Monday, July 28, 2008

Great beer + amazing customer service = one happy customer

Last week we attempted to refill the fridge with delicious Mill Street beer. Dan is quite taken with the Stock Ale, while I prefer the Tankhouse Ale. As of late, our local beer store is often out of Mill Street. The last two times we've had to drive to a few different stores to find any in stock. When they were out of stock this week, with the price of gas and all, Dan decided to just buy his old brand. When he got home, he wrote an email to Mill Street to ask why they never have it in stock. Within an hour, they got back to him saying that they have been having production problems keeping up with demand, but that they'd ensure that our local retail outlet receives more product. Then they asked for his address so that they could drop off a case of his favorite beer. The next day, a full case of fresh beer was delivered to our house. Now that is customer service!

Compare this to Dan's experience with Mazda and the worst dealership: Dufferin Mazda in Toronto. Phone calls, letters, emails -- to the dealer, owner and Mazda HQ, yet all they said is -- that's normal wear and tear. Check out Second blown clutch on 2004 Mazda3: do not buy from Dufferin Mazda! Their record speaks for itself.

Coincidently, I was checking my web analytics today and saw the 4th most popular post on this blog is the one about the blown clutch. Seems that a lot of other people have had problems with the clutch on their Mazda 3. Coincidence? Humm.... you decide. I think not!!

Dan drives his Mazda every day for his job, visiting customers and retail outlets. He spends his day talking to people. Today, as he was getting out of his car, another motorist asked how he liked his Mazda as he was thinking of getting one. Dan told him his story of bad product coupled with appaling customer service, and this potential customer converted immediately against the Mazda move. Yes, word of mouth can also be bad for sales.

What I know is that Mill Street Brewery could teach Dufferin Mazda a lesson on customer service. They have a customer for life, whereas we will never buy another Mazda.

1 comment:

Tony Shoemaker said...

I recently reached the 60K mark on my Mazda6 and just paid the thing off when, wouldn't you know it, my clutch wore out. And it is ridiculously expensive to replace. The worst is, if you find a cheap shop to do the work, they usually end up doing cheap work.

But to be honest with you, I was very hard on that clutch. I really work the thing, and here in Pittsburgh's hills, its easy to over clutch and spin the gears. So I have to take some responsibility.

But there is NO WAY anyone should have to replace two clutches in one car- you'd have to be doing some serious street racing to make that happen. I feel your pain.