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why are car dealerships/manufacturers so obsessed with CSI (customer service index)..

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V4

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE
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i think it's just added annoyance after purchasing a car that the dealership would beg for a perfect score and for the manufacturers to send emails and call and ask what opinion do i have about said dealership....

can't we just be happy with our purchase and be done with it...?

how does this customer service rating work and why do i get hounded for not answering...?

really makes me think twice about purchasing again just to avoid unwanted calls and emails ...
 
When i worked at VW, it would affect my pay...i HATED asking people for a good score. Feels uber sleazy, but ya need money for hookers n blow ya know?
 
Why does google and facebook compile information on the people who use them? If they can get the right combonation for the right demographic, they can make more sales. They do it for everything, everywhere. I go to get my car smogged at a dealership and I get feedback form. I take my bike into the dealership for a recall, and I get a feed back form. It's all about compiling data. They've all got computers, and they need to do something with them besides surf for pron.
 
I have had no less than 4 phone calls, 6 emails and 2 surveys in the two weeks since I bought a car :x
 
With Volvo, it determined if you were a Dealer of Excellence. That determined how much money the dealership rec'd from the manufacturer for selling cars, taking care of warranty stuff, etc.

Ideally, it serves as a bonus to all employees. It was promised to employees where I worked, but even though it was rec'd, we never saw it. The owner of the dealership, however, did buy a new airplane while I was there, then complained that our DOE numbers weren't high enough to justify bonuses. Not all dealers are like that, though, and he's dead.
 
Earmarking this thread for later.

Don't have the time to punch it all out on the iPhone right now. I got some cars to push out and if we don't get them out by their promised times....CSI goes to shit!
 
most big firms with a lot of locations use these metrics for performance evaluations and compensation, is why you get hounded. of course the feedback typically means less once it is so institutionalized, pencil-pushed, and gamed, and as you point out the hounding about it tends to make the consumer's impression worse in some cases.

some firms believe the time for surveys has already passed, given the state of social media in the west and data-mining advances. The top researcher at Coke declared survey based research dead as far back as 2008
 
We just bought a new Acura and had the exact opposite problem.

We were promised a free tank of gas after we gave them 100% on the phone survey.

So far 1 month later, no call, no emails, nothing in the mail. Nothing.
 
ah, the old, gimme a 100% score and I'll give you a free blowjob deal. you gotta get that blowjob in advance my friend!

otherwise, you'll just have to go buy another new car and rate them in the shitter on that one
 
I remember back before the housing market collapse, I used to run the mortgage customer satisfaction program for a popular gigantic Bank located in America, whereupon also the reps $ was tied to the scores.

Well of course as the Outside Independent Research Firm running the program for the bank, you tell these suits that they gotta be on the up and up, about data collection protocols, legitimate science and whatnot

in one ear out the other. go into the Bank and they got actual signs on their desks, "Please Jesus Rate Me a Hundred" etc. You listen to em on the phone, they're doing anything they can think of to coerce the customer into giving that hundred
 
It seemed that we were so CSI score oriented that we lost sight of the actual customer.
Same thing with Progressive your surveys only affected you if they were negative.
 
well to be fair, ha ha, it is not just the reps $. these firms of course also want to run ads that tout their hundred percent satisfaction etc ratings
 
zombi said:
ah, the old, gimme a 100% score and I'll give you a free blowjob deal. you gotta get that blowjob in advance my friend!

otherwise, you'll just have to go buy another new car and rate them in the shitter on that one
Click to expand...

I'm well aware of that, but I had not made advance arrangements to take home 25 gallons of gas that day.:p
 
stan23 said:
We just bought a new Acura and had the exact opposite problem.

We were promised a free tank of gas after we gave them 100% on the phone survey.

So far 1 month later, no call, no emails, nothing in the mail. Nothing.
Click to expand...

That's what you get for not buying it from my dealer.
 
stan23 said:
Rob, I should have pinged you had I remembered! This was Autowest Acura.
Click to expand...

Eww...Stevens Creek. Yeah they're Autonation...a company that the words "service after the sale" are kryptonite to. I clean up a lot of their messes by dealing with customers who are fed up with them.

Part of me would love to work there, since it'd be like a 10 minute commute for me. But that place has earned itself a reputation as such a butcher shop, I just don't think I could live with myself.
 
TheRobSJ said:
Eww...Stevens Creek. Yeah they're Autonation...a company that the words "service after the sale" are kryptonite to. I clean up a lot of their messes by dealing with customers who are fed up with them.

Part of me would love to work there, since it'd be like a 10 minute commute for me. But that place has earned itself a reputation as such a butcher shop, I just don't think I could live with myself.
Click to expand...

haha.. and that's the exact feeling I get from them. Once the dotted line was signed, it was like see you later. For sure, I won't go back to them for any service.
 
TheRobSJ said:
Earmarking this thread for later.

Don't have the time to punch it all out on the iPhone right now. I got some cars to push out and if we don't get them out by their promised times....CSI goes to shit!
Click to expand...


OK, I've got me a proper keyboard now.

So the single biggest reason why we give a shit about CSI numbers is summed up in one word....money.

Yeah. Big surprise I'm sure. Lemme explain. This is can vary from different manufacturers, but those scores can determine whether the store gets bonuses from the manufacter. That money really doesn't roll too far downhill either. Maybe the dealership owner/operator pockets it all, maybe they kick some down to the management, and indirectly...even a further down the troth. But you can bet your ass that the guy that washes cars or empties the garbage doesn't get one dime extra. Sales people, service advisors, and sometimes technicians are incentived to keep their average CSI score above a certain level. Makes sense, since they are the ones most directly responsible for the customer's experience.

High CSI scores keep our district/regional managers happy since they look good to the execs from the manfacturer...so the district manager will cut us more slack when it comes to "goodwill" type stuff like giving away a tank of gas or comping repairs when someone is out of warranty. If our CSI scores are shit, then we don't get much approved.

I have heard of dealers sales departments "bribing" customers with stuff like gas or a detail after a new car purchase in exchange for 10's across the board on a survey. I've also heard of service departments offering free oil changes or 10% off all work coupons in exchange for good surveys.

My particular role at the dealership is to fix cars with those off the wall problems. We know the worst thing we can do for CSI is not fix a car right the first time. But hey, sometimes things get misdiagnosed or something doesn't act up for us when we have the car. And many customers understand this so they don't really crucify us on the survey...yet. But there's only so much dissapointment someone can take before they just get pissed at everyone responsible for the car they have. So when a ball lands in my court, that car absolutely has to get fixed because we absolutely can not let the car go back to the customer again and not be fixed...or we are going to get raped by a box of giant cocks on their survey. They won't ignore it when it comes in the mail or the phone rings. They'll be all to eager to do the survey just to say how shitty we are. And if we even get one of those "never coming here again" surveys a month, that's when the shit rolls downhill. And those surveys make it up pretty high in the food chain. Everyone's boss has a copy of that survey in hand and uses it to ream everyone below them.
 
My own experience with 2 VW post-sales surveys;

# 1
Wife bought a last-year Cabriolet, special-ordered it- custom color combination. Car arrived the expected 6 weeks after ordering, vehicle picked up with no major hassle or particular panache. Survey comes, she gives them say, an "8". Couple days later she gets a call from dealership asking WHY ? - she explains they did about what was expected, but nothing really stood out, delievery was a bit disorganized, and there were a couple post-delivery items - and the customer 'service' person on the phone starts to ARGUE with her ! - saying basically that if nothing is seriously WRONG then they deserve a TEN ! (which is bullshit of course 10 out of 10 means they kicked ass)

# 2
I purchase a Jetta TDI. As I take delivery after it's been prepped - and topped up with fuel - I note the tire inflation warning light is lit on the dash and tell the salesguy, who responds " YES, we know, it's an indicator error and you can bring it back on Monday (it's late on a Saturday when he says this) and we'll get that fixed."

I leave the dealership and nearly roll the fucker off the onramp - right rear tire had 10 pounds in it when I check it at a gas station a little later that afternoon. *

So they lied to me, and endangered anyone near me in the process. They took the time to fill the tank, but NOT to so much as check the tire pressure when a red warning light was on ?!?!? Told this to service and sales managers the next work day - in a calmer, more rational manner than they deserved- No apology, no offer to 'make it up to you' - nothing. Just a dumb stare.

Survey comes and I explain the instance after giving them a 1 on vehicle delivery. 0 feedback from VW, ever.

Really ? You take the time to ask a battery of questions about the sale and when a repeat customer says they seriously screwed up, NOTHING is done about it ?

It's like thier own dealers are VW worst enemies.


* Lesson learned here: NEVER trust anyone else - it's YOUR ass in/on the vehicle, check your own tires before driving off. I did this once later when picking up a new Ducati Monster S4 for an off-island friend (to take to a mutual friend's home for her) and got flack from the dealer's mechanics,- "Ah, which one of us is riding this new bike outta here in the rain ? "
 
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