Auto Shop Keeps Customers Connected While Waiting
Fred’s Tire and Battery Partners with Vyve Broadband to Make Waiting ‘Faster’
Car trouble and maintenance is not often an enjoyable experience. In fact, a trip to the tire store used to mean a disruption that could mean time off work, waiting and a lot of stress. No one knows better than Fred’s Tire and Battery what that lost time means to customers.
So Darren Rutherford, Fred’s son who now runs the two service locations in Shawnee, strives to make his customers feel at home and make their time waiting in his shops a little easier.
“My dad started in 1974, so we’ve been here in Shawnee a long time. We’re locally owned, family owned, and operated. We notice people tend to sit and wait at Fred’s rather than dropping their cars off,” said Rutherford.
So Rutherford set out to make sure the showroom was comfortable and convenient for customers to spend their time. He partnered with Vyve Broadband to offer a variety of conveniences for customers waiting for their cars. Multiple TV’s play cartoons for young children and sports or news for an older crowd. When Vyve offered up an Internet solution that would make his business a WiFi hotspot for free, Darren knew it would be the perfect addition to this showroom.
As an incentive to 105 Megabit-per-second Business Internet customers, Vyve recently began offering a separate WiFi network for their business customers’ customers. It is separate from the network Fred’s runs on and they’re is able to offer the WiFi free of charge. It’s easy to
access for his customers, and brings a whole new level of “fast” to their wait.
“We have regular customers that come in every month for oil changes and they really like that we have the free Vyve WiFi. People bring in their laptops and tablets, they’re impressed with the speed and definitely less impatient about their cars,” said Rutherford.
Rutherford also appreciates that Vyve Broadband is a local provider. “The local Vyve guys are good guys and Vyve has hired over 100 employees here in Shawnee alone. I know they’re invested in my community,” said Rutherford.
Being able to have a local contact when he has questions or concerns has helped build his trust in the services Vyve provides.
“We are so excited about the work we’re doing for both our residential and commercial business customers in Shawnee. Seeing how our offerings like the WiFi network can help a business provide a better experience to their customers is truly a win-win. Vyve is committed to providing the products and services that our customers want today and anticipating the demands they’ll have in the future,” said Jeffrey DeMond, Chief Executive Officer for Vyve Broadband.