Re: Alfa Romeo UK Service Standard-You'l Like This

["Paul Misencik" <paul@domain.elided>]

In 1994, I bought a 1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S, and I was the third owner of
the car.  When I bought it, the car had 38,000 miles on it.  After owning it
for about four months, the head gasket blew, and I took it into an
independant shop to make sure the car was not overboosting, etc.

The shop called Porsche on my behalf and complained, saying it was a bone
stock car and knowing that Porsche had updated the gasket since the car was
built.  Sure enough, Porsche admitted that a new gasket had been created for
the car, and they asked my to take the car to the local Porsche dealer to
verify the problem.  Once I did that, Porsche paid for the repair in full.
Again, I was the third owner of the car, it was at an idependant repair
facility, and the car had been out of warranty for YEARS.

Now that's customer service.

I hope when (if?) Alfa comes back to US, they go above and beyond the call
of duty to take care of people.  After all, isn't service and maintenance
one of the major complaints with Alfa's reputation here?

Paul Misencik
P. Roman Media
Huntersville, NC  28078
email: paul@domain.elided
www.paoloroman.com

----- Original Message -----
From: <greg@domain.elided>
To: "Tim Hancock" <timhancock@domain.elided>
Cc: "alfa digest" <alfa-digest@domain.elided>
Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2003 5:27 PM
Subject: Re: Alfa Romeo UK Service Standard-You'l Like This


> I hope someone important sees this and takes notice, realizing this is an
> example of how not to keep customers.
>
> I know of one individual that bought an older Isuzu Trooper (pre 1992).
> The truck was out of warranty, but only by about 5 to 10 thousand miles,
> when the engine blew. In Alaska. He contacted Isuzu Customer Service, and
> they agreed with him that the engine should not have had that kind of
> problem with so few miles. They freighted an engine (don't know if it was
> overnight or not) and authorized the local dealer to make the repairs. No
> cost to the new owner. Now, this was an average guy, and he bought the
> truck used, not new, and Isuzu knew it. That's customer service.
>
> I've heard similar stories with high dollar cars too.
>
> And then of course there's the mustang owner who had her cobra "abused" by
> the dealer tech when she brought her car in for maintenance. She contacted
> the dealer and I think Ford. She ended up having to get a lawyer to get
> satisfaction.
>
> At the very least, regardless of the age of the car, the quality of the
> work done by an "authorized" alfa dealer reflects directly on alfa romeo.
> If the dealers are second rate, then people are going to come to the
> conclusion that cars are second rate and that will be reflected in sales.
> Dealers are the front-line interface with the customer. A lot of people
> associate the dealer with the manufacturer and the car. If the dealer is
> bad to the customer, that customer may be less likely to consider those
> cars in the future. Oh wait. That appears to have already happened in some
> markets.
>
> If anything furhter on this happens, I hope you'll share it with the
> digest.
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