My salesman said that he'd throw in a "first service" (whatever that is) if I gave him "all fives and yes" answers on the owner satisfaction survey. I didn't.

Is he just BSing me? Does Acura do this service anyway?

I wonder how Acura would feel about this sort of "bribe".

Ed

 

All car dealers are trying to do this. My mom bought a car earlier this year and the dealer said they would give her a free dinner if she put down all 5s. Since they called her up a couple of days later and yelled at her about the purchase.... she did not get the free dinner.

 

Interestingly enough, when I bought my Honda, I was told about how if they didn't get fives, Honda considered it a bad evaluation. I told the business manager I would not give them fives b/c of the terrible experience I got (bait and switch, lack of any feed back after signing the contract, waiting 3 weeks for them to FIND THE CAR). I explained fully.

Funny, NO ONE ever called me to do an evaluation. There's some Ethics for you.

 

I'm sure Acura would love to hear about this-- the incentives they provide create a big incentive for dealers to pad their customer service numbers. If you don't feel up to writing a letter at least include it in the comments section of your new owner survey.
-S.


From: http://www.acura.com/about/abo_cust_index.asp

BY PHONE
Monday through Friday, 6:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific Standard time at the toll-free number (800) 382-2238

BY FAX
(310) 783-3535

BY MAIL
Acura Client Services
1919 Torrance Blvd.
Torrance, CA 90501-2746

 

My dealer did this after a major service on my prior TL. I wrote in the "comments" section:

While my dealer deserves all "excellents" (they did deserve it), I did not appreciate being asked to say this by the service staff.

I hadn't gotten an evaluation request since then, until I bought my new TL.

 

My salesdude asked me to give all top ratings, and if I couldn't then please let him know before I answer so he has a chance to fix the problems.

I said "sure", but assumed I would get a survey in the mail. When they called I couldn't exactly say "hold on while I call my salesperson". Plus, in all honesty my salesperson didn't know squat about the car (he mostly sold another brand) so I felt compelled to tell the surveyor that, along with the reason why (one of the questions I was asked was whether the salesperson was knowledgeable).

I do think it's rather inappropriate for them to put pressure on us to give them good reviews. If they want good reviews all they have to do is give good service.

That seems like such a no-brainer to me. Good service means happy customers. Happy customers means repeat customers and good recommendations, which means more business. Everyone wins.

 

What ethics? Do you really expect that from a car dealership?

 

My sale guy did the same thing. If one is happy with the dealer, sales guy, service dept. and other personal they expect to receive "straight 5's". Some customers may have a tendency to give them some 4's on certain aspects even though they did a terrific job; not knowing the huge negative that is to the dealer. I gave them straight 5's because they deserved it. If all hadn't gone exactly the way I planned- professionalism, competence, honesty, etc. , I wouldn't have been so generous.

Yep, there was some begging by the dealer. In my case I did find it to be an ethical request. If they had delayed the delivery of my car, or promised something they didn't deliver on or if they annoyed me somewhere along the way, I wouldn't have been so generous. If they offered a free oil change due to a screw-up in exchange for straight 5's I wouldn't have complied.

 

Im holding onto my survey until the car goes in for the first service, 700 hard k and no problems at all except 2 cozmetic complaints. (6mt)
this car is like a bike for winter
funfunfun

 

I had the same thing happen at Sears recently. Salesman said that anything less than a "5" was considered "bad" and asked if i would rate them a "5"!

 

No. But one can hope.

I find the whole situation rather comical. They talk about how they really want you as a customer. They want to have a "relationship" with you (one dealer's exact words to me). And yet, they start off this relationship by hiding the truth and trying to extract more money than they need.

I'm happy with the deal that I got, and my sales person was friendly enough and fairly up front about the negotiations, but I still didn't enjoy the experience.

 

The stories on here about dealers asking/bribing for high quality remarks are somewhat humorous. I think it just shows just how much those quality rating really mean to dealerships. I think Acura like most brands, really push their dealerships hard to deliver the very quality they can.

I received a letter from the Quality Manager at my Acura dealer. She was pretty straight forward with what the quality rating meant to her dealership. All she asked was that if in my honest opinion I could not give them a "5" in any category, to please call her to see if anything could be done to retify the issue or at least get some feedback for training purposes to help them avoid such issues in the future. I can respect that.

 

See, I can respect that too. If it's phrased that way -- stressing the importance of the 5 rating and what can be done to improve -- it means they're actually trying to improve on their service during the sales process. If they're just offering you this and that for a 5 rating, that shows that their commitment is to their ratings but not to how the customer really feels.

We should not give in to such bribes -- there should not be a disconnect between how Acura's customers rates these dealers and the experiences that we read on this board.

 

One of the problems that I have with giving all 5s is that I think that most dealerships are 'average' which merits a 3. They should only get a 5 if you think 'WOW'.

But grade inflation is everywhere I guess.....

 

Hi,
I work for a honda dealership the reason we do that is to keep all of our customer satisfaction ratings hign because if any of u guys dont give us all 5's it ruins our bonus at the end of the month. plain and simple we got pay bills too.

 

Completely agreed.

At work, we have performance appraisals too, and we rarely (if ever) get the highest rating because we typically meet expectations during our work. We're not EXPECTED to get the highest rating.

And in response to the person who says they have to pay bills -- you pay bills with the money you earn during the normal course of business. I pay my bills with my salary. I see bonuses as just that -- bonuses, and should never be relied on as a constant stream of income.

 

The point here is that you have it backwards.
You are asking the customer if you can buy them off.

What you should really be doing is asking the customer how you can better serve them, and stepping up to the plate to put things right.

If I have a salesman saying that "you know we screwed up on getting you the car on time and we're sorry. Can I offer to make it up to you with a couple of free oil changes..." would probably get a 5 rating.
But the "If you give me a 5 then I'll give you a couple of free oil changes" just leave a bad taste in my mount, and I wouldn't do it.

Finally, a bonus is something special, not something to be relied upon. It seems that complancency is to blame. You expect to get the bonus and are upset when you don't get it. Yet you treat the customer like just another customer.
With each customer, you should treat them as if your entire bonus depended on this customer - the customer will appreciate it, and you will get your bonus.

 

My acura salesman here in charlotte did a great job and I had no problem giving them all 5's. However, he told me that if he didn't get all 5's it was a failing grade and he would get fired.

 

I just looked at this thread because I had never heard of a dealer with ethics.

 

I had been working with my local Acura dealer to test drive the new TL. It was good. Then I went back with my fiancee' and brother to test drive it again, and I was denied. They don't want to put any more miles on the new cars if they don't have to, they say.

So, I left. And I won't go back. I now have to drive 30 miles to my next Acura dealer. I called Acura to complain, and they were not even apologetic... claiming that the dealer owns the car and that they can do what they wish.

*sigh*

 

L E X U S

 

My dealer was by the book. This is the second car I purchased from this salesman and I remember him calling me after the first car I purchased when I gave a 4 on one survey line (nothing to do with him).

This go round the only thing he said was "remember me when when they call with the survey". No bribes offered or anything else. I gave them all 5's on the survey (which they actually deserved) and shortly after in the mail I received my maintenance agreement package covering all services for free for 2 years or 22500 miles. I didn't pay for it, ask for it or was was offered a bribe for it. It just showed up one day. I owe my salesman a beer (or 10). Is this standard or did someone hook me up?

Ryan

 

That's awful jondeutsch. That dealership is insane! Did they know you're serious about making a purchase? I saw a posting here that someone took the TL out for an HOUR spin and the dealer didn't bat an eye. I don't think the brand of manufacturer necessarily means that one will get the same level of service. Dealerships are francise operations so it seems it depends who owns the dealership, not who the car manufacturer is.

My worst experience was with a Toyota dealer many years ago. One of my better ones was with a Toyota dealer a few years ago.

 

That was a nice touch. I wasn't given that, but they did some other things things which I detailed in an earlier post. The best thing you can do in the way of gratitude is to refer the sales guy a new client.

 

Lexus dealers are just as bad.

 

My experiences with the first Acura dealer was fine until it was time to discuss the particular car I wanted. They didn't even want to look for it without a $1000 deposit. Two other dealers claimed they could get the car quickly, so I put down $500 at each dealer. I was figuring that maybe it is some sort of lottery. One of the dealers straight out lied about the delivery of the car after claiming to have 'ordered' it. The other dealer just plain didn't bother to do anything. I got my deposits back and was within a week of abandoning the purchase of the TL. Fortunately, a dealer that I had contacted earlier called me up and told me the car that I wanted was on its way to the dealership. The next day I was in the showroom and after verifying the information (VIN number and departure date from the factory), I signed a contract to buy the car. This dealership turned out to be very straightforward, business-like and did not do any of the things that dealers typically try to do when you buy a car. It was a totally pleasant and quick experience.

When I received the phone survey I gave the dealership all 5's which I believe that they deserved. I did follow up with a letter to Acura outlining my poor experiences with the other dealers.

It still surprises me (although it shouldn't) that dealers who sell luxury cars which are discretionary purchases feel that they can treat you poorly and still get the sale.

-------

Pearl Green/Camel/5AT/Nav

 

I had a horrible experience at the first Acura dealership I visited two years ago while I was looking for 2002 TLs. I had discussed a deal with the dealer's Internet manager, as well as my trade-in vehicle. As soon as I arrived at the dealership and we began final discussions, the trade came up again, and they offered an insultingly, obviously low value for it and didn't budge. I thought that was VERY strange, that hadn't happened in any other dealership before. Then he said he couldn't work with me and showed me out! I was in the dealership less than ten minutes! I had no idea what I'd done to merit this sort of treatment. I was always polite and reasonable to this gent. Was it because I'm Black? Was it because I look much younger than my age of (then) 33? (with my hair cut, I look like I'm in maybe my mid 20's ). Was it because they were having a bad day? Was I TOO nice to them? I had no idea. I didn't even argue, I was too stunned at my treatment.

I then visited to my local Acura dealership, 5 minutes from my house, and was treated as if they wanted to sell me a car. They gave me a great deal on my trade. They provide excellent service. Every time I come in for service and am just sitting in the lounge they come and speak to me, and are not bothered if I seek them out. They were honest with me every step of the way with me in the 2004 TL purchase, including admitting being a bit ignorant about some of the car's features at first. This is called making a relationship with your customer, something I do in my office, and is the reason I've now bought two Acuras from this dealership and do my best to refer them potential customers. These guys really do rate "5's" all around.

 

I sold Hondas for a while and had a 97% average. I did inform the customer about the survey but I also told them that they should give me less than 5's if I really deserved it. Our dealership offered free gas in exchange for perfect scores. Personally, it was crooked. I wanted honest feedback for my own knowledge, how else do you improve??

Needless to say, my salesmanager and general manager hated me because of it. Screw 'em though, I'm no longer working for them.

As a customer buying a vehicle, I'm very honest about my treatment. If I give them straight 5's or A's or whatever when I buy a car and they don't deserve it, they'll just assume they can screw up/walk over customers etc.

If they deserve an F, give them one.

If they deserve a perfect score, give them one.


P.S. This is yet another reason why I left the car business.

 

Agreed.



Mine was straightforward with me, too. And they didn't treat us like shyt, when it was just me and my brother at first walking into the showroom (I was 20 at the time and my brother 18).

She didn't know everything about the car, and admitted that I knew more about the car itself and the car buying process (She had just started working there, apparently). I was happy that she wouldn't try to BS her way through it or anything. She called me after some time to make sure I was happy with the car and everything. I try to talk to her every time I go in there. I think it's important to build a relationship, but both parties have to be willing.

Dealerships can be bastards, but I'm glad that I landed on a good one.

 

Acura's survey system is changing completely in January '04.

Up 'til then how it works is a rating system of 1-5 for questions on a phonecall you (might) get after purchasing your Acura. Anything less than a "5" is indeed just as bad as getting a "1" because only the "5"s are considered satisfactory by Acura and by dealerships that pay a bonus for good CSI.

In January it will move to a scoring system of 1-100 or something like that and it will actually be more fairly conducted. With this change to a fair system, however, salesmen are no longer allowed to "coach" a client - which means they can no longer even MENTION the survey (per Acura's finely-detailed written notice regarding the changes), so salesmen can no longer explain to you what the survey is, how it works, etc, and have to just hope that you understand how it works.

So in summary, the survey system was and is the thing that's "crooked' or "unfair" or "dishonest" and is the reason why some dealerships are forced to do things that in some ways "bribe" the customer to give a good score (all 5s).
Once the change happens in January this will no longer be an issue - you won't be coached, and the survey will be more fairly represented to the corporation, dealership, and salesperson by using a fair scoring system.

So the fault of the current system lies squarely on the company Acura corporate hired to create and conduct this current survey system.