I was in an Ayala Mall last Sunday with my three kids, excited to use an Ayala Electronic Gift Certificate (EGC) I had been given, only to find out that the establishment, Laser Xtreme, no longer accepts it. “Sir, don’t be upset. I’m just saying,” the cheerful lady behind the counter offered.
Perplexed, I called the Ayala customer service hotline on my Ayala-owned Globe line 32 times, but couldn’t get through. Eventually, on the 32nd attempt (something that many Globe users can relate to), the call finally connects and a customer service representative answers and tells me what I already know––that the establishment doesn’t accept the card. Boy was I glad I was finally able to get through. Not.
I reminded the girl that I wasn’t calling for a second opinion or an English translation of what I was just told, but to clarify how and why an establishment could just change their mind about accepting a pre-paid gift card once it had been sold. She had no answer for it so I asked if I could use it in the movie theatre instead, which I was told is at least Ayala-owned and -operated. She said they don’t accept it either. To which I replied, “If your own establishments don’t accept the card, what good is it? And can I just refund the card?”
Confused, she put me on hold for 2-3 minutes. When she came back on the line, she asked if I had purchased the card or whether it was a gift. Like anyone who was born to parents who weren’t previously related and shared the same family name before marriage, I wondered why that would matter; but to humor her, I asked “Would I get a refund if I said I bought it?” She replied, “No, sir.” So I asked if they would refund it if it were a gift. To which she replied, “No, sir.” Which led us to the painfully obvious question as to why she asked the original question in the first place.
Knowing that the conversation would be all downhill from there, and out of sheer frustration––fueled in part by three impatient kids wanting to shoot the light beams out of one another––I pulled out my Ayala-owned BPI credit card, only to be told that this BPI-accredited outlet will not accept it for purchases under 1,000 pesos.
It took every fiber of my being to not Carabuenize the next person who said, “Ay, sir, sorry, but...” So I calmly asked where the nearest BPI ATM was located. “There’s one just downstairs, sir!” Visibly annoyed, I trudged downstairs only to find out that the BPI machine was not functioning and couldn’t dispense cash. By this stage, I felt exactly one transaction away from an aneurism, so I took three deep breaths and asked “What would Jesus do?” And headed over to Power Plant Mall to hear mass.
Now, while I’m certain that many of you can relate to an experience like this, more than a few of you may be wondering what this has to do with motoring. Well, almost everything. Because just like modern malls, as the disparity between the quality of cars shrinks to an almost negligible level, market share will be won and lost by design, marketing and service––and it is the last one that many companies, including automotive dealers, need to start taking more seriously. You can have fantastic products, but without good customer service to back it up, it would be like setting up a first-class spa where customers need to massage themselves.
Toyota is Toyota in this country because, despite the criticism sometimes hurled at them for being too conservative with some designs, it comes down to the fact that people know that their cars just work. And if for any reason they don’t, they’ll know how to fix it. And fast. None of this dazzle-them-with-promos and then baffle them with bull once the honeymoon is over.
And while many are now realizing the value of that and improving on customer service, what some of their competitors still fail to understand is that in their pursuit to court new customers, they sacrifice transparency––often coming up with confusing promos with discounted packages that are as valuable as those fake presents under shopping mall Christmas trees. They hide behind the fine print, but are forgetting that today’s fine print, once plastered over social media, is bolder than any of the font used in their advertising materials.
A friend of mine just posted a story online about being charged “depreciation on parts” to repair his three-year old car that was involved in an accident. The idea is that because the car is three years old, they feel that they shouldn’t put new parts, and instead match the replacement parts to a similar age. It may have been perfectly legal for the insurance company and dealer to do so, and even common practice in the industry according to them, but it would be interesting to know how many of you out there know about that clause in your policy.
Just last week I got two emails from customers that had their cars serviced at their official dealerships. One complained that his oil and oil filter were never changed, despite being charged for both, while the other was charged for a 360 degree tire rotation––well, at least that’s the name I gave it because the tires were marked on the inside and they ended up in the exact same place they started in.
Consumer laws in the Philippines may have all the bite of the common goldfish, but times have changed, and with the help of social media and user ratings, those ‘clever’ establishments that try to woo you with hollow promises need to understand that today’s consumers have finally learned to bite back. Just saying.
Email james@deakin.ph.