It's clear from a recent event, that General Motors just doesn't "get" social media and how important it can be to creating goodwill.
A Corvette owner recently wrote to Consumerist.com to complain about a "lousy paint job." Specifically he wrote:
“About six (6) months ago I purchased a new Z06 Corvette and selected the color black, not knowing the coloration is worse than any other car markers. In strong side sun the black looks so bad that its like looking at a gray primer through the paint.
I went to an automotive paint sales store that has a very expensive camera, which can identify pigment and other problems. The paint supply store said the pigment mix is terrible and thus the reason my new black Corvette looks so bad in strong horizontal sun. It has yellow, white and other pigments of such quantity that it destroys the black from looking like a car of this nature should have.
Even a Nissan, Toyota, and Hyundai have blacks that do not have pigment mix problems. Thus, since the public looks to your organization to site problems, I wonder why the All American sports car, where appearance is key, that no one brought to the attention of the public.....stay away from black on new Corvettes."
Since Consumerist.com is part of Consumer Reports, and gets 50,000 visitors PER DAY, one would conclude that GM PR would be aware of these type of sites and be anxious to respond to these types of complaints.
This paint job complaint is pretty easy to track - since there is only one factory in the whole world where Corvettes are painted - Bowling Green, Kentucky.
The Bowling Green General Motors Assembly Plant even has a big yellow button on their website inviting customer feedback.
As a fan, I thought I would do GM a favor and tip them to the problem via the big yellow button... with the suggestion that they comment on the blog to defend their honor.
Here's the response (sent to me, even though I made it perfectly clear that the complaint was on another website, and provided the link):
"I'm not quite understanding your email below other than you have an issue with your paint. Could you please respond with details such as your Chevrolet Customer Assistance number, VIN, specific panel with the issue, and any other detail information so that I may further assist you.
Sincerely,
Lynn Herron
Customer Contact Manager"
The comments were scathing about the quality of Corvette paint jobs.
"Who buys a Corvette for the paint? That's your first mistake."
"The paint jobs on GM cars are often substandard, and it doesn't get better in their higher end models (e.g. my '05 Cadillac STS, the OP's Corvette). I'm surprised they don't advertise "orange peel textured paint" as a feature. ;-)"
"it's a FACTORY paint job, with orange peel and over spray *standard*. I'm not blaming the OP per se, but I am blaming his expectations of mass-produced, robot-sprayed paint jobs.
"He's EXPECTING a $10K paint job and doesn't realize that mass-produced cars come with something a hair better than a MAACO paint job."
"It's well established that buying a Z06 or a ZR1 vs a base C6 corvette is not buying you higher quality"
"GM seems to have issues with their paints..."
GM puts a gigantic yellow button on their website inviting owner feedback, but they haven't figured out that many people just like to shoot off their mouths before actually letting the dealer or factory help them find a solution.
Andrea Hales, the PR person at the Bowling Green Assembly Plant was made aware of the complaint, and didn't respond by commenting on the Consumerist.com site either.
The positive PR from a simple, non-committal comment would have been invaluable... a comment like:
At GM, we pride ourselves on our quality. The Corvette is painted in Bowling Green Kentucky. We would welcome the opportunity to work with you to find a satisfactory solution to your problem. Please send... blah blah blah...
But apparently General Motors hasn't figured out the internet yet. If GM didn't respond within 24 hours, the world has moved on. Even though GM has five people devoted to Twitter, they blew it this time.
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