"Be sure to rate me excellent"

[Nettester]

Yep MINI Cooper dealership, same thing. Long, long explanations from our sales person about how anything less than a "10" rating is considered a failure, so could we please make sure to rate our service experience as all 10s? Then reminders, etc etc.

I've heard this at retail stores too. Super annoying!!!!

 

[ashley0139]

The only time I've gotten this is from the guy that installed my internet recently. To be honest, I don't do the surveys anyway.

 

[disney4us2002]

I hate those stupid surveys. What the heck is excellent service anyway? I have a problem with my car so I bring it in for service and you fix it. Isn't that the minimum? What would be excellent about the service? I don't want some disgustingly sweet and fake smiling and such, just fix the damn car!

 

[MommyMK]

My MIL works for a bank that employs these surveys and what she has told us is that anything less than a 10 on any question in the survey is the equivalent of someone entering all zeros. It affects bonuses not only for her, but for the entire branch and poor scores can also lead to her losing her job of 20+ years. It's ridiculous. Ever since she clues us in I always rate things as excellent.

 

[disykat]

I also hate these things, but have started rating people who do a good job with 10's. I think it's ridiculous that people have to have 10's to keep their jobs, but with our crazy eval system in my job as a teacher - I believe it!

I agree that making a 10 the expectation rather than the goal ends up making that 10 mean nothing.

 

[sonnyjane]

I also hate these things, but have started rating people who do a good job with 10's. I think it's ridiculous that people have to have 10's to keep their jobs, but with our crazy eval system in my job as a teacher - I believe it!

I agree that making a 10 the expectation rather than the goal ends up making that 10 mean nothing.

Also, I very rarely give tens! In a 1 to 5 scale I suppose I'm more likely to give a 5/5 but I would rarely give someone a 10/10 unless it was mind-bogglingly good service. Just like to reserve that perfect 10. 9/10 sure. So if they are saying that a 9/10 may as we'll be a 0 then they best hope they don't wait on me.

 

[Miskey]

I would first have to know for a fact that the employer was requiring daily contact from the time that I purchased my car until the time that corporate offices contacted me with the survey. Even if the dealership DID require as a stipulation of employment that my salesman contact me EVERY DAY via multiple media, I would have a lot more respect if they did as a previous poster mentioned and said "I'm sorry for the hassle you're about to get".

But in lieu of evidence that my salesman was required to harass me as he did, I'll just assume that he was really concerned with getting a 10. He had messed up a few things with my transaction anyway - so much so that I had to come in the following week to fill out my paperwork again because he lost it - so he was already not getting a perfect score. Badgering me just made it worse. Know how to get a 10? Do your job well with a good attitude.

Also, I very rarely give tens! In a 1 to 5 scale I suppose I'm more likely to give a 5/5 but I would rarely give someone a 10/10 unless it was mind-bogglingly good service. Just like to reserve that perfect 10. 9/10 sure. So if they are saying that a 9/10 may as we'll be a 0 then they best hope they don't wait on me.

So, which is it?

 

[Skywalker]

Just like to reserve that perfect 10. 9/10 sure. So if they are saying that a 9/10 may as we'll be a 0 then they best hope they don't wait on me.

I had a boss like that. "I never give anyone a 10 out of 10 because that is perfect, and no one is perfect. We all have room to improve." People hated her lol, and I am sure she would never rate 10 out of 10 on a survey no matter what the service!

I have a friend who gets rated on these things, and he told that me that is the exact reason he started trying to educate the customers that they needed a 10 rating. Because so many customers think giving an 8 or 9 out of 10 was actually good, or would "never" give a 10 out of 10 just on principle. I can see the salespeople getting frustrated over that. (By that I mean the people that really did have a great experience and not thinking that their 8 or 9 would get somebody in trouble.) Its hard to blame the employees though, they are just trying to stay afloat like everyone else. (Don't hate the player, hate the game? lol)

Myself, I have only ever encountered this on cruises, and the Disney cruise was the worst!! I think the waiters used the word "Excellent" in every single interaction in the hopes of subliminally brainwashing you. lol. It's a trigger word to this day ha. Come to think of it, Holland America was bad too, they even had the Cruise Director giving speeches about how hard the staff worked and anything other than an excellent 10/10 was a slap in the face. Crazy.

 

[PrincessElena]

I feel left out. I bought a car a few days ago, and I haven't received a single e-mail or call as a follow up. They just took my money and ran and didn't care what kind of customer service experience I had.

 

[Ress76]

Same thing happened to me a few years ago when I bought my Chevy, even to the point that, in the paperwork I was given when the sale was finalized was a full page "note" to make sure to rate everything as excellent in any follow up from Chevy. It really rubbed me the wrong way, and I noted it to Chevy when they called me to ask about the car.

 

[JanaDee]

When I bought my car I had the same request from the dealer. When I got the survey, he got 10s on most but he dropped the ball on one thing and I gave him an 8. I used the free form area to explain this rating. I then got a call and was made to feel like it was my fault that the guy and the dealership would somehow be penalized. If I can't be honest in answering a survey without being harassed, I just won't do them anymore.

I don't do them. They are voluntary, not mandatory.

 

[ronandannette]

Since this practise is universally hated by customers, does anybody have any insight from a company's perspective as to why it is so prevelant? I mentioned upthread that my industry is ranked and rated locally via JD Power. We see those surveys as a chance to get real, important information from our customers for trouble-shooting individual situations and process-analysis and improvement overall. We have to pay for the data they collect and it is no small investment. What possible good would it do us if the answers were coerced and if in doing so we were just making our customers mad anyway?

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Since this practise is universally hated by customers, does anybody have any insight from a company's perspective as to why it is so prevelant? I mentioned upthread that my industry is ranked and rated locally via JD Power. We see those surveys as a chance to get real, important information from our customers for trouble-shooting individual situations and process-analysis and improvement overall. We have to pay for the data they collect and it is no small investment. What possible good would it do us if the answers were coerced and if in doing so we were just making our customers mad anyway?

Too often, the talking heads are too removed from the daily reality of business. The people responsible for administering the surveys have never met those who insist upon using them.

I agree that if it's done professionally, it could potentially provide useful data in some situations. But, when you have floor-level associates begging for 10's from every customer (as instructed by their supervisors), the data is meaningless. I have no idea why a company would think this is a good idea. Sounds like lazy management to me.

 

[mom2rtk]

Too often, the talking heads are too removed from the daily reality of business. The people responsible for administering the surveys have never met those who insist upon using them.

I agree that if it's done professionally, it could potentially provide useful data in some situations. But, when you have floor-level associates begging for 10's from every customer (as instructed by their supervisors), the data is meaningless. I have no idea why a company would think this is a good idea. Sounds like lazy management to me.

I agree with that. But don't these people ever shop? I encounter those survey beggars on a routine basis. Surely when they encounter one out in the real world it would dawn on them that it's a stupid way to do business.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Sounds similar to "be sure to leave positive feedback." on ebay.

 

[mom2rtk]

Sounds similar to "be sure to leave positive feedback." on ebay.

And just like Ebay, it's because of a convoluted and ridiculous system set up by someone out of touch with their customers.

 

[kamik86]

To me a 5/5 or 10/10 means the person went out of their way to make everything better then expected. Just not messing up or being rude isn't a 5/5. that would be a 4/5. If you pressure me to give a certain rating and I feel uncomfortable your number is going down from there.

I think all jobs have items beyond their control that affect your ratings. This is just an example of that for a particular group. If the businesses start firing everyone that doesn't get 10/10 eventually they will have no employees and something will change. Nothing will change however if we give perfect scroes for imperfect service because we feel bad for people.

 

[gwynne]

I get similar "instructions" when we get our Honda serviced. I ignore the emails and the phone calls go to voice mail.
I don't work for them, they don't get to instruct me on what to do. I choose the no comment route.

Other than this very annoying rating stuff, I am satisfied with my dealership.

 

[Luvchefmic]

I work in a industry where all companies in our local market are ranked and profiled for customer satisfaction by an internationally recognized survey organization. We live and die by those scores. The survey organization allows companies to personalize the surveys their customers receive to include specific questions (for a fee, of course). One of the most important ones we have added is "Have you been pressured to answer this survey in a particular way?" No matter what the overall score is, the answer to that question better darned well be "No" - 100% of the time. If not, I personally call that customer to apologize, get to the bottom of it and discipline the employee involved.

I swear everytime you say something I find brilliant in my head I hear singing " O' Canada "

( and I'm a Brooklyn girl )

 

[tina.tina]

I usually don't do surveys. Sometimes, I'll give a rating on a book or something on Amazon. I think of 1/5 as terrible, 2/5 is poor, 3/5 as average, 4/5 is really good, and 5/5 is excellent. Most things are average 3/5. But, when I'm trying to decide whether to purchase something or not, I rely on how close to 5/5 the overall rating is. So, I guess I'm a hypocrite and this thread made me realize that.

I have had a lot of stores ask me for my email address or phone number lately and I refuse to give it.