"The AutoSoft system is supported by a strong network of professional representatives nationwide. These representatives are available to assist with equipment selection, premise wiring, installation, training, start-up, and continuous support. In addition, AutoSoft provides 800 line phone support, staffed by professional support people experienced in dealership management."
Here's my problem. We upgraded our Autotrader.com account. We need to contact AutoSoft in order to get polling set up. I am approximately 2 weeks out for something that should have only taken 24 hours. I have yet to reach them. And neither have any of the other 3 people at our dealership. Guess what, Autotrader can't even reach them.
Am I the only person with this issue?
Who do they think they are?
The President?
Please Please! Save yourselves! If you're thinking of using AutoSoft (aka ASI). Don't!
Yes I know this is a rude post. But that's what blogging is for. To let people know about stuff like this.
I would love for someone important from Autosoft to read this and respond.
Well, I had a guy who seems to be Autosofts "Public Relations" guy send me a message, but then when I responded to him him, I never got another response.
However, I did finally get Autosoft on the phone and the lady actually put me on a three way with Autotrader to try and get something done.
BUT Guess what!! Neither Autotrader nor Autosoft would give each other a direct phone line so the other could contact them back in case it was needed. I mean, I was on the line listening to both companies say that they had no number to give for direct contact.
There did seem to be one beacon of light in this whole mess (which is still a mess by the way). That beacon of light was Homenet. The guy I talked to seemed to have his head on his shoulders and didn't treat me like I was a non technical idiot.
The truth is I probably understand alot more than they give me credit for. I can certainly see that there needs to be changes in the way vendors handle complaints or issues.
And for the guy who is Autosoft's Public Relations guru. I would rather try to handle this with someone who doesn't get paid to make the company look good even if they suck.
Sorry Mark. I had to say it. And will keep on saying it until I see otherwise in this company.
Scott- I'm sorry to hear about your experience with this vendor. You are absolutely correct, this is what blogging is for! Quite often when one advertising avenue is used by so many people, customer service can go down the drain for many.
But it makes me think... what could you do to better reach your target audience and not deal with such a headache?
Well this isn't really dealing with a target audience so much as it is dealing with some nuts and bolts to inventory uploads and the like. My target audience should be getting taken care of with Autotrader and the 3 house payments they get each month.
I think I understand what you are talking about with Autosoft now. Are you letting the population around you know about certain specials you will be running with any direct mail?
Scott - I am the PR guy you reference here. I replied to your first posting that I would ask AutoSoft's COO to contact you about your issue, which I am told was done. I didn't realize in your follow-up e-mail to me that there were other questions or I would have replied. I'd be happy to help in any way I can, but other than putting you in touch with the company COO for this particular matter I'm not clear on what else I can do. Jim Leman
The fact is Autosoft is VERY difficult to work with. This issue will be resolved at some point. But it doesn't change the fact that no matter what issue you have, Autosoft will be hard to get in touch with.
There simply is no protocol in place to make sure we get help in a timely manner. And the help seems to come with the attitude that nobody is as smart as they are.
While on the surface, your efforts seem to be pretty noble, and I may seem to be a big fat cry baby. Autosoft is the first company I personally have ever had to have a contracted public relations person (who uses "24n6s7o45dx9f" as a screen name by the way) to try and handle a customer service issue.
Mr. Leman, just tell them this is not a public relations issue. It is a long standing "Bad Service" issue. And this is not the first time I have had bad serivce from them. If their service changes, my opinion will change. Heck, I will even blog about the great change that has happened.
I was wandering why there is so little response to this post. Other than Mr. Leman, and someone selling stuff. I think I figured out why. I saw a blog post where someone was thinking of sueing someone for their remarks (see Dealer Refresh).
I hope people are not afraid to tell it like is due to possible law suits. Just tell the truth and you should not have to worry.
I thought I would post for the last time about this issue with AutoSoft.
We wanted to upgrade Autotrader for more exposure on their site. With the upgrade, came a couple "extra's" to help us market better and faster. One extra in particular was data polling to get my inventory information posted to Autotrader faster and automatic.
In a nutshell here's what happened.
I (along with several people at my dealer) tried to contact Autosoft to get the polling started. My Autotrader Rep gave me instructions to do this.
2 and a half weeks later when I finally got someone from Autosoft, I learned that it was not me who was supposed to contact Autosoft for that. They stated that my Autotrader Rep was supposed to handle all of this for me. Autotrader and Autosoft were supposed to work together to handle this.
This cooperation between Autosoft and Autotrader never accomplished anything for my dealer. (Although I now have a better understanding of how this stuff works - so I can help whoever I work for better - but some Internet Managers may not be able to get it handled without going through the mistakes first).
Autosoft put me on 3 way with Autotrader and you will not believe what I had to listen to. Autosoft asked Autotrader for a direct line to reach the actual person we were talking to so that more people would not confuse matters worse. Autotrader responded by saying "we can't do that" (I think all their calls go in some sort of cue) can you (Autosoft) give me a number to reach you directly? Low and behold Autosoft repsonded the same way.
So there I was in the middle, listening to the people from Autosoft and Autotrader NOT giving each other their numbers. I think this was just plain sickening to be honest.
About 3 weeks into this, my dealer said to forget it and go back to the way things were, because we are not selling anything this way. They want me to concentrate on selling and our vendors to concentrate on this "other" stuff.
So I am back to the bottom with Autotrader and have left Autosoft alone as far as helping us with ANY online marketing efforts (ie. polling).
I am using inventory software that I personally sell to small dealers to upload inventory to the website and Autotrader.
We will only lose the sales that were lost for the 3 weeks of mass confusion plus any we would have had (possibly 20-50% more sales - monthly) with the better package with Autotrader.
At the end of the day we, the independent dealer, are the big losers and ultimately myself being the biggest loser in the eyes of this dealer, because they wanted results and I didn't give it to them. The dealer blamed me, not the vendors.
Autotrader and Autosoft get to go back to their normal routines without a care in the world about my dealer and least of all about me. I get to go back to the bottom of Autotrader pages and manually add inventory to the web.
