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I'm an car audio installer at a large electronics store. During the winter months, most of my time is spent installing vehicle remote start systems.
Our remote start systems are all sold with installation included (not to be confused with "free" installation). In fact, when you buy a remote start from us, the bulk of the price is the labor for the installation. We don't sell them without installation. Because of this, the price of our remote starts is much higher than the ones you see hanging on pegs at auto parts stores or discount stores.
Remote starters are a big Christmas item, and big during the cold months, so the combination of the two means that there's often a two week wait to have one installed during the time after the holidays. In my mind, the customers who have purchased a remote start from us have already paid for their installation, so we have a responsibility to serve them before we take in a remote start we didn't sell. In fact, during the very busy period, I will only install units that were purchased from us. Remote starters purchased elsewhere have to wait until February.
We had a lady who checked out the price of our remote starters and decided they were priced too high. So she crossed the street to Walmart and bought a $50 one hanging from a peg. She then came back to us to make an appointment to have it installed. This was in early January. We explained that she'd have to wait until after the busy season.
That, she told us, is HORRIBLE customer service.
Well, yes, it is. Specifically, we're providing horrible service to Walmart's customers. We're doing this so that we can provide better service to OUR customers. If you had chosen to become OUR customer, instead of Walmart's customer, then perhaps we'd be more willing to listen to your complaints about our service.
I don't think we ever got to the point of explaining that she'd need to pay us 3 times what she paid for the remote start, in order to have it installed.
Our remote start systems are all sold with installation included (not to be confused with "free" installation). In fact, when you buy a remote start from us, the bulk of the price is the labor for the installation. We don't sell them without installation. Because of this, the price of our remote starts is much higher than the ones you see hanging on pegs at auto parts stores or discount stores.
Remote starters are a big Christmas item, and big during the cold months, so the combination of the two means that there's often a two week wait to have one installed during the time after the holidays. In my mind, the customers who have purchased a remote start from us have already paid for their installation, so we have a responsibility to serve them before we take in a remote start we didn't sell. In fact, during the very busy period, I will only install units that were purchased from us. Remote starters purchased elsewhere have to wait until February.
We had a lady who checked out the price of our remote starters and decided they were priced too high. So she crossed the street to Walmart and bought a $50 one hanging from a peg. She then came back to us to make an appointment to have it installed. This was in early January. We explained that she'd have to wait until after the busy season.
That, she told us, is HORRIBLE customer service.
Well, yes, it is. Specifically, we're providing horrible service to Walmart's customers. We're doing this so that we can provide better service to OUR customers. If you had chosen to become OUR customer, instead of Walmart's customer, then perhaps we'd be more willing to listen to your complaints about our service.
I don't think we ever got to the point of explaining that she'd need to pay us 3 times what she paid for the remote start, in order to have it installed.
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