In its quest to provide the best customer experience in the industry, General Motors is changing things up at its customer call centers by transforming them to what it calls Customer Engagement Centers. These are staffed with expert advisors who reach out to new owners to answer questions, and are empowered to resolve most issues on the spot, according to GM.
“We’re not waiting for customers to come to us,” said Alicia Boler-Davis, vice president of Global Quality and U.S. Customer Experience. “We proactively reach out to offer support and open a dialogue with our Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac customers. This includes our social media team interacting on Facebook, Twitter and popular vehicle forums to offer assistance.”
Some of you may have seen Brandon from GM Customer Service doing his best to answer questions in GM Authority’s GM Forum. That’s what Boler-Davis is referring to.
In addition to giving representatives the ability to resolve issues on the spot, The General can now also collect the voice of the customer and channel the data from the Engagement Centers to its designers and engineers for further vehicle improvements. And this is perhaps the most exciting aspect of the Customer Engagement Centers, as it directly connects those responsible for designing and engineering the vehicles to those who buy and drive them on a daily basis.
GM says that about 300 advisors will be located at GM’s Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, a move that we expect will bring them closer to those who can analyze the comments and act on them directly, perhaps by modifying a product for an upcoming model year or generation. In addition, a subset of social media advisors will be located on the same floor as Boler-Davis in GM’s Global Headquarters in Detroit.
The GM Authority Take
The approach GM seems to be taking is one of proactive customer service with the customer at the centerpiece of its efforts, rather than reactive customer interactions — a great change of pace, to say the least.
In fact, GM general director of Customer & Relationship Services Jim Moloney says that “At GM, we value the relationships we have with our customers and we want to exceed their expectations at every touch point. This is another example of the companywide changes that are taking place at GM to get everything right for the customer.”
So, it’s great to see The General adapting its customer service efforts to the new world, and integrating them into the product development cycle… however, we’re sure some of you might disagree that The General’s representatives are empowered. For instance, we can already think of a certain someone who has been begging for roof rack mount points on pretty much all GM vehicles while wondering why the Cruze hatchback hasn’t been introduced in North America. Not a peep from GM’s Customer Engagement reps about that, though…
Comments
Is that what they call them in India?
I guess GM still has people that have nothing better to do like build better cars so they are renaming things.
This is a deal GM should have just changed the name and held the press release. It shows they are losing focus on the core product building cars. People really care about better product and not what you call Customer Service.
Swallow an elephant choke on a flee. GM keep focused as you can little afford to lose ground. Keep up the momentum!
Scott — I’ll have to disagree with you there.
Having spoken to a few folks in this department, the renaming isn’t the big news here; instead, it’s the ability of a call center employee to input the feedback received from various websites and have it passed on to the design/engineering a few hundred feet down the hall.
This is more than a call center where someone passes on the call complaints to some other department and have little responsibility / empowerment.
These are the folks that seek out complaints, like those we see on this blog, and get them resolved. Unfortunately we do not often get those complainers back here to say they have been satisfied because most of them just copy and paste their complaints on every auto site they can find to disparage GM (or other products) as widely as possible. Therefore they do not go back to all those sites and update their issues. I know of a couple on this one that were resolved and never heard peep from them here.
This is well beyond what other auto marques are doing but standard fare for many non auto companies.
I still cannot believe someone would complain about a group that takes care of complainers. Then again in this new internet world where one complaint can go viral and really screw a company the companies have to go more than the extra mile.
In rereading the complaint I will make it more clear that the name change is because this is no longer just a “call” center which no one ever wants to call (no matter the product) and no one really expects a satisfactory resolution.
These are folks who actively seek out and are paid to FIX the issue and make the customer happy. These people will bring up customer satisfaction scores and reviews for GM which, in this new connected world, is not only important but critical in a product or service success.
It sounds like a good idea…and these people are here in the states, not overseas…that is Progress, in my mind. GM is trying to be successful in every way possible and I support every good thing it is doing
But Alex are these the same people that we have now that are on most GM web sites. They are polite and ask for you vin but can deliver little else.
Tricia and Michelle are two that are on many web sites and while they are trying to help they often are very limited in what they can do. I appreciate them but they can not solve anything even the most simple things first hand as they are limited on what info they can give.
I learned the GM e mail system a long time ago and have directed questions direct to the engineers. One Driveline engineer help solve my Turbo Upgrade issue directly and sent me info and even offered to work with my dealer if needed.
This is what GM needs more of.
I know this is better than it was but I really still question how well and reactive they will be.
I guess I should take a wait and see on this but as of yet the people of GM are willing to help but the management of GM seems to be holding them back at times.
I hope you are right that this may be a good thing but is it enough to get where they need to be.
I work with our [Customer Care Center] and know this side of the deal well. Our people are enabled to solve what ever issue there is globally. I pray GM empowers these folks the same way.
The more enabled they are and the less people involved the better the customer experience.
The real issue is still some GM dealers. I have two very good ones here but I see way too many people getting poor and low quality care and often GM is limited to what they can do about it. I have two dealers here that should be shut down but GM just can not go in and do it. They have to way for enough customer surveys just to apply some pressure.
This has been a very damages system and it will not be easily fixed when the government anti trust laws keep GM with one had tied behind their backs.
I agree Alex that this may be a good step but I just want to see them get there sooner than these small steps. I know GM does too.
Sorry it has been a bad week and I have had little patients for BS this week.
I agree with the importance of customer service and customer engagement in building a connection between the customers and the companies. Through customer service companies will know what are their customers concerns, issues, and needs and they can use that information to provide better services and products.
I own a 2005 Chevy Trailblazer. I have received a letter a few years back in regard to fuel tank issue that many of these vehicles have had issues and GM offered to pay half of the cost to repair the faulty part. Unfortunately I was not able to afford that cost and learn to deal with the gas gauge issue. Now I get a letter stating GM will pay for the entire cost of repairing this issue but now my vehicle is over there mileage limit (120,000 or 10yrs). If GM would have owned up to the faulty part they installed in my car in the first letter I would have been under the mileage limit. I contacted customer service number on the letter and of course GM will not cover it. I will never buy a Chevy vehicle again. Absolutely shady service. You put a bad part in my vehicle, you should own up to it and fix it!
Have been owner of Cadillac for over 30 years, but this last one, 2005 Deville, with north star engine that leaks oil has been a LEMON. This has occurred before warranty was off, starting around 42,000 miles. Cadillac dealer was on 2655 E Sahara, las Vegas.
Been out of business over 4 years, and engine still leaks. Called your NEW Customer Service (experience), and results is the same. Words, that are words, no action CUSTOMER CAN USE. I went through saME ROUTINE, I HAVE PREVIOUSLY SEVERAL TIMES, HOPING AND THINKING SOMETHING WOULD BE DONE ABOUT THE North STAR ENGINE OIL LEAK, result: nothing.
gm CUSTOMERS WILL SOON REALIZE IF YOU ARE SERIOUS, OR JUST words. YOU WILL LOSE CUSTOMERS. I PROMISE NEVER TO BUY ANOTHER CADILLAC, THOUGH I HAVE OWNED, A FEW, KEEPING THEM MAXIMUM OF 3-4 YEARS. no more!
NORTHSTAR ENGINE HAS BEEN A TROUBLESOME BREED SINCE 1985. YOU KNOW THE DESIGN WAS BAD BUT YOU KEPT INSTALLING THEM UP TO AND INCLUDING 2005. THIS WAS NOT RIGHT, FOR YOU KNEW O RING AND BOTTOM OF ENGINE WAS POORLY DESIGNED AND BOLTS WERE NOT INSTALL DEEPLY ENOUGH. GM SHOULD TAKE CARE OF THIS, PERHAPS A CLASS ACTION CAN BRING SOME RELIEF.
Julius
Let get a few things straight.
There were no issues with the North Star in the 80’s because they never brought it out till 1991.
The issue with the rings is mostly due to the lack of RPM buy many Cadillac owners. The engine was made to rev and many of the aging owners tend to putt around town at low RPM letting carbon build on the rings. A few hard runs clears this out.
As for the oil leaks this was common to most engine of this era.
As for the head bolts. yes the later cars had issues in this but it was not on every engine as most held up.
Finally this was the pre Chapter 11 GM and yes they had issues in many areas in this era. Todays Cadillac’s no longer deal with is and are a new breed all together. Odds are you would not like todays Cadillac anyways as it is not longer the kind of car you bought anyways.
As for class action. Anyone with half a clue know for a fact no company is going to go back for anything on cars that are nearly 10 years and older. Toyota did not on the Tacoma’s that rusted in half as most other companies with long running issues. Also anyone with a clue would know class actions only make the lawyers rich, the companies charge more to pay the lawyers and in return you may get a free oil change of $500 off a new car at best.
I would advise to get your facts straight and get a touch of reality.
Scott, why are you being nasty with me? who the ‘SAM Hell’ do you think you are?
for your info, i did own 2005 CTS., as well-as fleet woods, and few others. The lawyers may get rick, at least action is taken , so companies can stop ignoring customers complaints. $500. is more than I have received since owning this beast. I have paid out over $3,000. just for oil leaks or other engine problems. With the mileage i NOW Have, i never put, put around town, but drive it on the freeways. i DRIVE IT HARD, AS i HAVE ALWAYS DRIVEN MY CARS, AND THIS IS ONLY ONE THAT HAS THIS BAD OIL LEAK. You get your facts together, so Isaid ’85, instead of ’90’s, what is the difference. Close to 200 folks that I have seen, have the same problem with this engine, with various MILEAGE.
i CAME ON THIS SITE FOR ANSWERS OR ANY ASSISTANCE, NOT B.S. FROM ANYONE.
You had nothing positive to add, so please keep out of my business.
Not being nasty just correcting inaccurate information.
Lawyers are not going to get you squat. Sorry but class action suits just make them rich and car companies charge you more to pay the lawyers. Look at the settlements as see that lawyers may walk with $20 Million and those who suffer are given little to nothing. Generally a discount on a new car that means little or $15 off a oil change.
Nstars are not perfect engines and they did have some issues. GM is not going to go back that far to fix them if they have not by now.
Like it or not that is the unblemished truth.
As for years. I see things like this and they are markers generally for people that do not know what they are talking about. You complain about an engine that was not made till 6 years later is a sign of general BS,
If anyone is having a lot of issues with a N star at this point the reality is they need to Punch out and walk away with as much as they can get on trade. The cars many of these engines are in are not worth the repair bill anymore in many cases and you may as well be flushing it down the toilet.
Now I do know many may be not 200 LOL but they have well over hundreds of thousands of miles with no issues. Most are early year N stars as the later ones has the head issues. My uncles Seville has over 350,000 miles and it has never been apart.
On the other hand my in laws have a 04 Deville and the engine is one of the only things that has been good. Air pump failures. BCM, AC several times, windows lifts etc. It had the extended warranty and it is now gone so I hope they bail soon. These cars from 99-the end of production were trouble prone and I would have told them not to buy it had I known they were looking.
Not trying to be nasty but trying to save you and anyone else the delusion a lawyer is going to save them.
Might note too that GM as it was is not around anymore and are not held for many liabilities in many cases. The reformed GM the one that got the money is free of many issues where they can get taken to court. It is a mixed bag but many issues will never be addressed.
Sorry if it s not what you want to hear but it is good advice and the truth.
If you want to chase a dream more power to you.
I still say you are full of yourself and it. Are you working for GM? sounds like you have an issue to protect them. We will do what we want, whether you agree and think its right or not. Nothing beats a failure but try. I love to try. Did loads of this dodging bullets in the military. I am disabled veteran with injuries its folks like you that encourage companies to shaft folks.
If you knew the story of my life your song of useless words would definitely change. I have fought the system and companies all of my life. Not about to quit now, because you sound full of yourself and act as if you are a AUTHORITY. Stop, please do not respond, and save it for another customer.
I cannot imagine what life would be in America, were it not for these attorneys? Business has ripped folks off, so many of them. That is why they cry, piss and moan about class actions suits.When they have to pay out, at least they are held accountable, instead of screwing their customers. For sure, GM is not alone, as other companies have tried to do the same to their customers. It is past time for large corps to treat others as they have wanted be treated.
It is past time for these companies to face up and do the right thing.
STOP B.S. ING AROUND AND WAIT UNTIL WARRANTY HAS EXPIRED. THEN LAMENT, ITS TOO LATE.
Julius
No I do not work for GM nor have I worked for any part of them or suppliers. I am not protecting them but only speak the clear truth and not hold any personal feeling or agenda.
First off I recognize that one companies are in business to make money. Most generally try to do a decent job of taking care of the customers while generating a profit. I also know and acknowledge that some may not always do the best they can as you are not always going to get it both ways. My Lazyboy warranty is worthless do I know this first hand.
With GM I have worked in the automotive aftermarket in repair and performance parts so I know the history of GM’s ups and downs first hand. There is good but also bad here. GM as any company is not faultless in all areas but none of us walk on water.
As for consumers there are many that are far from honest and faultless either. I see it first hand with the warranty work I see where they swap out parts and lie on returns, they damage parts and claim warranties etc. Generally people are dishonest on both sides of the ball in this game.
The lack of personal responsibility and in some cases just sucking it up and dealing with an issues is lost on many where lawyers sue for hot coffee and other lame claims.
GM had a case where a owner was drunk and hit a tree at over 100 MPH and burned to death when the vehicle caught fire. GM could not enter into the case where the guy was drunk let alone driving at triple digits that cause the fire. Almost any car can run the risk of fire after hitting a tree at that kind of speed as it nearly tore the vehicle in half. GM had to settle out of court as they could have won this if they appealed it many times but the cost would have been staggering as in many cases.
As for the class action these are rip off cases where things go to court that a lawyer writes up. He claims to represent all the people who bought the product and then in most cases keeps 98% of the settlement for themselves. These folks are seldom selfless people really trying to help.
There are time and cases where lawyers are appropriate and do good but there are many others that do more damage to our way of life than anything. When they can take companies to court and if they lose they are out some time and little money but often they can tie up companies that are willing to pay them to go away as it would be very expensive to defend themselves even with a winning case.
I do not encourage anyone to shaft anyone I just want to see what is right done or reasonable expectations with an eye that we live in the real world made up of wins and loses. The reality is we all are not going to always get our way and we are not always going to wind and just have to learn to do the best we can with what we have been given.
If you want to play the disabled game don’t my late father also a ex vet was paralyzed from the waist down from the age 32 years old. He was told he would never walk again but he did not look to lay it on anyone and he was not willing to take what they told him. He got himself up and though he walked with two canes and a brace got back to work after two years at Goodyear at a job they held for him not by law. He retired there with almost 35 years. He traveled and did all he could do with me growing up. I never remembered him walking without a cane but I can say I really do not feel I missed out on anything. Did he go out and tackle me as a kid not but he did so many other things and on his own that taught me to deal with life as it is not fair but you can still make a great life out of it.
This world would be a little bit better with out people dwelling on who screwed who all the time and just try to do right and the best they can with what they were given. Life is not fair and it will never be.
In my personal experience with GM and warranties I have had a few minor issues and never had any cause for complaint with anything they did or offered.
I read what my warranties are and know what they are before I buy the car. If something fails after it is out I knew going in what it was. Yes sometimes it sucks but if it is out of warranty It is out. Now to be fair I have seen GM take care of things out of warranty too. So while there may have been times they failed there are times they also have gone above and beyond. You have to consider this too.
In this post Chapter 11 GM they have tried to improve things on the cars sold and that are in warranty post Chapter 11. Much of the failings I have seen have been dealer driven and often GM has gotten involved to try to help the consumer.
Here is my latest experience. I had been run off the road by a texting driver in my new Chevy. I had only 73 miles on the car. It smashed my intercooler, bumper and intake tube. They replaced my intake tube and fixed the car. Later on the plastic weld failed on the intake tube and blew the MAp sensor out. They replaced it but I then had an issue with the boost cutting out. I found that there was not enough clearance with the intake MAP and AC unit. I had e mailed the engineer at GM and he got back to me on the phone in 15 mins to tell the dealer what to fix. This issue was due to the replacement MAP that came in the GM Performance Turbo Upgrade I had installed. He directed them to move the Intercooler out and to do so under warranty. They gave me a loaner car and solved everything. What was even more interesting is the Engineer also had my intake tube that had failed weeks before to see why. He said they follow up to fine the issues and see if there is any long term issue. This is todays GM while not perfect there still are a lot of good people that are trying to do right.
Note too that if you e mail many of the people at GM they do respond personally. Even Bob Lutz when he was there would reply personally. He was short but to the point but it was him on the other end.
So to sum things up Companies are not all evil as they do have good and bad that come from them. The same for consumers as any today are innocent while many are dishonest and in too many cases criminal. They think they are just taking from a big cooperation but in turn they are sealing from all of us as many companies pass the losses on to the honest consumers.
This is a big picture issue and it takes both sides to work. Most times we come out ahead and others we get the short end but those who survive learn to deal with it.
Dear Jim Moloney,
I got a nice letter from you (GM) asking my Caddy CTS-V 2010 in for service (Program # 13313).
And I’d like to come – but currently I’m living in Europe (Denmark) and I’m not sure I’ll be back before deadline for the service. CanI take it to a European Cadillac dealer?
Best regards
Soren T-J
Nothing but more of the same B.S. from GM! I’ve attempted to call this “Customer Assistance Center on several occasions. Always put on very long hold. I have tried to contact them regarding an “Important safety recall” letter I received from GM. Although the problem was discovered in June, 2014, I was not notified by GM of this recall until September, 2014. The recall issue concerns a bolt on the front seat height adjuster which can fall out and “suddenly drop the seat to the lowest position”. The notice further informs me that the parts to resolve this issue are not currently available and no known date is known as to when they will be available. The “solution” suggested in the letter and from the representatives I have spoken with is to NOT adjust the seat height until the parts/solution becomes available. I informed the representatives that because my spouse and daughter also drive this vehicle we MUST adjust the seat height to safely drive the vehicle. The representative then directed me to contact my local dealership to obtain a loaner vehicle or rental vehicle. I contact my local dealer who never knew about this particular recall (#14271), he said when he put that recall number in his system NOTHING came up. He then had me fax him a copy of the letter recall that I received in September, 2014 so he could research it. When he called me back he told me that there was nothing he could do to help me, and was not authorized to help me with a loaner vehicle. He directed me to call GM again to get information from them about a loaner vehicle. To keep an already long story short, I keep getting the run-a-around from GM. Each time I call I get told different and conflicting information. One representative actually told me that I could ignore the notice because the vehicle was indeed “safe to drive”. When I then informed her that I was recording our phone conversation, she immediately took back her statement and said “I’m sorry I probably shouldn’t not have told you that your vehicle was safe to drive”
As a consumer all I (we) can do is to urge folks to NEVER buy GM products !
I just got off the phone after a call into 1 of your call centers at 800 222 1020. After struggling through the call with “Jane” (I believe that was her name) I asked the location of the call center she was in. How disappointed was I to find out that the call center was located in the Philippines! With the employment rate what it is here in the continental United States, I’d have thought GM would do their best to support the economy here especially for calls originating in the continental US. Personally, I would think that would eliminate language barriers, terminology barriers, accent barriers, etc., which was what I struggled with on my call with Jane. She just couldn’t understand me and well, in my opinion, I enunciated very clearly my issue, VIN number, etc. and she still was challenged to understand me. Please if you can, listen to the call and by all means feel free to let me know if I was unclear and hard to understand. I would hope that when hiring individuals for such important positions like a call center associate, GM would do some testing with these individuals to see if they can understand and comprehend simple English speaking customers – again, for calls originating within the continental US. That sure would make the call experience more palatable especially since it was regarding a recall notice. Thank you.
I have an interesting dilemma–my 2021 Acadia has been in the shop for 4+ weeks. It started braking down 3 days after buying it but we drove it for a month before the Check Engine light came on and we brought it to the dealer. It needs a part that GM does not have and cannot even give an estimated date of arrival. So this Call Center reached out to repurchase my car under the California Lemon Law. They wanted my sales contract–but I also bought after-market items at the time of sale–2-year Ally Maintenance Plan and a Spartan security system (it was in the car already—I just paid to keep it in). Will they also reimburse me for it? I also wonder if they are paying me back in full or if they will low-ball the offer and can I negotiate with them?? Never been through it. I like the car but I need the car for work and it just can’t sit there indefinitely.