Mitsubishi Puts Bid for Happy Owners in Gear

In an attempt to improve customer satisfaction, Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America Inc. is calling each owner of a new truck or car within 10 days of buying to ask if they are happy with their purchase, a company spokesman said Wednesday.

And if the customer is less than satisfied?

“We’ll let the dealer know there’s a problem and what needs to be done to fix it,” said Kim Custer, spokesman for the Cypress-based American headquarters for the Japanese manufacturer.

The program, which began about a week ago, comes on the heels of Mitsubishi’s poor showing in a survey conducted by J.D. Power & Associates. The survey, released last month, gauges customer satisfaction for both product quality and dealer service during the first 12 months of car ownership.

Below Average

Mitsubishi got a grade that was slightly below average, ranking 21 out of 35--an improvement over the year before, but still nothing to tout. At the time, Custer said that Mitsubishi dropped slightly in the rankings because the entire industry had improved in terms of customer satisfaction. He also said that Mitsubishi would soon be announcing a program to improve overall customer satisfaction.

On Wednesday, Custer said that the new phone call program has been “in the planning stages” for the past six to eight months and is not related to the J.D. Power survey.