Automaker Mahindra South Africa has officially launched a new rapid response system across the organisation to address customer queries within a 24-hour timeframe.

Mahindra’s rapid response initiative, called Reach Out, is backed by refreshed front- and back-end processes and technology, which the company tested extensively before a nationwide rollout in December last year.

Mahindra South Africa aftersales head Sila Banerjee explains that the automotive aftersales sector often has issues around customer dissatisfaction, including long wait times for responses and clarity on what is happening with vehicles being serviced; hence the company’s meticulous focus on rapid response, query tracking, escalation mechanisms, accurate diagnostics and efficient parts procurement to distinguish its service offering in the market across vehicle lifecycles.

The group has set internal timing targets for every department in which to respond and escalate matters, which includes communication and repair objectives for dealerships.

For example, once a complaint is received through WhatsApp and the concern escalates to being logged onto Mahindra South Africa’s customer relationship management system, dealers are notified to provide a solution within four hours.

Banerjee affirms that an escalation mechanism is in place to ensure timely responses to the customer, with concern automatically escalated if a response from a dealer is delayed.

The company has set in place consequence management protocols for noncomplying dealers to the Reach Out promise.

Banerjee says while not all vehicle issues can be resolved within 24 hours owing to parts sourcing from India in some cases, the company assures customers that they will have a clear action plan for their query within this timeframe.

The process flow is designed in such a manner to ensure concerns are acknowledged within the first 30 minutes of contact, including through the use of AI.

Mahindra South Africa is using robust digital tools to engage with customers, categorise their queries, route them to the stakeholders concerned and track every concern from first contact to final resolution, with clear ownership, timestamps and accountability at every stage, all within 24 hours.

“A well-oiled mechanism supported by robust digital systems tracks every concern from inception to conclusion, ensuring no voice goes unheard. Transparency, speed and consistency are key values for Mahindra South Africa as part of their value and service offering,” Banerjee adds.

Through Reach Ou, Mahindra commits to respond quicker to customer complaints or requests, with customers being encouraged to WhatsApp the company or engage through the Mahindra Mzanzi application.

The WhatsApp customer service line is integrated with Mahindra’s Mzansi customer app to raise complaints, make enquiries and do vehicle service bookings, ensuring a seamless customer experience across all touchpoints.

DEDICATED DISTRIBUTION

Meanwhile, the company also established a new 8 800 m2 parts distribution centre in Midrand that is highly automated to support customers with daily deliveries to all dealerships.

The distribution centre also houses a training centre for technical teams.

While the upgraded customer service department supports customers directly, the new parts distribution centre will ensure that Mahindra dealers have the parts and equipment needed to support all Mahindra vehicles.

The new facility houses about 38 000 different part lines and close to one-million items in stock at any time.

All of Mahindra’s dealers in South Africa receive daily deliveries from the centre, with the facility having maintained a 98% first-fill rate since opening last year.

The company has a network of 120 dealers across all nine provinces of the country. Dealerships are comprehensive facilities that handle sales, service and spare parts for the XUV3X0, XUV700 and Scorpio-N sports utility vehicle (SUV) models, as well as the Karoo Dusk, Dawn, Dew and Storm pickup models.

With the Reach Out system, parts ordered as a result of complaints received by the customer service team are fast-tracked in the distribution centre and expedited to the correct dealer to ensure the affected vehicles are attended to as quickly as possible.

“Our new Reach Out customer promise comes at a time when Mahindra has fully modernised its range of authentic SUVs and bakkies. Customers can rest assured that they will be well taken care of whether they already own a Mahindra or choose to buy one of the exciting new models we have planned for the next 18 months,” says Mahindra South Africa CEO Rajesh Gupta.

Mahindra, which assembles vehicles at its plant in the Dube TradePort, in Durban, has become a top five seller of bakkies in South Africa.

Gupta says Mahindra South Africa is committed to customer service from product launches to after-sales experiences, in recognising the emotional and operational significance of cars in South Africa.