Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:05 Welcome to the clear impact podcast brought to you by P G T I university. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Sherry Connor and I am your host,
Speaker 2 00:00:20 But we get some crazy calls too. I mean, as far as how long would it take a LAR to break through a piece of glass? I think it's just the ability to be able to call us and get that confirmation and, you know, have that knowledge and answer coming from the manufacturer.
Speaker 1 00:00:34 We have a very special team to feature in today's episode of the clear impact podcast. It's our consumer affairs team, Nina Smith, our customer care manager shares regarding this team and how they take calls every day from homeowners and how they rely on years of experience to answer the myriad of questions. Good afternoon, we are here on the clear and puck podcast, and today we are continuing in our customer success podcast series. And joining us back in studio is Nina Smith, our customer care manager. And, uh, welcome back, Nina.
Speaker 2 00:01:04 Thanks for having me again,
Speaker 1 00:01:05 Glad you're able to make it. And so, as a part of this customer success series, we're highlighting the different teams that are a part of that. And today's focus is the specific team of consumer affairs. Tell us about this team. Like how many people, like, what do they do? Just give us a little high level overview of who they are.
Speaker 2 00:01:24 So we currently have about six team members or exactly six team members, six individuals. Okay. Um, a lot of them were previous customer care reps. The years of experience. So knowledge put together is probably someone who's been here for over 35 years. Wow. We have someone on the team who started with us back and forth. I was born. Whoa. Yes.
Speaker 1 00:01:45 Wow.
Speaker 2 00:01:45 Yep. Okay. A lot of knowledge, they obviously have been dealing with homeowners, dealers, contractors, anyone that you can think of, they received a call from them and have been able to help them.
Speaker 1 00:01:55 Okay. Consumer affairs is specifically for our homeowners that happen to call the manufacturer, asking for help.
Speaker 2 00:02:02 Exactly whether it's the homeowner that doesn't know that they can go back to the dealer, or if it's a homeowner that doesn't have the ability or the option to go back to our dealer or supplier, they purchase the product through mm-hmm <affirmative>. They can always reach out to us or the consumer affairs team. And one of the team members will help them and guide them and tell them where they need to go or what they need to do to get their situation or issue resolved. Right? A lot of these situations, the dealer may be out of business if they bought their windows 10, 15 years ago, and the company no longer exists, they can still file a warranty claim. They can still get their replacement products or any pieces or parts that they may need. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, we'll just have to find a dealer for them. They'll be able to do it now that their dealer is out of business.
Speaker 1 00:02:42 Mm-hmm <affirmative> like I drive a Honda. I would never call the Honda plant in Ohio and ask them a question. I would automatically go to the dealer because that's who I would think of. So why would someone call us as opposed to calling their dealer? Maybe they just don't know who to call.
Speaker 2 00:02:57 I would assume that they don't know who to call, but I also think that because the PGT brand is such a big and well known brand mm-hmm <affirmative> that they don't think of a company to call as their dealer. They think the company to call as the manufacturer. Okay. I think it's a great question. I I'd love to call Honda and find out how many calls of these do you get from consumers? Right? Because we get quite a lot of them. I think it's just the knowledge of knowing who the manufacturer is. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and knowing that they have the ability to contact us and that we can help them. They reach out to us. I think a lot of them, especially newer purchases within the last five, 10 years, mm-hmm <affirmative> they go back to the dealer because they may be in contact with them. They're local. But in situations where a contractor is involved, the contractor may be out of business and they don't know who the dealer is, and they have no avenue besides contacting the manufacturer mm-hmm <affirmative> and getting their issues resolved that way.
Speaker 1 00:03:49 Right. Okay. That makes sense. In our labels are on things and obviously you can find us easily online. So I guess it does make sense. We do refer them back to the dealers though. What types of reasons would we do that?
Speaker 2 00:04:00 I would say the majority of the reasons would be if there's some kind of product failure or manufacturing issues that arise after the installation, mm-hmm, <affirmative> obviously our technicians and our service warranties for the first year that we offer as a courtesy mm-hmm <affirmative> anything outside that timeframe. Unfortunately, we won't be able to service. So in those situations, we'll refer them to a servicing dealer in the area. They can help them, whether it's reordering a piece of glass that needs to be replaced or ordering a handle that may have broken or chipped or, you know, anything along those lines and replacing it. Mm
Speaker 1 00:04:31 Gotcha. Okay. And so should a dealer ever be sending a homeowner to consumer affairs?
Speaker 2 00:04:38 I would say it happens rarely. Okay. And I think the reasons that they would send a homeowner to consumer affairs is if they absolutely have no way of helping them. And as we all know, there's some consumers that just do not believe a word that is coming out of the dealer's mouth, just because they don't agree with it, or they're not happy with the answer. Hmm. The dealer could be communicating the most accurate information with them. They're just not happy with the answer. Mm. So they tend to call us, or I think the dealer at this point gets frustrated and just says, if you don't believe me, go ahead and call the manufacturer. Mm. And we, I would say 99% of the time are on the same exact page as the dealer. Okay. We have the same verbiage back confirmation back of yes, they were correct. They're telling you the accurate information and this is the correct process. Whether it's something is covered under warranty or it's no longer covered under warranty. I would say in those situations, we're more than able to take the call from a homeowner or would want the dealer to refer the caller to us. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, but in regular situations where it's their customer and they can assist them, we would ask that they continue dealing with their customer to give them a resolution.
Speaker 1 00:05:42 Okay. Well, that's good to know. I mean, we are the voice of authority and so it's nice when we can provide that support for our dealers. So some of the things that they would call about are warranty, how to get replacement parts, maybe a different kind of handle or things like that. What other times would a consumer affairs phone call be in order?
Speaker 2 00:06:04 I don't know that it would be a call that's in order, but I think it's something that's interesting or some of the interesting calls that we get. We get calls from homeowners asking how strong of a hurricane, what our windows withstand or okay. If they bought a PG T door and their neighbor bought a PGT door and they have two different handle types, obviously we offer different handle selections. Mm-hmm <affirmative> they may be calling us and saying, Hey, is this an option? Just to confirm those kind of situations, but we get some crazy calls too. I mean, as far as how long would it take a burglary to break through a piece of glass? I think it's just the ability to be able to call us and get that confirmation and, you know, have that knowledge and answer coming from the manufacturer.
Speaker 1 00:06:45 Mm that's funny. I know Patrick Jameson, who's part of our training team. He worked in consumer affairs and he said his goal was to be able to go an entire day of answering calls and not need someone else to help him. And he said, it took him five months before he had a full day where he knew the answers to every question that came through. He knew his stuff. Like he had worked in customer care. So he knew what he was talking about. But five months of every single day, not knowing exactly how to answer every single call. Like that's amazing to me.
Speaker 2 00:07:16 Yes. And Patrick is very knowledgeable. I mean, I used to go to Patrick when I was in consumer affairs years ago. Yeah. And his goal was an amazing goal because I think it took me about a year to be able to answer these questions without having to go to someone else, because I'm telling you, there's not a single day that you go by, that you get the same exact question asked more than once. Wow. There are all sorts of questions and they're coming through. You're probably gonna get one question on a Monday, two years ago. And then the same question asked again, two years down the road by a different customer. So there's so many different options and so many different questions that are coming through to the team that even to create a knowledge article of all these questions, it would take forever because of everything that's coming through.
Speaker 1 00:08:00 Right. How many calls do you suppose you guys average on a day or a week
Speaker 2 00:08:05 On average, a single team member receives about 35 to 50 calls a day. Okay.
Speaker 1 00:08:11 Time, six time,
Speaker 2 00:08:12 Six
Speaker 1 00:08:13 50 calls, time six. So 300 calls a day. Yep. Wow. Wow. Well that keeps things interesting. Doesn't it? It does
Speaker 2 00:08:20 Keeps them busy.
Speaker 1 00:08:22 I bet. Okay. Anything else we need to talk about around consumer affairs?
Speaker 2 00:08:25 I don't think so.
Speaker 1 00:08:26 All right. Well, Nina, thank you so much for making time to come in and hang out in the studio again with me and to just highlight our consumer affairs team and what they get to
Speaker 2 00:08:36 Do well, thank you for having me once again. I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 00:08:40 Okay. Have a great day. You too. P G T I university is the customer education team for an entire family of brands. We began with the original, easy breeze porch and closure line then became P G T America's leading brand of impact resistant windows and doors. We then added CGI C G I C window, Western windows, new south windows, echo windows and doors, and our latest acquisition and Lynn windows and doors. We create products built to withstand major storms, keeping people safe, secure, and prepared. Our exceptional brands give you the protection you need without compromising design or functionality. P G T I university is here to educate you our listener so that you can be more informed about window and door products.
