality is deserved.

I've said enough for now, I can only read a few words at a time in the "posting box" on the phone, so I hope it makes sense!

Lee

....Yes, it all makes sense, Lee

Indeed we do all have differing expectations but we all wish for a service of reasonable quality, as you say.

This topic is NOT about yours or anyone else's individual issue - It's been prompted by known issues but is a general discussion (or intended to be!). Perhaps I should I add a huge heading in capital letters about this point!

You could call anyone opinionated who bothers to express their opinions strongly, and especially if you don't happen to agree. If you read my original post here (and I don't assume you either want to or have time to) I hope you will understand me better.

There are issues - Issues with my 'favourite' suppliers even! I don't know a single supplier which I can't criticise and point at issues.

Why do some people have to translate absolutely everything into terms of costing money. And, equally, why do some people think that nothing is done without a favour being expected. Hey! I'm the guy who gave Dave a free ride (except for food and 50% accommodation) to Nurburgring without expecting any return favours. It was my way of doing something for a guy who'd just done a hard tour of duty in a war zone. Don't worry, Dave, you're not my bitch! My attitude is that someone else may do me a favour in life sometime - Or not as the case may be.

Thanks for posting, Lee - Appreciated  

The point above is the crux IMO, There will always be cock-ups, it is how we learn, and recover from these CU's that is the real issue.  presuming you give the Co chance to rectify, as in my case.

I am happy with the way that the company are dealing with the issue, and cannot ask anymore.  I could have posted up for the world to see, but wanted to give the company the oppurtunity to rectify the mistake.

I expect the best, and i am very careful about where i place an order.

We are afterall only human, I appreciate RR reviews/posts, but I am an individual, capable of thought, and i make my own mind up, and my experiences will directly affect my future thoughts.

4 years ago, i would not have touched my local dealer, but a change of management, and a change of direction within the dealership, and the return to real world values, of customer experience mean that i will continue to be acustomer of theirs.

Throughout the thread, is the message - we are all  individuals, and please make your own mind up, the WWW is a very powerful tool, and positive and negative reviews can have a profound effect on business, never before have customer service reviews been so accessible.

 
 

[RedRobin]

..the WWW is a very powerful tool, and positive and negative reviews can have a profound effect on business, never before have customer service reviews been so accessible.

....So true - The power of word-of-mouth.

This is exactly why I seek to balance negative by adding positive (and occasionally vica-versa), but ONLY when my experiences have been positive. I know that everyone will make up their own minds regardless of my contribution - That's how it should be.

[Now do you understand where I'm coming from with what you call my blind utter bollox defences of x and y suppliers etc, TC and SteveP and anyone else who thinks the same?]

[tony_danza]

And finally going on to recommending people. I'll sing the praises of a company/product all day long - I will never defend them against somone else's complaint though. As soon as I see people taking a personal interest in something that has nothing to do with them directly, I get the impression (rightly or wrongly) that they have been 'bought off', and concequently they lose  credibility in my eyes in terms of being relied upon for an honest opinion.

....Yes, I can see that some people might easily interpret some of my posts as defending a favourite supplier against someone else's complaint. In truth, rightly or wrongly, I only ever seek to bring balance to issues IF, and only IF, my own experience has been different and not doing so might result in unfair bias and unjustified damage to reputation.

I do assure you that no-one has bought me off but it's of course it's up to others how they decide to judge my credibility or my honesty.

It wasn't a direct go at you, Robin - there's plenty guilty of it.

You've got to learn to step back and stay out of it... that problem with Milltek for example where you were posting on their behalf, having discussed someone else's complaint was far and away the worst example I've seen.  I know it's easy to feel emotionally attached, but unless you're being paid to deal with matters on their behalf, then it really is none of your business.

If you feel it is unjustified, the truth will always come out in time, these people are big money making outfits run by adults. They will always take action to defend themselves against lies on any scale, from discrediting the person correctly and rightly or by more extreme means - after all, everything posted on a public forum is perfectly acceptable evidence in a court of law.

If it is justified, the more people stay out of the mix and leave them to get on with resolving the matter, the better. You measure people on how they deal with problems, not how they do things right.

For what it's worth, I don't think you've been 'bought off', prehaps a little blinkered and needing taking with a pinch of salt on occasion, but certainly not dishonest. I just think you're too nice for your own good and take things like this personally, when you shouldn't.

[CocoPops]

What Tony said :)

[RedRobin]

^^^^
Thankyou, tony_d

I didn't think you were having a go at me but it was a good opportunity for me to say things I wanted to say.

Just like any company, I have a reputation too and don't like to be misjudged unfairly or wrongly.

I take your advice onboard. Now, where did I leave the salt?

[DaveB@Vagbremtechnic]

I have personal experience of some of the best tuning Companies standards, and all I can say is that they would not survive in the aviation world.  

So whats the answer regulation? Apples and oranges here mate - it'll be form 1's for coilies.

regulation is the only way to standardise customer service and maintain standards, even in aviation where its regulated to death there are places where I wouldn't take an aircraft .

Back in the real world we self regulate - its called voting with your feet, I really dont see the point of the thread.

[RedRobin]

..I really dont see the point of the thread.

....50 replies and over 350 views suggest otherwise.

Anyway, the secret of a satisfactory relationship and good service is...........

[no golf clubs at all]

Didn't ford try to extend their Quality Management System to their Customer Service ha ha..in the uk at least clearly they failed :-)

it's not rocket science, it's not even brain surgery ffs! Just get in touch fast and keep the customer updated even if it's bad or no news!!!
 
Now... Don't get us started on the effing sales twats who NEVER contact you back!

[DaveB@Vagbremtechnic]

..I really dont see the point of the thread.

Anyway, the secret of a satisfactory relationship and good service is...........

Now thats a good thread title.  The number of views and replys means nothing..... dont confuse saying something with having something worthwhile to say.  Your idea of customer service is more than likely totally different then those of mine - its an individual thing.

[RedRobin]

..I really dont see the point of the thread.

Anyway, the secret of a satisfactory relationship and good service is...........

Now thats a good thread title.  The number of views and replys means nothing..... dont confuse saying something with having something worthwhile to say.  Your idea of customer service is more than likely totally different then those of mine - its an individual thing.

....Surely you're not suggesting that some of us here post utter bollox!

I agree - Expectations are a very individual thing. Also how you choose to relate with/to/above/under others is individual.

[Tarmac_Terrorist]

To be fare the thread is not about a customer satisfaction survey its about Robin. He cleverly dresses it up that way, but the bottom line is he simply cant bare to see a bad word said about Milltek or VWR. Which is fine its his prerogative. what we are trying to get across is by doing this every time he actually makes trivial situations worse.
This whole thread is just a facade to try and detract from his compulsion to interfere when you mention them.  

Edit im off to bed. 

Hmm, in your opinion Top Cat.

I've been involved in many many  threads on other forums and to be fair Robin makes valuable and accurate contribution. He states his opinion and defends it as he has done in this and other related threads. I don't see why this is (in my humble opinion) misconstrued as a thread about Robin and some kind of personal mission.   

OK, I agree that Robin perhaps does defend these companies strongly but I see this more as brand loyalty and the "compulsion to interefere" you refer to as genuine help / support / personal opinion. Many people will argue politics in a similar way.

I do understand why this thread has attracted these comments but trying look subjectively at all this, I find this an interesting thread as someone who would expect a high degree of customer service / support should I mod my car and use any of the said tuners / suppliers. It's interesting that in recent years garages have been trying to improve customer service after years of perceived bad reputation yet here we are with specialist companies with great reputations for developing products that work well (most the time!) are prepared to let themselves down on the service front. In some cases all that is required is to employ a single person, say £17k per year to manage customer contact / complaints. It's always nice to know your complaint or request is being considered even if an immediate answer / resolution is not possible. 

[Phil Mcavity]

To be fare the thread is not about a customer satisfaction survey its about Robin. He cleverly dresses it up that way, but the bottom line is he simply cant bare to see a bad word said about Milltek or VWR. Which is fine its his prerogative. what we are trying to get across is by doing this every time he actually makes trivial situations worse.
This whole thread is just a facade to try and detract from his compulsion to interfere when you mention them.  

Edit im off to bed.  

Hmm, in your opinion Top Cat.

I've been involved in many many  threads on other forums and to be fair Robin makes valuable and accurate contribution. He states his opinion and defends it as he has done in this and other related threads. I don't see why this is (in my humble opinion) misconstrued as a thread about Robin and some kind of personal mission.    

OK, I agree that Robin perhaps does defend these companies strongly but I see this more as brand loyalty and the "compulsion to interefere" you refer to as genuine help / support / personal opinion. Many people will argue politics in a similar way.

I do understand why this thread has attracted these comments but trying look subjectively at all this, I find this an interesting thread as someone who would expect a high degree of customer service / support should I mod my car and use any of the said tuners / suppliers. It's interesting that in recent years garages have been trying to improve customer service after years of perceived bad reputation yet here we are with specialist companies with great reputations for developing products that work well (most the time!) are prepared to let themselves down on the service front. In some cases all that is required is to employ a single person, say £17k per year to manage customer contact / complaints. It's always nice to know your complaint or request is being considered even if an immediate answer / resolution is not possible.  

Tough job being a moderator isnt it.

We all have different levels of expectations of service from one company to another. Again i work for a Leading Television company and the customer ALWAYS comes first. It is a very sad state of affairs today that companys ARE having to cost cut and would appear cut corners whenever and wherever possible Without hoping not to tread on someones toes.

This Topic has no right or wrong answers and can rumble on for ever.Perhaps its best left for the O.P to close with his own thoughts and be locked down afterwards (again hopefully without upsetting anyone wanting to talk about customer service expectations.)

[Hurdy]

OMG What have I just read?!!!

I'll have to be particularly blunt on this one.

Poor service/workmanship pisses me off and I tend to vote with my feet and take my wallet elsewhere.

There are plenty of companies that can supply me, some I've tried and some I've yet to try. I would never dream of slating a business I haven't used, but I will name and shame those I have had poor dealings with and by the same respect praise those I have been happy with - It is my goddam prerogative!

Now the "other" issue

I've always found Robin to be fair in his approach to the subjects he posts in/on/about. I don't always agree, but like most people on here I hope they can at least see the point he is trying to get across and why. A thread like this, following on from another can be seen as inflammatory, but that is most likely the polar opposite of what Robin is trying to do. I saw this thread as diffusing an issue on another thread to bring it to an independant area for discussion on a different level.
    

[Edition30]

Didn't your mother teach you that you'll always get more from using honey than vinegar?

No.

Utter bollocks

Please don't swear.

[RedRobin]

Now the "other" issue

I've always found Robin to be fair in his approach to the subjects he posts in/on/about. I don't always agree, but like most people on here I hope they can at least see the point he is trying to get across and why.

A thread like this, following on from another can be seen as inflammatory, but that is most likely the polar opposite of what Robin is trying to do. I saw this thread as diffusing an issue on another thread to bring it to an independant area for discussion on a different level.
   

....Exactly! I will accept being accused of being provocative (though not provocatively dressed) but it was not my intention to be inflammatory (much as I love fire). Diffusing friction while standing up for myself, moving it for further discussion while also respecting the original topic of the other thread was certainly my conscious intention.