I understand what you're saying' date=' but it doesn't apply to every industry - there are people who will only buy the cheapest of items. Such as those who would buy a car from a car supermarket rather than a dealer (because it's cheaper), and then spend loads of time getting the dealer to work on it for warranty (because the car was cheaper for a very good reason).

Rob..[/quote']

Rob

I think this discussion has just about run its course now. However, if I go to any product/service supplier and I get the slightest impression that they are not interested in my business, then I leave there and then.

I wonder what level of service I would receive AFTER they have my money.

What type of industry are you in?

Cra

Yeah, see, I don't charge for 5 minutes work...let alone

However' date=' if I go to any product/service supplier and I get the slightest impression that they are not interested in my business, then I leave there and then.

I wonder what level of service I would receive AFTER they have my money.

[/quote']

But then there is a distinction between a new customer, a loyal customer and a disloyal customer. A disloyal customer you know is likely to waste your time and go elsewhere...a loyal customer you know is a pretty safe bet. New customers would sit somewhere between the mid point of these two, and loyal customers...it's a balance between creating a good impression, and not investing too much time which could be "wasted".

Rob.

Sorry,that was lawyer speak for a cheapie

now i see why you pursue pointless arguments on behalf of hapless individuals.. it all makes sense now.....

lawyers... the only group to make estate agents look good:D

now i see why you pursue pointless arguments on behalf of hapless individuals.. it all makes sense now.....

lawyers... the only group to make estate agents look good:D

I should check if you still have your wallet.We're quick you know

believe me i know.

Yes' date=' that's why I said:

I'd like to reiterate again that I don't agree that Lee should have bad customer service...I don't think anyone should.

Which would suggest that you are not reading my posts...

Rob.

And as you are only commenting on this one suggests you aren't either..

If I take you on to carry out a service for me ... We have entered in to a contract.. I would and expect you to provide the service to meet a minimum

level.. If you then valued me as a customer I would expect you to provide me

with a service above the minimum required... I would then ... More than likely come back to you again.....

On the point of freebies... Customers have the right to take there business where ever they like... You offered these as an incentive to retain

your 'loyal customers which backfired which sometimes it does...How do you attract new customers?

By treating them as scum on your shoe until they prove there loyalty?

Most people when buying products usually want to get them as cheaply as

possible... IF you are not providing that product at that price then your customer goes elsewhere to purchase it... Then comes to you for servicing

and warranty work why would you then 'blacklist' them?

They are still providing you with custom... which you still charge for...?

This has nothing to do with loyalty..

With your attitude your customer base must be getting smaller and smaller,

with your competitors benefiting from you turning away good custom....

One final point if the majority of Skoda dealers ran like this then all the

JD Power and other surveys would reflect this.. And Skoda would be towards

the bottom end of the scale..... The majority of dealers I've used have been totally professional and treated me as they would anyone else......

Dazz

....

One final point

Dazz

....

lets hope so... some of us have better things to do ... like GT4.....

And as you are only commenting on this one suggests you aren't either..

What does that even mean? :confused:

Most people when buying products usually want to get them as cheaply as

possible... IF you are not providing that product at that price then your customer goes elsewhere to purchase it... Then comes to you for servicing

and warranty work why would you then 'blacklist' them?

You get what you pay for. If people kept coming back to me having bought cheap **** off competitors and wanting it fixed, I'd get pretty hacked off if dealing with all these issues began to impact the service I could provide for customers who had the good sense to pay for a better product in the first place.

With your attitude your customer base must be getting smaller and smaller,

with your competitors benefiting from you turning away good custom....

...until I have a small bunch of loyal customers who won't f**k me about. That would be heaven.

Let the other companies deal with whiny, short-sighted cheapskates...

Rob.

lets hope so... some of us have better things to do ... like GT4.....

True .I have some punters to fleece

Let the other companies deal with whiny, short-sighted cheapskates...

OOOOOIIIIIII!!!!! :P

Chris

OOOOOIIIIIII!!!!! :P

Not literally shortsighted...

Rob.

And yes, I do work in a customer facing role. And yes, I do treat my loyal customers better than my disloyal customers - they spend more money with me, therefore they are of more use in business.Rob.

How do you encourage your less loyal customers to become more loyal so that when one of your more loyal customers commits gross disloyalty you have a customer worthy enough to fill their shoes?

Customers talk to one another, you know. You won't encourage them to do more business with you if you treat them as second class. You have to encourage them, make them feel valued or they'll find someone who will. Price is not everything, service is. Treating someone as second class is not giving service; its putting up two fingers.

You won't encourage them to do more business with you if you treat them as second class.

No, but if you treat them first class, and treat your loyal customers even better, then surely that's got to not only encourage people to provide custom in the first place, but also encourages them to be loyal?

Price is not everything, service is.

I believe this is what cra already pointed out...and as I said, I can understand what he's saying, but it isn't the same in every industry. A lot of people will buy purely on price, only to find that the customer service is lousy, or the product isn't as good as a more expensive one.

Rob.

its a shame robs customers dont do business by choice... he's in extorsion you know....

its a shame robs customers dont do business by choice... he's in extorsion you know....

:nono: I'm not referring to that business.

Besides which, it's innaccurate...my customers are in extortion, I merely provide the tools for them...

Rob.

No' date=' but if you treat them first class, and treat your loyal customers even better, then surely that's got to not only encourage people to provide custom in the first place, but also encourages them to be loyal?

Rob.[/quote']

Nobody likes to find they are discriminated against. Do you tell customers what they need to do to accede to what is in effect your loyalty club and what the benefits are? That way at least they can make a judgement of its value to them and such transparency is worthy of credit (not the monetary kind .

I did this when I started out...all it generated were a bunch of customers who were happy to take freebies off me' date=' and who then went elsewhere when it came to coughing up.

I understand what you're saying, but it doesn't apply to every industry - there are people who will only buy the cheapest of items. Such as those who would buy a car from a car supermarket rather than a dealer (because it's cheaper), and then spend loads of time getting the dealer to work on it for warranty (because the car was cheaper for a very good reason).

Rob.

(ps. Just in case anyone picks up on it and takes me out of context, that last sentence was not intended to be a reflection on the events Lee described, nor that people shouldn't be entitled to have warranty work done at any dealer regardless of source, nor that anyone should receive poor customer service).[/quote']

I don't really understand the bit about getting what you pay for when buying from a Car supermarket in terms of the quality of the car. As far as I am aware my Octy was built in the same factory to the same high standard as everybody else's, Is my local dealer going to have to spend more time carrying out work on it because it has been imported? I would of thought the only reason the Car was cheaper is because of loopholes that allow the cars to be purchased abroad for far less than they cost in the Uk, the supermarkets then sell them at low margins but in large quantities.

I may be wrong if I am could anybody enlighten me.

Regards,

Carlos.

Update then.

I have written to the dealer in question and I'm waiting a response before I contact Skoda UK.

As for loyalty, the person who upset me with his comments is not who I usually deal with.

The problem is he thought I was just someone who had purchased a supermarket Skoda. Perhaps he thought I wasn't a "Loyal" customer.

He may be asked by his boss to re-think his position.

A customer who has purchased four new cars from the dealer, has three current Skoda's and has had all his Skoda's serviced there for over ten years should, perhaps, be thought of as a "Loyal" customer.

I've also had to laugh about some comments regarding fleet cars.

Skoda may have "First Pick" of the Vag Euro Lease cars but last year VEL put over 100 cars, all around one year old with around 10000miles up for grabs. They are all sat in a compound at one end of the country.

Skoda may have first choice on the database for Models/Spec/Colour but to suggest they send trained mechanics to thoroughly check through 100 cars to pick out the best 30 or so is frankly silly. To suggest that the other 70 or so one year old Skoda's that the supermarkets and independants get will be full of problems is equally silly and an insult to how well Skoda build cars.

Both these cars are ex EuroFleet, they are the same spec, registered and pdi'ed by the same dealer. One is sold by the supermarket one is sold by a Skoda dealer. Can someone please say why one car will be loads of trouble and the other not?

Cheers

Lee

Probably depends on which hire car company they used to belong to. National or Europcar though to be fair they have now actually cottoned on that they now need proper oil to top them up with. Did you know that VW own Europcar?, Euro Fleet is now Inchcape Automotive and National when it was known as Swan National (later EuroDollar) always had the registered keepers name as Provincial Securities on the log books. The cars get pdi'd stand around a bit, transported to various locations, get used, come up for sale, stand around a bit, get re-furbished, stand around a bit, go to a VW closed auction and start popping up on dealers forecourts. If they don't sell at auction they get re-submitted until VW are willing to take a bid from anyone or they are over on the miles in the first place, it used to be 6 months or 14000 miles, if it clocks up the miles in 2 months then it has to stand around for the other 4 before they'll have it back. These aren't cars to VW they are just units.

It doesn't matter where you got the car from, you should still get the service. You won't get any joy out of VW, talk to his boss as you know him.

Update then.

I have written to the dealer in question and I'm waiting a response before I contact Skoda UK.

As for loyalty' date=' the person who upset me with his comments is not who I usually deal with.

The problem is he thought I was just someone who had purchased a supermarket Skoda. Perhaps he thought I wasn't a "Loyal" customer.

He may be asked by his boss to re-think his position.

A customer who has purchased four new cars from the dealer, has three current Skoda's and has had all his Skoda's serviced there for over ten years should, perhaps, be thought of as a "Loyal" customer.

I've also had to laugh about some comments regarding fleet cars.

Skoda may have "First Pick" of the Vag Euro Lease cars but last year VEL put over 100 cars, all around one year old with around 10000miles up for grabs. They are all sat in a compound at one end of the country.

Skoda may have first choice on the database for Models/Spec/Colour but to suggest they send trained mechanics to thoroughly check through 100 cars to pick out the best 30 or so is frankly silly. To suggest that the other 70 or so one year old Skoda's that the supermarkets and independants get will be full of problems is equally silly and an insult to how well Skoda build cars.

Both these cars are ex EuroFleet, they are the same spec, registered and pdi'ed by the same dealer. One is sold by the supermarket one is sold by a Skoda dealer. Can someone please say why one car will be loads of trouble and the other not?

[img']http://www.dmservices.co.uk/dmsextranet/databases/Direct/images/53005.jpg[/img]

Cheers

Lee

Ok.. Lets hope you get a good response from the dealer on this...

And I have to agree with you regarding these ex-lease cars....

And the members who suggest that they full of faults.. are basically

talking junk... As even a year old Skoda still has the 2 year / balance of

mileage warranty remaining...

Just a different way to buy a Skoda....

True the cars available outside the Skoda dealer network might be not the most popular spec/colour but that should be it....

I bought a VW Passat TDI -- This came from VW own hire fleet.. I had

very few problems with it..

Good luck and keep us informed on the outcome...

cheers

Dazz

And I have to agree with you regarding these ex-lease cars....

And the members who suggest that they full of faults.. are basically

talking junk...

I certainly wouldn't buy an ex-lease car again.

Rob.

Nobody likes to find they are discriminated against. Do you tell customers what they need to do to accede to what is in effect your loyalty club and what the benefits are? That way at least they can make a judgement of its value to them and such transparency is worthy of credit (not the monetary kind .

No, I don't run a loyalty club, just over time you build up a good relationship with people.

Would you feel upset that Sainsbury's or Tesco reward their large-spending customers with more reward points on their loyalty cards?

Rob.

I certainly wouldn't buy an ex-lease car again.

Rob.

Bad experience in the past?

Usually you can tell a bad example a mile off... Looking at the condition of various parts on the car, and during a test drive....

There is allways the RAC or AA to carry out a full check....

But buying an ex-lease car from a dealer or Supermarket or even privately..

Whats the difference and if the car had more than one owner then how would you know?

Dazz

Bad experience in the past?

Bad experience in the present...

Usually you can tell a bad example a mile off... Looking at the condition of various parts on the car, and during a test drive....

Hmm...dunno...my car drives fine, the interior is in good nick, there were signs of damage on the bodywork. Of course, the little things you don't always notice, like the rear light clusters being the wrong "era", and the amateur rewiring job which has been done to accommodate them which is tucked crudely behind the interior trim, which isn't secured properly...

And no, it didn't come from a supermarket...but if these are the sort of cars the dealers are happy to buy, I have to wonder what sort of standard the cars which end up going cheaply to supermarkets are like.

Rob.