Poor Service Communication, Part II

Communication Sets the Tone

A few weeks ago (April 2019), we focused on how poorly service personnel often communicate with their customers, using examples that in the end lead to several customers being underserved.

Two weeks later the tables turned, and so we want to pass along how it can often be necessary to translate what a customer is saying into a solvable problem. Which is to say that no matter who may be communicating poorly, the onus stays on the service side.

A Success

We got a call from a driver who had been unable to get into her Cadillac Escalade. Her key fob had died and the car hides its keyhole in two very different ways, but those ways look nearly identical.

This cap (right) at the back of the driver’s door handle hides the key hole and it, or some part of it, needs to be removed. The slot shown in the image did not exist on the earlier version of the Escalade she had, and she had not found our video for the proper process. Cadillac in their infinite wisdom changed the cap removal process in the middle of 2017 model year.

To her credit, she did not try to force off the cap, which would have damaged the car. But here is where things went sideways.

As I explained that the top 1/8 inch piece of the cap needed to be pushed to the side, she attempted to assure me that she understood by saying, “so the platinum piece is what needs to be removed.”

My immediate reaction internally was that there isn’t a car on the planet with a drop of visible platinum. The vehicle wouldn’t be in anyone’s price range. So I asked to clarify. She pretty much repeated the same thing, but it dawned on me that she was describing the color of the outermost portion of the cap. Platinum as a color, not a metal.

Translation successful.

Another Success

This brought me back to another phone call where a driver called in to a dealership I was working at saying there was a red light blinking on her instrument panel. I asked here to describe it. She said a man riding a horse!

I thought for a moment and asked if she had her seat belt on. She didn’t and can you imagine it?

Another successful translation.

A Embarrassing Failure

Which takes us to a very embarrassing failure. A lady approached a parts department counter I worked at years ago and said she wanted to get her husband a hide a bed. There were three of us standing there, and we were mildly successful at holding back a laugh, because we all collectively saw this in our heads.

None of us were able to translate her request until after she had left clearly flustered. And in just a few minutes. Frankly we were embarrassed as well.

She wanted a pick-up truck bed liner. A truly failed translation, and frankly a lost sale.

Now I don’t know any useful procedure for fixing this. But I can add a bit that might help. The lady describing a piece as platinum could easily have been an artist, accustomed to many more color names than most of us. I know for sure that the driver not wearing her seat belt lived in equestrian country and is likely rider. And the lady looking for a hide a bed is simply likely more comfortable talking household items than truck parts.

The last one is the easiest to address by far, which is to suggest that parts and service personnel recognize that most women will likely be at the greatest disadvantage and certainly don’t need to be condescended to.

From all three we can say that knowing your potential audience will go a long way in helping to translate people language to an automotive variant. The auto world truly has its own language.

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The information on this website is provided for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.

Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.

Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow. And when it comes to the current state of flux in the auto industry, nothing is more true.

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