[elliotgb]

I brought my MO into the dealership this week because my brakes began to make a grinding noise while stopping. I told the service manager that I just spent $500+ on my last checkup and that this visit better not be big $$$$. I said I suspected a rotor problem and told him that if it was, I'd rather have the rotors replaced than trimmed because I didn't want to have to replace them after a few months.

He said, don't worry, what ever is wrong should be covered by warranty. I swallowed that bitter pill and left.

When the car was ready, the SM left me a voicemail that sounded like he wanted an immediate call back. When I called he said, NC for the service, brake pads were replaced and rotors were trimmed. I told him again, I better not have to come back here in two months and have you tell me I need new rotors. He said, no -no, this brake service would fix everything.

He said he would appreciate an excellent rating on the survey that Nissan would soon be sending. He mentioned that a very good rating on the survey = 0 score for him. He said only an excellent was worth 100%. He seemed very patronizing. Even the little notice from the actual service tech repeats the reminder that a survey will be judging him and stated that a very good = 0 and excellent = 100.

I think Fugi has put the fear of unemployment into these guys and they may be starting to improve a bit. Worth watching what happens on future service visits.

 

[hasaanbhutta]

i got my nissan survey and i totally gave VERY POOR to the customer service and then explained the reason on a separate piece of paper. it was the idiot salesguy who told me that he cnnot help me because i got my car from Alberta and then he started explaining the commission #$%[email protected] to me that how it works and how we help them and they would help us in these situations (it was the alternator failure)
i hope he does gets some bashing from nissan canada.

 

[Kris]

I am teaching and implementing Continuous Improvement Process as I believe in it. So do all Japanese auto car makers. In order to improve you have to measure. Surveys are the means of measuring. Filling “Excellent” all the time misses the point. How can you improve if you are already “Excellent”? Somebody is misusing this great tool. Pity as it could help Nissan service organization to improve.

 

[Eric L.]

The survey is one of the means by which the corporate office can judge the level of service provided by the dealership. From what I've heard from people in the business, high customer satisfaction ratings lead to dealership perks like an allocation of popular models in popular colors, advance news on all new models, and added factory to dealer incentives for meeting sales goals.

So the next time you pull into your Nissan dealership and spy that purple Sentra on the back corner of the lot, you know what customers have filled out on their surveys!

 

[elliotgb]

I also think the sales people in general are not up to speed on the features, etc. on the new Muranos.

I took my buyback letter in, along with an exact duplicate from a Mazda dealer that I found in FA. All you needed to do on either letter was substitute the model of car, the wording was exactly the same. I showed both letters to a saleman there. He seemed to be at a loss for words for a moment.

As we discussed the 2005 models, he stated that my current color, Polished Pewter, was available as a 2005. I said, I beg to differ, but I believe that color has been discontinued and Platinum was the replacement. His general lack of MO savy turned me right off and he had to keep referring to a small handbook to confirm what I already knew. I told him that I think nowadays, car salesmen are meeting their match when they come up against internet savy buyers and buyers who have really done their homework. Didn't get much response from that comment, lol. I'm very greatful to this site for my "Moeducation"!

 

[GMTURBO43]

I refuse to answer Excellent if I don't feel the service truly is.

 

[9495]

I refuse to answer Excellent if I don't feel the service truly is.

I feel the same way. Why should I give them a reward if they don't deserve it? Do I OWE anything to the dealership? I've already paid them butt-loads of money for my vehicle. Isn't that enough? Why should I feel obligated to give them an excellent rating unless I truely feel that they went above and beyond what they are supposed to do?

If they want excellent scores on their surveys, then they should earn them. Not by trying to pressure you into giving that score, but by truely being excellent at what they do.

I love filling out surveys. I think that, if handled properly (like Kris mentioned), they can be an excellent tool to point out things that are good and bad about something. It's my way of giving input on how a business should be run, what things should be stocked, or whatever might possibly be the point of the survey. If I don't fill them out honestly, then I have no right to whine about the results.

Therefore, if someone ever tries to pressure me into answering a particular way on a survey, I accuse them in no uncertain terms of trying to cheat the system by using a tool improperly, and that by trying to persuade me to answer dishonestly they have just hurt their score even more.

 

[dklanecky1]

I think this has a lot to do with the drive for 100% and nothing else.

 

[GMTURBO43]

I think they should strive to be the best. Me giving them an excellent rating when it was a poor performance hurts both of us.

When I was doing field service for a large computer maker, they had a team that would survey customers. It was a very simple 5-10 question phone survey. We'd get notified if one of our customers was questioned. If I got anything but a 5 out of 5 - I made sure the next time around - I was gonna get it right. It might not have made me better technically - but the customers impression of the company was better. I appreciated the feedback - others did not.

 

[Eric L.]

Often before Nissan sends the paper survey, the dealership will send you a letter asking you about your experience there, and it will also state "if you cannot put all "Excellent" then please call us and we will accomodate your needs to bring the level up to "Excellent."

If I received bad treatment at the dealership, I'm not sure what the dealership can do to make it up to me. Suppose the service manager was rude. What am I going to do? Ask for an apology? Even if they do give one, it won't be an honest one since its just to buy you off for filling out "excellent." Or if the grease monkey tech left stains on the interior. Well I would probably just clean it myself rather than let the dealer mess it up again.

The only situation I can think of where the dealership can make up for a bad experience is if you had to pay for a bad repair out of warranty. In that case, the dealership should owe up to its poor job and refund some of your money and redo the job, correctly.

 

[GMTURBO43]

Often before Nissan sends the paper survey, the dealership will send you a letter asking you about your experience there, and it will also state "if you cannot put all "Excellent" then please call us and we will accomodate your needs to bring the level up to "Excellent."

If I received bad treatment at the dealership, I'm not sure what the dealership can do to make it up to me. Suppose the service manager was rude. What am I going to do? Ask for an apology? Even if they do give one, it won't be an honest one since its just to buy you off for filling out "excellent." Or if the grease monkey tech left stains on the interior. Well I would probably just clean it myself rather than let the dealer mess it up again.

The only situation I can think of where the dealership can make up for a bad experience is if you had to pay for a bad repair out of warranty. In that case, the dealership should owe up to its poor job and refund some of your money and redo the job, correctly.

We get the same thing - and I had the same thoughts.

What can you do to make it better? Nothing. You'll have to make it better on my next visit.

 

[Gonzo]

At a Lexus shop they told me about getting a survey and to market it with excellent, if not call them.

Well there were some issues and I just returned the survey with average ratings.

Can you believe the service person called me to complain that I didn't give them excellent. I explained that they didn't fix the issue after the 4th attempt. He told me that this really hurt them and this was the some sort of final straw from Lexus to this dealership. I said sounds like you guys need to change if you keep getting below excellent ratings.

Not sure what happened in the end but I'm not going to give an excellent unless it was excellent. One thing these survey's seem to miss is what type of work was being performed. Something like changing a wiper blade had better be excellent and fixed the first time, something more complicated might have other reasons why it may not be excellent.

 

[9495]

Can you believe the service person called me to complain that I didn't give them excellent. I explained that they didn't fix the issue after the 4th attempt. He told me that this really hurt them and this was the some sort of final straw from Lexus to this dealership. I said sounds like you guys need to change if you keep getting below excellent ratings.

Holy Cow!! I can't believe the nerve of them to do that to you. I mean, get a CLUE! Especially if this really WAS the "last straw" maybe they should have thought about that BEFORE they treated you like crap. Idiots. :twak:

 

[Gonzo]

I know. I was surprise to get a brow beating from a Lexus dealer... maybe a Nissan dealer. :xnuts:

 

[big_daddy_mpd]

The problem with kids today...

Folks, Ok...going to RANT...here goes! :3:

The problem with "kids" today, today's "emerging" generation, of workers, is that they really seem to not understand that to get a good customer satisfaction rating they have to do 1 thing (I'm going to yell...plug your ears):

DO AN EXCELLENT JOB!

I'm 43...I learned that excellence is something you put out, every time, for every effort you make, if only for the pride in your work, and your commitment to bringing "value" into the world. These kids, they think the world OWES them an excellent rating...and, meanwhile, they have no clue what excellence is.

OK..now that I've generalized...there ARE folks remaining out there, who provide excellent service, and deserve excellence, and it is our responsibility as consumers to identify them. The rest, need to line up in the unemployment line, or flip burgers. I have no problem, whatsoever, NUKING bad customer service. It's the law of the survival of the fittest, and if we give Excellent ratings to lazy ass, irresponsible, slackers, then, well, we DESERVE to have this generation grow up to be human flotsam.

:2: Rant ended...thank you.

Big

 

[elliotgb]

Not long after I got my MO, I received a satisfaction survey from Nissan. I gave them pretty good marks overall, but downgraded the delivery of the vehicle since it was given to me with 50 psi in each tire.

I then got a call from the salesman after Nissan received the survey back asking why I didn't give all excellent marks. Gee, get a clue guys, lol!

 

[Kris]

Re: The problem with kids today...

Folks, Ok...going to RANT...here goes! :3:

The problem with "kids" today, today's "emerging" generation, of workers, is that they really seem to not understand that to get a good customer satisfaction rating they have to do 1 thing (I'm going to yell...plug your ears):

DO AN EXCELLENT JOB!

I'm 43...I learned that excellence is something you put out, every time, for every effort you make, if only for the pride in your work, and your commitment to bringing "value" into the world. These kids, they think the world OWES them an excellent rating...and, meanwhile, they have no clue what excellence is.

OK..now that I've generalized...there ARE folks remaining out there, who provide excellent service, and deserve excellence, and it is our responsibility as consumers to identify them. The rest, need to line up in the unemployment line, or flip burgers. I have no problem, whatsoever, NUKING bad customer service. It's the law of the survival of the fittest, and if we give Excellent ratings to lazy ass, irresponsible, slackers, then, well, we DESERVE to have this generation grow up to be human flotsam.

:2: Rant ended...thank you.

Big

Nicely done! It seems exactly that way. Let's start rewarding the good ones and pointing out the lazy ones......

 

[GMTURBO43]

Amen Bid Daddy

I have a feeling it is only going to get worse as time goes on. We have teachers who can't use red ink on students papers because it is harsh. How about you make fewer mistakes and get fewer red marks?

Don't make excuses - make adjustments. There are some customers who are hard to deal with - but there are more people who don't demand GREAT customer service. If you have 100 customers and 99 say you rock and 1 says you suck - you'll still have a better rating than 100 of them saying you're okay.

Eh - I like good service. I like it everywhere I go. I don't buy things online - because I want to talk to the person. I want to have a face to look at. I want to shake your hand when I'm done - and I want you to shake mine.

 

[9495]

Thank you Big Daddy! :4:

See, this is why MY dealer DID get excellent marks. After talking to several dealers and hearing about all the crap that people on this forum have gone though when buying their MO, my expectations weren't very high.

But my dealer (quick plug again: Advantage Nissan in Bremerton, WA) was a completely different experience than I was expecting, starting with the excellent communication both over the phone and e-mail, very easy factory order process with all prices spelled out in a very clear and understandable way (which is rare in itself), all the way to when I picked up the car and worked out financing.

THEY know what customer service is. They also understand their customers (primarily internet customers). And they know what it takes to make people happy. Not once did I feel pressured. Not once did I feel that I wasn't getting a good deal. They even made me feel comfortable bringing a laptop and plugging in numbers to make sure everything lined up right with financing.

So what do they get from me? Well, at the LEAST they get an excellent customer survey, because they deserve it. But more importantly, I'm telling everyone about my experience. I already know one person that has bought from them because of my feedback (not a MO, though, sadly). And if they were closer to me, I'd definitely be using them for service. In fact, I might use them anyway if I'm at all upset with the service I get from local dealers.

:29: :29: :29:

 

[GMTURBO43]

Corin,

The only problem with me taking my Murano to them would be the oil changes I'd have to get along the way at all the other crappy Nissan dealers