Next Wednesday a marketing research firm is coming to my G/F's and my house to quiz her about her RDX. I will also be questioned as I also have an Acura(06 RL) and we were asked to have some friends there as well. The sessions will be recorded on video and we're all going to be paid some money to participate.

Has anyone ever participated in something like this before?

The interesting thing(at least to me) is the research firm is working for....GM

 

No, but it sounds strange. Are you sure it's not some scam or holdup?

 

As my favorite economics professor said, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Be carefull and research them first.

 

if i were you i would not participate..1st they are for GM..maybe they wanna know what u like bout the rdx and maybe take all about it and put it on their new cuv maybe..
2nd is that s reaaly weird...how the hell did they know that your Gf had a Rdx?

 

Yeah, if I were you I'd DEFINITELY get some credentials first...that you can verify with a third party, i.e., web site, business phone, etc.

If they are legit, no advice is needed. Just act natural and answer the q's to the best of your ability.

 

I've never heard of such a thing. Beware. Sounds fishy. They might want to sell you a time share, or try to convert you to some strange religion. I was contacted yesterday by Strategic Vision asking me to fill out a survey. also rec'd one from JC Power to fill out. d of strategic Vision. I never hearAcura seems to give our names out alot. When I bought the car the guy they made me sign a statement about privacy, I probably shouldn't have signed it, but I just wanted to get behind the wheel!

 

Well,I checked them out and they are legit...my G/F was Fedexed a questionaire and some "Image exercises" to do, and they will be arriveing at the house this Wednesday.

She will be paid $400, I will get $175 and the two friends she invited will get $175 each.

Just to be safe, one of the friends we invited is a cop. He will be arriving directly from "the job" in his uniform.

Believe me, no one is more cynical about this than my G/F and I.

 

Wow. No wonder GM is going under. They could just look here for free and find out what people think, but hey still sounds too good to be true. I bet they give you all coupons for a discount on a GM car or something!! ( or a baseball cap)

 

Well, it's on for tonight....I'll post a report tomorrow.

G/F is getting $400...three of our friends $175 each.

 

Looking forward to a detailed report!!!

 

Many years ago I remember when my step-father purchased a Ford Probe; not long after they invited him to a meeting where they paid him to talk about his car. So stuff like this does happen altho I find it a bit odd that they want to come to your house like Avon/Amway.

On the plus side, hopefully you can can convey the wants/wishes of members here & maybe Acura will actually listen in order to increase their less than predicted sales.

 

Too bad it is GM that is doing this litttle focus group....

 

Yup. It should be that RDX Product Manager we saw at launch.

 

If it's GM they are going to get an earful about the garbage products they manufacture, and how they try to wrap themselves in the flag to sell vehicles.

 

They likely won't be talking much if any about GM products. Sounds like they are focusing on Acura and they want to hear the likes and dislikes of Acura products to improve their own.

 

Times have changed a little bit. You might want to take a look at the GMC Acadia. I'm picking up my RDX tomorrow, but it was between that and the Acadia (performance vs. 3rd row). I think they've got a real winner with that one.

 

If we don't hear from you, then we will know what happen to you.

 

LOL Well I'm still alive and kicking...here's the report!

With both her RDX(CBP Tech) and my 06 RL (NBP non tech) freshly washed in the garage, the research "Team" of 3 showed 5 minutes early for the 1700 appointment There were 3 people, all Male; the interviewer, the camera person, and "The Client" who didn't say much at all, but was clearly the person in charge.

The session lasted for 3.5 hours, of which the first two hours were just with my G/F and me...the camera guy put a mic on my G/F, they did a sound check, then had us give them a tour of our house, of which they videotaped every inch.(good thing we cleaned it) even the garage and basement.

Then we sat in the dining room and they had both of us give a brief history of our lives focusing on career, styling likes and dislikes, what we do in our leisure time, if we are preparing for our retirement(yes) That line of questioning went on until our 3 friends arrived at 1900, and then the focus turned to them asking basically the same questions.

After that they started showing us pics of vehicles and had us write down one word descriptions for each one they showed. All were crossover type designs, and the ones we recognized were the RDX, X3, Volvo, VW, Ford, and possibly Saab and Audi, as well as BMW

Then we did an exercise where we wrote down what type of car we thought each of the other particpants would choose from a list of Acura, Lexus, Infiniti, BMW, and Mercedes.

Then we got our "paychecks" and they left. I asked them what manufacturer they represented, and while they didn't tell us, they did say it wasn't one of the "big 3"
and that it was one of the 5 brands mentioned in the last paragraph.

I'm leaning towards them representing Acura, Lexus or Infiniti, because the gentleman in charge was Asian.

To summarize, it was definitely worth our time and the money didn't hurt, and when they asked what the RDX needed to make it better I said a memory Driver's seat and standard Autodim mirror.

 

Did you have to sign a waiver for them? You know, for them to videotape you, your house, etc... Did you ask them what they will use the video for in the future? Who will the video be released to?

Just curious...

 

Cool, but kind of creepy at the same time that they wanted to videotape your house. I'd do it for some money, too.

 

well u can just take that $575 you two earned and put it towards closing costs on a new house...lol

 

Hey Neo
I note that you're in Orange County too. I'm looking to possibly pick up a tech-rdx this weekend. I've been to Heart across the river, and I think I have a good thing worked out, but I'm curious if you shopped the different local dealers. I have some other questions if you have a minute. I just tried to PM you, but I wasn't able to send a PM, probably due to my just registering with this site. If you can, I'd really appreciate picking your brain a little since you are so local. If you don't mind.
Dave

 

Correct. You have to have 30 posts to PM.

 

Yes, we asked and yes we signed a waiver that said their company would not use it for anything but internal company business, and there was actually a line about not ending up on Youtube in there.

 

Its changed to 5 posts to PM....

 

Thanks! Sometimes curiousity gets the best of me!

I would love to be a fly on the wall and find out what they do with all this info once they compile it!

 

This is the strangest part of your story Lump. Why would they need to videotape your basement and bathroom? Did you ask them? I could see an interview to determine a target group for marketing but to videotape every inch of your house? I wouldn't go for it. I'd suspect something....... especially since they really didn't identify who they were working for. What did your cop friend think? He must see lots of scams.

 

Maybe to try to get the idea if there are any similarities between consumers and things they already have around the house....i'm not wording it exactly right, but i think you get the idea...who knows maybe there is a connection.

 

Interesting. I bet they were from Acura since they contacted you knowing that one of you had an Acura. (How else could they have known you recently purchased an Acura...unless it was a drive-by, but that I doubt. Plus, Acura is chasing Lexus, et al. so I doubt if it was anyone but Acura.)

Also REALLY interesting they taped your home. (At first I found this worrisome (as in scam, casing your home for valuables), but I'd guess they did so b/c they wanted to capture your demographic in extreme detail. Perhaps we'll see a reproduction of your house in the next RDX spot!

 

LOL funny! They left some of their paperwork there, which included some artists drawings of some cars they wanted us to give one word "reactions" to....well yesterday when I got home from work there were a number of messages on the machine asking if we still had the sketches and if we did could they come get them!

I hadn't been home more than 10 minutes when the phone rang, and it was someone from the company asking if they could send someone over to get the paperwork....I said sure, and then 10 minutes later the doorbell rang! It was the guy that had done most of the talking during the interview...he was very embarrassed.

As to the video taping of the house, they said it was because they wanted to study our style, and what kind of things we buy..they were interested in how we decorated the house. They even videotaped my John Deere tractor!

 

Of course, you photographed these concept sketches and you're going to upload them, right?

Right?

:-)

 

That is the best cover story for an affair I've ever heard. I would check your girls cell phone for texts from some dude and click on that laptop browser history. Did you partake in the basement?