As Gil Grissom might say, the evidence is incomplete. But Automotive News [AN, sub] is confirming what TTAC and TrueDelta have been saying since the dawn of time: car dealers are rigging customer satisfaction scores. In this case, it's not the usual "please give us all 10 out of tens or we'll have to shoot our sales manager and orphan his children" type fraud. AN reports that an unnamed number of GM dealers have been sending the mothership fake CSI mail-in forms and filing bogus on-line survey responses to scarf hundreds of thousands of dollars in corporate bonuses. GM sent an "unsigned bulletin" to dealers on August 14 announcing "appropriate adjustments" to third-quarter survey scores "to reflect interference." Needless to say, GM claims the fraud isn't widespread. Just obvious. Let the wrist-slapping begin!
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If they want “real” figures to calculate how well their dealers are doing (assuming that GM execs actually want to company to survive, that is), in order to improve the dealership experience, then I have a solution.
Of course, when you are starting at the bottom of a glen, “all directions are up hill”, which is where GM is for customer satisfaction.
If you don’t believe me as an ex-GM customer, then look at Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan and Subaru conquest sales over the past 20 years and look at GM’s sales chart (down down downdidy down).
My solution for GM?
The “mother ship” must actually do the QC checks, and hire people to make calls to real customers, ask real questions, and take real answers.
Hey how about this? Those thousands of guys and gals sitting on their duffs at the closed plants, collecting pay checks ‘coz the UAW and GM say they can?
Put ’em on the phones, make ’em work for a living.
Secret shoppers wouldn’t hurt, either.
I thought all dealerships did this…
Thanks for the picture of Marg.
/end
Congratulations to True Delta, and TTAC for running the CSI editorial a few weeks back, which made its way to Automotive News. There must be folks from GM reading TTAC.
Every dealer will make efforts to “influence” CSI results, its part of the dealers job. It becomes a point of “degrees of influence” and where does a manufacturer draw the line.
It would seem that GM is indicating some “drawing of the line”
We bought a Toyota last week. The sales man was twisting on me to give him all excellents.
the problem is with how the surveys are scored. I worked for one of the large pharmacy chains, and they would only accept 5’s on a 1-5 scale survey. If a customer gave you a 4 they might as well have given you a 1. When the system is rigged against you, you feel that cheating is your only option.
These dealers have hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line in a program called SFE (Standards For Excellence). It is the difference between profitable or not for many and it forces dealers to cheat. OPE71 is exactly right if you are scored less than Completely Satisfied or Definitly Reccommend your are toast.
In my own writing on the subject I’ve been saying that the fault lies with the manufacturer, for setting up a system that virtually forces dealers to cheat.
As punishment GM should make Marg make love to me. That seems like a just resolution…to me.
Sounds like the “No Dealer Left Behind” plan has resulted in excellent customer service; I look forward to buying my next vehicle…
I have been in the industry for 7 years. Every dealership I have sold cars at have this same problem. They all struggle to get the best survey scores possible. Its true about “Top Box” scoring. On a scale of one through five a four is graded just like a one.
Most dealerships will punish the sales man by taking away bonuses. (which can be thousands of dollars per month) The one survey ask to grade the Finance Manager, The Closer, and the Salesperson. So if one of the three people they come in contact with is rude, pushy, or the customer just dosen’t like someones tie the Salesman is the one who gets punished.
I once had a customer LOVE me. When it came time to sign the paperwork, the Finance Manager got upset because they did not buy an extended warranty. So he treated MY customer rudely and they torched my survey. This was in December just before Christmas. I lost my “Top Man” bonus of $1000 and 5% extra commisions which were close to $2000. Thats $3000 taken from me right before Christmas.
So if a salesman seems extremely eager they get a good survey. Just remember they are human, with families at home. What might not seem like a big deal to you. And giving them a piece of your mind may make you feel better for a second. Think for a second how you would feel if you knew a third of your paycheck was in the hands of the stranger you spent all afternoon with. And by no fault of your own… the paperwork took a little too long. So now I get a bad survey.
Oh… and please be polite when we welcome you on the lot.