Pontiacs, Ice Cream and Customer Service

A Unique Customer Complaint That Baffled GM 

You may have heard this story before but if you haven't. buckle up.  This is an actual case that GM dealt with.  

This is the complaint that came in to GM customer service reps:

'This is the second time I have written to you, and I don't blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of Ice-Cream for dessert after dinner each night, but the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we've eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it. It's also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem.....

You see, every time I buy a vanilla ice-cream, when I start back from the store my car won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds. "What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?"

Naturally, GM was skeptical.  Who wouldn't be?  But being the solid customer service company they are, they sent an engineer to check it out.  What he found was that the customer was not only completely sane but also completely truthful.  

For some reason, this particular car did indeed not start when going to buy vanilla ice cream.  And only vanilla.  Chocolate?  No problem.  Strawberry?  Started like a dream.  Vanilla?  Not so much.  

The engineer spent over a week running tests and jotting down data.  Then it hit him.  

The man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to check out the flavor.

The car was having vapor lock issues too.  It was happening every night; but the extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapour lock to dissipate.

So GM fixed the vapor lock issue and the customer enjoyed his ice cream without any further problems.

So what's the lesson here?  Creative solutions are sometimes right in front of you and all customer communication is to be responded to, no matter how seemingly bizarre.