Thursday 7 June 2012

Dear BMW Australia....

Dear BMW Australia,
Thank you for your invitation to contact you on info@bmw.com.au. Since I have had occasion to use this email address before and I have never received a reply from it I'm sure you will forgive me for choosing a different method of communication.
For clarity, the question I asked on your FB page is this....

Are the service departments in all your dealerships as jaw-droppingly unhelpful and hopeless as the one at Rolfe Classic? Or are they 'special'?

 

I have no issue with your product. I love my car. I do however have huge issues with the 'service' or rather, lack thereof, I have received from Rolfe Classic in Canberra.

I'll summarise my encounters for you then you can decide for yourself if it's about time you put them on a leash.


1. Got the X5 serviced - the attitude I encountered seemed a bit off but I thought that Michael was either having a bad day or suffered from a condition that made sitting down uncomfortable.

2. Got the 1 series serviced. I mentioned that the thingy that locked the windows from the driver's side door wasn't working and my children were winding the windows down at will. I was quoted for parts and labour to fix it. The part needed ordering in and was going to cost about $200 (I'm not good at remembering figures but I'm sure you can verify the quote using the magical wizardry of computers). Labour was quoted at about $100. We'll return to this later.

3. Got the X5 serviced. The next day it was fucked not working at full capacity. We (that is my handsome husband and I) took the car to the peeps at Rolfe who told my husband that ' "cars break down sometimes" and they could fix it. And that just to be on the safe side as well as getting the cylinder that was fucked broken fixed we should get all the other cylinders fixed and that will cost about 2k, thanks very much for bringing your wallet'. 
Yes, cars do break down sometimes but generally not the day after servicing, when they have previously been running perfectly.
I joined your FB page to spit the dummy. Rolfe contacted us and agreed to repair the car if we agreed to delete our comments on FB. I deleted the comments and took my business elsewhere.

4. I took the 1 series to be serviced 'elsewhere'. I mentioned the window windy downy issue (point 2) in passing but didn't expect anything to come of it. My car was returned that afternoon with the lock in perfect working order. The fix was so minor that the mechanic didn't bother to charge me for labour. I guess the kindest interpretation I can come up with is that the mechanics/service department at Rolfe Classic Canberra were inept/incompetent. Or perhaps that they were lazy. I'm not sure which is better but you decide whether laziness is better than incompetence and we'll go with that. I'm not going to accuse them of dishonesty.


5. I'm sure you understand why I had decided not to do business with Rolfe Classic Canberra again but the best laid plans..... 
Earlier this week I locked my keys in my boot. Yes. I know that was a stupid thing to do. Especially in light of the fact that my spare key was hundreds of kilometres away on my husband's key ring. But in my defence we all do silly things sometimes.
I do what you do in such circumstances and rang the NRMA for help. They sent someone who spent an hour tinkering about with no luck. Since I was beginning to worry about hypothermia I rang your 1800 number to see if you could help me. To my horror they told me they were putting me through to Rolfe Classic Canberra but as the phone rang in Woden I thought well maybe this time they won't be fuckwits rude and unhelpful and I can like them again. 

Le sigh....... it was not to be so. Debbie answered the phone and told me she would have to talk with Michael in the service department who would have to talk to mechanics (I believe that's how it went, maybe they were consulting the oracle or throwing entrails, I was freezing so I wasn't listening attentively). Debbie came back to the phone and told me that no-one could help me and that I would need to break a quarter window because that would be the cheapest for them to replace. Thanks Debbie for being so helpful!
Bob the NRMA guy said he wasn't breaking a window and rang his friends. Shortly afterwards his friends arrived. One of them was on his day off. They tinkered for another hour or so, consulted the interwebs and made phone calls and eventually they gave me back my keys without breaking anything. Bob and the other NRMA guys are my heroes this week. They stood around in blistering cold for hours to fix up my stupid mistake and they did it cheerfully.


6. Which brings me to attitude...... in almost every dealing I have had with the service department at Rolfe Classic Canberra I have been met with poorly disguised hostility. On one occasion the man who served me was cheerful and friendly but every other interaction has left me wondering if I had a dog turd on my shoe or if the person serving me was suffering from painful, throbbing hemorrhoids. I'm aware that some people argue that Australia has no culture of service but my experience is that generally in Australia people are friendly and helpful. The attitude in the service department of Rolfe Classic Canberra is unlike almost any business I have had dealings with.
This morning Debbie rang me about my post on facebook. The question she posed was have we done anything lately that you have a problem with? I'm pretty sure there are numerous ways she could have asked why I was upset without implying that the problem was me. When I explained why I thought they were hopeless and unhelpful she told me that she had asked if there were children in the car and demanded to know if I recalled that part of the conversation. Of course I recall it. I might be a doofus who locks keys in my boots but I have a great memory. If I did have children in the car I would be smashing my window myself not ringing up for help. Debbie's next demand was that I tell her how the NRMA got into the car. Ummmm they jiggled and wiggled their little doohikkies and in the end it all came down to just how you hold your tongue while you concentrate. I pointed out that my 'problem' was that when I had a problem the best Rolfe Classic Canberra could offer was to tell me to smash my window and let them charge me to put a new one in and then hang up on me. Debbie was concerned about my phrasing and vigorously denied hanging up on me so I shall clarify that she said goodbye and replaced the phone gently in the cradle. The point remains that I was a customer asking for assistance and she couldn't get me off the phone fast enough. 

Really, I had ceased to care about the keys in the boot incident and Rolfe Classic Canberra's unhelpful attitude until Debbie rang me this morning and gave me attitude. Generally if you're in a service industry and you've pissed someone off irritated someone it's best not to call them and talk at them like they have done something wrong unless you wish to irritate them some more.






For future reference, this is what customer service looks like.

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