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Is There An Automotive Vendor With A Better Customer Support Process Than...

colson

Smashing Bugs
Sep 17, 2009
31
11
First Name
Chris
DriveCentric!!! We deal with all the big ones, and a couple of the smaller players, and no one can match this crew. Things that take weeks and months(LITERALLY MONTHS!!!) take this crew a matter of minutes, and it's almost all done through chat. If it escalates, it doesn't go to Level 2, 3 or 4. They get on the phone.

They are the model we will follow as our business grows. Just want to say that as Automotive Vendors we should all be driving toward this standard of customer support.

Thank you, and carry on.

Now about snoozing...(because no one is perfect. If you know DriveCentric you know what I'm talking about) ;-)
 
@colson Always good to hear this as we just shared this internally with the team. It means a lot when the experience is shared in this fashion. While people always see the front side, meaning sales people, it's a great reminder to know the heart of the company really is in Support if you are going to be successful in business. Thank you for posting as it really means a lot to our company.
 
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If I don't get the expected service from a vendor, they're out the door no matter how great their tech is. With that being said, having some time on the vendor side and across most department of a dealership, I keep my expectations in check.

I also make the time to build a relationship with top level management with in each vendor. This is an advantage point of in person industry conferences; building relationships with the right people.

Shout out to my most utilized vendors that provide best in class service and support:
DrivenData - Jon, Zach and Jessica.
UnityWorks Media - Dyan and Kristen (been using UWM for 9+ years)
Homenet - Been using for 15+ years - Never an issue.
Frikentech - I guess this is a given since I sorta know the owner.
DealerOn - Lindsey is always on her game for me.
 
I'll play. Like Jeff, my expectations have changed since working on the vendor side and I find myself having conversations with our team to help them understand what is and isn't reasonable in how we interact with current and potential vendors. My attitude of an iron fist towards vendors has definitely changed in the last four years.

VinSolutions - If it weren't for our rep, Jerry, we'd be sailing on. Key differentiator is Jerry's willingness to be on our Slack channel for employee direct access.
Gubagoo - They're in our Slack channel so immediate and real-time collab and troubleshooting with myself, our other vendors, and our employees for chat and VR make them shine.
Homenet - Only vendor I really need to call to fix issues but they fix them. Only issue is that some of those calls are up to 45 minutes. Wish they were on Slack
Cannonball Digital - Our small dig ad agency partner that is on Slack...
Steering Innovation - Our Wordpress sites and creative agency. On Slack...
CarGurus - Beats our other classifieds in responsiveness and support. We have a good rep in Brad. How about Slack, Brad?

I'm obviously obsessed with Slack and the speed and organization that brings to our team. Email support tickets suck and so do phone-then-hold calls. Our vendors that allow a direct two-way conversation in Slack are typically looked upon with favor since speed is such a huge factor.
 
I'll play. Like Jeff, my expectations have changed since working on the vendor side and I find myself having conversations with our team to help them understand what is and isn't reasonable in how we interact with current and potential vendors. My attitude of an iron fist towards vendors has definitely changed in the last four years.

VinSolutions - If it weren't for our rep, Jerry, we'd be sailing on. Key differentiator is Jerry's willingness to be on our Slack channel for employee direct access.
Gubagoo - They're in our Slack channel so immediate and real-time collab and troubleshooting with myself, our other vendors, and our employees for chat and VR make them shine.
Homenet - Only vendor I really need to call to fix issues but they fix them. Only issue is that some of those calls are up to 45 minutes. Wish they were on Slack
Cannonball Digital - Our small dig ad agency partner that is on Slack...
Steering Innovation - Our Wordpress sites and creative agency. On Slack...
CarGurus - Beats our other classifieds in responsiveness and support. We have a good rep in Brad. How about Slack, Brad?

I'm obviously obsessed with Slack and the speed and organization that brings to our team. Email support tickets suck and so do phone-then-hold calls. Our vendors that allow a direct two-way conversation in Slack are typically looked upon with favor since speed is such a huge factor.

Jerry Goodwin? He's our rep, I was a little concerned when I was swapped from my previous rep (buy/sell) - and our Jerry has also been great!
 
I'll play. Like Jeff, my expectations have changed since working on the vendor side and I find myself having conversations with our team to help them understand what is and isn't reasonable in how we interact with current and potential vendors. My attitude of an iron fist towards vendors has definitely changed in the last four years.

VinSolutions - If it weren't for our rep, Jerry, we'd be sailing on. Key differentiator is Jerry's willingness to be on our Slack channel for employee direct access.
Gubagoo - They're in our Slack channel so immediate and real-time collab and troubleshooting with myself, our other vendors, and our employees for chat and VR make them shine.
Homenet - Only vendor I really need to call to fix issues but they fix them. Only issue is that some of those calls are up to 45 minutes. Wish they were on Slack
Cannonball Digital - Our small dig ad agency partner that is on Slack...
Steering Innovation - Our Wordpress sites and creative agency. On Slack...
CarGurus - Beats our other classifieds in responsiveness and support. We have a good rep in Brad. How about Slack, Brad?

I'm obviously obsessed with Slack and the speed and organization that brings to our team. Email support tickets suck and so do phone-then-hold calls. Our vendors that allow a direct two-way conversation in Slack are typically looked upon with favor since speed is such a huge factor.

That's great you have some of your vendors on Slack. I too have a few using Slack, and it's so much more productive. It would be nice to see more vendors provide service and communications via Slack.
 
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@Richard Secor ValuInsight's level of service has always been excellent. Scott Dreisbach has always been a hands-on guy who takes a personal interest in making sure their dealer clients are taken care of. And he always seems to be right on top of things and great with communication & follow-up whenever minor glitches arise.