Rapid BYD uptake led to customer service drama

AUSTRALIAN BYD distributor EV Direct has admitted it got some things wrong in its first few months of sales when it came to making sure owners could easily access its servicing network but says it is “quickly rectifying” those issues.

The Chinese brand – which launched in Australia last year and got off to a rocky start according to owners' forums and Facebook groups – is aiming to make things better for buyers, according to EV Direct CEO Luke Todd.

At the Australian debut of the BYD Seal electric sedan in Sydney, Mr Todd suggested that hiccups experienced in the early days of the brand in Australia came down to an underestimation of the success the brand would have.

“It's really important,” said Mr Todd when asked about taking care of BYD customers after they buy a car.

“Because of the speed at how quickly people are buying EVs and buying BYDs, we are making sure that we're putting steps in place; the servicing and aftercare is critical,” he said.

"And we've had a few challenges in the earlier months. But we're quickly rectifying that. We're getting more and more service locations, we're refining our processes. And because of the success we've had in such a short period, we've had to build up really quickly. 

“But I can assure every customer of BYD that we already have the biggest network. And we're building it out even more to make sure there's more touchpoints,” he said of the brand’s 11 BYD-branded service and repair centres across the country.

The company has also aligned with the Mycar chain of repairers and that has granted the business a large established footprint across the nation, with sites in NSW, Victoria, ACT, Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia already available for maintenance on BYD models.

"When you overlay our relationship with Mycar, they're investing more and more into more stores, which gives people an option to go to Mycar or to one of our facilities,” said Mr Todd.

BYD insists on having its cars checked at three months/5000km at no cost to customers, with annual/20,000km service checks thereafter. 

Two service plans are available for the Atto 3 small SUV; maintenance information for the Dolphin hatch or Seal sedan have not yet been confirmed.

A Standard Service Plan offers up to eight years of capped-price maintenance, with the average service over 96 months/160,000km working out to $299 per visit. If customers choose the Light Service Plan, there is a fixed price of $189 per year but only for lower-kilometre users, with the pricing capped for up to 60,000km over five years.

BYD claims these prices include all labour and required parts such as cabin filters, fluids and consumables, and the pricing (which includes GST) is valid for all maintenance prior to 30 June, 2024.

Further to that, BYD offers an eight-year/160,000km warranty for the battery, and a six-year/150,000km warranty for the vehicle. Some components fall outside of that umbrella vehicle warranty, though, such as lights, the tyre pressure monitoring module, suspension and ball joints (all four years/100,000km), the media system, shock absorbers, wheel bearings and bushings, USB ports and AC/DC charge port assembly (three years/60,000km) and others. 

There is plenty of fine print in the brand’s warranty terms and conditions, but BYD is also planning to roll out a new loyalty program to encourage customers to re-engage with the brand, making status credits and points available for rewards that can be cashed online.

The brand’s new Seal electric sedan range starts from $49,888 + ORC for the entry-level Dynamic RWD, while the mid-spec, larger-battery RWD Premium grade is $58,798 + ORC, and the Performance AWD model is a $68,798 + ORC proposition.

The Chinese ‘new energy’ brand has seen impressive sales results so far in 2023, with the tally to the end of September totalling 8706 sales, from just one model; the Atto 3 small SUV.