Car sales surveys unfair?
Discussion
A week after purchasing an almost new car (65 plate, 2k miles) and I've received a phone call from the saleswoman, asking why I marked her 4 stars out of 5 on the survey. She explains that she felt she did everything right and can't understand why I marked her down by 1 star. She seemed to be taking it quite personally.
Except I didn't mark HER down. The survey explained that I was rating the whole experience, not just the sales woman.
I marked them down because they promise that cars requiring a service in the next 6 months will be serviced before being sold. Mine wasn't serviced, despite being due in 4 months. Apparently this is because it's a 'Ford Direct' car, and comes under different standards. Ford Direct cars are only serviced if they are within 3 months of requiring a service. Nowhere is this explained on their website, and I find it strange that Ford Direct cars are less well looked after than the older cars on their forecourt.
Anyway, now I feel bad as the saleswoman has lost her bonus for this month because of me. But they need to make their surveys clearer.
Except I didn't mark HER down. The survey explained that I was rating the whole experience, not just the sales woman.
I marked them down because they promise that cars requiring a service in the next 6 months will be serviced before being sold. Mine wasn't serviced, despite being due in 4 months. Apparently this is because it's a 'Ford Direct' car, and comes under different standards. Ford Direct cars are only serviced if they are within 3 months of requiring a service. Nowhere is this explained on their website, and I find it strange that Ford Direct cars are less well looked after than the older cars on their forecourt.
Anyway, now I feel bad as the saleswoman has lost her bonus for this month because of me. But they need to make their surveys clearer.
IanCress said:
Anyway, now I feel bad as the saleswoman has lost her bonus for this month because of me.
Well boo fking hoo. Not your problem! Her phone call to you wasn't going to change her bonus (or lack thereof) and served no purpose other than to make you feel bad. Maybe the bint should get a proper job.raceboy said:
I'd have been informing her that the 'last' star on any survey is only achieved if the individual has gone beyond the call of duty, if oral was offered on the test drive then 5 stars. 
She wouldn't have been able to reach. My Wife was occupying the passenger seat so the saleswoman was in the back.Toyoda said:
Well boo fking hoo. Not your problem! Her phone call to you wasn't going to change her bonus (or lack thereof) and served no purpose other than to make you feel bad. Maybe the bint should get a proper job.
Well actually, I agreed to bump it up to 5 stars but explain in the comments that the website appears to be deliberately misleading.Virtually all customer satisfaction surveys that impact on staff bonuses consider anything less than 9 or 10 to be a "fail" and often mean the sales staff don't receive their bonus. I had to deal with frustrated sales staff regularly moaning that their customer rated them 8/10 and was perfectly content with the service.
Pretty bad form for her to call you and moan though!
Pretty bad form for her to call you and moan though!
IanCress said:
Anyway, now I feel bad as the saleswoman has lost her bonus for this month because of me. But they need to make their surveys clearer.
Nope, it was the websites fault for not explaining the servicing nonsense correctly. Also it's a bit poor that the surveys are not anonymous.If salesmuppet tried to blame you for it, I'd be tempted to agree with this
Motorrad said:
In light of a call like that I'd be informing her she just lost another few stars.
Toyoda said:
Well boo fking hoo. Not your problem! Her phone call to you wasn't going to change her bonus (or lack thereof) and served no purpose other than to make you feel bad. Maybe the bint should get a proper job.
Nice. So, captain superior, 2 questions:a) Why isn't it a proper job?
b) If you had a 'proper' job where your bonus was dependent on feedback, and for some reason you didn't get the required feedback, would you not try and establish where you went wrong in order to either do a better job next time, or if you want to reduce it to pure financial requirements, how you can maximise your take home.
These surveys can be very unfair on the salespeople. As you've unfortunately noted, it's often that questions that define the salesperson#s 'score' are so badly phrased that they appear not to be a 'score' of the person, but the company in general.
Edited by FD3Si on Friday 29th July 13:07
Would her bonus be decided on literally one customer not giving her the full five stars? So if she sold 100 cars and got 499 stars out of 500 they wouldn't give her the bonus? Really?? (I don't work in sales so I have no idea if it's that cut-throat).
If not, she's just phoned round all the people who didn't give 5 stars and given them the same "it's because of your rating alone" story. Fingers crossed it doesn't work on enough people. Phoning up and telling me off for not giving her the review she wanted would piss me right off. I'd be considering complaining to the DP.
Assuming of course that her tone was resentful or "moaning". If she was just upset and asking what more she could have done then that'd be different.
Did she have a nice rack or not, btw?
If not, she's just phoned round all the people who didn't give 5 stars and given them the same "it's because of your rating alone" story. Fingers crossed it doesn't work on enough people. Phoning up and telling me off for not giving her the review she wanted would piss me right off. I'd be considering complaining to the DP.
Assuming of course that her tone was resentful or "moaning". If she was just upset and asking what more she could have done then that'd be different.
Did she have a nice rack or not, btw?
The problem is the s
tty scoring system and the inability of some managers to get that not everything will be perfect for everyone. It's not helped by the large number of people who give 0 or full marks for everything. It's a running point of annoyence within many customer service and sales groups. You get a kicking if any customer gives less than 100% satisfaction. You just need to go and look at a few of the 1 star reviews on Tripadvisor to realise some people are just mental. "Everything was perfect for the two weeks I was there, appart from it rained a 4am on the first wednesday and my rain coat I had left out on the balcony got wet. Therefore the whole thing time was ruined. 1*"
tty scoring system and the inability of some managers to get that not everything will be perfect for everyone. It's not helped by the large number of people who give 0 or full marks for everything. It's a running point of annoyence within many customer service and sales groups. You get a kicking if any customer gives less than 100% satisfaction. You just need to go and look at a few of the 1 star reviews on Tripadvisor to realise some people are just mental. "Everything was perfect for the two weeks I was there, appart from it rained a 4am on the first wednesday and my rain coat I had left out on the balcony got wet. Therefore the whole thing time was ruined. 1*"Bought a new car a few weeks back, we got on really well with the salesman (we bought the OH's car from him last year), and were happy with the service and deal we got. He gave us a heads up that we'd get a survey in the next few days, and was open and honest to say it would reflect on both him (not mentioned but implied bonus) and the dealership, and could we please give maximum ratings. If there was anything else he could do then feel free to call, or if there was any reason why we wouldn't want to give maximum ratings then please let him know.
Was happy to oblige, only took 5 minutes and hopefully kept the salesman on side. Had the car for 6 weeks now with no issues, but if anything does occur then hopefully gained a few points with the guy to help smooth things along.
With regards to the OP's saleswoman, if the survey was that important then perhaps she should have made this clearer in advance?
Was happy to oblige, only took 5 minutes and hopefully kept the salesman on side. Had the car for 6 weeks now with no issues, but if anything does occur then hopefully gained a few points with the guy to help smooth things along.
With regards to the OP's saleswoman, if the survey was that important then perhaps she should have made this clearer in advance?
SteveSteveson said:
The problem is the stty scoring system and the inability of some managers to get that not everything will be perfect for everyone. It's not helped by the large number of people who give 0 or full marks for everything. It's a running point of annoyence within many customer service and sales groups. You get a kicking if any customer gives less than 100% satisfaction. You just need to go and look at a few of the 1 star reviews on Tripadvisor to realise some people are just mental. "Everything was perfect for the two weeks I was there, appart from it rained a 4am on the first wednesday and my rain coat I had left out on the balcony got wet. Therefore the whole thing time was ruined. 1*"
tty scoring system and the inability of some managers to get that not everything will be perfect for everyone. It's not helped by the large number of people who give 0 or full marks for everything. It's a running point of annoyence within many customer service and sales groups. You get a kicking if any customer gives less than 100% satisfaction. You just need to go and look at a few of the 1 star reviews on Tripadvisor to realise some people are just mental. "Everything was perfect for the two weeks I was there, appart from it rained a 4am on the first wednesday and my rain coat I had left out on the balcony got wet. Therefore the whole thing time was ruined. 1*"
IanCress said:
A week after purchasing an almost new car (65 plate, 2k miles) and I've received a phone call from the saleswoman, asking why I marked her 4 stars out of 5 on the survey. She explains that she felt she did everything right and can't understand why I marked her down by 1 star. She seemed to be taking it quite personally.
Except I didn't mark HER down. The survey explained that I was rating the whole experience, not just the sales woman.
I marked them down because they promise that cars requiring a service in the next 6 months will be serviced before being sold. Mine wasn't serviced, despite being due in 4 months. Apparently this is because it's a 'Ford Direct' car, and comes under different standards. Ford Direct cars are only serviced if they are within 3 months of requiring a service. Nowhere is this explained on their website, and I find it strange that Ford Direct cars are less well looked after than the older cars on their forecourt.
Anyway, now I feel bad as the saleswoman has lost her bonus for this month because of me. But they need to make their surveys clearer.
iOh, dear! Don't so many garages love avoiding work on the cars they are selling. ....and Ford Direct supposed to be "premium " too. Do t think many buyers would object to an early service,Except I didn't mark HER down. The survey explained that I was rating the whole experience, not just the sales woman.
I marked them down because they promise that cars requiring a service in the next 6 months will be serviced before being sold. Mine wasn't serviced, despite being due in 4 months. Apparently this is because it's a 'Ford Direct' car, and comes under different standards. Ford Direct cars are only serviced if they are within 3 months of requiring a service. Nowhere is this explained on their website, and I find it strange that Ford Direct cars are less well looked after than the older cars on their forecourt.
Anyway, now I feel bad as the saleswoman has lost her bonus for this month because of me. But they need to make their surveys clearer.
Mega mega unprofessional of her. I wouldn't think twice about forgetting about it all and moving on - plus how dare she ring you and question your personal opinion ... Did I mention how shockingly unprofessional she is?!?
I'd even actually consider writing a complaint about such practices to the DP
I'd even actually consider writing a complaint about such practices to the DP
This type of scoring system, and the relation to the teams/individual bonus, seems to be common.
Certainly the main dealer I use, the service manager is open and upfront with me about it, and asks if there is anything that would prevent me from giving them full marks, and if so can we resolve it before I leave.
I know some may find this approach pushy maybe, but I don't mind it. We're all just trying to get paid after all, and if a mark on a piece of paper or online survey got the guy an extra couple of quid at the end of the month, I'm happy to do it.
Certainly the main dealer I use, the service manager is open and upfront with me about it, and asks if there is anything that would prevent me from giving them full marks, and if so can we resolve it before I leave.
I know some may find this approach pushy maybe, but I don't mind it. We're all just trying to get paid after all, and if a mark on a piece of paper or online survey got the guy an extra couple of quid at the end of the month, I'm happy to do it.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff