GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk5 => Topic started by: spuddy on 23 April 2006, 19:59
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is it just me or is anyone else dissapointed with vw dealers and vw customer services ?
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You might want to read my thread of last summer...
http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=23649.0
The car's great (now it's fixed) but the dealer I bought from had no concept of service, until I wrote some pretty strong letters and emails to them and VW. I had three Saabs before this car, and the reason I had more than one was that the service was fantastic.
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I hope, one day to be dissapointed with the service given on my MKV GTI :grin: (I havn't got one :sick:.... yet!)
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No it's certainly not just you.
After my recent Mark V purchase a few weeks ago I got a phone call from a market research co. I knew the call was coming as it's part of VW's measure of customer satisfaction process, and has some consequences for the VW/dealer relationship, but I'm not sure what these are(£Â£Ã‚£??). I had to give 5 out of 5, as anything less would have been unfair to the dealer.
However, I know of other people who were very unhappy with the same dealer and have since taken their custom elsewhere. So I expect when they got the market research call, they gave them a good slagging off. Perhaps this has had a positive effect?
A lot depends on how much they want your custom. Some dealers don't need to try as the product does a good job of selling itself. After sales service is the real test and all my experiences have been 100% good, but as mentioned above it hasn't been like that for everyone.
Incidentally, the car is fantastic :smiley:
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Just a point worth mentioning regarding the customer satisfaction survey calls.
Clearly, i'm speaking as a dealer here but something you may nto realise is that we need to get 5 out of 5 on these surveys. 5 out of 5 as far as VW UK are concerned doesn't mean that the dealer were extraordinary in their approach to selling you a car or that they cracked open the champagne on your arrival. As far as VW are concerned, 5 out of 5 means that the dealer did their job and did everything that they told you they would do. If a customer scores us 4 out of 5, it gets counted as 80% i.e a fail. :sad:
I'm not suggesting you get your violins out and score us poor salespeople 5's but do bear in mind that 5 out of 5 just means that we did what you expected us to do. We (the dealership and the individual salesman) see every single answer you give 48 hours after you've done it. I would be lying if I said that reading what a customer has said about me when absolutely everything went smoothly but they've scored me low for whatever reason, hasn't had an effect in the way I speak / help that person in teh future.
I'm a huge beleiver in customer service. I genuinly try and give the best service I can so i think these surveys are a great idea but please remember that the answers you give have a direct impact on your salesepersons wages and record so just be honest and if everything went okay, give the poor guy/girl 5 out of 5. These surveys are not anonymous. We know exactly what you said to the researcher two days later. There is nothing more frustrating than a customer makng things up when asked (this does happen and I do call the customers to ask them why they lied!. What seemed like a bit of fun to them, affected the amount of money I brought home for my wife and daughter! :cry:)
Rant over, I apologise :angry:
:smiley: :smiley: :smiley:VWmd
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Another bargaining tool perhaps? :wink:
But seriously, it does seem as though VW need to rethink the scoring as depending on the individual, 4 might seem perfectly reasonable for a good service with no problems, 5 achieved by going beyond their expectations etc. But on the plus side, it has hopefully persuaded some to improve their service and its good to see VW does have measures in force to promote good customer service.
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You're not far off the mark there. Volkswagen actually removed the franchise from a dealer in the South West who it transpired were telling customers they will send out a x pound thank you cheque if they got 5 out of 5 in the surveys!!!!!! They were actually bribing customers!
You're right though, dealers have to constantly think about the CEM surveys and looking after the customers. Just be aware though, if you score the dealer low marks, you will not be welcome back i'm afraid. It's got to a point now with the way VW pay the dealership that if they suspect you will score them low in the survey, it's actually cheaper for Mr Dealer to not sell you a car at all. This flaw in the system wil undoubtably change as it's counter-productive but heh! while it's the case.....
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That survey seems a bit excessive... :angry:
Do the telephone people explain what score should be given for what service? Because otherwise it doesn't mean a thing. I certainly wouldn't like to be in a job where I am at the mercy of a shoddy survey like that. By the way, since my Stealer has been so good can I give them 6/5?
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the answers you give have a direct impact on your salesepersons wages and record so just be honest and if everything went okay, give the poor guy/girl 5 out of 5.
Y`see, (and I hope you don`t take exception to this), if everything just `went okay` I wouldn`t give a five.
By its very nature, a maximum score infers that nothing could have been better, and that`s a long way from an `okay`.
I get my car on Wednesday, and hope it`ll be 5/5`s forever :smiley:
I won`t ever be shy about telling the truth about poor customer service, and I don`t think anyone else should be either.
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Nope its your dealership!
Mines GREAT! :smiley:
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My local stealer sucks a big fat one.
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Most VW Stealerships suck a big fat one - thats what I think anyway... and I only deal with ones that I have reason to trust either because of previous experience or recommendation. There are only 3 Stealerships that I would currently deal with and I don't know where one of them is located because its the one where VW Main Dealer works at :wink: The other two are Wolsey Ipswich who I am collecting a Mk5 GTI from on Wednesday morning :laugh: and a dealer in Essex off the M25 who have been consistently been praised in forums. I have had first hand experience of another Stealer who typifies the kind of operation that ruins the reputation of Stealers... I 've slagged them off in many previous posts so won't mention them - Auto bloody Haus of Northampton... :angry:
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Wish I'd got a phone call about the service I received at Auto Haus because I would have given them 5/5 for trying to rip me off and lying to me and minus 5/5 for service.
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Wednesday, eh ?
I`m from Ipswich too...........
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Phew i thought it was just me that thought they were sh!t i work for another very well known franchise whose vehicles dont have the greatest reliability records but there customer care is 100 times better than vw all the hassle i,v had has really spoilled a bloody good car and i was going to buy a new r32 but i think an evo 9 is looking very good !
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HO HO HO
Have you seen the runing costs on an EVO?
I had an EVO 6 - the things are never out of the shop - service every 5000 miles or 6 months
£3000 yes £3000 for a steering rack when the car was still under w/tee - it was 6 months old!
Bye Bye EVO - Hello S3 - It was slower etc but i never took it to the stealers ONCE!
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I'm under the impression that it all depends what car you buy, had similar experiences with vag en bmw.
Sister-in-law has a mk4 sdi with no opt , I just ordered mk5 GTI full opt
They treat here like sh!t, me like a friend