I wanted to bring your attention to a series of events that took place last night and ask that you review these events from the vantage point of a customer. I would like you to imagine that you are a woman, who had issues with your car dying while in downtown Nashville. Luckily, a kind person offered you a jump-start. After several attempts and jump-starts, you make it to the auto parts store near your home. After explaining the situation to the gentleman at the store, he advises you that he would be happy to assist; however, you would need to take the battery out of the engine compartment yourself and bring it in for him to test it. At a loss, you explain that you have never removed a battery before and do not have the tools to remove a battery and ask for assistance. The gentleman reluctantly agrees to remove it for you, as a “courtesy”. After removing the battery, the technician checks the computer system and mysteriously cannot find anywhere in the computer system where the battery was purchased at that auto parts store. You insist that it was purchased there. He confirms that it is the type and brand of battery sold there, but without proof it was purchased there, it would not be covered under warranty. He mentions that the specific style of battery has not been sold for a few years, so it would probably not be covered under warranty anyway. He agrees to check the battery, and asks you to come back or call in a couple of hours. You return later with your husband, who asks the employee, who is named something like Jewon, if he had checked the date that is generally on the side of all batteries. He responds, in a somewhat disingenuous and surprised tone, that it may have a date on it. He goes to check, and comes back confirming that the battery is dated “11/11”. He confirms that the battery is apparently still within warranty, but without proof of purchase, it would not be covered under the warranty. Another employee adds that it is a “prorated warranty” and with only six months remaining, it would not be very much prorate left, “probably only about 1/6” of the price.” Your husband asks the employee to check the system again, and he insists that he had already checked 3 telephone numbers for you attached to purchases. Reluctantly, he agrees to look again. This time, your husband looks over the employee’s shoulder as he does a computer search. The employee shows your husband that the system is not showing anything. When your husband instructs the employee to check the listing for the second vehicle on the screen, mysteriously the record of the battery purchase appears on the screen. “There it is” confirms the employee. This leads to confirmation that the battery warranty prorate is going to equal almost ½ the price of the new battery. You ask the employee if he can still install the new battery, to which he agrees. While installing the new battery, you notice that Jewon is not securing the battery with the plastic piece and bolt that he took out when removing the old battery. When you question why, he indicates that the battery is “big enough it does not need the bolt”. You call your husband back over who questions the employee about why he is not securing the battery into the bracket. He explains that the battery is “secure enough” and that he is “not a mechanic, and is simply agreeing to put the battery in as a ‘basic courtesy’.” Your husband insists that he understands it to be important that a battery is secured properly, to which the employee states that you “should take it to a certified mechanic to secure it properly.” He states that is what his company training has taught him..they are only to do the basic as a courtesy. You allow him to install the battery as he sees fit, and proceed to go to the auto parts store down the street to ask for a second opinion. The employee at the competitor store, Justin, not only confirms the importance of properly securing the battery, but comes out to your car and secures the battery for you….on a battery that was not even purchased at his store. Here are some questions I would ask of you… · How would you feel after having car issues if someone seemed reluctant to help you in your time of need? · Would you have expected an employee to help you remove the battery, as a lady, or even just as someone who didnt have the tools to do it? · Would you find it suspicious that there was initially “no record”? · Would you find it suspicious that the employee did not know about the date on the side of the battery? · Would you find it suspicious that the employee was downplaying the warranty prorating? · Would you find it suspicious that the record was mysteriously “found” when your husband arrived? · Would you find it concerning that the company’s policy and “what it teaches” it employees is to leave a battery unsecured, because it is only a “basic courtesy service”? Now, I will ask you, if you knew the first store mentioned above was an AutoZone store, and the competitor was an O’Reilly Auto Parts store, which store would have won your future business last night?
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 04:41:43 +0000