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lets say you were graded at work and every question you had you got a top box in, except the one that said something like "did you show the new people where the restroom was?" which was checked no, and you didnt get a bonus for that month or whatever because of one stupid no. like i said, stupid, but thats how it is...unfortunately.
so again, unless you are absolutely hurt and offended that you were not introduced the service manager, i'd check yes, and just leave a comment in the comment section indicating that it wasn't done, but it was busy that day, or whatever.
again, just my two cents...
-thene
MODERATOR /ADMINISTRATOR
Find me at kirstie_h@edmunds.com - or send a private message by clicking on my name.
2015 Kia Soul, 2021 Subaru Forester (kirstie_h), 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 (mr. kirstie_h)
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Right, I am all for giving someone a second chance to make something right - I am simply saying if a person feels that strongly about honesty, he should ask them to make it right (complete the task they originally neglected), instead of marking a box untruthfully just because the salesman was a nice guy.
i dont miss them in the least!
MODERATOR /ADMINISTRATOR
Find me at kirstie_h@edmunds.com - or send a private message by clicking on my name.
2015 Kia Soul, 2021 Subaru Forester (kirstie_h), 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 (mr. kirstie_h)
Review your vehicle
I just inferred that the original poster was concerned enough about honesty (seeing as to how he came here asking for advice instead of just checking yes), that maybe the best route for him may be to allow them the opportunity to complete the task, so he can then give the salesman a yes (since he admittedly liked him).
I have no trouble giving "yes" to questions that might not have been done completely. I had a bad experience with CSI questions when I purchased a condo long, long ago. They weren"t even called that then> I answered in a serious manner judging between A, B, C, D AND F for the five possibilites of how well things were done by the onsite fixer-upper for Ryan Homes. They slaughtered the poor guy over Bs and Cs on some items. I had just felt they weren't perfect and weren't the top box. The company had expected perfection. Since then I've hated doing those things. Because the company indicated they wanted to use it to learn what to do better but in reality they want to put down the poor guy at the bottom end of the chain who's actually doing all the work for the big wigs.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
If the overall experience was good I would have no problem marking yes. But, smitty wants to be honest, which is commendable... so the only answer can be no.
Now that I know that it probably will, I'll mark "yes" and just mention it to the guy when I go in for the first oil change.
(stepping back onto pedastel) - Well, your initial post said you didn't want to lie. If you answer yes, well that would be a lie... white lies count too.
Yes the entire survey system is horribly flawed. I have been saving this story for an appropriate time.
So here it is...
A few months ago we had a real hot month going. Had delivered a ton of cars and had 99.8% survey scores for both sales and serivce. Our bonus system at the time was tied to the service CSI score as well.
Ok so one day before the end of the month a service CSI survey comes in and it is a 3.4%.
The guy basicly gave us ZEROS the whole way down the board.
In the comments section he wrote WORST SERVICE EVER!!!!!!!
We were blown away so I went and looked at the Initial Call information to see what this guy said when Land Rover called him.
He was happy with the service three days after it happend. Said he was glad that we picked him up from work and brought him back to the dealership to pick up the car. He commented on how clean the car was after the service.
We wash all the Land Rovers after a service and if the detail guys are slow they will do a sort of mini-detail on the car. I guess that day was a slow day so the car was very, very clean.
We couldn't figure out what happend and we were all pissed. This one survey cost the entire dealership staff, sales, service and parts something like 20,000 dollars.
After talking with the service manager we figured out what happend. The Range Rover had been in for just a regular 45,000 mile service which is the last service paid for under the pre-paid maintance program.
A couple of weeks after the service was done, before the written survey but after the initial call, his Range ROver had a serious break down.
A component inside the transfer case failed and locked up the driveline. The truck was flat bedded in and it ended up needing a new transfer case/center differential or some such component.
Well that component is on back order for several weeks and there are none in the country. It is a part that is specific just to the Range Rover, is shared with no other vehicle and rarely ever brakes, so Parts gave service an ETA of at least two months for the part.
Service had no LR3 loaners avaliable at the time but offered him an enterprise rental untill a LR3 was avaliable which should be a week or so.
He declined the enterprise rental saying, "that he didn't buy a Range Rover to drive a cheap rental car."
Not really anything we could do at the time but we told him we would get him a LR3 when one was avaiable. He wasn't even all that happy with a LR3 but agreed that would be ok.
Now a few days later he gets the written survey and gives us ZEROS for almost everything. No way the tech could have known that part was about to fail, we hadn't even seen one fail before then, but he blamed the failure on his previous service anyway and cost all of us thousands of dollars.
Sometimes I get one even after something basic like an oil change. I love my dealer's service department. They are always professional, and do things right the first time. I have never had them try to push unneccessary services on me, nor I have I seen them try to do so with other customers while I was there.
The first time I went in for an oil change, and tire rotation/balance (when I first started dealing with them), they told me I would be getting a survey (because my car was less than 2 or 3 years old - I can't specifically remember), and that if I would mark all "yes" or "completely satisfied", and bring it back for them to see, and to let them mail it in, they would give me a free oil change, or car wash. Well, I was completely satisfied, and was going to give them all yes marks anyways, and didn't feel right taking something for free for giving them marks they deserved anyways. So I ended up giving them all top marks, and I mailed it in myself. Well, the next time I was there (for a state inspection), the service manager came up to me when they were through, handed me my keys, and said, "We appreciate the survey you filled out on us, this state inspection will be free."
So...I guess they ended up seeing the survey scores, even with me mailing it in myself, instead of bringing it in to them first. I had thought before that that they were handled anonymously.
Or would you just get reamed out by the higher ups for getting a single 4 on a single survey out of all the other 5s?
The second instance is much more common in the automotive world. The vehicle manufacturers don't use the CSI survey to help train better salespeople/techs they use it to withold bonus money from the dealers and/or various perks.
For example if we don't have a overall CSI score of X then we cannot open another Land Rover dealership.
As long as we are below that number, not sure what it is I forget, then we cannot open a second location.
Brit, I've always respected what you've had to say in these forums, but I'm gonna have to go with jhs70 on this one.
I've been a trainer (for over 10 years) and now work in technical support. In both positions, we do surveys to rate our customer satisfaction.
Like jhs70 said, I've never felt compelled to "coach" a student or customer at the end of class or phone call to provide higher ratings. The system is flawed - you know it, I know it, everybody on these boards seems to know it.
What I mean is if you got mostly 5s on all of your surveys but got a 4 from time to time would your supervisor sit you down and try and figure out a way to get those metrics up?
Or would you just get reamed out by the higher ups for getting a single 4 on a single survey out of all the other 5s?
When I was training, we were rated on a 1 to 5 scale ... my average was just north of 4.5, IIRC. Only when a whole class gave me poor marks were the results discussed with my boss.
In my current position, we use a 1 to 10 scale, then a 1 to 5 rating for "overall" satisfaction. If we get all 10's or if any of the ratings on the 1 to 10 scale is below a 7, an email is sent to management. For the "overall" score, it gets translated like this:
5 = 100%
4 = 75%
3 = 50%
2 = 25%
1 = 0%
This gets averaged out for each employee as well as for the whole team. Through November, my score for 2006 is 93.8% and for the whole team it is just over 91%.
However, I will admit that what I do and what you do are quite different in nature --- that, plus the fact that a majority of my compensation is not commission based.
Bottom line -- if the system is screwed up, it ought to be fixed.
93.8% is fine in your system and that is the way it should be. In the automotive CSI World 93.8 is a failing grade.
If I averaged 93.8% I would get basicly no bonus money. Up untill a few months ago I was 100% for CSI then I got an 80.1% from one guy.... :sick: :confuse: :mad:
I have just about climbed back up into the 95+ percent range where I can actually get some bonus money.
On the one hand, the manufacturer wants us to fill out the surveys honestly, but on the other hand, the sales person is begging for the highest marks. The problem is between the dealership and the manufacturer. My guess is that salesmen / dealership management just assumes it is easier to "coach" the customer, than to stand up to the manufacturer.
CSI is totally unfair, to bad most customers have to lie for you to earn bonus money. I think anything high 80's and above should be eligible for bonus money.
of course, if your experience really wasnt good at all..feel free to check all 0's.
again, no one is making you do anything - just understand what you do affects others, and how it affects them...
my two cents
-thene
Most advisors have a pay plan that is directly tied into CSI.
Stay AT or ABOVE National/Region/Market get bonus $$
Be below - get ZILCH, NADA, NOTHING, BUPKISS
So, please when you get your survey, please WE ALL BEG of you .. GIVE TOP BOX .. PLEASE?!!
I don't know how many more times we ALL have to explain to most people that our INCOME is in DIRECT RELATIONSHIP to how you, the customer, the buyer, the service client score us on the survey.
ONE (1), JUST ONE, "VERY GOOD" can mean a FAIL to sales & service personnel with many manufacturer's.
So PLEASE, WE BEG of you, if you like your guy/gal and they did the best they could for you, and the service/purchase was plesant & not painful BUT (AND LISTEN UP THERE JIPSTER) you were not introduced to the service dept (advisor/manager), look the other way, give the guy/gal a "TOP BOX" and let them earn a living.
That "skinny deal" could turn out to be a 2 pounder (or more) if, AND ONLY IF, you give the guy/gal TOP BOXES.
Getting good CRI scores, be it by coaching, manipulating or flat out bribing (and YES, the system is flawed but there is NOTHING anyone wants to or will do to fix it) is a MAJOR component of how we get paid. Like someone said about GG's Caddy not getting fixed .. "They have to WANT to find/fix the problem"
Let the guy/gal have a nice meal instead of having to eat Ramen Noodles/Cup O' Soup for the next month ... PLEASE!!??
Thank you for your support
{end of rant/lecture/sermon/intervention}
For me personaly it has some effect since it can bring down the overall CSI score which effects part of my bonus structure. I also have an individual CSI that makes up another part of my bonus.
Say what? I have nothing against sales/service personnel having a nice meal instead of having to eat nasty Ramen Noodles. I'm all for the bottom man on the totem pole getting a piece of pie. If I'm satisfied with the overall car buying experience, I'll be handing out 10's like Santa Claus.
But, the delima a previous poster presented, was that he didn't want to lie when filling out the CSI survey. So, if one is morally opposed to lieing, then I wouldn't suggest changing ones ethics so the sales/service personel can eat at Red Lobster, instead of... say Denny's.
You cannot fix a problem by perpetuating the cause of the problem. I think the solution is for buyers to answer the questions with brutal honesty. Then dealers and manufacturers will have to adjust or face the consequences of extreme sales staff turnover.
tidester, host
they are such a crock of baloney anyways...i hated them so much when i sold cars!
And they, in turn, will seek more profitable employment elsewhere. People willing to work for less compensation will replace them and sales may well fall as a result.
tidester, host
And who is to lead this campaign for the customers to be brutally honest with the surveys? The salesmen? I can see a lot of sleazy manuveuring going on... some saying fill it out honestly and others doing it the old school way.
It's a good idea tidester, but so is building a bridge to the moon. Just don't see it happening.
Granted our CSI bonus program sucks but still.
I was speaking hypothetically (should have said "would" instead of "will."
tidester, host
before I left nissan, they went to a less "top box" oriented survey. i don't remember the details of it anymore, as i left shortly after they implemented it...but people were still being coached (not at our store, but others) and we could see that in the CSI results for our region. our sales force was usually at or near the top of the list (once month, we were in the top ten nationally) and we fell to the middle because we stopped coaching...on a survey you didn't need to coach anymore!
i don't see why the manufacturer cares about sales satisfaction anyways...they got their money when they sold the dealer their cars...
its all messed up...i don't miss that stuff!
my two cents...
thene
I plan on filling the survey, giving everyone high scores, but I got stomped on the service questions.
So what would happen, in theory, if I wouldn't fill it out at all?
If they wanted for you to be satisfied with their service department, they should have kept it open so you could meet the service managers and the mechanics personally.
Is it a "success" for the customer to make something up or to lie outright? Just curious.
tidester, host
So I'm not telling customers to lie on surveys...I think they should be tossed in the trash. Until surveys are clearly explained to consumers as really pass/fail or re-worked to the original intent (to improve things) I will view them as a joke.
I don't understand folks who take this stuff so seriously. If you really had a bad experience, then give the real survey. If your experience was anything over average, then just mark it all perfect. Why mess with someone's money?
-Moo
This is the part that really drives me crazy...if a customer has a bad experience why would they reward the dealer with a sale and then whine about it on the survey??? This is ethics 101 to me...I guess many buyers have no ethics and reward the dealers who don't have any either.....
Just because a purchase experience goes sour in the finance office, why should a buyer give up a good price? They may have worked hard for it.
I don't look at my buying a particular car as a reward for the dealer. It is a transaction to benefit me, personally.. If someone at the dealership then makes it a poor experience, then they would have to live with the consequences.
This isn't to say that I would give someone a bad survey. No matter how I feel about things, I have no wish to impact someone's pay, unless it helps my bottom line. But, I can see why others would do that.
regards,
kyfdx
(not the host here)
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If the overall car buying experience was satisfactory, then go ahead and give a perfect score.
Maybe they're just asking the wrong question. How about a simple, direct one-liner like "Should this dealer receive a CS bonus? Yes or no." That avoids ambiguity, second guessing and ethical contortion.
tidester, host