GM takes responsibility

Genral Motors recently announced a new program to offer customers a full refund if they are not satisifed with their vehicle. The program applies to all Chevrolet, GMC, Buick and Cadillac vehicles purchased between September 14 and November 30.

Customers may return the vehicle for full refund if not satisfied between 31 and 60 days of purchase.

The program is part of an ad campaign titled "May the best car win"

This is the first time in the history of the auto industry that an auto maker has actually taken some real accountability for their products. Every other retailer offers some form of refund program, but with cars, the customer basically gets a test drive and then has to decide if they are going to commit to a pretty significant purchase.

Sure, returning a $200 camera is very different from returning a $30,000 vehicle, but I would still love to see the rest of the auto industry create similar and ongoing programs.

I would like to think that most people won't bother returning a car, but what about the occasional "lemon"? Auto-makers typically do everything they can to repair a faulty vehicle, which instantly upsets the customer.

The chances of this becoming a mainstream practice in the auto industry are very slim, but I do give kudos to GM for taking yet another strong step towards winning back consumer confidence.

I'm very interested to see if this campaign does anything to help boost sales.

When Customer Service Works Both Ways

Something happened to me today that not only put a huge smile on my face, but reinforced my belief that customer service isn't dead. In fact, it got me thinking that there is absolutely no reason why companies and consumers can't work together to form a mutually respectful partnership.

Here's the story:

Telus Mobility is my mobile carrier and have been for a very, very long time. While I have never had any major issues with their customer service, I've never believed it was stellar either. I recently updated my handset to the HTC TouchPro 2 and have been messing around with it offline prior to activating it as my main phone.

For three days, I was unable to get my phone to sync with my Outlook calendar, contacts and e-mail using Windows Mobile Device Center. I called Telus and got on with a Data expert named Greg, who despite a vliant effort, could not solve the problem. Rather than spending an hour on the phone, we agreed to try and solve the problem on our own and touch base if either of us got anywhere. An hour and several Google searches later, I found the solution.

I called Telus this morning to activate the new device and asked to speak with Greg so that I could share my findings. They recognized the effort I put into finding a solution to a problem that their team could not help me with and appreciated that I shared the results so that they could assist other customers with the same issue.

Without batting an eye, she offered to credit my account for my troubles!

As a user of Telus' service, I am delighted at the fact that they compensated me for doing a little research that would benefit their clients. This is a simple example of a great mutual relationship between customer and service provider.

In a world where technology is making it so easy for brands to connect with their customers, I see no reason why more companies can't strive to build this type of relationship and trust.

Congrats to Greg and Telus Mobility for a little bit of forward thinking!