k5hart

Went to pick up my wife's Equinox from the dealer this morning and was asked to sit down with the service manager and talk about our problems and some answers that I gave on a survey I had done over the phone for previous warranty work. I had told them I was completely satisfied with that particular visit but was very unsatisfied with the dealerships overall service and that I wouldn't recommend them. I answered this due to the problems I've had to deal with for my car and even more my wife's. To make a long story short, we were asked if I could bring in the written survey I'll be receiving. They would mail it in and we could get two tanks of free gas, or he would put on my new EBC rotors, or whatever he could do to make us happy. Then he said if nothing was going to make me happy could I just "forget" about it and throw it in the trash.

It just never stops with the dealers in this area. Now I feel like I'm in a weird spot because either I lie and make the service manager happy and hopefully he will continue to help with the problems or I answer honestly and I bet he isn't so nice anymore.

For a moment I actually thought he was concerned about our issues. Yeah right, for a good survey score. Are they that damaging to the dealership if they are bad?

XXL

Sounds like this boils down to a morality question for you... are you willing to "defraud" the survey mechanism (I don't know if this is some internal merit/demerit system, if they have direct financial incentives, or if this becomes part of a "public record" for car buyers to evaluate dealers with) for direct personal gain? I know what my answer would be to that, but you have to make your own decision. Based on the fact that you posted this, I think I know what your answer will be as well.

Thanks for the info. It'd be good if you were willing to post the dealership and service manager's name so others who might be considering this dealership can add your info to their decisionmaking process.

HipHotRod

Yes it damages them. Im pretty sure that they are all scrutinized. Why else would they pony up gas or services. I raped the one near me with honest answers, they sucked the big one. Im sure I will be getting a call over this and Im ready for it.

XXL

Clearly, but how?

Is it a tongue-lashing by the dealer upper management? Or does it affect their floor plan and holdback like sales surveys do (did? I know they used to, but have been "out of the biz" for many years)?

ChevyMgr

Yes. All dealership pay plans are based on them now. And people lose their jobs over low survey scores. But you still have to EARN it not BUY it.

Dealerships that have bad satisfaction scores can lose hundreds of thousands of dollars from GM because of it. And I am talking 6 figure loses!

If you aren't completely satisfied then don't fill the survey out that way.

On the other hand if you are then fill it out and send it in. You will find that by doing that, the service even gets better and better because a lot of people say they are happy but never turn them in. So the ones that do fill them out and send them in will naturally be appreciated more. Our service department performs warranty work on over 800 vehicle a month, but only get back 60-90 surveys a month. And we have the highest survey return rate in our area.

But don't lie for a bad dealer, it helps nobody!

Helpful Information:
When you have a repair that is in that gray area of is it or isn't it a covered repair, tell them you will score the survey completely satisfied if they will help you. Nothing wrong with showing your appreciation if they help out and do a good job of it.

Goose

I remember when I had my Vue(nightmare vehicle but dealer was awesome in trying to rebuild Saturn's POS) I gave a less than perfect score on something that was done..

Next time in the SM was asking me about why I gave the mark..in all honesty I qualified it in the comments by stating that even though I gave a so so mark on this particular thing it was not due to any lack of effort on the dealers part...I guess GM doesn't care what you write, it is what you mark

He pretty much stated the same thing that ChevyMgr said....people can and will lose jobs due to bad surveys


Then again if that was true, Saturn should be OOB based on my surveys

Only good thing in that clunker was the Honda 3.5L engine....ironic thing is my wife has the same year Vue and her's is probably the best car we have ever bought...130K and still running strong...as bad as mine was, her's is almost the opposite...

Goose

hhrcrafty

A car is a complex mechanical device and sometimes one will just not work right. It happens. But when dealerships do nothing but blow you off and don't even try to fix the car properly just to save a few bucks, it's gonna cost them in that same pocket when survey time comes around.

I don't know anyone who DOESN'T get evaluated on their job performance in some manner. Using bully tactics to squeeze undeserved "completely satisfieds" out of customers you've clearly blown off is inexcusable and is the reason why there's many dealers I no longer choose to patronize. It isn't the customer's fault the car has a broken, warranty-covered part and certainly not that the service department failed to satisfy the customer's demand for proper repair. Especially when the service department cut corners to meet the warranty provider's service hour and parts schedules.

You want completely satisfied? You gotta earn it. Just like I have to bust my a$$ to satisfy my clients and supervisors, you gotta earn it when you're fixing my car too.

bigdog9586

Every survey I have received you checked a box if you wanted the survey results sent to the dealer. Don't check the box and then you can still be honest and not worry about the dealer taking it out on you. You can also add that the dealer wanted you to bring it to him and he would mail it for you. Only place he would mail it to is that round basket in his office unless it was perfect for him.

k5hart

That's an interesting and good point. Another thing that is interesting is the survey I'm being worked on was a phone survey and I never had the opportunity to not have it go to the dealer. That doesn't seem right.

I'm really torn on this guys because I'm not happy with how the dealer treated us. Almost every visit was a battle. But after over a month of back and forth they did fix the car, except for a non starting problem they can't figure out. They would keep her car for a week and then give it back with problems saying it was fixed for them. We finally found the problem for them, a leaking sunroof drain that was allowing water to get into the wiring harness junction, which was supposed to have been looked at, took it back and they fixed everything. Again, replaced wiring, didn't fix the leak, had to go behind the dealer with a hose and service manager and show him that it leaked. They fixed that. Then gave it back still wet under the carpet. Again, took it back because of the mildew smell and fixed that by taking out the carpet, cleaning it, replacing the jewt (sp?), and cabin air filter (we had to pay for). Great, but I wonder why it all had to be initiated and so hard. If they really had looked things over it could have been fixed the first time, we even told them we thought it was leaking on the first visit. They say none of this work is covered under her extended warranty and shouldn't have been covered but they did it anyway. Ok, I really appreciate that but again it was such a battle. Some of the work on my car has been the same.

This sucks, her car is under a dealer extended warranty so I don't know that we could go anywhere else and I've already tried the other close dealer and they wrecked my car and the rental, a whole other story. So not using them again. I just don't want to get beat up for a true bad survey. Thanks for listening and the comment. I'm so frustrated.

diskullman

When I traded my Impala for an HHR, somehow the dealer misplaced my plates, then asked me to fill out a survey, telling me that anything unsatisfactory will hurt them. I told them if and when I got my plates, I will fill out the survey. The young salesman said he'd get the plates, even if they had to get a new set from the state. I told him that was quite magnamous of them, considering they lost them in the first place. I told him if I had to get plates, it would be for my old Impala, and they could have their HHR back with a 1000 miles on it. I had my plates in 2 days, was satisfied, then filled out my survey accordingly.
Mistakes happen......a lot. It's how the mistakes are handled that show the true value of the service.