s**t Customer service from Westfield

[chazpowerslide]

I think a lot of this has to be down to staffing which along with training is one of the first thing to be cut in hard times.

I have had lots of experience of this, at times your so busy dealing with the issues caused by poor training/under staffing you fail to get to the core issue which is getting more staff and give them adequate training.

When you have insufficient people who are poorly trained they make more errors because of inexperience and working under pressure, the more pressure the more errors the less time they have and so more pressure and so on

Resourse then needs to go into dealing with the mistakes which hits efficiency in other areas and more mistakes are made elswhere in the organisation and so it goes on.

I'd be willing to bet that the parts dept is no busier then normal but the guys behind the counter have more to do than ever as their jobs have become bigger in the search for more efficiency (read lower labour cost)

Answering the 'phone and following up on commitments is a basic need for any business.

My own experience with Westfield is mixed, sometimes thay are very good, often ok and sometimes terrible but they do not seem to ba able to sort out the isues quickly when it all goes t**s up.

I also think it would be wrong to say that the "new" owners are any better/worse than the "old" owners.

I think the mistake the Turners made was that they raised expectations too high without first understanding and appreciating what they brought into.

I had significant issues with the factory over insurance work they did for me a few months before the business was sold.

The workmanship was poor, the car broke down 15 miles away from the factory on the way home, they'd forgotten to tighten the bottom hose on the rad the result being a badly overheated motor when the hose blew off and all the coolant was lost and AA recovery home.

To add insult to injury Westfield collected the car for remedial work but refused to deliver it back to me.........

When I stripped the car for it's current re-build the true extent of the poor workmanship became apparant and grafitied in the dust on the off side outer ali cockpit panel  was a comment about a "w****r" building the car.

I got in touch with the factory about this but never got a reply.......................................

I know of at least one other WSCC owner who was grossly upset over the work done recently by the factory on his car that he vowed never to use them again.

Chaz

[Hammy]

Slightly off tack , but I noticed mention of the body work being outsourced - interesting because when I last went to the factory,  (about 4+ yrs ago) they were going on about the only way to get a quality finish was to do it in house and that they had worked hard to get the quality to where it is today.

I expect that as it is now outsourced, panels for earlier cars will not be available any longer.

To give some balance i'm sure there are people out there who have had very good service and bought a good product; plus this type of thread will attract the negatives (not that these are invalid) anyway . I'm sure it is not all bad

On the other hand, given that if I was buying a new Westifeld I'd hang out here for a while first, why haven't Westfield got on the forum and straightened things out? This sort of publicity must be a killer for them, and not to respond quickly is very odd.

Maybe the future is a load of cox and cobras for Westfield ?

[Julian Turner - Westfield Sportscars Ltd]

Westfield Sportscars will not respond to any comments made on the WSCC Boardroom, but if an individual is not satisfied with the service they have received from Westfield Sportscars Limited then you are entitled to use the complaints procedure:

Please send your complaint to:

complaint@westfield-sportscars.co.uk

You will receive confirmation within 48 hours by a member of the management team and your complaint will be processed and monitored by the team until it is resolved.

Alternatively you may consider the customer satisfaction questionnaire:

Customer Satisfaction questionnaires that have been filled in by customers are available for viewing to any person that walks in the door of Westfield.  Where issues have been raised on the questionnaires - actions have been taken and recorded on the questionnaire for all to see.

We understand there maybe an issue with the telephone system here and this is being checked by BT.

The parts page website security issue is also currently being investigated and will hopefully be up and running within 48 hours

I understand your frustrations with the current process BUT whether the phone system works or not there is no excuse for not returning promised calls or actions - this has been discussed with all employees this morning and we have agreed to make some changes to ensure this does not continue.

[originalgeezer]

Quote: Westfield Sportscars will not respond to any comments made on the WSCC Boardroom

Then why post anything at all???

I think you should have stated, that you will not post to "individual comments" on the WSCC Boardroom.

[Cleggy the Spyder Man]

that sounds like a step in the right direction -

I know I am only a newbie to Westfields but it is good to see the man at the top responding personally ...

And as you will see from one of my other posts today, I rang to order some bits, the phone was answered promptly and professionally ... which is great and how it should be

Keep the emphasise on us old customers wanting parts and some backup when things go wrong and we will all be happy boys n gals, we shall buy more spares - upgrades and even  more importantly spread the word of what a great car and organisation Westfield is ... we all want to be proud of everything Westfield

Keep working at it Julian  

[Bob Green]

The only......... and I mean ONLY way to keep customers faithful was drummed into me by Alan Jones, MD of TNT (UK) Ltd back in 1986 and stands true today.

“Always meet and exceed the customer expectation”

That applies to any business, big or small.

Simple, isn’t it.

[Thrustyjust]

Good luck with getting a response from Julian. I know he won't speak to Dale, as he is above speaking to a customer. I know Dale felt aggrieved that he was thrown around.

[stephenh]

James, if you haven't already done so, I think you should now repeat your complaint to Westfield, you've got it there from the horse's mouth inviting a complaint. I should strike while the iron is hot. Same for the others with outstanding issues.

[slater]

made an enquiry by email this morning and recieved a reply by lunchtime, impressed, hope I'm still impressed when I order sure I will be.

lewis

[Mark Stanton]

Lets hope things improve for the WSCC crowd.

No consolation, but it appears that the GTM owners are also experiencing similar problems and lack of parts availability - sadly unless you're a registered member you will not be able to access their forum, as it's a closed shop   but the guys are posting same kind of comments and looking to organise a list of direct questions to pose to the Potenza Sports Cars management team.

[James]

Westfield is nothing more than a big shop

How is it big ........ compared to many its small fry but perhaps with big potential.

By comparison to my shop its big! but yes you are quite correct I guess that it is proportionate.

I find it interesting that the GTM croud have also experianced similar issues, I am glad though that a few people have experianced a better service over the last couple of days maybe this thread has been of some use.

To those who encouraged me to send a email complaining to Westfield, I havent done this because my complaint is being dealt with in a slightly different way.

[Mark Stanton]

QUOTE

my complaint is being dealt with in a slightly different way.

How and is it a satisfactory solution for all concerned that may be beneficial for all WSCC members

[James]

my complaint is being dealt with in a slightly different way.

How and is it a satisfactory solution for all concerned that may be beneficial for all WSCC members

Well........... I have written to Jullian requesting a payment  ( I would still be happy to  accept a pair of cycle wings I am not trying to be difficult!) and they have a period of time in which to respond.

If I have not recived a response in that period of time then I will be forced down the legal route. so far I have heard nothing tick tock!

[Cleggy the Spyder Man]

I see that more than 1200 people have viewed this thread thats 1200 potential customers who may be put off Westfield because of others experiances who how much money could they have lost due to these silly and very fixable issues?

More like 12 different people viewing it 100 times  

[Guest]

Julian needs to have a hard look at his technical support as well.

During my build I had some issues that the local agent here in West Oz could not answer and so I emailed 3 times to them.

Glad I was'nt hanging by certain tender bits for their answer as I'd still be waiting.

Regards Greg