The banking crisis in 2008 resulted in the world waking up to the grim realisation that our banks, worldwide, had been acting recklessly. They had been putting their own self-interests ahead of their customers’. As a result, regulators were instructed by governments to get tough on these institutions in order to better protect you and me. So in the UK the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) instructed the banks to prove that they are being proactive in treating their customers fairly. This means that every communication a financial institution now has with its customers must be clear, comprehensive, available for scrutiny, and must demonstrate that it is acting fairly and in the customer’s best interests.
Now the world’s largest car manufacturer has been caught cheating their customers. They were persuading customers that their diesel engines were far less polluting than they actually were. What we don’t yet know is whether any other car manufacturers used the same tactics. We can only hope not. But the pressure is now surely on all car manufacturers to ensure that they too are always treating their customers fairly. So, for example, instead of simply issuing a letter recalling a car for a safety modification, how about following it up with a reassuring phone call?
VW and their brands need to rebuild the trust of their customers. Is this going to be achieved with a few letters or emails? Is it going to be achieved overnight? Or is it going to take a lot of very personal, very patient, carefully planned conversations by local dealers worldwide?
TrackBack surrounds dealer networks in any country with a way to monitor every call attempted and every contact made. So if it’s crucial to know whether customers are being treated fairly and to brand standards, then we can help.