I have a story for you about our local Wilsonville Oregon CW experience this week.
On Tuesday night I dropped my trailer off at CW after-hours, as my TT was one affected by the Dometic refrigerator recall, and I was not sure if the previous owners had taken care of it. Wednesday morning I went in and asked to have someone check to see if the recall kit had been installed, and a tech immediately went out with me, checked, and told me it had not yet been installed yet. I went back inside the store and worked with a Service Counter employee to get it scheduled. At that moment, the computer was down, so he took my info, gave me a tag for it, and said he would get it into the system. I was told it was a 20 minute install, the kit was in stock, and my appointment was for 3:30pm on Friday. I didn't have the keys with me, as my wife had them, but I promised to drop them off the next morning. I went in Thursday morning, dropped the keys off as promised. I was told that they would likely get to it early on Thursday. At about 3:30pm on Thursday, I called the Service Desk, and asked about the status, mentioning that I was told it might be done earlier than scheduled. They pulled up the work order, said it had not been done yet, and that they were waiting for the recall kit. I told them that when I was in yesterday, the counter told me they had a "few" recall kits on the shelf. The Service Desk person then went and looked, came back, said yes, they did have them, and was not sure what the delay was. They then told me that they would get to it Friday, and it should be done by 1pm. On Friday, I called about 3pm to again, check the status. I was told they were running a little behind schedule, and asked if I needed it today. As we were planning a weekend camping trip, I told them yes. The service desk person told me that they should be able to get to it, and they would call me if they would not. I waited for the rest of the day, and got no call that it was either done, or not going to get done.
This brings me to this mornings phone call. I called the service desk again this morning to find out status. First, they could not find the work order. Once they did, they didn't know if it had been done because there were no notes. They sent someone out to the trailer to look, and sure enough, it had not been done. They said it looks like it was never marked on the work order that it was a drop-off. I explained to her that I had called daily on it, that it was dropped off Tuesday night, and explained the entire situation. She apologized, and asked me if they could do it Monday. I explained that we were supposed to be camping this weekend, that our appointment was Friday at 3:30pm, and that it was supposed to be a 20 minute install. I asked if they could do it today, and was told no. I told her I was a bit upset about this, and her answer was basically, I don't know what you want me to do.
So, Marcus, when something like this happens, you guys should have some sort of compensation available for the customer. "Hey, we are really sorry we messed up, but here's a $50 gift card, hopefully we can keep you around as a customer".
* This post was
edited 05/05/12 04:44pm by jesse.m.jm *
It is not that I don't agree with the op on this matter, however, I just went through a similar, but worse experience with another service provider and there was absolutely no thought of any compensation for delays and incompetence. In my case I could not go to work so it was costing me about 1000/day. Although your idea may help in making them keep there promises, it would have to be across the board with all service providers and we all know that isn't going to happen. I know how frustrating it is. Macktee
Camping World needs to find the sweet spot like a car dealership uses. You go to the Ford dealer, ask for an oi change and air filter, rotate the tires and install a new fan belt. They do it. And have it done within the time frame promised. Never had an issue at any auto dealership getting good service.
You hear about folks going to a Camping World or WalMart for an oil change and air filter...and you'll hear they forgot to replace the oil cap, or put the wrong oil in it...or some other screw up. That's good enough? Really?
So who do you blame...aparently the person who is supposed to train, re-train and certify them as being trained and do quality checks is either not doing their job or there is no such person.
Good thing Aircraft Mechanics aren't a member of "that's good enough" club!
My posts shouldn't be taken for factual data. They are purely fictional, for entertainment purposes and should not be constituted as actually related to scientific, technical, engineering, legal, spiritual or practical advice. Amen.
Macktee wrote: It is not that I don't agree with the op on this matter, however, I just went through a similar, but worse experience with another service provider and there was absolutely no thought of any compensation for delays and incompetence. In my case I could not go to work so it was costing me about 1000/day. Although your idea may help in making them keep there promises, it would have to be across the board with all service providers and we all know that isn't going to happen. I know how frustrating it is. Macktee
I guess my thought is, that if I knew that CW had a promise, and a reward for me if they break that promise, then I would take my business there. When another service provider starts losing market share because people are going to the place that is going to get the job done as promised or reward you if not, then they too might start working on their service program, or even implement the same customer retention system....
Paying people when a mistake has been made is a terrible idea. All it does is encourage people to complain over every little detail that they think could have been better, and other people to purposely find ways to make a transaction go wrong. In other words, abuse.
You can empower people to offer incentives on a discretionary basis. But even then, if word gets out that Joe Blow got a credit, the same thing will happen. There are a couple of people in this thread that would be all over that!
Best to just work on reducing the errors in the first place, and when they happen correct them cheerfully, with a smile that can be heard over the phone.
fordsooperdooty wrote: Camping World needs to find the sweet spot like a car dealership uses. You go to the Ford dealer, ask for an oi change and air filter, rotate the tires and install a new fan belt. They do it. And have it done within the time frame promised. Never had an issue at any auto dealership getting good service.
You hear about folks going to a Camping World or WalMart for an oil change and air filter...and you'll hear they forgot to replace the oil cap, or put the wrong oil in it...or some other screw up. That's good enough? Really?
So who do you blame...aparently the person who is supposed to train, re-train and certify them as being trained and do quality checks is either not doing their job or there is no such person.
Good thing Aircraft Mechanics aren't a member of "that's good enough" club!
The difference here is the pay. Auto dealers pay flat rate, have training programs and hire trained people. Wal-Mart and camping world don't. They pay by the hr. so if it takes 1 hr or 1/2 hr to change your oil who cares? They get paid the same amount of money either way with less work. Until companies realize that pay incentives and training make more money we will continue to get bad service.
In my life I've spent my money on women, booze, Harleys, guitars and traveling, the rest I just wasted...
2007 Ford F-350 diesel/dually & Sunnybrook Titan KSRV 39-1 Toy hauler 5th wheel hauling my custom Harley
Just an update: My TT was finished today, and the work looks good. Have not tried it out yet, but fridge and freezer were cold when we picked it up, so I am confident they tested it.
My experience last week rubbed me the wrong way, but as it has been stated many times in other threads, stuff does happen. This was my first and so far only bad experience, and I know I have had second and third chances given to me, so I can only be expected to do the same for others. So I will continue to shop at my local CW, and hope to remain a long time customer.
It's easy to jump on here and vent about a poor experience, and that is exactly what I did. However, one cannot help be be impressed with the attitude of Marcus and his reputation for getting things done, and as will all things good and bad, the change has to start at the top, and I believe it has with Camping World.
Offline
