Why can't Maserati do the simple stuff?

hilts uk

hilts uk

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945
I now understand why people don't choose Maserati when they do toe to toe with the German manufacturers.
Took the Levante in for a service. Took them 3 days to tell me it needed a new tyre. Only issue was there were none in the UK. Would take 5 days to get from Italy. Car delivered back to me after 9 days.
A service should take a day , two days max. But 9 days?
How does Maserati UK run out of tyres for its best selling car? Don't they understand the hassle and resulting brand damage that results from keeping cars off the road while waiting for stock of a consumable item?
The East Germans in the 1970s were probably better at managing inventory than Maserati.

Rant over..
 
P R

P R

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1,388
I can beat that. Maserati dealer fitted new discs and pads on my Ghibli in December, which "warped" within 3 weeks (after telling them it had done 2 sets so far).. anyway, its still in there now, 14 days tomorrow.. dealer got sick of waiting for Maserati Uk to ok the job under warranty (despite the fact they lasted only 3 weeks)..
 
RoaryRati

RoaryRati

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It's Italian - manyana (or something like that) - I had same issues with my rescue mission - they were always on holiday for something!!
 
UlstermanAbroad

UlstermanAbroad

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I read something similar the other day, though I can't recall the specifics. The gist was, that some REMF in Whitehall or the Pentagon, decided that to save money, certain military formations (like a brigade) in Iraq and/or Afghanistan would implement a JIT (just in time) process for moving supplies from somewhere like Camp Bastion down to Helmand Province on the Pakistan border.
The JIT supply chain may've extended all the way back to the UK.
Obviously supplying ammunition, for example, to platoons in isolated bases, isn't like moving groceries from a central storage point in Northampton to a supermarket in Bristol.
Long story short, because of a lack of helicopters, bases at the very end of an extremely long supply chain would frequently run perilously low on essentials like food, water and ammunition.
Whilst being attacked constantly by the Taliban, determined to slaughter everyone in a base, not least for its propaganda value.
Often, the military would be forced to drop everything, to rush critical supplies from point A to point B. Ultimately, costs escalated far beyond what would be normal on operations.
My point being. It seems that humans have an infinite ability to screw things up. No matter the consequences. Although often organisations fail to meet even the most basic of expectations. Faster than we can lower them :p
 
zagatoes30

zagatoes30

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Bean counters, there will be some one some where who has deemed the most cost effective process that has no contingency and feck all consideration for the customer at the end of the line.
 
P R

P R

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Agreed on the just in time philosophy. Supermarkets employ it now to prevent what is effectively loads of cash sat in a warehouse.

The flaw in Maseratis just in time is that it clearly isnt in time.. so I guess its just, erm, just! ;)
In my case it was trying to get a decision from them to replace under warranty though
 
UlstermanAbroad

UlstermanAbroad

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hilts uk said:
The East Germans in the 1970s were probably better at managing inventory than Maserati.
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They were. Because they had so little of anything ;) It was obvious which stores in the Eastern Block had things people wanted. They were the stores with long queues.
No queue meant an empty store :p
 
UlstermanAbroad

UlstermanAbroad

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P R said:
The flaw in Maseratis just in time is that it clearly isnt in time.. so I guess its just, erm, just! ;) In my case it was trying to get a decision from them to replace under warranty though
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Drucker, Handy, Porter et al advocated empowerment of customer facing staff, so this exact scenario wouldn't happen. This was forty odd years ago. :/
God bless the Italians. They've given us incredible art, music, wine, food and sublime women. Not forgetting cars which are jaw droppingly gorgeous to look at.
But trust them to do something mission or life critical? Probably not :p
 
MrMickS

MrMickS

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I had fun with wiper blades. I called the local dealer who said they only had three drivers side wipers and no passenger ones. They then asked for my reg and said they were all reserved for other customers. They had no eta for new ones.

How can you run out of wipers and not know when you'll be getting more in stock?
 
hilts uk

hilts uk

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945
MrMickS said:
I had fun with wiper blades. I called the local dealer who said they only had three drivers side wipers and no passenger ones. They then asked for my reg and said they were all reserved for other customers. They had no eta for new ones.

How can you run out of wipers and not know when you'll be getting more in stock?
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I have just got of the phone from the customer service director in Italy. They called me because I filled in a feedback form and gave a bad score. He was shocked that this could happen. I said it's nice he called but they should know of these issues and it shouldn't be up to the customer to flag their supply chain issues.
The just in time delivery works fine for mega quantities but the law of small numbers means that at some point it will be found wanting for small volume manufacturers.
 
conaero

conaero

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hilts uk said:
I have just got of the phone from the customer service director in Italy. They called me because I filled in a feedback form and gave a bad score. He was shocked that this could happen. I said it's nice he called but they should know of these issues and it shouldn't be up to the customer to flag their supply chain issues.
The just in time delivery works fine for mega quantities but the law of small numbers means that at some point it will be found wanting for small volume manufacturers.
Click to expand...

Perhaps you should point him in my direction (admin@sportsmaserati.com) and then he can read the issues first hand for himself?
 
B

bigbob

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8,972
In my experience they do hold zippo stock which means an extended service visit. If they have given me a loan car then I don't mind it taking one to two weeks as the car goes in so infrequently. Trouble is they don't seem to have increased the number of loan cars at my local dealer to account for the much larger sales (and service) volumes than before, hence the chaos.

With the new cheaper cars they need to up their game and stop offering the old Ferrari style service where long visits were (are?) the norm. Personally I don't use franchise dealers of any brand for tyres but sometimes it can't be helped in an emergency.
 
hilts uk

hilts uk

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945
Totally agree. You expect a longer service for a low volume make and where it is effectively a second car.
But Maserati is now trying to compete with as a volume manufacturer and the service and parts need to catch up.
I tried to get a loan car but it's a 8 week wait. They also order stack with servicing. Pick up at 8.30 am but they don't look at the car until the next afternoon which means a minimum of 3 days for a simple service. Fine for my Alfa 8c but not ok for a daily car.
 
B

bigbob

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hilts uk said:
Totally agree. You expect a longer service for a low volume make and where it is effectively a second car.
But Maserati is now trying to compete with as a volume manufacturer and the service and parts need to catch up.
I tried to get a loan car but it's a 8 week wait. They also order stack with servicing. Pick up at 8.30 am but they don't look at the car until the next afternoon which means a minimum of 3 days for a simple service. Fine for my Alfa 8c but not ok for a daily car.
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Spot on so at least two dealers are struggling to cope with service volume and at opposite ends of the country too. They need to put another couple of diesel Ghiblis on the Service fleet - last time my car was in Edinburgh said they had ONE loan car!
 
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