When Chris Bigg dropped off his 2014 Ford Fusion at Bill Collins Ford-Lincoln of Louisville in Kentucky for service this summer, he figured his car was in good hands. Employees wore masks and gloves, seemingly adhering to the precautions most dealerships have taken to comply with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance about workplace safety during the coronavirus pandemic.
But when the store kept his vehicle longer than he expected to change a water pump, Bigg decided to check the car’s dashcam recordings after its return — and was dismayed by what he saw. The footage, which Bigg posted to YouTube on July 27, shows a technician driving the Fusion out of the dealership, visiting two stores, swearing, coughing, rummaging through Bigg’s items and buying cigarettes at a drive-through window.
Bigg told Automotive News that he was appalled and demanded redress from the dealership. Store managers offered him a coupon for a free oil change and brake inspection, he said, and tried to deter him from posting the video online.
“I think they just wanted this to go away as soon as possible,” he said
Instead, Bigg’s 14-minute dashcam video has been viewed nearly 9,000 times on YouTube and shared dozens of times on social media channels. Dealership owner W. Kevin Collins said the technician has been reprimanded and that his staff tried to make amends with Bigg.
It’s just one example of how disconnects between consumers and dealership employees related to the coronavirus can play out online. As the pandemic rages on in the U.S., retailers often find themselves in conflict with consumers who expect more social distancing and mask-wearing or others who resent being told to follow the protocols. In the age of social media, disagreements can quickly become public.
The resulting tension has caused some of the most negative — and positive — online reviews and social media posts about vehicle retailers that reputation experts have seen.
Leaders at Reputation.com, a Silicon Valley software company that examines public perceptions of companies in more than 70 industries, have noticed drastic polarization in dealership reviews relating to COVID-19 protocols.
Customer expectations have increased as the pandemic continues, said Brad Null, chief data scientist at Reputation.com. Negative reviews are six times more likely to mention personal protective equipment or safety measures than a positive review, he said, based on Reputation.com data from September.
“People just expect it to be nailed down,” Null said. “So when you see employees not wearing masks, or any stuff where they feel dealers should have had this figured out by now … people are just more likely to voice their frustration.”
COVID-19 has generated some of the most positive dealership reviews that Jamie Oldershaw, general manager of DealerRater and vice president of reputation strategy for Cars.com Inc., said he has ever seen, adding that some dealerships have enough reviews to leverage as marketing fodder for years to come.
“It really is the best evidence of how durable this industry is when it comes to serving local customers and figuring out how to do it right,” Oldershaw said.
An October Cars.com survey of 7,000 recent vehicle buyers indicated the majority were satisfied with their local dealerships’ pandemic safety protocols — and it influenced where they decided to purchase. That said, some dealerships have received scathing reviews about virus protocols that have cost them business, Oldershaw said.
In an online comment, Bill Collins Ford-Lincoln described what happened with Bigg’s Fusion as an “isolated incident.”
According to Bigg’s dashcam footage, the technician pulled up to a Circle K convenience store around 4 p.m. July 21. “Aw, damn it,” he said. “I ain’t got a f—ing mask.”
There are rustling sounds, as if he is rifling through Bigg’s items, followed by the sound of a latch clicking open. The technician swears. More rustling. He drives to another store, Cox’s Smokers Outlet. As he waits in the drive-through lane, the technician is heard coughing several times.
He asks for a pack of Marlboro Menthol Lights at the window and tells the employee he forgot his mask, which is why he didn’t come inside as he usually does. “I’ll be back for some beer,” he said before driving off. “I’m in a customer’s car. I don’t think that would look too good.”
Dealership owner Collins said he didn’t accept excuses for the technician’s behavior, nor did the technician offer them.
“He conveyed that he was completely culpable for his behavior, just like the customer is culpable for his behavior,” Collins said, referring to Bigg having posted the video online despite being asked not to. He called Bigg’s online description of the video defamatory.
Collins added that the issue “may end up in litigation,” though he declined to elaborate. Bigg said he had no interest in taking legal action against the store. After seeing the video, Bigg said he wanted the dealership to refund his repair bill and rental car expense and to sanitize his vehicle. Bigg said the store denied him a refund.
Collins said his dealership follows broad public health guidance and sanitizes customer cars before working on them and again before they are returned to their owners. He said Bigg’s vehicle was sanitized before it was returned and that the dealership offered to sanitize it again after the customer complained. Bigg disputed both points to Automotive News, saying his Fusion’s interior had the same layer of dust upon its return that it had when it went in for service.
Collins said the employee, whom he described as a “top technician,” is still working at the store.
Some social media criticisms of dealerships end up going better.
When Matt Friedman, co-founder of metro Detroit public relations firm Tanner Friedman, took his wife’s leased vehicle to his local dealership in Farmington Hills, Mich., last week for an oil change, he noticed some employees weren’t wearing masks properly. Friedman took to Twitter to message the store: “@SellersBuickGMC Was there for service today. Good experience but a lot of noses exposed by employees who should be really masked if you are serious about COVID. Please.”
He wasn’t looking to get anyone in trouble but wanted dealership managers to know what was going on, Friedman said.
“Businesses seem to pay attention to comments on Twitter,” he added. “My experience with car dealerships is leaving voicemails, about anything, does not work.”
General Manager Pat Hogan said managers quickly learned of the tweet and, after discussing it with employees, immediately changed the dealership’s mask policy.
Now, all employees wear masks at all times, whether inside or outside, Hogan said. Previously, employees wore masks while moving around the store but could remove them behind sneeze guards while seated at their desks.
“Ever since that particular post came in … we felt the best way we could enforce it totally — without having mask police around — is just to mask up at all times while you’re in the building,” Hogan said.
Friedman said he was satisfied. “The management did all the right things,” he said.
Even if dealerships do everything they’re supposed to, they can still face pressure.
Asbury Automotive Group Inc. CEO David Hult said the group has gotten mixed feedback, though most comments he sees online are positive. He personally got a message from a customer who refused to shop at one of the group’s Atlanta stores because of its requirement that shoppers wear masks.
“We hate to lose the business … but we’re not going to compromise that for the health and safety of any of our associates or customers,” Hult said. “We personally have had one of our associates pass away from the virus. There’s nothing more important than safety.”
As for Bigg, he said he just wants to leave the incident with Bill Collins Ford-Lincoln behind him. But he’s not interested in taking down the YouTube video.
Wearing masks, Bigg said, “is not a best practice” for businesses today. “It’s life or death.”