DIRECTOR
FROMTHE
It already seems like along time since Itook myself and the bike to the Alps for 10 days in the summer and rode some truly wonderful roads. Unfortunately, the engine developed an overheating problem; not great when you are planning to tackle the likes of the Grimsel Pass – over 7,000 feet up and what feels like amillion hairpin bends. So I took myself off to BMW in Basle and presented the problem to them as they opened at 08.30 one Tuesday morning. The manager checked the bike immediately, identified the problem and was hugely apologetic that they could not fix it straight away.‘Rats’ (or words to that effect) Ithought and asked how long it might be before they could do the work, thinking days, not hours. ‘Not until 10.00
Director
this morning’ he said ‘you’ll be back on the road by lunchtime.’ And Iwas –and the bike ran beautifully for the rest of the trip. The manager told me that, as far as he was concerned, I’d saved hard all year to be able to afford the break and had alimited timeline in which to enjoy it, so, ‘as avalued customer’(his words and despite never having met me in his life before) he saw it as his job to get me back on the bike as quickly as possible. Ithought that was excellent customer service: An immediate fix that worked and aproblem that did not re-occur – and ahappy customer,toboot. Swiss efficiency? Lucky timing on my part? Or just how BMW Basle routinely behave towards their customers? I’d like to think it was the latter.Wouldn’t it be great if
some of the MOD’s contractors in the UK routinely applied the same philosophy to their customers?
On adifferent topic, we are 10 years old and that gives me the opportunity just to say ‘Thank you’ to the whole Team (past and present) for the hard work, enthusiasm and commitment that everybody has put into the Federation in the last decade. They are agreat bunch of people and apleasure to work with.
Enjoy the magazine
6
Envoy
Winter 2017
raf-ff.org.uk
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