Vanilla Ice Cream that puzzled General Motors

October 17, 2007 | | 24 Comments

Many of you, unlike me, might have come across this long ago, as it is in circulation for years now. But I just received it today and was spellbound by the incident. For those who are not aware of it, it goes like this -
Never underestimate your Clients’ Complaint, no matter how funny it might seem!

This is a real story that happened between the customer of General Motors and its Customer-Care Executive. Please read on…..

A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:

‘This is the second time I have written to you, and I don’t blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of Ice-Cream for dessert after dinner each night, but the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we’ve eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it. It’s also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem….

You see, every time I buy a vanilla ice-cream, when I start back from the store my car won’t start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I’m serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds “What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?” The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an Engineer to check it out anyway.

The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn’t start.

The Engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, they got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.

Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man’s car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end he began to take notes: He jotted down all sorts of data: time of day, type of gas uses, time to drive back and forth etc.

In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to check out the flavor.

Now, the question for the Engineer was why the car wouldn’t start when it took less time. Eureka – Time was now the problem – not the vanilla ice cream!!!! The engineer quickly came up with the answer: “vapor lock”.

It was happening every night; but the extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.

Even crazy looking problems are sometimes real and all problems seem to be simple only when we find the solution, with cool thinking.

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Huh!!

Comments

http://whitewitty.info/?p=21445 cars » Vanilla Ice Cream that puzzled General Motors

[...] The Best Evil Cheerios A Man Can Get wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptHe had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store….If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine….It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn’t start….Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man’s car was allergic to vanilla ice cream…. [...]
bill

your font is horrible.
http://www.trafficdepartment.co.za Guy McLaren

This blog has been nominated for a trafficdepartment top 100 blogs award
http://journal.naveeng.com Naveen

your font is horrible.

I can change it only if you can specify WHICH PART OF FONT is horrible?? face, color, size, weight etc.?
http://journal.naveeng.com Naveen

This blog has been nominated for a trafficdepartment top 100 blogs award

Well Thank You
Rob

your font is horrible.

I can change it only if you can specify WHICH PART OF FONT is horrible?? face, color, size, weight etc.?

I would have to agree. The color is fine, as is the size and weight. The most annoying part of the ‘font’ would be the typeface. It doesn’t look well on this page. Many of the letters run together (such as ‘do’), making the font hard on the eyes. And bold – That doesn’t work well either, as some of the characters fade away (like the ‘M‘)

Beyond that, the story is wonderful and thank you for sharing it – I had never seen this story before now.
-

More info at
http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/icecream.asp
http://www.pbase.com/sambashir Sam Bashir

Well, I read it to the end. Great story Naveen!
http://rajeevsrajan.wordpress.com/2007/10/20/vanilla-ice-cream-that-puzzled-general-motors/ Vanilla Ice Cream that puzzled General Motors « Rajeev Rajan’s Opinions In Consequent

[...] October 20th, 2007 [...]
http://vandamonium.wordpress.com/2007/10/21/vanilla-ice-cream-that-puzzled-general-motors/ Vanilla Ice Cream That Puzzled General Motors « Vandamonium’s Weblog

[...] Vanilla Ice Cream That Puzzled General Motors This was found at Naveen’s Journal [...]
http://lucycook85.wordpress.com/2007/10/26/vanilla-ice-cream-car/ Vanilla Ice Cream Car « Lucycook’s Weblog

[...] Vanilla Ice Cream that puzzled General Motors [...]
http://journal.naveeng.com Naveen

Lets see how this one goes!
http://sunthoughts2007.com Sun

Holy SMOKES! Vapor lock!
Boob Biter

NO NOT VAPOR LOCK, I CAN’T HANDLE MORE VAPOR LOCK. Or is it vapoo lock, now that i can still handle a bit of.
Brent Newland

I had a customer return a fax machine because “when it’s plugged in and I try to receive a fax I get obama messages on my answering machine.” I shit you not.
Daniel

Stumble my way onto your blog. Thumbs up. Unfortunately no company would give this man the time of day in today’s world. It kinda depresses me. Especially since I work in customer service.
this is

this is dumb and your font sucks
Cani

In that you are called “this is” and your comment is “this is dumb” i find myself in the position of having to agree with you, “this is”.

nice story Naveen, it’s shows that it can pay to think laterally and take people seriously, now i just have to persuade my employer.
Harius

Your font is just great and loved the story, a whodunnit with some science, thanks for taking the time to tell it.
http://soma-uk.umarker.eu/ SomatiK

how r u, spring is cooming! good post there, tnx for journal.naveeng.com
http://www.gmail.com vijaylaxmi

my trainer at TCS narrated the incident to us during a session on effective customer service and wanted us to google it. Now i know why
By the way the font doesnt matter when the story is gr8..
http://www.facebook.com/people/Sujeet-Banerjee/100000036340665 Sujeet Banerjee

How true!
Kiran

what is vapor lock?
Paddingtonb3ar

i pooped everywhere when i read this