Customer Service

["George Hovis"<gnhovis@domain.elided>]

[Indirect Alfa content]  Many people have suggested I post this to the digest
after hearing me retell the story.  In the end, I think you will find it a rather
amusing, if long story (sorry).  First, I should preface this by stating that
I'm a management consultant and one of my functional areas is customer service
management and organizational effectiveness.  Perhaps that is why I think it
is so amusing.

I grew up around Alfas and Fiats.  When I went to college, I left home in a
Fiat 124 sport coupe with a steamer trunk strapped to the luggage rack on the
trunk.  I replaced the Fiat with a '74 GTV when I was a Junior in College and
parked the car in my parents garage when I left for Europe for my first tour
of duty in the Army in 1988.  The car stayed with my parents for almost ten
years.  I eventually left the service, and when my wife and I returned to California
in 1997, we picked up the car and I tried to use it as a daily driver.  That
didn't quite work out as I had planned (the car was in too bad of shape) so
we bought a third car.  I had the project car to putter with, a truck to drive
to work, and my wife was driving the Volvo.  We were happy.  The volvo in question
was a '98 V70 wagon.  We had picked up the car in Maryland before we moved West,
but had ordered a car which would pass the California emissions standards (sometimes
known as a "50-state car" as opposed to a "49-state car" which meets the Federal
standards.)  [Even that isn't really accurate as several other states use the
same standards as California--but I digress.]  

We drive all the way from Maryland to California (which I think everyone should
do at least once in their life) and titled it for the first time in California.
 Except for a momentary fit of outrage at what Californians pay to register
their cars (admit it, it is a PROPERTY tax and get over it) everything was fine
with the transaction.  In December of last year, I got a letter from Volvo and
two new emissions stickers.  The stickers on my car read "Meets all California
and Federal standards."  The new stickers just read "Meets Federal standards."
 Thinking there was more to it than just replacing stickers, I called Volvo
and informed them that I lived in California and didn't understand just what
this would mean to me if I tried to resale the car in the future.  They said
they would get back to me.  They didn't, at least not until July.  A few weeks
later I called the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and asked about
it.  They said that since it passed the smog inspection when I moved into the
state, no one would ever ask about the stickers.  Don't worry, be happy, they
said--so I let it go and didn't replace the stickers.

By the time summer rolled around I'd brought my Alfa back up to shape so we
looked at our three cars and our finances and figured we should try to get rid
of the most expensive car--the Volvo.  We tried to work a deal to get out of
our car, but couldn't come to terms with the dealership.  (We were trying to
trade on a '93 240 wagon, and then sell the truck.)  Dejected, we continued
with the three cars.

In July, I got a letter from Volvo saying they were very sorry it took so long
to get back to me, but they have to replace my car with a new '99 model as they
weren't supposed to sell me this particular '98 in the first place.  Additionally,
a regional sales manager would be contacting me very soon. [You should know
that our V70 was the base model with no options.] "Soon" became weeks, then
months, and we still hadn't heard from them.  By this time it was October and
I'd lost the original letter.  Thinking I may have dreamed the whole thing,
I called Volvo North America and explained my story.  They didn't believe me,
so I figured the whole thing was off.

The next time I took my car in for an oil change, I told the general manager
of the local dealer the story.  The dealership had just received a replacement
car for another customer, so he said he would call the regional manager for
me.  This time they called back.  They told me that I would in fact be getting
a new car; sorry it's been so long, and now that new car would now have to be
a 2000 model as the '99s are gone--what color would you like.  Additionally,
it turns out the V-70 is being discontinued in the Spring, so all that is left
are the cars loaded with all of the options--leather, sun-roof, alloys, etc.


So that brings me back to the subject of this message which was customer service.
 What was it that the customer (me) wanted?  I wanted to get rid of my most
expensive car and get a six-year old 240 as a replacement.  What did the customer
end up getting?  A more expensive car (at no additional cost--same payments,
22 months to go.)  Volvo must have really been in trouble with the State as
they will lose several thousands of dollars in this transaction.  Now, don't
get me wrong, I REALLY like this car.  I'm just trying to figure out if they
did the right thing the wrong way, or did the wrong thing the right way....


The dealer said this happened to 120 cars in California.  Anyone know more about
this?

[Pictures of the new car on the web site under "News" button.]

http://www.geocities.com/Motorcity/Show/9820

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