• by July 25, 2008

I just can't resist commenting on this piece. Customers may indeed be happier, but let's not be too sure.

1. It's very hard for car companies to control the service their customers get because dealers are protected by local franchise laws. So the factory exerts control through the CSI (customer satisfaction index). They control car allocations, pay rebates, etc., based on the CSI.

As a result, every salesperson and service writer pleads with customers to give them top marks when the survey calls. "If you have a problem, call me and I'll get it fixed," they say. "Just don't give us anything except a high rating cause our compensation depends on it."

2. The customer is over a barrel, too. She depends on the dealer for service, repairs, maintenance during the lease period, or until the warranty expires. So she's unlikely to rate the dealer badly because she is afraid that things may not go in her favor when she brings the car in for service the next time.

3. The survey-taker calls at dinnertime and asks the owner to rate the service department -- asking the respondent whether she was "very satisfied" or "extremely satisfied" -- a distinction I find hard to make.

When they called this week, after my third visit in 1 1/2 months to the service dept., I responded that I was "very satisfied" and was asked by the pollster "what the service department could have done to get a better rating" from me -- at which point I lost it. :)

If, instead of calling at the dinner hour, the service records had been examined, the company might have noticed my three visits and assumed that something wasn't fixed properly the first time.

My point is, these surveys aren't worth much. The maker uses them to exert control over their dealers. Dealers try to game the system with customers -- and the customer believes she'd better play along or be persona non grata at the dealership.

I take the trouble to write only because I think there might be a story here somewhere. Like if customer satisfaction is up, why is the proportion of customers bringing their cars to dealerships for service now at a new low -- as your story reports.