I have already told you about my experience with Toyota (the good part and the bad part). A few days ago I got a survey from Toyota in the mail. I could either fill out the paper version or go to a web site called Toyota Voice and answer the questions there.
I decided that I share the questions that Toyota asked with Service Untitled readers. Commentary will follow soon.
Pre-questions:
They asked these questions to verify that the survey was going to the correct person, that they had their records straight, etc. Toyota said the survey would take about 5 minutes.
- <shows name and address> Is all of the information above correct? (Yes or No)
- Is NAME the principal driver of the VEHICLE TYPE?
- We do not have an e-mail address for you on file. Please provide your address:
- Do you still own/lease this VEHICE VIN# NUMBER? (Yes, No, Never Owned/Leased)
- Did you have your VEHICLE serviced at DEALERSHIP? (Yes or No)
Survey Questions:
This is the actual survey.
- Why did you choose the dealership? Trust dealership personnel; Authorized Toyota dealership; Convenient hours; Referral/recommendation; Coupon/service reminder; Other
- If you made an appointment, how would you rate the following?(If no appointment was made, skip to question 3) Excellent, Good, Average, Fair, Poor, N/A
- Waiting time on the phone
- Effort to understand needs
- Availability of appointment times
- Confirmation call
- Comments on question
- Please rate the following when you first arrived and had your service order written up: (Five Point Scale - see above)
- Promptness of greeting you
- Courtesy of service advisor
- Effort to understand service needs
- Recommendation of appropriate work
- Explanation of work, cost & time required
- Length of time to drop-off vehicle
- Comments on question
- In regard to the work done on your vehicle, please rate the performance of the following: (five point scale)
- Completed all requested work
- Quality of work performed
- Work completed within time promised
- Effort to obtain parts
- Was your vehicle fixed right the first time? (Yes or No)
- If not fixed right the first time, what explanation was given? (Check all that apply)
- Could not identify or duplicate condition
- Deemed normal condition
- Parts not available
- Work not performed properly
- Other
- After the service of your vehicle was completed, please rate the following: (five point)
- Explanation of costs
- Explanation of work done
- Price paid met estimate
- Helpfulness of cashier
- Ease of picking up vehicle after service
- Length of time to pick up vehicle
- Cleanliness of vehicle
- Comments
- After your service visit, did the dealership phone, mail or e-mail you to determine your satisfaction with your service experience? (Yes or No)
- At any point during or after your service visit, did you ask the dealership to resolve any concerns regarding the visit? (Yes or No)
- If yes, how would you rate the following? (five point)
- Efforts of dealership personnel to resolve the concern
- Outcome of the contact
- Comments
- Please rate the service department on the following: (five point)
- Hours of operation
- Cleanliness
- Comfort of waiting area
- Amenities in waiting area (television, magazines, refreshments, etc.)
- Ease/convenience of parking at the dealership
- Please rate the overall performance of the dealership on this service visit: (five point)
- Would you return to this dealership for future service needs? (Yes, No, Undecided
- Would you recommend this dealership to a friend or relative as a place to service their vehicle? (Yes, No, Undecided)
- What aspects of your service experience did you LIKE MOST?
- What aspects of your service experience COULD HAVE BEEN IMPROVED?
What are your thoughts after seeing the survey? I will provide mine in a post soon.
You know what strikes me about this? (1) the questions asked don’t parallel the concerns that you expressed about the actual experience (i.e. first person call resolution, dealing with the one person, someone owning your problem etc.), but (2) this was an experience, these questions do not seem to want to gauge your emotional response to the service (i.e. do you feel that Toyota vehicle breakdown service was remarkable in any way?). On another point, the follow on and status updates could easily have been automated in a friendly way (ie. your tow truck is 15 minutes away, easy to do with GPS).
Comment by PaulSweeney — November 20, 2007 @ 9:48 am
Paul,
Good points. The survey isn’t bad, but there is a lot of room for improvement. With most companies, there are a lot of things they can do to keep their customer sin the loop, but they don’t make the investment.
Comment by Service Untitled — November 20, 2007 @ 6:12 pm
My impression was the length… it’s very long. I suspect only a few actually invest the time to complete the survey.
I like short surveys… the easier the better that simply gauge how happy the customer is. When there’s not a positive answer, the company can do more digging and find out why as needed.
That said, I’m sure they could make great use out of the information provided by those that do take the time to complete the survey.
Comment by Ben Hubbard — November 20, 2007 @ 6:30 pm
Ben,
Right on. The survey is too long. It is definitely longer than the predicted 5 minutes. If the survey is going to be long, the company should at least say that.
Comment by Service Untitled — November 20, 2007 @ 10:54 pm
Too much information to ask in one survey. I don´t really know if they are thinking on customer´s satisfaction if they don´t say you can take more than 15 minutes to finish it, as Ben said.
A lot of information to proccess after the request, there are a huge number of actions to do if they take into account all the info requested.
Comment by José Ramón Padrón — November 21, 2007 @ 6:51 am
I lost/trashed the hardcopy Toyota survey that I received but really want to respond (not a great experience). Tried the “toyota voice” link mentioned here but you need a user-name and password - any suggestions ? Get it from the dealer ? Thanks.
Comment by Kurt — January 10, 2008 @ 8:47 pm
Kurt, getting it from the dealer is probably a good idea. You could probably call Toyota Customer Service as well.
Comment by Service Untitled — January 10, 2008 @ 11:22 pm
I am employed by a Toyota dealership and I would just like to say these surveys are very important to the dealer. They are long, but it gives us all the information to determine if we are doing our job as well as we should. In addition, our status as employees and as a dealership, relies tremendously on these surveys. Please take the time to complete them and if you cannot rate excellent in every catagory, please call the dealer and give them the opportunity to correct your concern.
Thank you,
Rachel
Comment by Rachel — February 2, 2008 @ 2:46 pm
Rachel,
Thanks for your perspective. I’m glad to hear the dealerships value these.
Comment by Service Untitled — February 2, 2008 @ 7:06 pm
I filled out the survey and then when I had another problem with the vehicle, the service manager was angry that I had complained about the previous service. You are right about the “emotions” involved here that the survey does not cover. The service mgr I am dealing with, thinks that he can intimidate me in to saying nothing as long as the problem was resolved, despite the aggravation I was put through! I am a woman, business owner and I literally had to ask my husband to step in, in order to get the service that I deserved.
Comment by Gloria Sullivan — July 2, 2008 @ 4:10 pm