Vixen78
Stalker
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2006
- Posts
- 2,326
- Location
- Canada
- Society
- PE Addicts
- Avatar Name
- Savannah Vixen Marie
Welcome Back,
In this blog entry, I will share yet another Mopar Back Order part experience with you. I will try to keep the sarcastic comments to a minimum, no promises.
A male customer had approached the parts counter, and as he asked to see if we had a clockspring for his 1999 Jeep Cherokee, I will admit to sensing a tad bit of hostility. He was very short with his answers and clearly upset about something. As with many customers, it wasn’t long before he shared how he really felt about the company I work for and the his bad experience with our Metro store.
He went on to say that he had prepaid for this clockspring at the Metro store over 40 days ago, and thought he’d stop by to see if we might have one on the shelf. He had made plans to go on vacation next week and he was going to pull his boat/trailer with his Jeep, but since the faulty clockspring illuminates a dash light, he was rejected for a Mass State Inspection sticker, and can no longer “legally” drive the Jeep until this part comes in.
He was very unhappy with his experience with both the Service and Parts Dept, and claims that after his Jeep was in for service he noticed that some of is parts for his trailer were missing out of the back, after calling to ask where they were, he was told that the technician had thrown them out!
Now he feels like the Parts Dept has been giving him the run around as far as this back ordered part is concerned, only being told it’s on back order and feels that the manager was rude and unfriendly.
I can see the mind set in thinking that maybe another dealer can get the part, and I understand his frustration… But I also know how things work and know that if a part is on back order, it will also be on back order for the other dealerships… And by some chance if we did have the clockspring in stock, I know the Metro store would have called to see if it was available to sell to him.
So I took a few extra minutes and showed him that it’s not a “Dealership” issue as he kept bad mouthing the dealership and the fact that every time he calls the hotline for Chrysler he has to talk to a person in India.
I printed up a page to show him that there were 400 orders along with his, to prove that the part really is on a back order and also to show him that there was no sign of an ETA, and from the sounds of things the Metro store had done all they could do to get his part for him, and it’s now out of their hands.
He asked if there was anywhere else he could look to get this part any sooner, I then checked the locator and saw 1 dealership over 1,000 miles away that “showed” having one. That store was in Puerto Rico, the customer then asked, why the Metro Store didn’t call them if they have the same information?
I answered and said that it would be very unlikely that that dealer would ship that part out here IF it was available.
There was a very good chance that the store wouldn’t even sell the part anyway, considering the status. I did give him their info and mentioned that he could contact them directly and see if they would sell and ship the part to him.
Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t trying to discredit our sister store in any way, I was just trying to give this guy an option as I could tell he was really in a bind. The customer appears calmer and thanks me for the info and said I was the nicest person that he’s dealt with in this company. I wished him good luck and he was on his way.
We get a call 2 hours later, and it’s the Parts Manager from the Metro store, asking if we dealt with their customer. I confirmed that YES he was in here a few hours ago and was not a happy camper about his back ordered part. I was asked WHY didn’t I call them to warn them that this customer had come in? The customer seemed to be in better spirits when he left and therefor I didn’t see a reason to call the Metro store. I was told that by showing him how many orders there were for that part and telling him that there was 1 in Puerto Rico just added fuel to the fire!
Apparently the customer went back to Metro and asked the manager WHY he didn’t order that 1 along with a threat to kick his ass! It’s hard to know what some people will do, I had no idea the customer would go to such lengths. Nor did I think showing him how many orders there are, was a bad thing. I thought it would only prove that we aren’t just taking his money and making up some BS story (which was what he was thinking).
I got an ear full about how the customer came in, threatening to kick the parts manager’s ass, and how he’s gonna sue the company for not getting his part sooner… Like this is all MY fault. Oh, and how the police were called to escort him out, but he left before they showed up, and how one of the Owners was called about this situation, and how my boss is now expected to call the Metro store tomorrow ( even though he was not at work for any of this, as I’m sure it’s what he wants to come back too ).
Really it’s Chrysler and the Bankruptcy and the fact that they don’t have vendors who are making parts. The finger pointing doesn’t belong on me for trying to help and calm a customer down.
Perhaps if the Parts Manager and his faithful sidekick were a little nicer and not so RUDE, maybe they could have helped defuse the ticking time bomb. Not that I’m pointing my finger at the Metro store, as I know they did expedite the part as best as they could and the back order issue is not their fault either.
But taking the extra few minutes to explain the situation could and often goes a long way. Many customers don’t realize the effects that the bankruptcy has had. They just see how it affects their day to day lives, and how inconvenienced they are. They don’t see that thousands of others are in the same boat, or hear the not so nice comments we get to hear, or the stress and tension it causes the employees of the dealerships.
But what do you expect from a company that just filed for chapter 11?! I can only imagine that it’s similar on a personal level, where the average Joe files for chapter 11 and for the next 7-10 years it’s going to be really difficult to get a creditor to loan you any money… But since it’s Chrysler we are talking about, we have to think on a larger scale, not $30,000 or $50,000 but MILLIONS of dollars owed to thousands of vendors.
I can only wait to see what tomorrow holds… Now that things have got out of control, Raz now is involved my manager is soon to be involved ( like on a 2nd grade level, I can almost hear it now *sniffle sniffle, Do you know what your parts advisor did while you were gone?)
Well tomorrow is the start of the new pay week, and this company has been known to let their employees go for a lot less… I guess I’ll get up and head in to work unless I hear otherwise… All though they could just wait til after I get there and call me aside before I punch in…
Not sure whether I would be sad about that… I will say that if I get written up, it’s going right in the trash.
*Lesson for the Day… Some times being nice can come back to bite you in the ass!
In this blog entry, I will share yet another Mopar Back Order part experience with you. I will try to keep the sarcastic comments to a minimum, no promises.
A male customer had approached the parts counter, and as he asked to see if we had a clockspring for his 1999 Jeep Cherokee, I will admit to sensing a tad bit of hostility. He was very short with his answers and clearly upset about something. As with many customers, it wasn’t long before he shared how he really felt about the company I work for and the his bad experience with our Metro store.
He went on to say that he had prepaid for this clockspring at the Metro store over 40 days ago, and thought he’d stop by to see if we might have one on the shelf. He had made plans to go on vacation next week and he was going to pull his boat/trailer with his Jeep, but since the faulty clockspring illuminates a dash light, he was rejected for a Mass State Inspection sticker, and can no longer “legally” drive the Jeep until this part comes in.
He was very unhappy with his experience with both the Service and Parts Dept, and claims that after his Jeep was in for service he noticed that some of is parts for his trailer were missing out of the back, after calling to ask where they were, he was told that the technician had thrown them out!
Now he feels like the Parts Dept has been giving him the run around as far as this back ordered part is concerned, only being told it’s on back order and feels that the manager was rude and unfriendly.
I can see the mind set in thinking that maybe another dealer can get the part, and I understand his frustration… But I also know how things work and know that if a part is on back order, it will also be on back order for the other dealerships… And by some chance if we did have the clockspring in stock, I know the Metro store would have called to see if it was available to sell to him.
So I took a few extra minutes and showed him that it’s not a “Dealership” issue as he kept bad mouthing the dealership and the fact that every time he calls the hotline for Chrysler he has to talk to a person in India.
I printed up a page to show him that there were 400 orders along with his, to prove that the part really is on a back order and also to show him that there was no sign of an ETA, and from the sounds of things the Metro store had done all they could do to get his part for him, and it’s now out of their hands.
He asked if there was anywhere else he could look to get this part any sooner, I then checked the locator and saw 1 dealership over 1,000 miles away that “showed” having one. That store was in Puerto Rico, the customer then asked, why the Metro Store didn’t call them if they have the same information?
I answered and said that it would be very unlikely that that dealer would ship that part out here IF it was available.
There was a very good chance that the store wouldn’t even sell the part anyway, considering the status. I did give him their info and mentioned that he could contact them directly and see if they would sell and ship the part to him.
Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t trying to discredit our sister store in any way, I was just trying to give this guy an option as I could tell he was really in a bind. The customer appears calmer and thanks me for the info and said I was the nicest person that he’s dealt with in this company. I wished him good luck and he was on his way.
We get a call 2 hours later, and it’s the Parts Manager from the Metro store, asking if we dealt with their customer. I confirmed that YES he was in here a few hours ago and was not a happy camper about his back ordered part. I was asked WHY didn’t I call them to warn them that this customer had come in? The customer seemed to be in better spirits when he left and therefor I didn’t see a reason to call the Metro store. I was told that by showing him how many orders there were for that part and telling him that there was 1 in Puerto Rico just added fuel to the fire!
Apparently the customer went back to Metro and asked the manager WHY he didn’t order that 1 along with a threat to kick his ass! It’s hard to know what some people will do, I had no idea the customer would go to such lengths. Nor did I think showing him how many orders there are, was a bad thing. I thought it would only prove that we aren’t just taking his money and making up some BS story (which was what he was thinking).
I got an ear full about how the customer came in, threatening to kick the parts manager’s ass, and how he’s gonna sue the company for not getting his part sooner… Like this is all MY fault. Oh, and how the police were called to escort him out, but he left before they showed up, and how one of the Owners was called about this situation, and how my boss is now expected to call the Metro store tomorrow ( even though he was not at work for any of this, as I’m sure it’s what he wants to come back too ).
Really it’s Chrysler and the Bankruptcy and the fact that they don’t have vendors who are making parts. The finger pointing doesn’t belong on me for trying to help and calm a customer down.
Perhaps if the Parts Manager and his faithful sidekick were a little nicer and not so RUDE, maybe they could have helped defuse the ticking time bomb. Not that I’m pointing my finger at the Metro store, as I know they did expedite the part as best as they could and the back order issue is not their fault either.
But taking the extra few minutes to explain the situation could and often goes a long way. Many customers don’t realize the effects that the bankruptcy has had. They just see how it affects their day to day lives, and how inconvenienced they are. They don’t see that thousands of others are in the same boat, or hear the not so nice comments we get to hear, or the stress and tension it causes the employees of the dealerships.
But what do you expect from a company that just filed for chapter 11?! I can only imagine that it’s similar on a personal level, where the average Joe files for chapter 11 and for the next 7-10 years it’s going to be really difficult to get a creditor to loan you any money… But since it’s Chrysler we are talking about, we have to think on a larger scale, not $30,000 or $50,000 but MILLIONS of dollars owed to thousands of vendors.
I can only wait to see what tomorrow holds… Now that things have got out of control, Raz now is involved my manager is soon to be involved ( like on a 2nd grade level, I can almost hear it now *sniffle sniffle, Do you know what your parts advisor did while you were gone?)
Well tomorrow is the start of the new pay week, and this company has been known to let their employees go for a lot less… I guess I’ll get up and head in to work unless I hear otherwise… All though they could just wait til after I get there and call me aside before I punch in…
Not sure whether I would be sad about that… I will say that if I get written up, it’s going right in the trash.
*Lesson for the Day… Some times being nice can come back to bite you in the ass!
