Alright Ive pretty much gone my whole life not taking issue with this, until now.

I had an appointment today at 10am for my 25k service on my Audi and I am going out of town tomorrow morning at 6am. I knew before I asked what I was going to get as a response, but I asked anyways, because I am a glutton for punishment and I finally wanted to address this issue with auto service guys.

I asked them point blank: "When am I going to get my car back?". Naturally, they say what they always say. "I don't know". "We can't guarantee".

"Well how long does the 25k service take?"
"It takes 1 hour"
"Then surely, as every other business on this planet does, you have scheduled only enough cars for the # of hours you have in the day, and the # of technicians available, so that you are not overbooked and clients get their cars back 1 hour after they bring them in, right?"
"Sir, unexpected things happen. We can't tell you when you'll get your car back. It could be today, it could be tomorrow"
"Why is it that every other profession is able to schedule, load balance, and hire enough guys to at least give a reasonable turnaround time, but every time I bring my car in for a 1 hour routine inspection, you guys dont know when it will be done, and usually give it back to me 8 hours later? You're giving me a 9 hour window today, and possibly an 18 hour window for a job that takes ONE HOUR to do? Dont you think thats pretty bad management and planning?"

It went on and on like that.

First off I realize already that unexpected things can happen. Unexpected things happen in EVERY scheduled service profession there is. Handling that is simple. Its called communication. You are doing routine service work and believe it or not, those things ARE repeatable and you CAN set a time duration for them. If something unexpected happens, you tell the customer, and a delay is introduced. You don't however have the right to tell everyone to come in at 8am and "Drop off their car" and give it back to them at 6pm ... for 1 hour job.... many times not even giving it back until the next day.

Some of you guys dont even offer rental cars for clients. They're just out of luck and have to find their way around for "who knows" how long.

That is unacceptable.

Anyone with half a brain would simply do this:

1) Schedule all fixed duration services (10k, 15k, 20k, 25k routine checkups) based on how long they take. What a concept! If they take 1 hour, you allot time for that one car for that one hour. What a concept! You schedule appointments all day not just tell everyone to bring them in at 9am and leave them. What a concept! Everyone else does this, why can't you guys? Its a simple math equation. Job takes 1 hour (or 2 or 3), # of cars, # of technicians, # of hours in the day = a schedule.

2) Instead of taking everyones car at 9am and sending them all home or off to work for 9 hours without a damn clue when they'll get it back ... take people at 9am, 10am, 11am, and give them their cars back at 10am, 11am, 12pm. In and out in the time it takes to peform the service. What a concept. Everyone else does it! Why cant you guys?

3) If during the routine inspection something is found that takes more time, simply call the customer and explain it. If possible, put those items into a list and present it to the customer when they pick up their car an hour after dropping it off. "Sir we found these things and we need you to bring your car back so we can fix them. We wanted to keep on schedule and get you your car back on time. Your routine inspection is done"

I basically cannot bring my car in AT ALL today because nobody at the Audi service center could tell me whether my ONE HOUR job would take ONE HOUR or extend over into tomorrow, ruining my travel plans. I begged for some assurance or schedule or semblance of organized thought from them and got blank stares from everyone.

The supervisor offered to get the car in and out in 1 hour for me if I brought it in today. He said he would reshuffle everyone else after me. I told him "IM not here to inconvenience other people. Im here to point out that you guys need to start learning how to schedule your work so your clients aren't so inconvenienced". I opted not to bring my car in at all today. Maybe someone else will benefit from this.

Great planning. Great organization. Great service. Great scheduling. Lots of thought put into the process.

 

Wow.. you're angry.. but definatley an excellant rant I'm glad you wrote this

 

Interesting...my Audi dealer takes my car at my appt. time...and begins working on it then.

 

Took like an hour and a half.

 

a tight deadline like you have. But I did wonder from time to time. They asked me one time: "You wanna wait for it?" I asked "Will it be done in an hour?" Them: "No". Me: "Give me the loaner."

But ever since they moved into the new facilities they seem a little different. I dropped my car off for the 40K service and to my surprise, instead of driving it around back to sit and wait, they pulled it right in and began working on it. i was shocked. But I was on my way to work so I couldn't wait for it.

Good rant though. What I hate is how they won't fix something until they see it malfuntion themselves. My moonroof will not tilt unless I hold the button until it opens all the way. I used to just hit it and it would tilt. Told them this during 40K service. They didn't fix it because it worked for them. So now what am I supposed to do? The second it acts up haul *** to the dealer and say "Look! Look! its not working!"

 

Dropped off my car last night for work to be done today:

inbetween oil & filter change.
squeeky drivers seat (suggested felt between plastic pieces)
glovebox door rattles in the morning
right rear exhaust hangs lower than left side
TSB for the engine harness cover
TSB for the "auto light icon" fix (basically replace rear view mirror)

Called by another SA who I know (regular SA's day off today). Hasn't even looked at my car yet because they're backlogged from yesterday (usually they are right on schedule for maintenance and repair but guess something happened yesterday).

Meh, at least they gave me a loaner ('04 A6 2.7T S-line =D)

But excellent rant...I wholeheartedly agree with you on the scheduling thing. Once in a blue moon could the dealer start working on your car right when you bring it in...maybe someday they'll figure out a better scheduling process.

Still love my A4 tho =)

 

the tilt feature on the moon roof is "one-touch"?!

 

LOL ... i thought for sure Id get verbally destroyed for this post. Thanks for understanding.

I agree with one other guy - Ive just never raised the issue with anyone because I usually can deal with the inconvenience... but I know most people can't. Especially businessmen who have seriously tight schedules. Everything they do is planned out "to the T" and I can imagine this driving them insane.

Again its not just Audi. Its every auto service center. Honda did it to me too, as did Volkswagon, back in the day.

Somewhere along the line, someone in this industry slipped under the radar of good business practices, and this became acceptable - just for auto service centers. Weird phenomenon.

 

that I am going to wait, so I am in and out. BUT, since I did'nt buy the car there I don't get a loaner, guess I am less important. The worse service was from the dealership I bought my car at. I asked what is involved with the 20,000 Mile service, so I can schedule my time and wait for the car. I was told, if you want to know whats done, read the book, and no, you can't wait because we don't know when we will get to it. That is why I switched dealerships, the only hardship now is no loaner.

 

typically another Audi or an Escalade (Bling BLING!)