As a process engineer this story is just too real to ignore.
My wife gets great service at Big O tires. I appreciate that a lot. So I use them, also. Auto work is always long no matter where you go. Price is normal, but if you take care of my wife, I like you.
I get mediocre to bad service from Big O tires. It is always a hassle of change orders, out of stock surprises, and long waits with a whiney TV in the foyer. So I bring a computer to get work done. But they serve my wife well and I appreciate it.
The biggest frustration has been being told each time for a decade that I don’t exist and have never done business with them before. I have spent thousands of dollars with them. Tires, brakes, alignments and more get done there. But they serve my wife well.
Today, here we go again. I went in a week ago to get warranty on an alignment and two new tires on the front. They as usual are out of stock. I made the appointment for 7:30am for today in hopes I could get on with my day. Two days ago I confirmed with the salesman. It is 11am as I write this. 4 hours for a 30 minute job. They did not have the tires and had them brought from another shop. These are not the tires ordered, but they will work.
As usual each time the told me my truck and I are not in their system. I was rested and ready for the wait, so I thought for a minute. How can they be so lost? So I went out to my truck and got out a past warranty and looked at every identifying field. There was VIN, model, year, date, address, and my wife’s name. All this time, they are looking for my name and I don’t exist. Apparently their system can’t look up all the other identifying information. The adept front desk worker offered to put my name alongside my wife’s so they could find me in the future.
Processes are designed to enable ease and allow you freedom to think versus make the simple decisions. Think. Think. Think. Your customer will appreciate it.
Service still is long and drawn, but they serve my wife well and now I have a name and the next time they might serve me better. I hope it doesn’t affect her being served the next time.
SOLUM SERVICES 