Warning for Elead CRM dealerships on customer service

AutoAlex · Mar 31, 2023

Jeff Kershner said:
Not familiar with Webxloo, first I've ever heard of them. Looks as if it's not automotive exclusive, yet offers a ton of features. Feel free to elaborate on their services and how you went about making the decision to use them vs the industry CRM providers...

I would imagine this is how they made the decision to use them.

Todd Thompson · Apr 4, 2023

We've found over the years the built in crm in the dms is lacking. Seems the 3rd party bolt on solutions dont integrate well and before long your dms is an outdated address book and the bolt on is now a silo for your relevant customer info and history. You fall out of love with the bolt on and 'poof' goes your customer data.

For us, building our own tool and integrating it to our dms has been the best solution for our 60 stores. Getting rid of rapid response saved well over 150G per year on its own. From initial lead capture, smart distribution, catching responses, reporting, pushing ALL data/messages/convo back to our DMS and providing our reps with a mobile first application to manage their customers/leads from has been a game changer. They make/receive calls, text message, send video and email from it. We worked around the short sighted OEM requirements to force feed certain response tools as well.

I realize not everyone has the luxury of 'roll your own'. But for those that do.. its worth it. Reps each have an assigned phone number they use which we own. They leave, the number is ours and reassign it. Our DMS is totally up to date on customer interactions and history and we can build in additional communication channels as they become relevant. We can distribute leads on 'new, used, FB, EV, Previous customer, sales, finance, service and even language detection and redirect to a rep who speaks the language. Manual assign, round robin or 'gladiator'.

For us anyways, its been the way to go.

Chandler Clements · Apr 12, 2023

I spent over a decade of my career running Elead Support. We took pride in what we did for our clients and having the best support team in the nation. It's sad to see all of the hard work and reputation we built get destroyed so quickly.

Jena Bucknam · May 10, 2023

THEINTERNETCOACH said:
Thanks Jeff. Curious as to what they tell you. Not a good situation.

Just circling back on this, any luck?! It seems to be getting worse and worse...

THEINTERNETCOACH · May 21, 2023

Jena Bucknam said:
Just circling back on this, any luck?! It seems to be getting worse and worse...

We were able to resolve the issues we had at the time. A senior Eleads manager had reached out to me and has been a good resource. The traditional support process for Eleads still appears to be very challenged, though.

NIOMARVIN83 · Jun 20, 2023

Sorry to hear about your experience with Eleads' customer support. It's important to find a CRM partner that values customer satisfaction. We've had success with Webxloo CRM, which offers a user-friendly interface, comprehensive features, a mobile app, and customizable branding.

DigitalCarguy · Jun 29, 2023

I am a 10 year former employee of Elead and it is disappointing to see customers complain about the customer service when that was always a focus.

if you are having issues with the customer service feel free to reach out to me.
My cell is 229-251-2462 or [email protected].

There is not much I cannot fix or address with Elead or any CRM for that matter.

avelazq · Aug 18, 2023

I've been receiving numerous calls from dealers regarding this matter. The only aspect that's a bit unclear to me is the reference to DealerSocket not having Performance Managers; they are actually referred to as Customer Success Managers. I can certainly provide you with the list of the ones you require.

DigitalCarguy · Aug 18, 2023

THEINTERNETCOACH said:
Just wanted to share a disturbing development about Eleads. We have multiple clients on the platform currently.

I was workign on helping them with an issue last week. Tried to call Eleads support multiple times. Each time, I was on hold for over 20 minutes before deciding to abandon the call. One time, I did left a voice mail with no response. The following morning, I tried again, and after another 20 min on hold, I was able to reach someone. I spoke with that rep (who was losing his job at month end), and our Performance Manager who both told me the new ownership (an Indian company named Genpact) is in process of moving much of support to an overseas support team.

This is a familiar story. This store had actually made the switch to Eleads last year from Dealersocket, because after the sale, customer service became an afterthought. Dealersocket support now closed at 430 PST. No more Performance Manager.

Now it appears that Eleads is going the same route - cost cutting and profits in lieu of taking care of their customers. THe CRM is lifeblood of every dealership - the center of your customer journey. Our company exists to help dealers improve their CRM processes, and maximize their CRM utilization, but we can't do it all. We still need a solid CRM partner to help us help dealers, especially on a platform like ELeads that limits back end access.

If you are a current Eleads client, I would strongly suggest starting to look at your options. We have seen this road before, and it's not pretty.

We are CRM agnostic- I have worked in nearly a dozen of them. If you would like some independent feedback on your options, please feel free to reach out.

First I would like to say that the car business for me for almost 40 years has always been about relationships. If anyone has issues they cannot get resolved feel free to reach out to me. I worked at Elead for 10 years and now an independent consultant. Changing software especially CRM is a major change and should not be taken lightly.
my 2 cents
Thomas Ieracitano
DigitalCarGuy