FYI



AUBURN HILLS, MI – Chrysler LLC is reviewing the effectiveness of its customer call-center in India because call-takers have demonstrated a limited understanding of North American car culture.

“We’re kind of re-evaluating,” Chrysler’s Chief Customer Officer Doug Betts says of the offshore call center operated by U.S.-based customer-relationship consultancy Convergys Corp.

The auto maker has no qualms with the communications skills or professionalism of the India-based call-takers, he tells Ward’s. But Chrysler has noted instances when call-takers failed to comprehend terminology considered part of everyday language in North America.
Chrysler “re-evaluating,” says Doug Betts, vice president and chief customer officer.

“Somebody might say something about a (cruise-control) stalk and they don’t know what a stalk is,” Betts says.

The city of Pune, site of the Convergys-backed Chrysler call center, is regarded as India’s automotive capital. But the composition of India’s vehicle population differs markedly from North America’s.

Chrysler’s review of the call-center’s service comes in the midst of a company-wide quality push. The auto maker’s warranty costs and recalls have fallen dramatically, but a reorganization implemented by Betts last year aims to improve quality at all levels.

Against this backdrop, Chrysler is seeking to convince the U.S. government it deserves the $5 billion in emergency aid it needs to withstand the current global economic meltdown. The Obama Admin. has pledged its support, but financing terms are contingent on U.S. Treasury Dept. approval of an in-depth plan that demonstrates Chrysler’s long-term viability.

Betts says he experienced similar problems with India-based call centers in his previous job as Nissan North America Inc.’s chief quality steward. Today, Nissan has call centers in Franklin, TN; Hamilton, ON, Canada; and Manila, Philippines.

Convergys, which also operates a Chrysler call center in Salt Lake City, UT, did not respond to a request for comment.

Chrysler oversees a third call center here, but Pune handles every initial customer contact. If a matter is not resolved at that level, it is referred to Salt Lake City or Auburn Hills.

The Pune call-takers successfully handle about 75% of the inquiries they receive, Chrysler says.

“I’ve listened to the calls,” Betts says. “The (call-takers) have very good diction. They don’t have really bad accents. You wouldn’t complain about being able to understand them. But the issue that you can have is they don’t live in a (North America-style) car culture.”

With 3.8 million people, according to India’s latest census, Pune is that nation’s eighth-largest city, where buses and cars share the road with motorized rickshaws. Two-wheeled vehicles such as scooters outnumber cars 4:1, according to one estimate.

Meanwhile, Betts says he has received overwhelmingly positive response – 90% – to Chrysler’s new method of gathering dealer-level customer-satisfaction data. The auto maker last year replaced a points-based scale with open-ended questions designed to discover real-world service-quality problems.

“Chrysler will not give (dealers) a numerical target,” he says. “This system is for (dealers) to learn.”

Customers are asked about their experience at the dealership. They also are encouraged to suggest ways that experience could be enhanced.

Says Betts: “We don’t want (dealership) employees saying, ‘Hey, I’d really appreciate it if you gave me a 10.…Have you seen the picture of my wife and kids here?’

“You want the employees to say to the customer, ‘If there’s anything that we’ve done that you don’t like, you can tell me now. Or, if you’re not comfortable, they’re going to call you tonight. Tell ‘em. Because we want to know. We want to get better. We want to satisfy you.’ That’s what employees should be telling customers.

“That’s not the way it’s been with the old system, where they were trying to get a score, begging for numbers,” he adds.

Chrysler’s new research method also calls for extensive follow-up. Customers are scheduled to be contacted after their regular maintenance visit, after seven months, then three years, then five years.

 

My wife worked for a dealership and a little while after she started her boss told her that she would receive letters from Chrysler at home that were addressed to other people but with her street address. She was advised to bring them to work and hand them to him. She realized that these were the survey forms and they were the ones sent to customers who had real problems with the dealership. So the result was that this customer did not get to complain to Chrysler and the dealership did not get a bad review. After a while she told her boss that this was not something she wanted to be a part of, no hard feelings as he got someone else to do it.
Despite their bad record that they still received from customers the dealership was finally given their five star rating for a probationary period, they did nothing to merit receiving it and nothing to merit keeping it and as a result Chrysler took it away but never got around to taking the sign down.
They wonder why they are in trouble, they never listened to the customers for starters.