First, just want to say I use the name “Goner” as it best describes who I am in relation to The Saturn Company now after yet another horribly unpleasant visit to their service department. It’s hard enough to know we pay prices at dealers that way exceed the neighborhood mechanic, but to have to have extremely unpleasant experiences with service people while doing so is like rubbing salt in a wound. Well, this wound is unbeatable I have now determined and any last consideration I have had of a Saturn for a future upgrade purchase has completely vanished. My prior bad experience was with a regional director who explained that they don’t “pay off” customers to make them happy, when I asked for some kind of compensation for a very bad roadside service experience. Apparently, they don’t seem to do anything to make their customers happy. She didn’t even offer coupons of any kind. From her I received only words that she would report what happened and try to improve on things. I knew litigation wasn’t something I wanted to waste my time on and simply hoped things would get better, relying on this great customer satisfaction record we all have heard about. Today I found out that not only has Saturn not improved, but has gotten worse. I am not a lifer, just a six-year owner, but in that period, I can think of only one experience in their service department that has impressed me. On my service receipt it states, “Your customer satisfaction is our #1 goal”. Boy, do they need to change a lot of their tag lines! In a nutshell, due to them telling me my car would be ready at a certain time and it was not, I was late to an important appointment. I received an angry apology, misinformation and eventually the service clerk told me he did not appreciate what he overheard me say on the phone while he put/had me on hold! The overall impression I have gotten from my experience with Saturn is that they care more about feeding their arrogance and losing any money at all than about anything their customers have to say or need. They rank so low on my customer service scale, and I am quite surprised they continue to bring in new customers. I finally had to start spreading the word online here, as I am also at my end with them. This is also only the beginning…I will find another blog and another and another, as all I can really say at this point is that there is no excuse for a company like Saturn to be this way – and stay in business. Maybe time will tell now. We can only hope.

Saturn has indeed forgotten about their past and just become “yet another GM company”. It is really too bad, as I saw Saturn as the forerunner of some of today’s unique cars. They were also the forerunner of programs such as Costco’s Auto Buying program for its members, where there is a no-haggle price when purchasing. I am not convinced that anyone in the auto industry has yet nailed the customer service aspect of the business, which as I stated, is where the rubber meets the road!

Thank you for picking up on this issue as well. Gavin, Paul and Sean have all been very kind as well.

This issue amazes me in the lack of “personal touch”. You hit it the nail on the head when speaking about the various touch points and pain thresholds. Clearly, at this moment in their history, they have forgotten or abandoned what got them popular in the earl years. My experience aside, it’s sad for the brand and GM. As many people have already said- it’s no wonder GM is struggling to stay afloat.

saturn.jpg Originally uploaded by SFindigo. Just when I thought that Tim MasiGuy Jackson’s Saturn debacle had died down … Becky over at Customers Rock comes out with a GREAT thought provoking piece. As a former Saturn fan, Becky bought into

The thing is, Saturn have had many opportunities to enter into the conversation at any point. Tim has blogged about this extensively for the past 3-4 weeks … his comments are open as are Sean’s, Paul’s and mine. One of the ways of dissipating frustration is through communication and engagement — silence, or worse, dull form letters — only serve to exacerbate our alienation from corporations. It is a shame that this process has ended up here — and particularly heartbreaking for Tim as he was a true brand advocate before it.

It is not that we are simply complaining … really we would all like to have seen a better outcome for this as it reflects on us all as marketers. But it would be nice to see Saturn stand by their tag line.