Why I Still Love My Skoda – One Year On

Just before Christmas 2012 I treated myself to a new car. It’s a Skoda and when I first heard that the car that matched all my requirements (it had to be small, economical, meet my monthly budget, be delivered before the end of the year and, most importantly, be the colour green!) I wasn’t sure about the make. They’ve had a bad reputation in the past – click here to see the blog I wrote about branding when my new car first arrived. But as soon as he arrived, I was in love!

One year on and I still love my Skoda. He’s very economical to run and is a real talking point, because he’s always the greenest car in the car park! Just before Christmas 2013 I had reason to fall even more in love with my car because of the great customer service I received from my local Skoda garage. The car has to be serviced once a year on the lease deal, so I called the local garage to book it in. It was a simple, straightforward process with a nice, positive chap at the end of the phone. He asked if I would need a lift to anywhere in the town, once I’d dropped the car off.

Actually I decided to sit in their nice warm office and drink their free coffee, but it was great to be asked. I could have used the service to get to a meeting locally, to make good use of my time; instead I sat in a comfy chair and wrote this blog! This was made even easier by the free wifi available – and by free I mean that I didn’t even have to give anyone my email address. Too many meeting places and hotels are still asking for your details before giving you access, only giving you access for a certain time, or worse, still asking you to pay for access!
While my car was being serviced, the garage carried out a free ‘check’ of the car to see if it needed any other work done on it. Now I know that this is their clever way of looking for more work to do, to encourage me to spend more money. It didn’t work, but it’s a nice touch and something we should all think about doing for our clients, to see how else we can help them (and help them spend money with us.)

The other nice thing the Skoda garage did for me was clean my car for free – inside and out! I had actually washed my lovely little car a couple of weeks before, but hadn’t vacuumed the inside for a while. I’m really grateful to the garage for getting rid of all the autumn leaves, dog fur and other debris that had collected. I love driving an almost new car and like to keep it clean, so having this done for me, for free, without me having to ask for it, was a really nice touch.
Great customer service isn’t difficult. It’s about doing things that your customers expect, without them having to ask. It’s about doing extra things that don’t cost you much, but which will surprise and delight your customers. Skoda have done a great deal to improve the bad name they had many years ago and the team at Ridgeway Skoda in Newbury are working hard to maintain that reputation. Well done Dan and the team!