rant: customer service

anyone who knows my woes with fulton homes knows i hate terrible customer service — even if things are my fault, there’s no room for customer service.

let me share some tag lines with you:

• Better Service…Get the ADVANTAGE!
• The Service YOU Deserve

now, my check engine light came on in my car.  it’s out of warranty, but in prestine condition (that is one good thing about snowbirds ;-)).  so i have one of those diagnostic OBD tools and it tells me some things are wrong with the secondary air injection.  i know computers.  i don’t know engines.  quite frankly, the only reason i have one of those OBD tools is because the geek in me thought it would be cool to diagnose my own problems [and then go to someone else anyway to diagnose/repair].

i digress…

well, i didn’t really feel like paying the dealer labor fee (US $170/hr), so i thought i’d find a non-dealer shop.  everytime i look cheaper i always remind myself ‘you get what you pay for’ but i always try anyway.  i found two service centers that would service my car — their slogans above.  i called both.  i assure you neither lived up to their slogan.  i implore you — if you use a tagline…at least have your front-line people assume they live up to it!  based on the 5 minute phone call and the jackasses at each place telling me it would take 4 hours to just *tell* me what was wrong (note: my OBD tool told me in < 3 minutes), i don’t think i’m going to get ‘the service I deserve’ if i go to them.

there’s something to be said about higher prices — the 170/hr place (i’ve been there before) gives me a free loaner car, will diagnose immediately and usually fits it in the same day to fix.  do i end up paying more?  questionable.  if i saved headaches and time, probably not.