[Grape-Nutz]

Picked up my new MDX last Thurs, and just received a letter in the mail telling me I'll be receiving a "rate the dealer" survey from Acura. The letter's from the dealer and signed by the salesman who handled the purchase. He says that he would "...appreciate it very much..." if I would indicate the highest level of "Very Satisfactory" on all of the questions asked, because anything less would be viewed as negatively by Acura. (Well, duh!) They also had the audacity to include an example of what the survey would look like all filled out as they suggest. The letter goes on to ask that I address any complaints, umbrages or perceived slights directly with the dealership, and allow them to make it right. IOW, don't whine to Acura; whine to them.

This has me wondering:

Does Acura really want the unvarnished truth, and do they somehow "act" on less than Very Satisfactory ratings? Is this an opportunity to give the dealer a tune-up? (pun intended)

Or...

Is this a new opportunity to try to retroactively sweeten my purchase?

So, what did everybody else here do with their survey?

 

[Grape-Nutz]

From a salespersons point of view:

Unfairly many of our pay programs are based on those surveys, I can't do anything about the MDX price, accessories, financing, interests rates, negotiating, trade-in value, the questions that have nothing to do with me are used to figure my total score. And it's me not my dealer that gets the brunt of bad surveys, by being removed from selling new cars, MDX's etc.

Roger,

That seems to be the case here. My pre-survey letter said in part:

"...The purpose of this form is to give Acura an accurate individual report of my performance, as well as pinpoint areas in the sales and service process that may need improvement. I would appreciate it if you would kindly check VERY SATISFIED on all of the questions asked. Anything less that very satisfied will greatly affect my grading. If for any reason you feel that my performance was less than very satisfied please contact my manager, or myself and together we will do our best to ammend any dissatisfactions.... Thank you for your business. I hope to see your survey soon."

This is nothing short of blackmail! The dealer has a gun to the salesman's head, and is saying to us, "score less than very satisfied on that survey, and the salesman gets it."

Frankly, I'd be willing to come across with the scores they want, if they'd be willing to sweeten the deal with something after-the-fact. But the salesman hasn't got the power to make this happen -- he's got to [allegedly] get everything okay'd by his boss. And this puts me right back into the haggling game.

So, how do we give Acura feedback on the dealer without trampling the salesman in the process? I mean, the problem's with the dealer and his business model. Surely Acura can't expect us to be able to register complaints with a process like this?