BL customer relations
Page 16
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AS I was well pleased with my first Metro, I bought a second within two years. This suffered catastrophic damage to the cylinder head gear after a few miles, owing to the oil supply passage in the head being undrilled. The cylinder head and part of the rocker-gear were replaced by the dealer who had not previously experienced a defect of this nature in a Metro.
Not convinced that the repair was adequate to ensure troublefree running of the engine for its normal service life, I wrote to BL Customer Service by 1st Class Mail on 4.3.83, describing the defect and asking what the dealer should do to guarantee a 100 per cent repair.
I received no reply until I had written a second letter on 14.3.83. There followed a thoroughly unsatisfactory exchange of correspondence. I wrote the AA and SMMT and they were both helpful, in marked contrast to BL, whose customer service policy appears to be based on the premise that the customer is always wrong.
BL has been in contact with the dealer and accepted his assurance that all is well with the engine. Consequently I asked BL for a seven-year written guarantee for the engine, which it refused to furnish.
I am writing this letter in the hope that its publication in your journal may persuade BL to change its customer service policy, because I wish to see British industry prosper. A firm which treats its satisfied customers scurvily cannot expect to compete with firms which have learnt that satisfied customers are their best ambassadors.
E. D. HAR WOOD Wimbome Dorset