Chery Australia says it’s building its after-sales operations around simplicity, speed and accountability, and is aiming to make life easier for both owners and dealers.
Lucas Harris, Chery Australia’s chief operating officer, told CarExpert the Chinese company applies what he calls the “pub test” when handling customer issues, focusing on fair outcomes rather than rigid processes.
“Would a normal person hearing the story think that we were doing the right thing or not? Forget about warranty policy and forget about ACL (Australian Consumer Law) – that’s the minimum standard. Our standard should be, if that was my sister or my mother or my friend, would I think that was acceptable or not?”
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He said the brand’s approach to after-sales is to be “easy to deal with”, so technicians and service advisors can get quick help without unnecessary back-and-forth.
“That technician knows, I can pick the phone up and talk to somebody who’s going to help me… we’re not going to make them jump through a million hoops. We’re not going to waste anybody’s time. We’re just going to help them.”
Mr Harris said the aim is for dealership staff to feel supported, not left to navigate problems on their own.
“If a service advisor knows they can just pick up the phone and talk to us, that changes the whole tone when a customer walks in the door,” he said.
Asked whether Chery’s internal teams are set up to reduce costs or deny warranty claims as part of their performance metrics (KPI), Mr Harris said the focus is instead on speed to resolution.
“Only KPI is speed,” he said.
In addition, dealerships will be more willing to take on and prioritise warranty work because Chery is willing to give them a fair go and pay when it comes to diagnosing and fixing Chery vehicles.
“If it takes genuinely 30 hours to diagnose, no problem. We pay. Get out of the way. That’s our job. The ultimate thing for us is the end customer,” Mr Harris said.
He noted that as a result of the company’s customer-centred approach, issues rarely escalate, but on the very odd occasion when a customer manages to find his contact details online and reaches out directly, he sometimes calls them himself to ensure their issue is resolved quickly, setting a standard for the whole company to follow.
“If a customer contacts me, I call them as quickly as I can,” he said. “If I get a message, I’m trying to call them within five or ten minutes.”
Mr Harris also said he doesn’t see buy-backs as a failure, describing them as an acceptable outcome when a customer has had an unreasonably poor experience.
“The worst thing that can happen, in an OEM’s [original equipment manufacturer’s] mind, is a buy-back. It’s not that big a deal. If somebody’s had that poor an experience, whether or not it technically qualifies, it doesn’t matter. Just sort it out,” he said.
“I’d rather just sort it out, than make them jump through ten million hoops.”
Chery’s philosophy, Mr Harris said, is that supporting dealers effectively leads to better experiences for customers and that doing the right thing in a timely manner is the best way to build long-term trust.