Ok, so I know that “they don’t respect my time, so why should I respect theirs”, but there are some things you should know. Due to the nature of the car industry, employees work very long hours. Often service advisors work 11 or 12 hours a day, 5 and sometimes even 6 days a week. Think about it, they are there when you are on the way to work and there when you come home from work.
I know that this is not your problem, but you can make things a bit easier for them. Most of us show up a half hour early to get things rolling to begin the day relaxed. If the sign on the door says “open at 7:30″ and you are impatiently walking around the waiting room or worse, going into the office at 7, you aren’t going to receive the warmest reception. On the other hand, think about the end of the day. Last weekend was our Canada Day & the 4th of July in the States. On Friday, we had told all of our customers that we were closing at 5 so that we could join the traffic to get out of the city to be with our families for the long weekend. One customer said he would be there by 5:30. He actually showed up at 6:15 and then wondered why the lights were off and we weren’t very happy to see him. I know that most people aren’t this inconsiderate, but I just use this example to illustrate that sometimes your own behaviour can dictate the quality of service you receive.
Just a little bit of psych work here. Be considerate of the hard working service advisor’s time and he will be more likely to be considerate of yours.