Morning Rush

[flyboy]

Despite trying to schedule sufficiant time between appts, we are seriously struggeling with the morning rush. As most are aware, this can kill your CSI as well as profits, not to mention the disposition of employees and customers alike.

We have tried to keep our appts at 20 minute intervals, but with walk ins it just doesn't seem to work. I think the writers are trying to do a better job, but we are just not able to get the customers to come in when their appt is actually scheduled. Kind of a two fold problem, customers and perhaps proceedurs.

What have you done to successfully spread the morning rush?

[Mike Vogel]

We have started a reservation office that uses R&R appointment control menu which gives the customer a different type of time like 7:06 am and they are advised this is the time set to meet with the advisor for write up. Most customers seem to remember 7:06 better than the usual quoted 7 am, 7:30, 8:00 etc.
We also utilize a service greeter that educates the benefits of scheduling an appointment over just driving in.
Do these processes work all the time ?
No, but they definitly will help make improvements on the drive. Some improvement is better than none.

[farfinator]

Obviously you will never eliminate the problem totally, however, I found it a big help to preprint work orders for the scheduled appointments the night before. I arranged to feed copies to the parts department the night before to prepull services, recall pkgs and verify SOP's, so to ensure we optimized part availability the next morning and catch screw ups. It was quick to get the customers to just sign & review the workorders which we would then convert to RO's as the need or time permitted and be freed to contend with suprises. We cross utilized drivers and lot guys etc to gopher in the shop for the 1st 2-3 hours. They were set up with walky talkies based at dispatch. The techs would give dispatch a heads up 5-10 mins before a car was through and the gophers would get the next car's parts to the tech's bench and swap out cars. The tech's efficiency was greatly improved and much of the coffee shop morning banter and waste at the part's counter was eliminated. I don't think you'll every get control of the customer. The best you can do is try to maximize your ability to contend with their behavior.