Finally, last Friday, Stirling Mitsubishi picked up our Grandis and took it off for repair. They left us with a 6-seater Honda courtesy car (the FR-V), which I must say I am quite enjoying driving! It feels a lot lighter than the Grandis and therefore it's not quite so reassuringly solid and safe, but it is much nippier.
On Monday morning a very friendly chap from Stirling Mitsubishi phoned up just to check exactly what was needed to be done and said he'd keep me in touch with what was happening. I think that's the first unprompted phonecall I've had from anyone connected to Mitsubishi. Am I finally getting some proper customer service?
It's not all roses I'm afraid. On Monday I also got a letter from Russell Stanley (head office Customer Service Manager) in response to my letter of 6 March requesting compensation, which I sent to Alan Walker at Fife Mitsubishi and copied to Russell Stanley. Mr Stanley states that 'any offer made by the dealership will be on a goodwill basis as costs such as these are not an entitlement under the manufacturer's warranty.' Quite why he thought I was trying to claim anything under the warranty I'm not sure. Of course it's goodwill I'm looking for, but looks like that is something Fife Mitsubishi are right out if. In my opinion head office should be taking over here and compensating us if the dealership don't. Surely they want our goodwill too?
Needless to say I haven't had any response from Alan Walker himself.
Tuesday 27 March 2007
Thursday 22 March 2007
A quiz for dealers
I am aware that my catalogue of complaint about Mitsubishi may be becoming a little tedious to the reader (it is to me and I am intimately involved!) so by way of light relief, here is a little quiz. Imagine you work for a Mitsubishi dealership. A customer buys a second-hand car from you but the next day phones to tell you of a fault in the car. Do you:
(a) tell them that is what they have to expect if they buy a second-hand car
(b) tell them you have more important things to think about than their car
(c) mess about for 6 months treating the symptoms but not repairing the fundamental fault
(d) apologise, bring the car in to the workshop and repair it.
If you answered (a), (b) or (c) I think I know where you could get a job. If you answered (d) I'd dearly love to hear from you, especially if you really do work for a Mitsubishi dealership.
(a) tell them that is what they have to expect if they buy a second-hand car
(b) tell them you have more important things to think about than their car
(c) mess about for 6 months treating the symptoms but not repairing the fundamental fault
(d) apologise, bring the car in to the workshop and repair it.
If you answered (a), (b) or (c) I think I know where you could get a job. If you answered (d) I'd dearly love to hear from you, especially if you really do work for a Mitsubishi dealership.
A little progress
Hooray, we managed to fit the wiper blade this morning although we haven't actually dared use the wipers yet. Fortunately we've been enjoying beautifully sunny (although very cold!) weather.
I'm now wondering what I have to do to finally get the faulty seats repaired. It's now over two weeks since I last contacted head office and the Stirling dealership have not phoned to arrange taking the car in for repair. I haven't heard anything more from head office either, despite Russell Stanley's promise to email me on 7 March.
I think I will have to write to the Managing Director of The Colt Company again. It seems to be the only way to get any response from them. It would appear that Mitsubishi are quite happy to sell you a car but are not in the least bit concerned about what happens after the sale. We were sold a duff car and it seems that Mitsubishi's attitude is that that is just our tough luck.
I'm now wondering what I have to do to finally get the faulty seats repaired. It's now over two weeks since I last contacted head office and the Stirling dealership have not phoned to arrange taking the car in for repair. I haven't heard anything more from head office either, despite Russell Stanley's promise to email me on 7 March.
I think I will have to write to the Managing Director of The Colt Company again. It seems to be the only way to get any response from them. It would appear that Mitsubishi are quite happy to sell you a car but are not in the least bit concerned about what happens after the sale. We were sold a duff car and it seems that Mitsubishi's attitude is that that is just our tough luck.
Wednesday 21 March 2007
Still trying to get the wiper blade
Well, the chap from Stirling Mitsubishi has just turned up with the wiper blade. He was supposed to be here between 6 and 6.30pm, when it would still have been fairly light, but he didn't turn up till 6.40pm and then just handed the blade to my husband, said he knew nothing about fitting it because he worked with Hondas and left.
My husband tried to fit it but as it was now pretty much completely dark and the pictures in the manual bore no resemblance to the blade or the fitting, he had to give up. I just hope we can get it fitted in the morning otherwise I think I might scream!
Should it really be this difficult to get a replacement wiper blade? That's a pretty basic part so surely we can't be expected to go through this performance each time one needs to be replaced? Well, with Mitsubishi, anything is possible.
We are now seriously looking at getting rid of this car. If you are reading this blog and thinking about buying a Mitsubishi of any sort I strongly recommend you look into the availability of spare parts before you do!
My husband tried to fit it but as it was now pretty much completely dark and the pictures in the manual bore no resemblance to the blade or the fitting, he had to give up. I just hope we can get it fitted in the morning otherwise I think I might scream!
Should it really be this difficult to get a replacement wiper blade? That's a pretty basic part so surely we can't be expected to go through this performance each time one needs to be replaced? Well, with Mitsubishi, anything is possible.
We are now seriously looking at getting rid of this car. If you are reading this blog and thinking about buying a Mitsubishi of any sort I strongly recommend you look into the availability of spare parts before you do!
Please don't let it rain!
So our wiper blades disintegrated on Saturday and it's now Wednesday and we still haven't got a replacement blade for the driver's side wiper! I find it incredible that just getting a basic part is proving so difficult. We had to get hold of the dealership (three phonecalls), they had to order it (24 hours) and they are supposed to deliver it to us tonight (they were supposed to come yesterday but never turned up!). In the meantime we have had to hope it won't rain! How can a company operate like this!
Sunday 18 March 2007
One thing after another
I really thought things were going to start to happen last week. On Saturday 10 March we got a phonecall from the Mitsubishi dealership in Stirling saying that they would take over the repair of our car and hire us a 7-seater for the time that our car was in the garage. Finally, we thought, some proper customer service. The Stirling dealership said they'd phone back on Tuesday 13 March to fix a date when we could bring the car in...and guess what, they haven't phoned back yet (it is now Sunday 18 March)!
Meanwhile, our front wiper blades have disintegrated and we have discovered that the driver's side one is a non-standard size and is only available through dealerships. This is a bit of a problem when your blades fall apart at the weekend, as ours did. We actually tried asking Fife Mitsubishi if they had any as we happened to be passing there but the service department was closed (it being a weekend) and the sales people didn't know what they were looking for! So to replace the wiper blades involves a trip to a dealership, not exactly ideal if the problem occurs at the weekend and the dealership is 40-odd miles away!
(and still no email or further phonecall from Mitsubishi head office...)
Meanwhile, our front wiper blades have disintegrated and we have discovered that the driver's side one is a non-standard size and is only available through dealerships. This is a bit of a problem when your blades fall apart at the weekend, as ours did. We actually tried asking Fife Mitsubishi if they had any as we happened to be passing there but the service department was closed (it being a weekend) and the sales people didn't know what they were looking for! So to replace the wiper blades involves a trip to a dealership, not exactly ideal if the problem occurs at the weekend and the dealership is 40-odd miles away!
(and still no email or further phonecall from Mitsubishi head office...)
Friday 9 March 2007
What do customer services do?
I continue to be absolutely amazed by the complete lack of service to customers provided by the Mitsubishi head office customer services department. As a result of my phonecall on Tuesday with Russell Stanley, the Customer Services Manager at Mitsubishi head office, I was expecting an email from him on Wednesday outlining the main points arising from our converstaion and telling me the result of a conversation he'd promise to have with a Stirling dealership on my behalf. However, yet again I have heard nothing. I phoned him today but he was in a meeting and I left a message asking him to phone me back and he hasn't (it is now 5.15pm).
I thought that one of the basic rules in customer services was always to return a call/email when you said you would.
I am left wondering exactly what customer services at Mitsubishi head office does. Russell told me on Tuesday that they have no power to enforce any action by a franchised dealership and it has taken 6 weeks for me to get any sort of sensible reaction from them to my complaint, so what are they doing? They certainly seem to be doing something because every time I phone them I'm put on hold for about 5 minutes before someone is available to talk to me. I can only assume that there are an awful lot of unhappy Mitsubishi customers out there.
I thought that one of the basic rules in customer services was always to return a call/email when you said you would.
I am left wondering exactly what customer services at Mitsubishi head office does. Russell told me on Tuesday that they have no power to enforce any action by a franchised dealership and it has taken 6 weeks for me to get any sort of sensible reaction from them to my complaint, so what are they doing? They certainly seem to be doing something because every time I phone them I'm put on hold for about 5 minutes before someone is available to talk to me. I can only assume that there are an awful lot of unhappy Mitsubishi customers out there.
Tuesday 6 March 2007
Customer service can't actually help the customer at all
Today I'm feeling very despondent about the whole situation. After two attempts today I finally got to speak to the customer services manager at Mitsubishi head office. Basically he told me there's nothing he can do. He cannot make Fife Mitsubishi collect my car for repair, nor can he make sure they give me a suitable courtesy car (or any courtesy car!) while my car is being repaired. They are doing all that is required in saying they will repair the car if I take it to them. Never mind that they have already had many opportunities over the last few months to repair the fault, but have failed to do so.
After almost 6 weeks I am no further on, in fact I feel I am now in a worse position than before: Fife Mitsubishi will know that I have contacted head office and that they cannot help me, and the time lapse has taken away any urgency in getting the problem rectified.
All I can do apparently is write to Fife Mitsubishi, explain the problems and complaints, and see if they will offer me any compensation. Based on my previous experience I don't see that having any effect at all.
So, you buy a car from Fife Mitsubishi, it has a fault, they don't care, the fault is still there 7 months on and you are left to bear the cost and hassle of getting it repaired, with no prospect of compensation. It's not good is it?
After almost 6 weeks I am no further on, in fact I feel I am now in a worse position than before: Fife Mitsubishi will know that I have contacted head office and that they cannot help me, and the time lapse has taken away any urgency in getting the problem rectified.
All I can do apparently is write to Fife Mitsubishi, explain the problems and complaints, and see if they will offer me any compensation. Based on my previous experience I don't see that having any effect at all.
So, you buy a car from Fife Mitsubishi, it has a fault, they don't care, the fault is still there 7 months on and you are left to bear the cost and hassle of getting it repaired, with no prospect of compensation. It's not good is it?
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