So far, from the 222,000 customers that opted for GM's aggressive 60-day Money Back Guarantee on new vehicle purchases, only 193 of them (about 0.09 per cent) have returned or are in the process of returning their new Chevy, Buick, Cadillac or GMC, the firm's Vice President of Global Product Engineering, Mark Reuss, announced on Thursday.More specifically, Reuss said that up until now, 53 cars and trucks have been returned and about 140 others are in the process. GM plans to interview those customers that initiate a return to ask them about their experience.
"People are not satisfied and we're going to find out why," Reuss said. "This is about the best unfiltered consumer feedback we've had, and it was suggested by Mr. Whitacre. We've got all the (customer) data. We've gone to see some of them and we're calling some of them at night as well."
Among those buyers that returned their vehicle and are on Reuss contact list is one customer that is said to have been dissatisfied with the paint quality and interior roominess of a Chevy Silverado pickup.
According to the GM exec, there is no need for a new quality initiative in the company as all the processes needed are in place. "The so-called perception gap is a result of what we do," said Reuss. "We need to hit the ball with the center of the bat in everything we do."
Reuss also revealed that 653 customers used the company's 60-day return guarantee to get a $500 discount on another vehicle purchase, meaning they exchanged it another GM model. As an example, he told of a Cadillac SRX buyer who traded up to a more expensive version of the SRX.