What would you do??

[Red97GTP]

Here's the background. I work for a dealership that I used to sell cars at. I'm now an assistant manager. In November 2010, I leased my best friend's mom a new car. She went into the finance department to finalize the paperwork for the deal and ended up buying a maintenance plan. The plan (as she was told by the finance manager) would cover all of her maintenance on her car for the term of the lease (39 months.) The package was $1190 which equates to about $30/month.

Recently she stopped in to have her oil changed and the service writer to told her that her 15k mile service is due and asked her if she wanted it done. She said as long as it's part of the maintenance package, go ahead. Well, the package doesn't cover that kind of maintenance, just oil changes and tire rotations. I'm sure you all can do the math... It's a rip off if that's all it covers.

This all happened about a month ago and she asked me to look into it. I did and I told my district manager and my service director about the problem. They said they would work something out with her and call her. Well, she hadn't heard anything from either one of them and now she wants a full refund of the maintenance package.

Had either the service director or the district manager worked something out with her it wouldn't be an issue now, but after a month with no results, she's now livid.

She's not mad at me but the fact that the finance manager lied to her. He's no longer with the company either.

The thing that get's me, is the fact that it's my best friends mom and all they did was sweep the problem under the rug and hoped it would go away. Well it isn't going away. I just got off the phone with and she now wants to call the owner of our dealer group and possibly lawyer up.

Is it just me thinking that it's BS? Why wouldn't a company do everything they could to save a customer instead of pushing it off??

Any thoughts? BTW, sorry for the long post.

[Smittro]

Because customer service does'nt exsist in this country anymore.

They know there will always be "x" amount more satisfied customers for every 1 lost.

The old saying, "the customer is always right" is gone these days.

Everything is just, business as usual, especially if they're a high volume company/dealer.

At least that is how it seems to have become over the years imho.

[SeVeReDiStOrTiOn]

What did you expect bro? You work for them you should know how dealerships operate and all the BS plans they try to sell. Wasn't there something in writting explaining the maintenance plan like there is with extended warranties? I assume there wasn't otherwise I doubt there would be an issue so IMO your friends mom is partly at fault. If customer service still existed they would refund some of the money back but it doesn't so...yea.

[Zinergy]

The service plan should state what it does and does not replace.

The bigger the company the less the individual is worth is usually how it works. They have thousands if not more customers so what is the big deal of losing one? Why refund the money when you already have it and a hundred other customers waiting in line to spend money on your products. The more business and accounts a company has the more it limits the exceptions that can be made. What if someone went public with the exception, they would have thousands of customers demanding the same exception. Some big companies do still retain a customer rating which gives each customer a number, usually based on how much they spend and how much they are worth. If you number is high you get more deals and breaks.

[Red97GTP]

Part of the problem is that our service department has been running into this more often with this previous finance manager lying about coverage on these types of plans. It didn't come to light until recently.

[GTP231]

Find a new job where that finance manager has not or does not currently work

[Zinergy]

Part of the problem is that our service department has been running into this more often with this previous finance manager lying about coverage on these types of plans. It didn't come to light until recently.

Happens all the time, someone does shitty lazy work, then leaves and then the complaints really start to roll in.

What dealer do you work for by the way? I live in Milwaukee to and would like to stay away from there lol.