Vanilla Ice Cream that puzzled General Motors
Never underestimate your Customers' Complaint, no matter how funny it might seem!
This is a real story that happened between the customer of General Motors and its
Customer-Care Executive.A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General
Motors:
'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?"
out the car anyway.The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well-educated man in a
fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped the car
and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they
came back to the car, it wouldn't start.
The Engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, they got chocolate. The car started. The
second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.
Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream.
He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end
he began to take notes: He jotted down all sorts of data: time of day, type of gas uses, time to drive back and
forth etc.
In a short time, he had a clue: 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.
Now, the question for the Engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it took less time. Eureka - Time was now the
problem - not the vanilla ice cream!!!! The engineer quickly came up with the answer: "vapor lock".
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 vapor lock to dissipate.
Even crazy looking problems are sometimes real and all problems seem to be simple only when we find the solution,
with cool thinking.
What really matters is your attitude and your perception.
Debriefing of this story
Customer feedback should never be ignored, no matter how silly they sound.The vapour lock problem would not have
been detected if the engineer would have considered the man to be crazy.Therefore always approach a feedback with
an open mind.
Thanking You all.
Dr A Jagan Mohan Reddy
PS:May be a repeat,but worth looking at it again,I suppose
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