by Erick Mott
I have never been a fan of an extended warranty program, or really understood the power of great customer service, until I was faced with a huge, avoidable expense this past January. It was like any other day until I got a call that our Land Rover had a transmission issue AND our extended warranty was not going to cover the nearly $5,000 expense. What, how could this be? We paid for the warranty, yes. But we forgot to take the car in for service when it was due. Oops!
After pleading with the warranty company and getting no where fast, I decided to take the old fashion route of calling the service director (Phil) at Fremont Land Rover to seek understanding, state my case, and for us to agree on a reasonable solution. Let me be clear, I was not expecting a freebie and I was not going to threaten the dealership in any way. It was all about being a communicative customer and asking a service leader, who represents an exceptional brand, to make great things happen in a bad situation for all. And Land Rover Service did, they saved the day! The service department, dealership, manufacturer's rep and customer all worked together to put skin in a game where everyone won. The great news is the Mott family spent far less than the originally quoted price.
Fremont Land Rover didn't stop there. They went the extra mile by giving us a luxury car to drive around for a week while the parts were on order. They also threw in the expensive service that should have been done two months earlier. The lessons learned are simple: Drivers, stick to your extended warranty schedule and don't procrastinate. What would have been a $100 fee with extended warranty coverage ended up costing much more and created a lot of stress. Enterprises, use your customer service teams and technology to truly serve customers, leverage for word of mouth marketing and grow brand equity.
10 things Land Rover does really well and other companies can apply:
- Make customers #1, always
- When a bad situation arises, policy first, then empathy
- Consider the bigger picture and the power of Word of Mouth marketing
- Negotiate a mutually rewarding solution to address the issues at hand
- Be innovative and determined to solve the customer's problem
- Don't give away high-value for free; customer needs to put skin in the game too
- Go the extra mile, maybe two miles
- Communicate with the customer and agree on expectations
- Ask if the customer is happy and thank them for their business with a smile at POS
- Use email alerts and marketing campaigns to notify busy customers about service deadlines, warranty risks and, of course, special offers (I'm now registered for Land Rover Service Email Alerts)
Through it all, I was reminded first-hand how powerful good communication, customer service and negotiation can be for a challenging situation like this one. Am I a happy Land Rover customer? Absolutely, and many others are too according to the voluntary feedback board at the dealership. Will I tell this story to others and recommend Land Rover to my friends? Apparently so.
Your comments, ideas and links?
