What a fantastic name for a company.   Dealer Services.  If you just bought a car from your dealer, and then you get a call from Dealer Services, you might just think its the service department at your dealer.   So I just got a call from Dealer Services asking me if I'd like to extend the warranty on my vehicle.  So I went along with it for a little bit and answered all their questions about my mileage and sounded all excited.  She told me the rates and the deductibles and was all  ready to, I guess, get my credit card number.  Finally I was, like, "It all sounds great.  Can you send me something in the mail to confirm all this?"  She said, "Sure, can you hold on a second?"  Me: "No problem"  Her:  *click*. 

Had I been serious about renewing my warranty, they would've just lost a customer.   I know it wasn't an accidental disconnect because surely they would've called me back.  After all, they had my number to call me the first time.  No?  Maybe you're right.  After all, some companies have a phone system whereby it automatically calls the next person in line and doesn't keep the one it just called.  That's so their highly skilled personnel don't have to muck around with the complexities of remembering who they just called.  They also want their people calling as many people as possible and looking at a list to determine the next number to call must take precious time away from that; so the system simply dials the next number for them.

I also wasn't thrilled about the echo of other sales people in the background trying to also solicit customers.   So I immediately felt like I was moving along an assembly line and the whole transaction became highly impersonal. 

I can't imagine it's good for business to have me blog about them negatively, and while I understand its hard to police a huge sales force (which is why you do in many cases hear that "your call may be monitored for quality assurance"), they could still train their sales people to take the customer seriously.  I was HUNG UP ON.  Certainly that should raise a red flag somewhere.  They *should* record their sales calls and automatically flag for review the call that was hung up on by them as opposed to the customer. I'm not sure if that technology exists, but it would be nice.    Second, soundproof the cubicles, or give your sales people an office or something.  

In any case, I think they're wasting time anyway.  If I want to extend my warranty through a third party, I'll probably research them online.  Who are you?  Dealer Services?  OK, send me something in the mail and I'll go look you up and see if anyone has blogged negatively about them, or what the BBB has to say, or even just to comparison shop to see if your rates are good. 

I realize that some people can't be bothered doing that and being that telemarketing is the huge industry that it is, means that some folks somewhere actually agreed right then and there on the phone to extend their warranties.  If that's the case then I hope they enjoy their experience with Dealer Services. 

I'm still blown away by the company name.  I probably couldn't register a company called "the service department at Ford Inc".  Hi, this is Shanaynay calling from the service department at Ford.  Blah blah blah.  Maybe I could call it "the service department at your car dealership Inc." 

"Hi, this is Shanaynay calling from the service department at your car dealership."   Oh, wonderful, the folks at Ford want to help me extend my warranty.  That's why even if Ford themselves called me up, I'd still ask them to send me something in the mail.

So the lesson here campers, is never sign up for anything over the phone.  Anything.  Ever.  Unless you called them and you got their phone number from a reputable source, because you never know who you're talking to.  Caveat Emptor. Let the buyer beware.