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An Interesting Customer Complaint

Posted by Umema Siddiqi on Thursday, May 21, 2009 in , , , ,

This is a real story that happened between the customer of General Motors and its customer-care executive. A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors: This is the second time I have written to you, and I don't blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of ice cream for dessert after dinner each night. But the kind of ice cream varies, so every night, after we've eaten the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it.


It's also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem. You see, every time I buy a vanilla ice cream, when I start back from the store my car won't start.


If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine.


I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds: "What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?"

The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an engineer to check it out anyway. The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinnertime, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start.


The engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, they got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.


Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem.


And towards this end he began to take notes, he jotted down all sorts of data: time of day, type of gas used, time to drive back and forth etc. In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to check out the flavor. Now, the question for the engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it took less time. Once time became the problem and not the vanilla ice-cream, the engineer quickly came up with the answer: "Vapor lock". It was happening every night; but the extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still to hot for the vapor lock to dissipate. Remember: Even crazy-looking problems are sometimes real and all problems seem to be simple only when we find the solution with a cool thinking.



Moral: Don't just say its "IMPOSSIBLE" without putting in sincere effort


Cheerio folks =)

PS: Thanks Kadnan bhai =)

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23 Comments


That is quite amazing... you know I am into something that somehow belongs to the Customer Services... and apart from all the facts we have to have a firm believe that whenever the customer complains... he is having some problem regardless of what ever he has reported...

Any way it was good to read!


Lol. Your company won't ever prosper then :P
I can say just one thing: Becharay customers! :P


My code is perfect, its ur hardware problem :o

Go figure :p


@JonyBr
hehe...
without investigating any thing.... giving such statements that my code is perfect... won't make you successful.

You gotta give the clear evidences :)

@Dinky...
tum to maaf kardo!!!!
=D


Hahaha. You're so like Jingo bhai :D


~Jingoist: Jaein, maaf kia! :P Ab kia karoun?


Jingo, normally i can always convince the clients ;)


~JonyBr: Oh, I remember that post on Presentation Skills :P


Niiiiice :)


http://www.flickr.com/photos/37237598@N08/


how is my pictures?


hehe no thats enough!


Nice story. :)

However, a quick search at Google led me to this Snopes.com page, where it discusses the same story. It doesn't verify whether the story is true or false, but it does note that the definition of vapor lock "reversed" itself over time. (In earlier versions, vapor lock would occur because it took longer to get out with the troublesome ice cream flavor.) Wikipedia, though, tells that "a vapor lock can [...] develop when the engine is stopped while hot and the vehicle is parked for a short period."

(Yeah. I've nothing better to do than googling urban legends. :P )

But, as I said, nice story. It appealed to my detective streaks. :D


~Leemz: Thanks =)

~AliBaba bhai: Those are really nice. What is the location?

~Jingoist: *phew* thank God!!! :P

~Saadat: It's written there that the story is true :P And this Dinky Mind didn't know what a vapor lock is. Thanks to the sotry, now I know :P


Interesting story ... could be true wesay ;)

My googling and autorepair.about.com says so ;)


~Asma: And I wrote that in the starting :P


This comment has been removed by the author.

Di~
location is Las Vegas New York and Washington DC.

Thanks


~AliBaba: Oh nice photography :D


Very Nice


Thanks for liking it, Ricky Ponting =)

Anonymous says:

This post reminds me of a funny read which goes like this

This case happened in a hospital's intensive care ward where patients always died in the same bed and on Sunday morning at 12 noon, regardless of medical condition. This puzzled the doctors and some even thought that it had something to do with the supernatural. No one could solve the mystery as to why deaths took place at 12? So a world wide expert team was constituted and they decided to go down to the ward to investigate cause of the incidents. So on the next Sunday morning, few minutes before 12, all doctors and nurses waited outside the ward to see for themselves what the terrible phenomenon was all about!! Some were holding wooden crosses, prayer books and other holy objects to ward off evil..


And then...

Sardaar Ji, the part time Sunday sweeper, entered the ward, unplugged the life support system and plugged in the vacuum cleaner.

:D :D


Hahaha... That was really funny! =D Thanks for sharing it, Mr. (Miss?) Anonymous! =D
Oh, and welcome to my blog =)

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