Chery Australia says it builds its after-sales operations on simplicity, speed and accountability and aims to make life easier for both owners and dealers.
Chery Australia chief operating officer Lucas Harris said Daily Sparkz The Chinese company applies what it calls the “pub test” when handling customer concerns, focusing on fair outcomes rather than rigid processes.
“Would a normal person hearing the story think we did the right thing or not? Forget the warranty terms and forget the ACL (Australian Consumer Law) – that’s the minimum standard. Our standard should be: If this was my sister, my mother or my boyfriend, would I think that was acceptable or not?”
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He said the brand’s approach to after-sales is to be “easy to use” so that technicians and service advisors can get quick help without unnecessary back and forth.
“This tech knows I can pick up the phone and talk to someone to help me…we’re not going to make them jump through a million hoops. We’re not going to waste anyone’s time. We’re just going to help them.”
Mr Harris said the aim was for staff at the dealership to feel supported and not left alone to deal with problems.
“When a service advisor knows they can just pick up the phone and talk to us, it changes the entire tone when a customer walks in the door,” he said.
Asked whether Chery’s internal teams are designed to cut costs or reject warranty claims as part of their key performance indicators (KPIs), Mr Harris said the focus was instead on quick resolution.
“The only KPI is speed,” he said.
In addition, dealers will be more willing to undertake and prioritize warranty work because Chery is willing to give them a fair chance and pay in diagnosing and repairing Chery vehicles.
“If it really takes 30 hours to diagnose, that’s no problem. We’ll pay. Get out of our way. That’s our job. The most important thing to us is the end customer,” Mr Harris said.
He noted that due to the company’s customer-centric approach, issues rarely escalate. On the rare occasion that a customer finds their contact information online and reaches out to them directly, they sometimes call the customer themselves to ensure their issue is resolved quickly, setting a benchmark that the entire company must adhere to.
“When a customer contacts me, I call them as soon as possible,” he said. “When I get a message, I try to call them within five or 10 minutes.”
Mr Harris also said he did not view buybacks as failures, describing them as an acceptable outcome when a customer had an unreasonably poor experience.
“The worst thing that can happen to an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) is a buyback. It’s not that big of a deal. If someone has such a bad experience, it doesn’t matter if they’re technically qualified or not. Just fix it,” he said.
“I’d rather just sort it out than make them jump through ten million hoops.”
Chery’s philosophy, Mr. Harris said, is that effectively supporting dealers leads to better experiences for customers and that doing the right thing in a timely manner is the best way to build long-term trust.
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