AUBURN HILLS, Michigan — Chrysler has confirmed that it is in the process of moving its customer assistance center from India back to the United States. Customers with questions or complaints about their Dodge Challenger or other Chrysler vehicle will now talk to someone in Rochester Hills, Michigan, or Salt Lake City.
Word of the transition came in the posting of a memo by Paul Alcala, Chrysler customer satisfaction director, on the corporate Red Letter Dodge blog. He wrote, "In these difficult times, we all must view each customer as a keeper."
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Globally, many businesses are making such a switch. The Royal Bank of Scotland has run ads saying it uses only call centers based in Britain.
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Inside Line says: A politically correct move by Chrysler that undoubtedly will be copied by others.
"Copied by others". Let's hope so. It'd be nice to communicate with folks who really, really have a solid grasp of your language and really, really understand the way you, as a North American, think, and what you expect from customer service and customer service associates... It's a cultural thing, and one must admit that there's no substitiute for customer service that's fully understanding of the customer, how they think and what they expect.
Besides, keeping the jobs here... obviously an excellent idea.
Hmm... I'm beginning to see Chrysler in a better light than I have for quite awhile. Their new deal with Fiat can only help with this perception.
Maybe Chrysler is serious about being a continuing going concern after all. And apparently is serious about staying in America (and hopefully Canada, too, but, well, with the likes of the militant Communist dumbass Ken Lewenza of the Canadian Auto Workers making it virtually impossible to make a business case for continuing to operate in Canada, it appears that we can forget about that. Damn Soviet Canuckistani Commie bastards!).
Right now, I believe I may purchase a Jeep Wrangler as my next vehicle, perhaps in 2010 or somewhat later, though admittedly the fuel economy rating is a bit of a concern, which, hopefully will be addressed soon enough by Mopar engineers, as certainly there's tweaks they can effect to boost efficiency, as GM did with the Cobalt XFE. But compensating for the relatively high fuel consumption of the Wrangler, the price is right, at about $20,000 US/CDN to start, plus it does come with a lifetime powertrain warranty, and is famously built to last, owing to its rugged construction, notwithstanding some reliability complaints with respect to older examples. Plus it can definitely handle the sometimes-horrible, worse-than-ever, condition of the roads these days. And ability to handle all road conditions is an important concern, perhaps even more so than fuel economy, neck-snapping acceleration and extreme cornering grip.
ht: Automobile Magazine
As a reward to Chrysler for wisely reversing their call-center outsourcing, I'll post a picture of their Wrangler Ultimate concept, which is a tastefully, extra-usefully pimped version of the regular four-door Wrangler Unlimited, which goes for some $5K over the basic two-door Wrangler. Those are 35-inch tires (20 frigging inches bigger than those on my Cobalt!), there's a three-inch increase in ground clearance, plus, most importantly, underhood is a Hemi V8!
