A couple of days ago I posted about my thoughts on the mechanical reliability of BMW and the service provided by the Bavarian BMW dealership.

As promised here is an overview of how it ended.  I follow that by some simple advise to service providers on how to avoid this kind of fiasco.

My Bavarian BMW story ends

On Friday morning my service advisor called me and advised the second part had arrived but the shop foreman could not spare anyone to do the repair work until Wednesday.

He advised the foreman suggested they find a loaner car for me, but alas he had none.  I hung up and stewed for a couple of hours.

Later on Friday (around 3:30) I wrote the advisor an email, with a copy to the service manager, letting him know what I thought about the service I was receiving.

I also shared the link to my earlier post and advised I had also posted to Yelp, Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter as well.

To My Surprise

I got a call at 4:30 on Friday letting me know they had found a mechanic, fixed the car, it was road tested and ready to go.  I picked it up Saturday morning.

I got a quote on an Audi TT this morning and a trade-in estimate for my BMW.

A short customer service primer (for Bavarian BMW and any other interested parties)

The majority of customers are friendly, flexible and supportive.  We understand issues arise and problems occur, it’s okay.

The majority of upset customers are the product of the service providers behavior, not the circumstances (everyone knows shit happens)

Key principles for service providers to follow:

-keep the customer fully informed (call them, don’t expect them to call you).  Tell them everything, both good and bad upfront  and clearly.

-don’t assume how your customer is feeling – ask.  Be empathetic with their position. (That does not mean accept and agree to everything it means make sure you understand how they feel)

-make every reasonable concession (be flexible) and if you cannot accommodate, explain clearly why.   Don’t just stonewall.