mschuyler

I usually get TWO surveys per visit, even for an oil change. One from the dealership and one from corporate. At that point I consider it harassment. And with a "10 or nothing" system it makes the surveys meaningless. No one is getting any useful information from them.

MikeyTX

Gotta agree

rmorin1249

It's too bad a corrupt system of performance evaluation actually determines or at least greatly influences raises, bonuses, etc. Not sure how it can be fixed.

DickieDoo

The Survey is for the Dealer
The fact you return to that dealer mean YOU are happy with the Service.

ANd why do they not include pricing in the survey. I have been to some very good dealerships that are a bit pricey, and then been to some very good dealerships that are very reasonable, you can guess who i return to.

aj98

Probably to change the weighting and the number of questions actually scored.

After I started this thread, I learned:

1. Its a 100 point scale.

2. There are two questions on the survey worth 25 points each.
Both of those questions are scored at 25 (for a 10/10 or 5/5 answer) or zero (any other response).

3. The remaining 5 questions are worth 10 points each, and are also scored all or nothing


With only 7 questions scored, it makes it tough when 2 questions equal 50% of the total score.

Dave@Ciocca

I don't know about other manufacturers , but GM now sends email for everything. If there's a service update on your car you get notified via email. I think the only thimg that comes snail mail now is if there is a recall that they have to send it to send regulsr mail by law, although they probably send email as well.

As far as deleting email addresses, GM wii actually punish a dealership for having too many deals without correct email address. If more than 10% have no email or bad email addresses, then they can lise any bonus money coming to them from GM at the end of the month or quarter.

dave

mpuzach

If I'm understanding some of these posts correctly, the absence of a bad survey or comment should be interpreted as "everything is fine" and nothing positive will be said. Using that logic, I guess I can stop telling my wife that I love her as long as I don't tell her that I don't.

mschuyler

And the problem with THAT logic is that it puts the onus upon me to respond to a survey--with all tens, of course, so I don't bring harm to the dealer. It's obligating me to participate in what amounts to a sham. And if I don't answer, they'll send me reminders. Even worse, some of them are "forced answer" surveys which require answers before you can proceed. The dealer is not my lover. If there's something wrong I will tell you. Otherwise, yes, you can assume if I do not respond that there's nothing wrong. I'm okay with that even if you are not.

mpuzach

We therefore agree to disagree. If I have a great or exemplary experience (no matter what type of business it is) and I'm asked to complete a simple survey, I'm happy to do it. IMO it's the least I can do to help a business that worked hard to help me.

mschuyler

But that's assuming "great or exemplary" service. If a dealer is competent and performs an oil change, why must I be expected to rate them "outstanding" on two separate surveys? It's an oil change, for God's sakes. I drive the car in. They did an oil change. They took my money. I drive the car out. That's it, a competent business transaction about which there is nothing particularly "outstanding."

It's like grade inflation. You do "C" level work and figure it deserves an "A" or is competency that rare these days? But my issue is beyond my personal aversion to these surveys. My contention is that you are getting no statistically useful information. The results are bogus and give you a false sense of where you are really at. First you instruct customers what grade to give you, then you bask in the light of getting all tens. But the whole thing has been engineered. It's fake. You are doing yourselves a disservice.

aj98

The problem comes in when the question is what you think (intend) your survey answers to mean vs how GM interprets those answers.

Ergo, the example i posted earlier - does 15 completely satisfied and 6 very satisfied constitute a good or a bad review?

Based on what I've learned, it depends on which questions were answered "very satisfied"

In my head, that scenario would be a 90/100, or a very good review.

In GMs head, depending on which 6 were marked "very satisfied" the survey could score a zero, which is a very bad review.

Which leads to the last question of my original post - how many of you have recieved commentary from a dealer about a (theoretically) bad review?

mschuyler

Since you already asked that question, the answer is either

a) No one
b) No one who has cares to answer your question (so far)

Thus you now have a personal example of one of the big problems with surveys. Further, you are not privy to the weighting of answers, so you're left with speculation. GM is not going to tell you any more than they'll tell you about their plans for the C8.

Peter_K

There are so many free email services out there, why not have more than one?

speed4tu

I always leave a good one. I occasionally run into a free item or free tank of gas/oil change for good survey for new car or service work. Which is totally bad for them to get caught doing with corporate. Tho I will take part every time with it.

Vetteman Jack

I have received them both via USPS and e-mail and my dealership has never asked me to mark anything other than a truthful answer. Fortunately, I do not have to lie on the surveys and have consistently given them excellent/10s on the surveys. They take care of me and in turn I do the same for them.

aj98

Point taken.

I Asked lots of questions and recieved lots of informative answers.

Given the comments from other posters address most of the questions except that one, and (now) knowing the survey is somewhat stacked against the dealer, thought that one might be worth reiterating

Glen e

A bad review is anything less than 100 pct...behind the scenes, in school terms, a 100 is an A and 90 pct is a D.

I always give 100 pct if everything was good and I go back and tell them that. Hence, I get great service. Up to 30 pct of employees pay are affected by survey.

If it's not great service I call the service mgr before I send it and the service mgr corrects the visit or sets me up with a free oil change or whatever. Then I give them good marks.

The survey can work for you, if you learn to work it.

In general, dealers and customers HATE the survey...But JD POWER has caused this situation to occur.

mpuzach

Glen is dead on IMO. The people who are affected by the surveys are in no way responsible for how the scoring system works.

dbirdhouse1

If I am satisfied with the work, I do so because I've used the same mechanic/dealership for years AND I see it almost as a restaurant scenario where the person(s) income may be affected by it.

If I am less than satisfied (not often but has happened) I will call instead and talk to the party involved directly. Worth the time and effort as the "health" of my C7 is impacted.......(did I just use the word health, this car stuff is too serious...)

mschuyler

Absolutely true, so as Glen says, you learn to "work it" to your advantage. With every new car I have purchased from any dealership since the seventies, (which now is Nissan, Acura (6x), Ford, Chevrolet, Cadillac) they all work exactly the same way. Someone sits down with me and explains that anything other than a ten is a failure and begs me to give them all tens on everything. This amounts to the dealers colluding with the customers to slant the survey in their favor. In any other field of endeavor this would be called "co-dependency." The result of these practices is meaningless surveys composed of fake data. If a behavioral scientist such as a psychologist or sociologist, where research surveys are common, manipulated the data in this manner, he would be accused of scientific fraud and likely fired. It's not acceptable behavior.

Now surely J.D.Powers is savvy enough to know this. It's been going on for a long, long time. So why are they still doing this? The only answer I see is that it's because they are getting paid to do it. And if corporations are using this data as a method to financially reward employees and dealerships, they are also committing fraud. You cannot reward or penalize people based on false pretenses. It's a form of corruption.

This issue ought to be taken to court, but the prevailing opinion seems to be, "Gee, we don't have any control over this so we'll just have to keep on falsifying the data." So we all keep on perpetuating this Big Lie. It's not something to be proud of.