Dealer Satisfaction Survey

[Sterno]

When I purchased my Fiesta I was told I’d receive a dealer satisfaction survey in the mail soon. Then the guy doing all the paperwork explained that “anything less that TOTALLY SATISFIED is a fail” and that I shouldn’t worry about all the gradations of satisfaction and that I should just go ahead and put Totally Satisfied on each and every question.

I feel like I’m being blackmailed. What’s the point of a survey unless you can answer it honestly? My sales experience was OK, but nothing special. And I didn’t feel like I got a good enough explanation of the extended warranty plans that were offered … and there were several. By putting Totally Satisfied on every question I would be saying this Ford dealership is perfect, with no room for improvement. Which just is not the case.

Anyway, I got the survey in the mail and it’s just been sitting on my desk. The guy at the dealership was so emphatic about answering the thing the way he wanted me to, and he mentioned it more than once, that I’m afraid if I answer it with the least bit of criticism that I may not get the best service ‘down the road.’ Now they’re emailing me asking why I haven’t returned the survey. I feel like tossing it into the trash.

Anybody else experience this?

[psi chick]

it was "suggested" to me when i bought the car that i should answer totally satisfied to the survey as well. i did not. there was certainly room for improvement at the dealer, and i told them so. it wasn't a terrible experience, but it also wasn't an excellent one either when i compare it to other cars that i've bought. i told the truth. sorry if it messes up their perfect record or whatever but i'm not going to lie because they want me to.

[Audrey]

Others have mentioned feeling pressured by sales people regarding the dealer satisfaction survey. I think supervisors come down hard on people with less than perfect ratings. It's sad/pathetic the sales people are outright pleading with consumers. I'd make a note of this in the survey itself, but not let it effect my review otherwise.

[Captainmorbid]

My dealer told me to call if I couldn't answer every question "totally satisfied", and we'd work out solutions for any problems. I was totally satisfied, as far as buying goes...

[Norm201]

I also was told (asked) to give "totally satisfied", by my salesperson. It would be greatly appreciated. He didn't make a big thing out of it but he did say it meant a lot to his position. He was nice and admitted he did not know everything that he should about the Fiesta at the time. He was young (compared to me) and he tried to do his job. I did give a fully satisfied response for his sake. However, I did not lie. I don't remember the questions but I figure the sales people treated me nice and I was given good service by them. After I signed that paper my dealings with sales was over. So any complaints here on in would be with their service department. So far DeLacy Ford has been more than nice to me.

[Sterno]

This is all very interesting. After doing a few searches, it seems almost EVERY dealer does this. What that means is: The survey is utterly meaningless.

So:
1. The dealerships are making their customers feel uneasy.
2. The sales people are being praised or chastised based on bullsh*t.
3. Ford is receiving a completely skewed opinion of their dealerships.

Sounds like the modern world to me.

[Cobra348]

Did I get one of these? Yup - for both Phantom and Cherri. Cobra's rule Numero Uno: If you are not satisfied, tell them and then take your wallet elsewhere.

I have yet to do that with the dealer. What I thought was initially a ho-hum attitude on Fiesta when I went for Phantom turns out to be ignorance at that time. They are more knowledgable now and I've steered them to this site as a good reference on general customer attitudes, mods, etc.

[Audrey]

My salesman was great, enthusiastic, informative, and helpful. All he said was "we'd appreciate it if you fill out the survey Ford sends you." No requests or comments from him on what I should say. A good sales person pays attention to his/her customer well enough to gauge their feelings about the situation and know when he/she is doing a good job.

[Norm201]

These surveys are used in lots of places. I try to give a good report because it seems to reflect against the employee as opposed to the business or the the owner. Like Steno says it's just so much bullsh*t. But I figure no harm done if the sales person is trying to do his job and he's nice to me. There's always other avenues to show ones pleasure or displeasure for a business. And I don't think Ford gets a skewed view with these. The dealership might.

[Scooby Doo]

One of my friends was able to hold up the dealer for free stuff when he told them he was going to give them a bad writeup.

In reality I probably won't do anything due to I dont have the time to complete this.


Did any of you get this questionaire as an online thing or is this my dealer's attempt to see how I am going to answer?