Cutomer Satisfaction Survey

[Paul.T]

I bought a C220CDi Estate on 1st March this year. On picking up the car the salesman pointed out that I would receive a questionaire and that it was important to him that he received positive feedback.
Sure enough, two weeks later, I received the form and duly filled it in. I had been happy with the service I received but, there again, I was happy with the service I received on my last visit to Tesco. Nothing special, they did their job. I therefore completed the questionaire accordingly. I marked most areas "satisfactory" or whatever the equivalent comment was. This was duly posted off and forgotten about. I had had no further contact from Mercedes, in any form, since taking delivery.
A week or so later I received a call from the Dealer Principal who told me I'd scored them at 42 which was one of the lowest scores they'd ever received. It was so low, in fact, that the salesman could be in serious trouble. I explained my feelings when completing the form and explained I didn't wish anyone to "get into trouble." The DP asked what they could have done better? I couldn't help him there. He wasn't rude but sounded so concerned that it was almost intimidating. The next day, I received a call from the salesman telling me that he was in danger of being subjected to disciplinary proceedings because of my low marks. Whilst I was extremely irritated by this point, I did agreee to write to the DP stressing I had no complaints about the salesman!
Needless to say, I won't be visiting this dealer again but I wondered if anyone else had been subjected to this type of behaviour by a dealer? Or should I have marked them as excellent across the board to avoid any hassle?

 

[television]

Thats unbelievable Paul, never heard of such a thing

 

[Dosco]

I can't get no satisfaction

Hi Paul

You did not get this wrong, they did.

This is a methodology used by some company's to measure an individuals performance come review time, not correct but some company's do use it that way. Of course it may well be part of a wider MB review and as a result could affect the dealers standing in MB's eye's.

To mark anything 'excellent' means they have 'exceeded expectations' 'exceptional customer service provided ' or 'have gone beyond what one would normally expect for the service being provided' marking as you did should have meant they 'did their job effectively'

It is bad form to ring a customer up in such circumstances unless you have marked them down for failing to 'deliver' then they might want to 'discuss' further your reasons or ask you if you would care to help them improve by explaining a little more of your concern.

It would appear to me that they have got this approach all wrong.

 

[mikestrivens]

I guess this is a sign of the current economic times, that firms are looking for any excuse to downsize. Using customer satisfaction is a good way of weeding out the supposed non-productive or people doing the barest minimum in their job, perhaps compared to his colleagues.

 

[Dosco]

I guess this is a sign of the current economic times, that firms are looking for any excuse to downsize. Using customer satisfaction is a good way of weeding out the supposed non-productive or people doing the barest minimum in their job, perhaps compared to his colleagues.

If that is the case then it would be 'tribunal time' and he would not be the first hey ho :-(

 

[Jay Gee]

Why ask you to fill such a thing in if an honest response doesn't suit them?

 

[car2tref]

As an ex-business sales manager within another industry, I see this as being a method to try and get a customer to increase the rating just to get the dealership into a higher u.k. rating, which would increase their visibility to their U.K. Sales Directors at HQ!! This could also point to the dealership struggling to achieve their targets!!??
Very bad method and very short sighted.

 

[teddycatkin]

Hi Paul -When I had a newer car a couple of years back ( it was a one celeb owner and sourced though MB as it had been traded in ) being low miles it had one stamp in the service book so I had to take it to them to keep the warranty /service history ect up to date --it was kept in pristine condition and hand polished by me without a blemish !
The first time I left it for service with them I was horrifyed to return and see the car in a car wash at the rear of the showroom ! --nylon brushes flailing at the paintwork-- nothing I could do but wait until it came out--apparently this is a normal proceedure at the dealers and is classed as part of the service!--My customer satisfaction report was much worse than yours I can assure you --I got a written apology too.

 

[D1gger5]

Had my own Performance and Development view last week and some of the competencies suck:-

Leadership
Empowerment
Bottom Line Orientation?

If I am not a manager of someone then I cannot impart any leadership. I can have my own empowerment but if the managers don't sign off my work (it remains draft documentation) then this is futile.

I hope some of this in other areas, like shops/dealerships, does not lead to people being released/redundant/unemployed because shoppers/buyers receive a normal service which is all they want/need.

I want this product therefore you cannot budge me on any enhancements, extras or alternative items above and beyond my requirements PERIOD. I avoid those car supermarkets with abandon because of all that hard sell.

In this world, everything is driven by bean counters and managers but you still need the braves/foot soldiers to get the job done.

 

[Alex M Grieve]

I bought a C220CDi Estate on 1st March this year. On picking up the car the salesman pointed out that I would receive a questionaire and that it was important to him that he received positive feedback. Or should I have marked them as excellent across the board to avoid any hassle?

When I bought my W220 a couple of years ago, once it was clear that the deal was done, I received some very low key counselling from the salesman, along the lines: "You will receive a customer satisfaction survey in the next couple of weeks. The completion of this is crucial to my bonus of £xxx for selling the car. A mark of less than perfect on any question will kill the bonus".

I liked the guy. He had done an OK job, but I had targetted the car and he was probably just a piece of the process to help me acquire it. He didn't really do much selling - the customer knew what he wanted, the car sold itself.

I filled the form in according to the guidance received. I suppose he got his bonus. I chose not to point out that the car needed oil when I got it home, that I nearly ruptured myself trying to slacken the oil filler cap (suggesting that it might not have been disturbed since it left Stuttgardt) I did not say, as Paul did, that the man was doing his job, but not with conspicuous flair, or excellence.

So the OP is quite right. It is an artificial world these people are living in. I only give 10 out of 10 in my field when people do it better than I do - and I'll bet you can guess how often that happens. In medicine I used to work to a standard which I described as "Harley Street plus" - people laughed, but no one ever complained. That was my measure of customer satisfaction and it did not require a sterile process of this sort.

 

[Splatt]

Not Just MB, VW Audi do this as well and the salesman plead with you to give the the highest possible score, to even say you will probably buy from them again is not positive enough and will give them a fail.
I seriously think the best thing is to just bin the survey. I will next time.

 

[Alex M Grieve]

Not Just MB, VW Audi do this as well and the salesman plead with you to give the the highest possible score, to even say you will probably buy from them again is not positive enough and will give them a fail.
I seriously think the best thing is to just bin the survey. I will next time.

Perhaps we are too discerning Splatt - but I suspect that we are just too honest!

 

[PanzerMcGrory]

I might be wrong as i filled mine out two months ago but is it not MBUK who issue, collate and disseminate the information from these surveys?
Therefore write a letter of complaint to MBUK as its this kind of crap service they are trying to eradicate.

 

[stuartmac]

Hi All,

Jeez, I'd better nip down the bank tomorrow and make sure they haven't sacked the bloke who handled the cheque I was paying in the last time I was there!

I got a call a few nights ago from some survey company asking me about "my last visit to the Xxxx branch". Kinda creepy that I can't now even just nip into the bank without being called about it. But anyway, ...

The bloke doing the survey was a bit weird, and the questions got weirder and weirder - like someone had just picked me out of a hat, without looking to see if they'd get anything useful out of the exercise. But when I was asked, "Did the person give you all the information you needed?" I replied, "For goodness sake, I've told you three times already that all I did was pay in a cheque. I've been doing that for 37 years. What information was he going to give me?".

I've just had a thought - maybe I failed the customer survey, maybe they're going to sack me as a customer? :roll:

Regards,

 

[television]

,


I've just had a thought - maybe I failed the customer survey, maybe they're going to sack me as a customer? :roll:

Regards,

This is where many fail to make the grade, customers who just pay and never complain, and wear the correct suit are accepted as customers, the rest of us are not

 

[Rory]

A week or so later I received a call from the Dealer Principal who told me I'd scored them at 42 which was one of the lowest scores they'd ever received. It was so low, in fact, that the salesman could be in serious trouble. I explained my feelings when completing the form and explained I didn't wish anyone to "get into trouble." The DP asked what they could have done better? I couldn't help him there. He wasn't rude but sounded so concerned that it was almost intimidating.

Reading your comment that you really couldn't think of anything the dealer could have done better then it seems to me that your satisfactory is the same as their excellent - you started at a neutral reference point, whereas they expected you to start at excellent and then knock marks off for anything unsatisfactory.

The customer satisfaction scores that are now being featured on the Mercedes website strike me as unlikely - I just can't believe that dealers could possibly get the 90%+ scores that seem to be typically quoted. Would that many people really be happy with the price they paid, for example?

 

[Gt Russell]

That is disgracefull and i would be writing to merc uk head office to complain , for gods sake this is a car salesman and just doing his job , I know people don't like car salesmen much but hey this guy could loose his lively hood cos of a stupid survey and after all as Jay Gee said if they cant handle an honest answer then they shouldn't be taking part and another thing why the hell are they contacting you at home ? I would not be happy with that , just my personal opinion for what its worth

 

[hawk20]

Well I'm delighted to see it. We all spent years saying MB dealers didn't care. Now they care a lot. And I for one, and my brother makes two, have noticed a marked improvement at our local dealer -Southampton. The service there has IMO been transformed in the last few years. Long may MB's insistence on improving standards of customer satisfaction continue.

Without customer surveys, how can they possibly tell how we all find the service we get? Without rewarding sales and service people for good customer responses how can we expect real improvements?

Some years back I used to moan as much as any about the standard of MB dealers. And when I had a bad, bad, new E class I even drove to Head Office and left it there with a note giving it to the MD and wishing him as much misery in it as I had had.

Thank God those days have gone. It is so much nicer being a satisfied customer for a change.

 

[Alex M Grieve]

Reading your comment that you really couldn't think of anything the dealer could have done better then it seems to me that your satisfactory is the same as their excellent - you started at a neutral reference point, whereas they expected you to start at excellent and then knock marks off for anything unsatisfactory.

Spot on Rory - it is all a question of expectation. A good job, done well and with a civil attitude is what I would expect and that is a comfortable 8 or 9 out of 10. Clearly, that would not match the current MB interpretation scheme.

But to score every job that achieved the objective at 100% (or even 10 out of 10) leaves no headroom for improvement or innovation and does not encourage the provider to "go the extra mile". It then becomes impossible to differentiate the good/average from the excellent.

If everyone gets 10, then effectively no one does. :neutral::neutral::neutral:

 

[Dosco]

Well I'm delighted to see it. We all spent years saying MB dealers didn't care. Now they care a lot. And I for one, and my brother makes two, have noticed a marked improvement at our local dealer -Southampton. The service there has IMO been transformed in the last few years. Long may MB's insistence on improving standards of customer satisfaction continue.

Without customer surveys, how can they possibly tell how we all find the service we get? Without rewarding sales and service people for good customer responses how can we expect real improvements?

Some years back I used to moan as much as any about the standard of MB dealers. And when I had a bad, bad, new E class I even drove to Head Office and left it there with a note giving it to the MD and wishing him as much misery in it as I had had.

Thank God those days have gone. It is so much nicer being a satisfied customer for a change.

Can't argue with a word of that Hawk indeed I fully agree with every point you make but using the survey in the manner described adds no value whatsoever to the outcome MB are looking for, that being to improve their customer service and presumable 'exceed their customers expectations' leading to an overall improvement of their business.

I have seen this approach used so many times and all it does is to devalue the initial aims and objectives of the exercise. It is in fact a tick box mentality to up the scores on the doors and those doing it have no real idea of how such tactics will ultimately affect in a negative manner the overall business improvement strategy.

Customer improvement surveys are an excellent business improvement tool and should be used as such. The EFQM,s business improvement model used customer feedback as one of its key measures of success and those who try to 'fix it' in this way will/would be fooling themselves and ultimately fail in a big way. If they are using such surveys as a 'blame tool' against staff no one will take serious the job of exceeding customers expectation and 'excellence no longer becomes the standard.

Phew, sorry about all of that I was on a roll having assessed so many organisations in my time against the EFQM model seeing so much of this practice it gets right up my rear orifice to hear that it is still going on....

I will now exit stage left kick the cat and clean the car - with one arm:--(