These days customer service is non existent and when you do find it on the rare occasion you have to thank your lucky stars. I am normally left disappointed and rarely blown away because I feel every business should be offering the best service and customer experience available. This costs nothing to go the extra mile and why businesses have let their standards drop implies to me they do not care.
Nothing flash and literally stuck under the garage/forecourt that is above this in the front. This is where most car workshops used to be and somehow over the years they have distanced themselves.
Yesterday one of out work vehicles had a mechanical issue when the clutch stopped working and I had to firstly go and collect the vehicle and drive it home. I just did not trust anyone else to be able to handle this without making the problem any bigger than it was.
I knew a garage work shop around the corner that has been on a year long advertising campaign and have been looking for a convenient local service workshop for the fleet of work vehicles. This would be a great test to see what they could do and how long it would take. The only way you are going to find out is by giving them a job and seeing if they mess it up or not.
I know if I phoned our normal mechanic we would be looking at a turn around time of 4-7 days which is not great knowing we need the vehicle on the road as soon as possible. Most workshops you have to book a vehicle in and that could be anywhere from a few days to sometime next week depending on how busy they are. I was hoping for getting the vehicle fixed this week so I had an open mind of a realistic time line.
I phoned the workshop this morning which has an original name called "The Garage" and the lady mentioned we could book the vehicle in for tomorrow. I dropped a hint that this was a fleet car from work and that we were looking for a service provider to look after our vehicles. This did the trick and got me chatting with the owner of the business who got the message loud and clear.
This was at 10.20 am this morning and by 10.30 am they had already collected the car. Within an hour I had the quote and gave the go ahead to get the car repaired which will be ready by close of business this evening. This I was not expecting and has exceeded all expectations and depending on the quality of work they will guarantee our business going forward.
Finding someone on your same wave length is virtually impossible these days and when you do you have to support them. The owner is no idiot as I gave him the bait and he accepted knowing what is at stake and is more than just fixing this vehicle as soon as possible as it opens up servicing and maintaining many more vehicles.
The cost is neither here nor there and it will cost around $500 for this experience which the tax will cover from the business as an expense. This sounds reasonable considering this was 4 hours labor included in this cost. Having a reliable workshop close by is what is important knowing how the drivers drive these vehicles. Last week the oil lamp light came on the dashboard and I know this must have been flashing previously and ignored because the engine took 3 pints and did not just happen. This is why I have to test drive these vehicles on a weekly basis knowing the health of each vehicle. If you do not maintain a fleet yourself it is your own fault as the drivers clearly do not care.
This is really good news and another problem I do not have to worry about knowing someone has my back and they are literally 1km from my home.
