Allpar Forums banner
Cancel

Customer Experience: Every Customer Counts, Every Journey Matters

2726 Views 83 Replies 24 Participants Last post by  CherokeeVision, 
Erik Latranyi
From the media release:

How are we getting there?

We are reshaping the entire customer experience by giving special attention to the complete customer journey and inspiring actions throughout our value chain with a focus on four key areas:

1. reaching an unprecedented level of customer satisfaction with our electrified products and services

2. using Big Data to reduce time to fix by 50%

3. improving each customer touchpoint with a new holistic view of the customer journey

4. always keeping the customer at the center of everything we do

We have dedicated Customer Care organizations in all regions to manage customer engagement activities worldwide.

Full media release here:

Customer Experience | Stellantis
Reply
Save
Like
  • Like
Reactions: 5
61 - 80 of 84 Posts
mentalicca
@aldo90731 and @Dave Z since we have worked (or currently do) in industries around market research and csat/cx, or analysis at least tangential to those things, what I find irritatingly amusing is how these companies seem to come to these conclusions. It tends to be someone finally convinces upper managent to get a good company to do real analysis on the subject matter (customer service, customer sat, quality, etc) and they are given lots of information and suggestions for improvement. Then, contracts don't get renewed because the old manager that got them to agree to use the SMEs left or got promoted out of trouble, and then they say it was because "they are going a different direction" (code for "we think we can do it better in house"). Then they bastardize the studies going forward to, in essence, tell them exactly what they want to hear. Then the industry studies come out, and (surprise) your company is back in the tanks.

For what it's worth I am on the IT side at my company (I also maintain our proprietary engines, so I understand the math behind it a fair amount), so I am not tied too directly the data analysis and presentation portion, but I have done so many custom implementations because of these companies, only for us to lose them later to this mindset.
See less See more
Reply
Save
Like
  • Like
Reactions: 2
npaladin2000
Powdered Toast Man said:
I worked at a bank that started doing these customer service surveys and same thing. Anything but a 10 is a zero. It’s absurd. It’s human nature not to rate things 100%. How many movies have you seen that you would rate 5/5 stars? How many meals in a restaurant would you give 10/10 to even if everything was completely fine? It’s normal for everyone to say 9/10 or 4/5. It’s companies trying to put a metric on human perceptions and you can’t do that.

Edit to add: I've long advocated that if their metrics are measured as a binary response (10 meets, 9 through 1 did not meet), then the questions should be structured as a Yes/No response.
"Was the reason for your visit resolved to your satisfaction?" Yes/No
"Would you categorize your experience in this visit as excellent?" Yes/No
"Based on your experience in this visit, would you recommend Dealer to a friend or family?" Yes/No
Click to expand...
You're assuming they're really about consumer feedback. But when you consider that 9 answers out of 10 are negative, the real reason is to give managers an excuse to do things that are considered punitive if needed.
Reply
Save
Like
Dave Z
@mentallica... that's part of it.
Another part is that you have to have some mind-sets which are difficult for executives:
1) Metrics management instead of people management. Most execs get to their place because of extroversion and people skills. Getting those jobs is usually a sales task, not a performance task.
2) Systems approach, easier for engineers than the lawyers and accountants and sales people who usually become CEOs. Quality is many moving parts. It's a system. Push too hard in one place and it pops back in another. That's the "10" thing.
3) Long term quality approach where you know that you are making an investment which will pay off a few years later. I have no idea why automakers can't grasp this concept when they are investing in the long term everywhere else.
4) ... I forget the other two I had in mind. but continuous improvement comes to mind. [sigh]
5) I don't really know how to say this but it's what I think of as "the secretary effect." Sometimes secretaries get absurd power over certain things, including marketing. Sometimes they deserve it but usually not so much. This is basically where if someone really knows the exec well, they get undue influence. Execs don't have a lot of time to think about any one thing in particular so their decision making tends to be based on relationships. Who is closest to an executive? Part of Bob Lutz's genius was talking to people at lower levels of the organization rather than just hanging out with the Executive Suite crew.

I find it interesting that they are willing to distrust dealers when it comes to warranty work but trust them implicitly with original copies of customer surveys including telling them who said what. Y'know in my field you never ever ever let managers see what people wrote, with rare exceptions where you disclose up front what will happen. It's immoral, unethical, and stupid in my field to do that. But what happens to your customer survey? The service manager gets the original, last time I looked. Revenge! or reward for all tens.

The five star program was on a good track when it was set up, but then they had zone reps manage it, and that was its death knell. The Ford program that copied Chrysler's was on a good track when they set it up, but then the dealers pressured them and they basically dropped the standards to the point of idiocy.

The way we choose executives in the USA is usually inane. So is the way it's done elsewhere, quite often... but I think USA execs have higher short-term pressures and often micromanage too much.

The best way to solve this problem would probably be getting a cross-functional task force together, including experts from TARP or wherever, engineers, sales or marketing people, etc., and figuring out how to:
1) Measure dealerships in a sensible fashion that gets to all points of the process and doesn't allow them to see individual ratings or associate names with comments
2) Have reasonable rewards and punishments that don't hurt the good ones and don't result in unwanted behavior
3) Make it all better for the customer in both sales and service
4) Still have a profit path for the dealers - Five Star was not a punishment system but a rewards system
See less See more
Reply
Save
Like
  • Like
Reactions: 2
mentalicca
Dave Z said:
4) Still have a profit path for the dealers - Five Star was not a punishment system but a rewards system
Click to expand...
Generally this seems to be getting worse for CDJR not better. I was just looking on Edmunds at Invoice vs MSRP pricing. Wagoneer is around $1500 difference. All of the CDJR vehicles are like this. Then you look at Ford, GM, or Toyota and the difference is staggering. $2500-$3000 for the Expedition/Suburban, and over $5,000 for Toyota, which already starts $1000s cheaper for similar equipment.

I would not want to be a CDJR dealer under those conditions. I am not a dealership apologist, but sheesh, people do gotta eat.
Reply
Save
Like
  • Like
Reactions: 3
Dave Z
mentalicca said:
Generally this seems to be getting worse for CDJR not better. I was just looking on Edmunds at Invoice vs MSRP pricing. Wagoneer is around $1500 difference. All of the CDJR vehicles are like this. Then you look at Ford, GM, or Toyota and the difference is staggering. $2500-$3000 for the Expedition/Suburban, and over $5,000 for Toyota, which already starts $1000s cheaper for similar equipment.

I would not want to be a CDJR dealer under those conditions. I am not a dealership apologist, but sheesh, people do gotta eat.
Click to expand...
Keeping in mind I agree with you!
I don't think they are having any trouble eating right now, but that does explain why they aren't more flexible on price.
When Tavares stops talking about cost savings and starts talking about quality, quality might go up.
Reply
Save
Like
  • Like
Reactions: 4
mentalicca
Hah, yep. That last part was more a joke. But if CDJR vehicles aren't competitive in price (which was the point of the previous post), quality, or level of service, then expect sales to suffer and customers to leave.

They really do need to find a way to get out of the "us vs them" mentality with dealers and customers. Forcing dealers into either "market adjustment pricing" or "sales volume goals for bonus cash" is not the way to win them back. And forcing customers needing service on new vehicles to wait weeks on back ordered parts, or denying warranty claims for purely pedantic reasons, is surely not the way to retain that customer. I love my Dodges (and Wrangler), but there is a reason that, among the many of my close friends and family, very few want to get another CDJR after their first.
Reply
Save
Like
  • Like
Reactions: 2
GasAxe
I’ll throw one thing out in support of some dealers and that’s having to deal with the completely unreasonable expectations some customers have. I’ve listened in on service managers trying to explain how tires with the cords showing can’t possibly be safe let alone pass an inspection. We all know and see the imbeciles on the road, trying working with them personally.

Luckily I have pretty decent flexibility when it comes to dropping off and picking up vehicles for service. By helping out the service managers schedule to deal with a problematic customer, the good managers remember and help me out when possible. The worst dealers are the ones that never have the same person behind the desk or in the showroom. Why care about building a relationship with a customer if there’s a complete turnover every year.
Reply
Save
Like
  • Like
Reactions: 2
85lebaront2
Dave Z said:
The original TARP research showed that a 10 score would be worth __ increase in loyalty and __ increase in likelihood of recommending. As with Frederick Winslow Taylor never actually saying "Oh, by the way, once productivity goes up, slash the piece-rate," TARP certainly never said "Only reward for 10s." (Taylor was quite frustrated with his clients for repeatedly using his work to shaft line workers.)

@85lebaront2 ... I still think the dealerships to be chosen was internal politics. Not Democratic/Republican. At the time 98% of dealerships were owned by Republicans, so obviously most of the closed dealerships were owned by Republicans. I doubt that factored into it at all. From the input I got from across the country, it was all about relationships with the dealer relations and zone people... though high volume certainly didn't hurt. It certainly was not 100% “the customer numbers.”

In this area, they closed most of the worst dealerships, most of which came back later.
Click to expand...
In our area, the choice seemed to be, as you said high volume, but also the crookedest were kept. They have now reached a new low, the owner of the big dealerships, decided to retire at 62 and built a beautiful retirement home a few miles from where I live on Virginia's Eastern Shore, he sold them to a large local chain, that are so "honest" that they lost the Smart franchise to the Dealer I used to work for. What it means for people in SE VA, either deal with them or use one of the few other CDJR dealers in South Hampton Roads.
Reply
Save
Like
aldo90731
GasAxe said:
I’ll throw one thing out in support of some dealers and that’s having to deal with the completely unreasonable expectations some customers have. I’ve listened in on service managers trying to explain how tires with the cords showing can’t possibly be safe let alone pass an inspection. We all know and see the imbeciles on the road, trying working with them personally.

Luckily I have pretty decent flexibility when it comes to dropping off and picking up vehicles for service. By helping out the service managers schedule to deal with a problematic customer, the good managers remember and help me out when possible. The worst dealers are the ones that never have the same person behind the desk or in the showroom. Why care about building a relationship with a customer if there’s a complete turnover every year.
Click to expand...
Thing is, once customers lose trust in their dealer, they won’t believe anything that comes out of their mouths. Even if they are stating a fact. It is a vicious cycle.

The stuff that comes out of the mouths of the staff at my local CDJR dealer is unbelievable.

I wouldn’t believe it either if I hadn’t heard it with my own two ears.
Reply
Save
Like
  • Like
Reactions: 4
ImperialCrown
The pre-Daimler Five-Star program was more of a 'process' regimen, like clerical & warranty administration improvements. It didn't really affect us in Service & Sales.
Sure there may have been a bump in morale when we had the Five-Star sign out front, but the magic wore off and it was back to the same old-same old.

I was expecting it to be something more.

Dr.Z called us 'Facharbeiter' & I thought that meant that we would get more factory recognition & assistance in the service department, maybe a raise. Nothing really came of it.

When Chrysler said that it had cut warranty costs by some margin, it wasn't because of building a better product, it was because of denying more dealer warranty claims.
Flat-rate warranty times pay poorly to begin with. When denied, it may create greed to compensate for the loss in pay.
This usually falls on the good, paying customers. It isn't fair to the customer or to the other good employees watching this happen.
Reply
Save
Like
  • Like
Reactions: 5
Adventurer55
When you're on the bottom, or are close to it, you're faced with decisions. You can either keep doing the same things, which will offer the same result, or try something different. I'm not sure they're at the point of trying something different yet. Different to me would first amount to the customer comes first. If they have an issue that is clearly a warranty claim fix it and approve it, fast. This shouldn't even be a question, to me as a customer. Loaner vehicles should be provided, but I'm not smart enough about the system as to how that would work. Maybe others can better explain that.
Reply
Save
Like
  • Like
Reactions: 3
HotCarNut
aldo90731 said:
Stellantis is not training dealers, either.

Wrangler JL has been out now for six model years. If you buy a 2023 JL and are one of the many owners who start to have battery problems after six months:
  1. The dealer will give you in an appointment two or three weeks out
  2. Take your vehicle without giving you a loaner
  3. Keep the Jeep sitting on a corner for several more days
  4. Run a few diagnostics, put the battery on a trickle charger, and call you the next morning to come get the vehicle
  5. When you pick up your Jeep, the electrical system starts acting up again
  6. You get another appointment
  7. Again, the dealer takes your Jeep without giving you a loaner
  8. This time they keep the Jeep for several weeks. Replace modules left and right. Weeks later they call you to come get the Jeep
  9. You pick up the vehicle and the electrical system is still acting up
  10. Repeat this entire dance several more times
  11. At this point you —or your espouse— are at your wit’s end
  12. You involve JeepCares. Depending on the dealer, JeepCares might or might not be able to do anything about it
  13. The dealer often times tells the customer that they cannot fix the vehicle
The above is no exaggeration. I see two or three threads like this pop up every week on the Wrangler forums. Sometimes the customers are so fed up they initiate buyback proceedings.

Seventy percent of the time all it takes is a good pair of aftermarket batteries to solve the issue permanently. But for some reason after six model years, neither dealers nor Stellantis have figured it out.

Seriously? How is this possible? How incompetent does an automaker have to be to not solve a problem so common yet so simple? Does anyone even care?

Meanwhile, Jeep keeps jacking prices like there’s no tomorrow.

The entire thing is truly baffling.

Call me skeptic, but those words from Stellantis are just that, words.
Click to expand...
I know it sounds crazy, but the very first thing I'm going to do with any new vehicle I buy is replace the factory batteries and the tires. Both are places that most customers don't notice the factory really skimped, regardless of the name brand stamped on them. My "Ah HA" moment on tires was with my Shelby GT350 - they were Michelin PilotSports, but a custom compound for Ford that was supposed to last longer. So regardless of the stamp on them, the grip level sucked for a car at that level. Buy the stock Michelins (same stamp) and voila! Handling improves dramatically on a car that was supposed to be "track ready" from the showroom floor. It caused me to think back to my experiences with my 300S, how the ride improved after I changed the tires when the factories were end of life. Same deal with every CDJR vehicle I've had.
Reply
Save
Like
  • Like
Reactions: 2
Dave Z
Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.

My factory batteries from 2013 lasted nine years. Today I'm told it's nine months.

85lebaront2 said:
In our area, the choice seemed to be, as you said high volume, but also the crookedest were kept. They have now reached a new low, the owner of the big dealerships, decided to retire at 62 and built a beautiful retirement home a few miles from where I live on Virginia's Eastern Shore, he sold them to a large local chain, that are so "honest" that they lost the Smart franchise to the Dealer I used to work for. What it means for people in SE VA, either deal with them or use one of the few other CDJR dealers in South Hampton Roads.
Click to expand...
A lot of it was regional because they placed too much trust in zone reps, from what I was privately told.
Reply
Save
Like
aldo90731
HotCarNut said:
I know it sounds crazy, but the very first thing I'm going to do with any new vehicle I buy is replace the factory batteries and the tires. Both are places that most customers don't notice the factory really skimped, regardless of the name brand stamped on them. My "Ah HA" moment on tires was with my Shelby GT350 - they were Michelin PilotSports, but a custom compound for Ford that was supposed to last longer. So regardless of the stamp on them, the grip level sucked for a car at that level. Buy the stock Michelins (same stamp) and voila! Handling improves dramatically on a car that was supposed to be "track ready" from the showroom floor. It caused me to think back to my experiences with my 300S, how the ride improved after I changed the tires when the factories were end of life. Same deal with every CDJR vehicle I've had.
Click to expand...
In my case, the famous Goodyear F1 Supercar tires that came with my Challenger SRT were easily punctured —not a good thing on a vehicle without a spare tire; and sucked in the rain. Anything as much as 1mm of drizzle would send the rear spinning out of control. Worse, each tire was $400, a small fortune ten years ago.

So when the time came to replace tires, I went with a set of Falken Azenis. They cost less than half, gave you much more predictable grip, and didn’t puncture so easily.
Reply
Save
Like
  • Like
Reactions: 4
Adventurer55
Dave Z said:
Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.

My factory batteries from 2013 lasted nine years. Today I'm told it's nine months.



A lot of it was regional because they placed too much trust in zone reps, from what I was privately told.
Click to expand...
Well so far the battery has lasted longer then 9 months.
Reply
Save
Like
  • Like
Reactions: 2
Dave Z
aldo90731 said:
In my case, the famous Goodyear F1 Supercar tires that came with my Challenger SRT were easily punctured —not a good thing on a vehicle without a spare tire; and sucked in the rain. Anything as much as 1mm of drizzle would send the rear spinning out of control. Worse, each tire was $400, a small fortune ten years ago.

So when the time came to replace tires, I went with a set of Falken Azenis. They cost less than half, gave you much more predictable grip, and didn’t puncture so easily.
Click to expand...
What's kind of interesting there is it echos my experience with the PT Cruiser GT, a lesser car but still, nearly 300 hp on the front tires. It came with Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires. These had been excellent on our 300M and Neon Sport, but within 15,000 miles, they were damn near bald on the PT-GT and couldn't handle rain or dirty roads. I replaced them with Goodyear Eagle F1s (not the Supercar ones but all seasons with a similar name) at much lower cost, and those tires had excellent wear and cornering. It's almost as if the factory long ago stopped actually testing different tires to see which would work best, and started going with the best bid from the tire manufacturer (or perhaps a brown paper bag changing hands? It's happened before).
Reply
Save
Like
  • Like
Reactions: 3
npaladin2000
I've never had good, balanced tires on a new car. No matter what they say, they always bias them to some degree for fuel economy to improve the sticker. Hybrids especially, but to some degree all of them. Heck when I swapped the tires on my Niro I lost 10 MPGs. Such a mess. But I think I know why they do it: Dealers also sell NEW TIRES as UPGRADES. And then KEEP THE OLD TIRES and RESELL THEM TO SOMEONE ELSE.
Reply
Save
Like
85lebaront2
Interesting thought on the Zone reps, ours at the dealership I worked at were great, The Chrysler rep was a black guy named... James Brown, very good to deal with, easy on claims as long as you had proper documentation. Ran into him a number of years later at a Scoutmaster's dinner at our summer camp, we were seated across from each other and he reached for something and his watch (five sided face) caught my eye. I looked at him and said I believe we know each other, you're James Brown, the Chrysler rep. he looked at me and said * dealership technician, I told him guilty as charged, and he asked where I had gone, he figured another brand.

On tires, I have a big dually truck, and tires get expensive fast on it, a good friend with a similar truck had a warehouse store refuse to sell him 2 tires for the front of his because their policy stated on a dually it had to be 4 minimum (real intelligent, put two new ones on the front and 2 somewhere in the rear) I found that the school busses here use the same size tires as my F350, so they are (a) readily available and (b) reasonably priced. I needed 2 the first time then went back and got 4 more. The first were in 2014, and they are still in great condition they are Firestone Transforce LT215/85R16/10 and are actually capable of more load than the truck is rated for.
See less See more
Reply
Save
Like
  • Like
Reactions: 3
GasAxe
aldo90731 said:
Thing is, once customers lose trust in their dealer, they won’t believe anything that comes out of their mouths. Even if they are stating a fact. It is a vicious cycle.

The stuff that comes out of the mouths of the staff at my local CDJR dealer is unbelievable.

I wouldn’t believe it either if I hadn’t heard it with my own two ears.
Click to expand...
No doubt on trust. I’ve been given the “they all do that” line from techs and managers as well. I believe I’ve told this story before, but I had a service manager at a Subaru dealer tell me my Forester needed new wheel bearings when I brought it in for an oil change. This was the day before we were leaving on a 2000 mile road trip. I took the car to a friend who was a mechanic to check to see how bad the bearing were and decide if we needed to call off the trip. When we inspected it, there was zero play or movement on the bearing indicating they were bad. I called the dealership back and asked the same manager why the discrepancy. His response was it must of been on a different vehicle. That was the last time I went there for service because at best, they were trying to screw me and at worst, they sent an unsafe vehicle out to another customer without warning. Neither is acceptable.
Reply
Save
Like
  • Like
Reactions: 4
D
Tires - the OEM Michelins that were on my 2006 Dodge Ram 1500 when new lasted 111K miles though they were squirreley the last 10K miles. Replaced them with Firestone Destination LE's, then a couple of sets of Primewells (inexpensive tire from Firestone) and currently it has Firestone Destination LE3's on it. The Michelins were just too expensive for my wallet. The Primewells last about 55K miles per set. The Destination LE's are rated for 70K miles.

The worst tires I've had were the Kumho's that came on our Journey's. They wore out by 36K miles.
Reply
Save
Like
61 - 80 of 84 Posts
Allpar Forums
A forum community dedicated to Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Chrysler, AMC owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
Mopar / Stellantis News Repairs, Maintenance, Help Rumors and General Chrysler Discussion Auto News & Rumors Minivans · Pacifica
Top