Ram Dealers begging for positive ratings?

Michael Jones said:

Never filled out my survey's emailed to me. Bought the truck in April 2019. 35miles on it when bought. Smoked on start up till lately it has stopped at 3200miles on it now. Lost a quart up to now. But now has a right hand pull. Long story short. When I was having the smoke issue. Dealer admitted there was bulletins on 5.7 and 6.4 that this was common but they definitely didn't disclose that when I was purchasing....... F minus grade from me. I did force my opinion through emails and phone calls to Dealer but never got anywhere because they have there sale. I'm in a contract with the bank on loan for the so they could give a fluck about it. "Dealer, well bring it in for we can look at it, it under warranty " yeah so you can slam my hood, scratch my fenders, dart in my seat and eat your boogers while thinking about your next duker

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Please refer to post #38 and #42...it's generally a waste of time to voice your complaints to only the dealer and expect much to happen, and it doesn't help anyone else out there either. Like you said, they have their sale, after that they don't want to see or deal with you again. Public shame them in as many places as you can, like google, yelp, car gurus, autotrader, cars.com, etc...Then you MAY actually see something happen about your issues, and if nothing else at least you warn countless other people, cause a lot of people read these reviews online.

That being said it's not impossible to find a decent dealer for service (1/3 in my area that I would take mine to for complicated or expensive warranty work), any other dealers in your area?

One thing I have found over the years, if you can act like service is a business transaction, and not a personal attack on you or your truck, I think you will get a better outcome. I've seen people go into dealerships acting like an ******* and then wonder why they were treated like an *******. There are always exceptions but natural escalation goes from "good to bad". It's generally not natural to go from your an ******* at the start of a conversation and end up with lets go have a beer together. I'm not defending anyone, just a glance in the mirror sometimes helps.
Jay

The rating service is not limited to car dealers, the company I work for did the same thing, any anything less then a 10 warranted questions as to why. 9 times out of 10, the ratting was out of the techs hands or even the local office. When they mention the 10 rating, I tell them “ earn it and you will get it” coming courtesies and a hassle free ride home and back goes a long way.

As someone who sold vehicles for FCA, I'll keep it short. Money the salesman makes and make can potentially make is based on the average score on their reviews, with that average score requirement getting higher and higher. The dealership itself is also "graded" by FCA based upon that score. And they specifically tell you that a 8 or lower is a zero score. They make it seem so important because FCA makes it part of your livelihood

I chatted with someone who works at a dealership selling another brand, not FCA.
He confirmed that these reviews and subsequent benefits or punishments for employees are universal in the industry.
The manufacturers look for any reason not to pay bonuses and they reward up-selling in the shop, whether repairs are warranted or not.
Not only does this seem to be an extremely hostile environment for the consumer, it also seems inevitable that those of us who know about our vehicles and do our best to avoid being cheated will eventually have negative experiences at many service departments.
It's a bit unnerving to be aware that you're a target, not for gaining your trust and loyalty, but for prying open your wallet and exploiting your lack of product knowledge.
I'll tread lightly and hope for the best at my "new" dealer.

BTW, my Harley dealer, Hudson Valley H-D, is a rare example of the opposite philosophy. They have done everything to earn my trust, including owning up to any mistakes they might make and doing what's necessary to make it right. Thanks.

Maybe the answer isn't to ignore the surveys but to embrace them. fill em out, honestly … brutally honest if that is how you feel. sooner or later they are bound to see the fallacy of the "only a 10 counts" mentality.
I am not advocating anything other an honest appraisal of how you felt you were treated.

Dakotah Courtney said:

As someone who sold vehicles for FCA, I'll keep it short. Money the salesman makes and make can potentially make is based on the average score on their reviews, with that average score requirement getting higher and higher. The dealership itself is also "graded" by FCA based upon that score. And they specifically tell you that a 8 or lower is a zero score. They make it seem so important because FCA makes it part of your livelihood

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I think everyone here gets that, what FCA needs to understand is most people aren't going to give good scores just because they are hassled to by salesmen under pressure. Sounds like an awful place to work, but if you do work there, earning good scores rather than begging for them would be a good start. Want good ratings? Earn them...we get your situation working there is ******, that still doesn't change things on our side of the table and we aren't going to give pity points just because FCA is putting pressure on the dealer. In fact, to most of us it's laughable, dealers begging for that, after all these years of great service! Haha good luck with that.

Edit: Would like to say I wasn't directing that as you in particular, after re-reading it I thought it could come off that way.

JoeCo said:

I think everyone here gets that, what FCA needs to understand is most people aren't going to give good scores just because they are hassled to by salesmen under pressure. Sounds like an awful place to work, but if you do work there, earning good scores rather than begging for them would be a good start. Want good ratings? Earn them...we get your situation working there is ******, that still doesn't change things on our side of the table and we aren't going to give pity points just because FCA is putting pressure on the dealer. In fact, to most of us it's laughable, dealers begging for that, after all these years of great service! Haha good luck with that.

Edit: Would like to say I wasn't directing that as you in particular, after re-reading it I thought it could come off that way.

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I wouldn't have thought it as a person thing, but I appreciate the clarification nonetheless. And trust me, I get it; I hated having to ask for the rating (I'm no longer a salesman).

However, the only somewhat valid justification I heard for asking was, as told by a sales manager, is people will tend to give 8-9 ratings because they feel a 10 for everything isn't a score anyone could obtain; even though FCA holds you to a 95% or 97% average. I told agree that it's a ridiculous system but at the end of the day, our backs were against the wall in a lot of ways. They love to implement new "standards" with your pay being the carrot at the end of the stick.

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Of course, given the opportunity, most would give an honest appraisal, rewarding service when deserved. Pointing out where improvements could be made.
There are phony reviews given because some dealerships will offer incentives, like oil changes, in exchange for 5 star reviews that you can show them.
As consumers, we expect that a review is supposed to be a tool to assess if and where improvements are needed. It's hardly that...
Consumer surveys used to be a primary marketing tool.
When home makers filled out a survey card, they often answered questions about what they hated doing around the house and what they wished for.
Companies developed self-cleaning ovens and toilets in response to these surveys.

Dakotah Courtney said:

I wouldn't have thought it as a person thing, but I appreciate the clarification nonetheless. And trust me, I get it; I hated having to ask for the rating (I'm no longer a salesman).

However, the only somewhat valid justification I heard for asking was, as told by a sales manager, is people will tend to give 8-9 ratings because they feel a 10 for everything isn't a score anyone could obtain; even though FCA holds you to a 95% or 97% average. I told agree that it's a ridiculous system but at the end of the day, our backs were against the wall in a lot of ways. They love to implement new "standards" with your pay being the carrot at the end of the stick.

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Yeah I've never worked under those exact conditions, but I've certainly had some job with complete unnecessary stress like that and couldn't get out of those jobs soon enough. Older and wiser, would never go back to something like that unless I had to. Glad to hear you were able to get out as well.

When I worked in radio, in front of the mike...and behind the general managers desk, you were formally rated once every 3 months with listener surveys. then the paper surveys in the 2000s turned into digital surveying with a dongle so it was easy to rate you monthly..or even more often. you have program directors in larger market who will see a dip in a 15 minute listening period and frantically go back to the logs of shows to find out what happened in that 15 minutes. there are listener panel surveys in many larger markets where the panel is actually given a control and asked to listen to shows or segments of shows and hosts and they can click a button to indicate when they are displeased at what they are hearing and decisions are made off that. Then there are the frequent listener complaints to your station about the hosts, about the commercials, about the music. i don't know how many times i had people call in to complain you played a song too much , or you played it too little. surveys can be a good tool as part of an overall strategy to improve but they should never be weaponized. Too often they are used incorrectly by upper management to punish rather than motivate. i did that business for 31 years and the most fun i had was as a disk jockey. being stuck between head office and my employees usually stunk. Employees were a tool...or a liability to head office. Where to me, good employees made everything work the way it needed to work to be a success.

I got out of radio in 2012. took 5 years off and did various things. travelled, tried different jobs and eventually settled on driving delivery. i enjoy seeing 99% of my customers, i enjoy working by myself otherwise and I get paid full time to work part time. And I sleep like crap because too many nights I have nightimes from the last 4 years of working in radio after the recession hit and the pressure got cranked up to make more money for the company, with 50% less employees. I hated the annual surveys that were done as most of the problems we had were created by head office, but nobody was going to point a finger at head office.

I can't imagine how hard it must be to be a sales manager or service manager at a dealership these days. the pressure must be tremendous.

So a week or so ago I took the Ram in to have the passenger airbag software update, and they mentioned I needed the tailgate lock recall done as well. I told them I already took care of the tailgate, just a small rubber block that took 5 minutes to install, but they can look at it if they prefer to confirm and make it official. Also had tires rotated.

Just today I find my tailgate won't lock, and doesn't sound right when I hit the lock button. Take it apart, and sure enough the idiot that worked on it stacked another rubber block next to the one I installed.

My review: 0

Maybe he thought if it had two it would work TWICE as good----LOL
Jay

Pull Ya said:

Maybe he thought if it had two it would work TWICE as good----LOL
Jay

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Could be!

I actually had a feeling they might do that, but forgot to check when I left the dealer.

Pull Ya said:

One thing I have found over the years, if you can act like service is a business transaction, and not a personal attack on you or your truck, I think you will get a better outcome. I've seen people go into dealerships acting like an ******* and then wonder why they were treated like an *******. There are always exceptions but natural escalation goes from "good to bad". It's generally not natural to go from your an ******* at the start of a conversation and end up with lets go have a beer together. I'm not defending anyone, just a glance in the mirror sometimes helps.
Jay

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I always go in relaxed and friendly and if something needs fixing and I don't think the price is ridiculous I just let them do it since down time for me is too expensive to shop around or wait for openings at another shop. Usually I get good service and they usually try to do their best to make me happy as a result. A friend of mine goes in acting like a ***** and expecting them to bend over for him every time and he gets no breaks and terrible service. When I get dicked around though I tend to make an impression and people start scrambling visibly rattled because I get loud and have a valid response to any excuse they try to give me withouy pause as I'd been stewing and circle thinking the situation long before I blow up. Then they do the right thing and I go back to calm and friendly.

So I just got a text from the dealer begging me for a Google review of my recent visit, in which they installed an extra rubber block in the tailgate, so what the heck, I went ahead and left one-star review. Explained what they did with the block, also that they gave me an Uber ride home but didn't explain I had to pay for the ride back. BTW in the emails asking that the truck be brought in to do the recall work they promised a free shuttle to home and back, or loaner, while they work on it.

Have not been able to confirm this. But I am understanding that manufactures are focusing more on internet reviews. Now that there are more credible websites that require verified reviews. They believe that what they are seeing and reading, needs to be addressed. Point being, reviews of manufactures and dealers, over all are not good. Customers are telling them that when they see numerous negative or low star reviews, they stay away. Given the direction our buying habits are how we are moving toward online everything, this could make sense. My source tells me that dealers have defined objectives that they must meet on defined websites, or it cost them money. Would love to see that rate card and agreement.

It would be "refreshing" to think that they may begin to do business a little differently because of continual bad reviews from customers. One problem that seems apparent is the person in charge of receiving the complaints, doesn't have the authority to do anything about them except to forward them up the chain. When the decision makers get a personal ear full instead of reading a memo or a report, maybe then things will change or when it effect someone's pay high enough in the food chain it might also change. Maybe this is to simple---Just do your job right, the first time. That's what you get paid to do.
Jay

tap4154 said:

So I just got a text from the dealer begging me for a Google review of my recent visit, in which they installed an extra rubber block in the tailgate, so what the heck, I went ahead and left one-star review. Explained what they did with the block, also that they gave me an Uber ride home but didn't explain I had to pay for the ride back. BTW in the emails asking that the truck be brought in to do the recall work they promised a free shuttle to home and back, or loaner, while they work on it.

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Nice job, glad to hear you laid it out there honestly like that. Funny they called to ask for it after such sub par service, it would be like a child doing something bad and then coming up to their parent for a reward....oh wait, now I think I know where this is all coming from...

In my experience providing customer service, I've learned a valuable lesson.
Things occasionally go wrong.
Regardless of the reason, this gives us an opportunity to make things right and to make a lasting impression in doing so.
If you face the customer, admit the problem exists, and do what's right to fix it, you'll usually impress a customer in ways that you never could when things were going smoothly.
What you do when things go wrong can earn you a customer for life.

I've had companies I purchased from for years that wouldn't fix a relatively simple problem. I no longer buy from them.
Other companies that, in my view, did the right thing, and I'm a customer for life.

The points system we're talking about can't produce real results or valuable information.
It's completely hostile to the dealer / customer relationship.
I hope they wake up. I'm not holding my breath...