Date: Mon, 14 Oct 2002 20:30:37 +0200 From: Robert Brown <rjbnopsamvvtripnetvvvvvv.se> Subject: Re: SAAB & dealers - who is responsible?
Four Weis wrote: > You are assuming the former and current Saab dealer even cares. As for the Saab > corporation, only one can wonder what is going on with their customer relations > management people. It could be Louis contacted a person at Saab who had a bad day > or just does not care anymore. > > Dependable service and a reputation for satisfaction may depend more on which > dealership and even more specifically, which technician works on your car. > > MSu1049321 wrote: > > > Cost passed on by dealer to Saab of fixing this guy's problem: 300-500 dollars? > > > > Cost to Saab of driving away a repeat customer: $18,000 and up. > > > > Cost to Saab of losing sales to three other people this pissed-off guy told > > about this trouble: upwards of $54,000? > > > > dependable service and a reputation for satisfaction: priceless!;-) Quite right. The performance of an individual technician and the person at the front desk are what we consumers notice, in the end analysis. Building a brand involves amongst other things the successful marketing of a set of differentiators (e.g. best roadholding or sharpest style or best quality of service). A Saab sold outside of Europe tends to be marketed (and priced) as a luxury car, and often bought by people who make a bit more money and don't quite as often get down on their hands and knees to track and fix mechanical problems. These same people are used to paying premium price for what they buy and thus demand premium service in return. If this implicit contract is not met, then a key differentiator goes wanting, and the customers that *don't* abandon the brand are those who are willing to put up with inferior service, and it's not certain that as many of these will be able to afford a Saab to the same degree. Increased business risk for Saab, just check Mr. msu104932's price list above (and add to it the thousands of readers of this NG, of which perhaps 1/2 percent (could be anywhere around 10 to 50 people?) of which may be dissuaded from buying a new Saab due to this thread alone. Saab could be well-served by cleaning up the quality of their after-market business (better service quality) if they don't want to lose a profitable customer base - even if that means that they have to occasionally go into areas of uncertainty by paying for mistakes made by their dealer and service partners. I know of at least 5 families over here who have dumped Saab due to similar service incidents and they are very happy driving (and getting service from) Mitsubishi, Nissan, and Lexus (Toyota), even if these brands don't all have the same cachet as Saab used to have. I doubt that Saab will ever see these people return as customers. 'Scuse the ranting and raving. Mostly because I was once a rabid Saab fan then witnessed - during the past 10 years - the GMification of what was once a fantastic Swedish brand. OK it was necessary to ensure the survival of Saab but a lot of things have become worse - dealer networks , rubber timing belts etc. Now I drive an Audi. OK it has a rubber timing belt too but the car feels a lot more like an old Saab than what a new Saab does ;-) Just for comparison, does anybody here have a Lexus? Do you have any comments to share about how their dealer network is, qualitywise? Would Louis' incident have led to the same outcome at a Lexus dealer, had the car been a Lexus? Here in Sweden the Japanese manufacturers' aftermarket network has a better reputation than just about anybody else's (including two west-coast Swedish car makers and four German ones). Just a thought. Regards, Robert, Gothenburg (70 km from Trollh”ttan)
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