Do dealers care about online customer satisfaction surveys?
 

Have a question for all the people on here who work dealerships, do dealers really care about the online satisfaction surveys you fill out after purchasing a car or getting service done? Like do they actually look at them and read the comments or is it more of a average thing, like take a whole bunch of surveys and see what the averages is for each question?

What I read over on bimmerforums is that yes, it matters, and that part of the salary for the service manager depends on it.

I don't actually *know*, it's just what I read.

They care alright. They are super anal about it too...

For example OpenRoad Toyota will beg you nonstop to give them 10/10....and if for any reason you cannot give them 10/10....they strongly advise you to call them and "discuss about it" before you fill it out.
They are willingly to negoiate with you something reasonable. Ie. next free oil change.... x % off your next maintenance....just to get that 10/10.

I think in the auto industry, anything under a 7/10 is a "fail" to the dealership.

Yup. Both ends of the service department get shit if they don't meet customer satisfaction index targets. You can have an absolutely flawless service performed with excellent customer service,only to have poor feedback if a picky customer didn't like the way you looked at them during the initial conversation. It's an exaggeration, but we've had incidents where we've had advisors get low ratings even if what they did seemed par for the course.

Its not just dealers. Any industry that sends out surveys do it for a reason. It could also affect the employees bonus's, job security, etc.

So don't be a cock and lie.

Yes dealers care about customer surveys big time! Some dealers get cash bonuses from the manufacturer if they consistently score high on their surveys.

Interesting, I'm glad I do the surveys the dealers send out and leave meaningful comments.

Yes, we read every single one of them.

Richmond subaru sure cared about online feedback :troll:

At times the advisors get to see the reports and what the customers say. If anything negative or unsatisfying shows up, they usually call the customers back to see what went down or could have been better.

Did you leave any fancy comments on your survey?

Nope but I usually leave positive comments about the SA like for example "Mr. x was very helpful and kept me well informed on my car".

my experience is that the dealership only cares about the "manufacturer" survey scores....(e.g. BMW, Toyota Canada...)
if it is one of their own dealership survey, they don't care nearly as much

At the dealership I work at, the owner himself reads every single one.

Those surveys mean the world to dealerships

don't you mean subaru canada cared about richmond subaru's online feedback
:fullofwin:

I found that its Acura Canada's new car survey was dumb ! I tried my best until I was at page 30 and shut it off.

Brian Jessel Autohaus also screwed up my simple tire change and failed to correct it. I mean, correcting a mistake may take them extra 30 minutes. But Everytime my car buddies ask me about BJ Autohaus, they will receive my strong words against them. Too bad BJ Autohaus doesn't send out surveys !

Have you talked to the Service Manager about this? A tire swap is fairly straight forward. If a mistake has been made on our part, I don't see why we wouldn't correct it for you.

You can PM me your name, contact info, and a summary of your concern. We will look into it and get back to you with hopefully a resolution.

Thank you.

Tim

Hi Tim, I know you might wanna try to rectify the problem. But I am fairly disappointed already. But anyways, I'll tell you my side of the story and you can check on your side and validate with both story.
I came in when jb autohaus first started business and wanted to take advantage of the tire swap special. I brought in a set of 19" iForged wheels with tires and a set of M3 stock 19" wheel. The guy at the front desk pointed me to unload my wheels directly into the workshop, and so I did. I waited an hour hoping that it would be completed with an hour or two. Two hours later, the guy told me that they ran out of balancing weight. So I went home instead. Later, they called me and told me that dismounting iForged wheels require reverse mounting technique which is gonna cost me the regular price $160. I said okay if that is the case.
I went back to pick up the wheels and found out that the center caps were missing. The front desk guy claimed that I never brought them in. Off he goes and found the tire guy in the shop. The tire guy swiftly grab them right under the metal shelving rail with two broken caps. I asked why are they broken? And they claimed that it was broken when I brought them in.
Down and behold, I went home and contacted bj autohaus the next day via email. Well, a very unhappy customer I am ever since.
I mean, I hate to bad mouth a shop and I know mistake happens, I don't really care about the money part but having an unsatisfied customer is the last thing the management team wants for their shop. I have been managing two financial firms and I am the person who handles complaints and feedbacks. I care more towards the client than my own staff.

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. Sounds like a scenario that is avoidable or should have been rectified at the time after you expressed your concerns. We will review this with the management team. I may PM you for your contact info if it is needed to trace back to the Work Order. Either way, we will get back to you with a resolution or a proper explanation.

Thanks again for your feedback.

Tim

Respect!

I never bothered to fill out my online survey, well....looks like I will now :fullofwin:

I know that Mercedes is totally anal about these surveys, they use them to score their different dealerships/service centres. If the dealer doesn't get a perfect score they go through everything with a fine toothed comb to find out why and how to improve.

it's all about the CSI. People get fired over that.

Well I know I'll be taking the surveys that much more serious after reading the comments in this thread.