2013 Service Elite Criteria - what a joke this is

[jefo65]

This is something I just had to share with my fellow dealers and encourage everyone to audit their numbers and see if they get the same answers I did.

This is my first post and might get a bit lengthy.

As of April of 2013, our DMA informed myself and my dealer principle that we were 2 technician training classes shy of reaching 100+ % and that was the last of the 5 required criteria required to achieve "Certified Elite" status by June 30th. Our local training center didn't have the required courses scheduled, so with our DMA's encouragement we enrolled our tech in one course in St Louis and one in Des Moines. Paying for travel, lodging meals and time off. 3 days after the last course was completed I receive an email from our DMA saying "As of May 13th, your repeat repair percentage has jumped to 4.7% and you were no longer compliant. This email was sent to me on June 3rd, two weeks after it was supposedly commen knowledge. Did my DMA forward stale information as soon as he received it,..maybe. Here's were it starts to get real interesting. It seemed unlikely for our repeat repair percentage to DOUBLE in a little over 3 weeks since the last time it was measured,..knowing I'm the only one in the dealership authorized to flag a claim as a "repeat" for any reason.
I contacted my DMA and wanted a list of any and all claims driving this number. Within a couple days I received an email from GM's warranty specialist with the requested list of repair orders. After review 22 claims out of approx. 660 submitted and accepted as a ZREG transaction were flagged repeat repair and responsible for the high percentage rate. Certified Used oil changes, left and right side repairs, related group repairs, same repair order, valve cover gasket, crank gasket, Equinox high pressure pump, S-E-S lights, oil consumption study & eventual timing chains (get ready for the ring kit fellas) front and rear rotors and so on and so on. 15 or the 22 repair orders are clerical errors at best, 2 of the 22 were certified used oil changes, the remaining 5 of the 22 were definitely repeat repairs,...that number is one any service manager should be proud of with the volume we deal with. I understand GM wants us as managers to lump everything on one line and H route the claim, but I was informed by the "warranty specialist" the H Route specialist will simply flag it as a repeat repair the second they see more that one failed part anyway.. Personally I don't believe in that nor will I do that. You could land up with 3 different oil leaks repaired on one line and in inaccurate GMVIS later down the road.
I strongly requested my DMA schedule an "in person" visit and please bring the warranty specialist with you. A little over a week went by and the requested meeting was scheduled.
I can honestly say after 29 years in this business, that particular meeting was the most upsetting thing I ever sat through.
The warranty specialist started by strongly controlling (or trying) to control 100% of the meeting and refused to listen to mine or the dealers concerns. Instead we got a 48 minute presentation of how to control and log all our "come back repairs" after I let him talk himself out and eventually was given the floor, I asked if he even looked at the claims? I started with the 2 certified used oil changes,..his reply was "yah, we know about that,..it's a little noise in our system that we haven't fixed yet, but every other dealer has the same problem, that's why the elite criteria is a generous 3.0% or less" I then questioned him on 2 claims submitted as no problem founds in one year and a left and right headlamp bulb replacement on the same vehicle 5 months apart. This time his reply was "Well,.....if your so concerned about repeat repairs, maybe you shouldn't have charged us for both" I asked if he was suggesting I work for free? That went unanswered. He then went down the road that we over repaired the other vehicles and if we "insisted" the other repairs still needed to be done, it should have been one line and H routed as outlined in document 2814486,..but it really wouldn't have made any difference, the H route would have been flagged "repeat" by them after 6-9 days anyway. I clearly asked him should we look the other way if there is 2 separate leaks and under repair vehicles and just hope for the best?,...that also went un answered. Evetually he just blurted,.."your not making certified elite,..why don't I just try again for the next grading period in December".He ended the meeting telling me that 12.7% of my repair orders have had a warranty line added (GMVIS recalls found, safety issues etc..)and I better work on getting that number down. Really!?! Became crystal clear this meeting was rehearsed and no one wanted to hear the facts.
I ENCOURAGE ALL SERVICE MANAGERS to go to GlobalConnect - Global Warranty Management - Analyze Warranty - Search Transactions - click the advanced search tab - highlight the box "transactions accepted" in the box to the left - check "custom" for the process date (I'd run it from Jan 1st thru current)scroll down to the next box, highlight "ZREG" for transaction type, scroll down and and check the box for "approvals" 2nd drop down box below that choose R-Repeat repairs for Effective Authorization: run it and print it and go through it with your advisors. You might have a few surprises what GM considers "come backs" in there and I'm sure come after you in good time.

of the 5 areas of "criteria" this is where we stand as of today

Certified Elite Criteria

1. New Vehicle Customer Retention – 41% or above 48.8%
2. Dealership Parts Loyalty – 83% or above 91.6%

3. Repeat Repairs of 3.0% or less 4.7%

4. Service Training Standards – 100% or above 152.6%
5. Dealership Service Web Leads Closure – 65% or above 75.0%

a. Note that Service Web Leads Closure replaces the Customer Assistance Case criteria previously used in Certified Elite





Make sure all your ducks are in line everyone, my DMA informed me they just placed 5 more dealers in his area on a warranty self review,..big brother is gonna start taking and taking big,..nice way to thank us as well as other dealers that just wrote a check for 750,000.00 for the facility upgrade,...what a great bunch of guys they are huh,...

[steve_biegler]

Welcome to the Forum! If you are new you may not have seen the statement made by one of our fellow dealers.....GM, they are not happy until you are not happy. Sounds like in your case GM is very happy.

[jefo65]

It's sickening that they can literally sit across a desk from you and lie like there's no tomorrow,...and have all the faith in the world there's nothing you can do about it. Submitting claims flagged "repeat" repair for any of a hundred reasons to simply get paid on the claim has been a problem of mine since day one. Multiple calls to DBC always land up with the same answer,.."your comments that are required with any service agent self auth is what dictates GM's perception,..that's why they're required" I guess the guy that held the "read the comment field" position has been eliminated huh.
It's the ole wave the carrot in front of your face approach,..establish goals, make them barely achievable then yank the carrot away with senseless paperwork shuffle.
We have a handful of days left in the month, we're going to give it all we got and see were the numbers fall....if nothing else, I can run all the reports and make a few calls and see how many more lies I can force them into...now if everyone will excuse me, I have to go give my advisors their morning pep talk to sell GM's snake oil,..errrrrr,..I mean wiper blades, batteries, brakes and all that other fast lane and same day service stuff.
:-)

[57years]

jefo65,
Reading your post I can only conclude you are new to GM franchise or an eternal optimist as to GM motives and personnel.

For forty years I have known what you said in line 1. (I was in the retail GM management for 40 years and 10 minutes)!

Thank you stars you now have the facts before you!

[jefo65]

I've been a service manager with GM since 2002,....maybe it's all finally built up and now I'm looking for things.....memory can't recall anything as bold and arrogant from factory employees that the certified elite meeting didn't touch. Got to a point they just about said "We lied, tough sh&t, plan on working for free and you better just take it with a smile"
Without a doubt the customers will be the ones that suffer the most in the long run.
Lesson learned man!

[zep33]

yup

GM - We're not happy until you're not happy

I actually took that from another forum but the subject was Ebay

[XDCX]

I'm getting caught up and just read this thread - thanks for creating it.

I think it's always a great idea to audit the OEM's reports when they're evaluating a dealership. There's no question that all of the OEMs make mistakes and if the errors go unchallenged the data can eventually be used against the dealer.

Concerning your meeting with your DMA and the Warranty Specialist, I wonder if your experience is representative of what's happening across the country? Hopefully you are just the victim of a couple of marginal GM employees and this isn't happening to all dealers.

I think you captured the tone of the meeting with this quote:

Originally Posted by jefo65

This time his reply was "Well,.....if your so concerned about repeat repairs, maybe you shouldn't have charged us for both" I asked if he was suggesting I work for free? That went unanswered.

That's definitely some old school arrogance - the same type of mentality that caused GM to go bankrupt the first time.

Thanks for taking the time to create the thread - I hope other GM Service Managers will read it and investigate their reports as it relates to their Service Elite Criteria.

[jefo65]

Originally Posted by XDCX

I think you captured the tone of the meeting with this quote:



That's definitely some old school arrogance - the same type of mentality that caused GM to go bankrupt the first time.

Thanks for taking the time to create the thread - I hope other GM Service Managers will read it and investigate their reports as it relates to their Service Elite Criteria.

I believe my DMA wants what's right for the dealer,..I'm sure he has orders to follow though. The "warranty specialist" was the man that truely disappointed me. When GM had their first big internal employee crush a few years back, he made the cut, but was realigned from a field engineer position to the warranty specialist. A very intelligent man that could (or did) review the claims that an 8th grader could figure out, ..instead of helping with issues at their end with claim processing, choosing to try the "bully method" and spend most the meeting telling us to impliment a return repair log and get all these "come backs" under control. The only humor I can find in this whole thing is that guy probably left our store and actually believed he won the golden globe award with his performance.

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by jefo65

The "warranty specialist" was the man that truely disappointed me. When GM had their first big internal employee crush a few years back, he made the cut, but was realigned from a field engineer position to the warranty specialist. A very intelligent man that could (or did) review the claims that an 8th grader could figure out, ..instead of helping with issues at their end with claim processing, choosing to try the "bully method" and spend most the meeting telling us to impliment a return repair log and get all these "come backs" under control.

I remember a Warranty Manager who used to work for Chrysler out of the Los Angeles Zone who had a reputation for being a real hard-ass. Similar to the situation you describe, the individual I'm thinking of didn't have a solid warranty background and wasn't that familiar with dealer operations. He seemed to take the "hard-ass" approach so he would appear more knowledgeable and also be less approachable. (He couldn't help dealers get claims paid because he wasn't that knowledgeable about Labor Operations, Failure Codes, etc.)

In the end I don't think he was an evil person - just a square peg in a round hole who wasn't humble enough to learn his job.

On the plus side, at least you have a DMM that seems to have your store's interest at heart.

[Lakeshow]

Originally Posted by jefo65

It's sickening that they can literally sit across a desk from you and lie like there's no tomorrow,...and have all the faith in the world there's nothing you can do about it.

I've been in that situation and it didn't end well for us. The sad thing is unless you have tons of cash and time to fight them, you really can't do anything. Even worse, they KNOW it.

[jefo65]

Quick update for the "criteria changes" for the Service Elite"

This bulletin is a revision to bulletin G_0000162538, dated April 4, 2013, regarding the Certified Elite Program. Please see the changes highlighted in “bold” in this bulletin.

5. Dealership Field Action Closure Rate – TBD (November 2013)
a. Note that Field Action Closure Rate replaces the Dealership Service Website leads previously used in Certified Elite.


The Field Action closure rate will be based on a 6-month completion rate (June 1, 2013–December 1, 2013). While we (and our customers) expect all Field Actions to be completed prior to the customer taking delivery of the vehicle, we recognize this may not always happen. The exact metric for Field Action closures will be announced in November and most likely will be between 90–100% completions.

So,.....GM will no longer hold us accountable for "internet lead closures" and replace it with this. The final numbers they're looking for won't be announced until November,...leaving us 3-4 weeks at best to end the 6 month rolling measurement. I wonder if those idiots actually believe anyone will even make an effort at this....sounds to me like they're a little worried about recalls and lawsuits and are trying to "trick" the dealers into killing themselves for 100% capture. Nice try General!

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by jefo65

The final numbers they're looking for won't be announced until November,...leaving us 3-4 weeks at best to end the 6 month rolling measurement.

Thanks for the update.

I agree that it's odd that GM would make a change to a program in November that using a number based on a six month rolling measurement. It would be virtually impossible for a manager to conform to this requirement if the dealership's performance was below standard.

I'm all for OEMs adjusting programs that don't work but this doesn't seem right.

[tnpartsguy]

No, this is a good change.

We stay on top of the SUB's, good way to get some time on a slow week.

The service lead respondse time was a huge pain in the ass. I'm glad to see it gone. Most of the leads were worthless anyway....someone got their oil changed on Monday and you were supposed to scold them for not doing a rotate....or an air filter.....or a cabin filter that may or may not exist....

[jefo65]

Originally Posted by tnpartsguy

No, this is a good change.

We stay on top of the SUB's, good way to get some time on a slow week.

The service lead respondse time was a huge pain in the ass. I'm glad to see it gone. Most of the leads were worthless anyway....someone got their oil changed on Monday and you were supposed to scold them for not doing a rotate....or an air filter.....or a cabin filter that may or may not exist....

Not saying capturing as many "field actions" as possible isn't a good thing,..the moving target with the unknown required percentage is the part that is upsetting. Trust me,..when they release their numbers few if any will achieve it.

[zep33]

We got it once but lost it last time due to the service leads. Before that it was always GMs backasswards way at counting repeat repairs against you.