To think this is pushy or just an acceptable sales technique?

letmecavet · 2023-11-12T17:08:55+00:00

I recently got a new car and the car sales man repeatedly told me about me having to do a survey they send. Which I do get why he’s pushy on this. But what I didn’t like was - He told me to just answer yes to everything. Surely it’s up to me what I put. - I opened the survey and then had a call come through and forgot about it. He then called me and left a voicemail to say he’d seen that I’d opened it and I need to complete it.

Prisonbreak · 12/11/2023 17:10

That will be Arnold Clark then

Original poster

letmecavet · 12/11/2023 17:12

Prisonbreak · 12/11/2023 17:10

That will be Arnold Clark then

Yep. I do understand but I find it a bit much to repeatedly tell me I need to answer yes to everything for him to get his commission.

OP posts:

mixedbagofraisinsplease · 12/11/2023 17:12

I'd be tempted to ring/ email him back and tell him that you don't appreciate him harassing you to complete the survey, that you'll do it in your own time and will answer honestly, so if he wants a good review, he needs to back off.

AcclimDD · 12/11/2023 17:28

It's all car dealers.
They all work this way and it's tied to the salesman's bonus. Just fill it in.

lovelyjubbly888 · 12/11/2023 17:31

I had exactly the same from them, I also got repeated calls and emails to fill it in. It’s a fucking pain in the arse, I don’t care about your commission.

maximist · 12/11/2023 17:37

I bought my car from Motorpoint and didn't have any of this nonsense. However their service was so good I left them a glowing google review without any prompting on their part. I was honestly surprised, I expected all sorts of hard sell and for them to talk to my dad who was with me, but no, they were great.

olympicsrock · 12/11/2023 17:40

It’s pushy…. You don’t need to fill it in if you don’t want to. Tell him to back off if he calls again ( threaten to write a bad review) . How dare he try to tell you what to write…

Ffsmakeitstop · 12/11/2023 17:43

We bought our car from a dealership and they were excellent, friendly offered coffee etc when we bought it but when we picked it up it was just like they had our money and couldn't wait to get rid.

I did fill in the survey and all my answers were neutral. I didn't comment at the end as I didn't want to lose anyone their job but I wanted to.

Original poster

letmecavet · 12/11/2023 18:01

AcclimDD · 12/11/2023 17:28

It's all car dealers.
They all work this way and it's tied to the salesman's bonus. Just fill it in.

Did you not bother to read any of my post or?

OP posts:

AllProperTeaIsTheft · 12/11/2023 18:06

They all work this way and it's tied to the salesman's bonus. Just fill it in.

Why should she? The buyer's part of the deal is to pay for the purchase. That's it. Nobody should ever feel obliged to fill in a survey or give a review if they don't want to!

hotcandle · 12/11/2023 18:13

I know the car dealership you're talking OP and I had a similar experience.

I wrote in my response that I had been hassled after the sale and told how to answer the survey.

I got an email from a manager to apologise and to let me know the matter had been dealt with.

My situation was different in that I was hounded for weeks.

Teeheehee1579 · 12/11/2023 18:16

Putting aside the op - if it is true that salesmen on minimum wage (who traditionally only really make money from commission) are only being paid by the big, corporate hugely profitable company they work for IF a customer bothers to fill out a form then I think that is awful. On that basis alone I would do it just so the poor guy gets paid and it’s his company that create that culture of harassment if that is the only way he can get his commission.

Precipice · 12/11/2023 18:24

Asking you to do it when you're buying is fine, even with repeated mentions.

Calling you up about it afterwards and saying you 'need' to do anything is unacceptable.

AcclimDD · 12/11/2023 19:23

Yes I did read all parts of your OP? And 🤷‍♀️
This is the way it is with all car dealers and has been for at least the past 20 years. It's not confined to an Arnold Clark thing; it's all dealers. The salespeople do not get paid properly unless there is a completed positive customer survey. Same as hairdressing, waitressing etc-tips /bonus make up salary.

Original poster

letmecavet · 12/11/2023 19:26

Teeheehee1579 · 12/11/2023 18:16

Putting aside the op - if it is true that salesmen on minimum wage (who traditionally only really make money from commission) are only being paid by the big, corporate hugely profitable company they work for IF a customer bothers to fill out a form then I think that is awful. On that basis alone I would do it just so the poor guy gets paid and it’s his company that create that culture of harassment if that is the only way he can get his commission.

Edited

You think he doesn’t get paid a wage if someone doesn’t fill in a survey? Ok …

OP posts:

edgeware · 12/11/2023 19:27

I’m not filling in the survey. (Recently bought a car). The service was shit, the salesman sexist and I can’t be bothered wasting minutes of my life on it.

VesperLind · 12/11/2023 19:28

I bought a car recently (not Arnold Clark) and was asked to fill in the form before I left from the collection appointment. The salesman had been very good throughout so when he asked me to fill it in and mentioned that anything less than 5/5 on all points would be deemed poor performance I was so cross with his employer that I wrote excellent on every box!

Teeheehee1579 · 12/11/2023 19:28

letmecavet · 12/11/2023 19:26

You think he doesn’t get paid a wage if someone doesn’t fill in a survey? Ok …

Show quote history

Nope - read what I wrote.

Original poster

letmecavet · 12/11/2023 19:29

AcclimDD · 12/11/2023 19:23

Yes I did read all parts of your OP? And 🤷‍♀️
This is the way it is with all car dealers and has been for at least the past 20 years. It's not confined to an Arnold Clark thing; it's all dealers. The salespeople do not get paid properly unless there is a completed positive customer survey. Same as hairdressing, waitressing etc-tips /bonus make up salary.

Well you clearly didn’t because I clearly already said it was about commission and that I understood why a survey is relevant. Get you’ve banged on about these exact points?

You seem unable to grasp the idea that the aibu is about being told what I should put and b that he’s seen I’ve opened it and that I have to fill it in.

OP posts:

Chardonnay73 · 12/11/2023 19:34

When we bought our current house the estate agent was awful. Really snobby. I asked how a certain appliance worked as I’d never used one before and she replied’ It can’t be that hard, my 80 year old mother manages to use one’ 🙄
We moved in and literally the day of the move onwards she was harassing us via email and phone calls to complete the satisfaction survey.

I honestly didn’t have time to even think about her bloody survey so I just ignored the emails.
I just found it really out of order she was harassing us at such a busy time. And she was shit and snobby.

So I would ignore it if you found the service a bit ‘meh’

donquixotedelamancha · 12/11/2023 21:26

That will be Arnold Clark then

I had a similar experience with them- loads of phone calls. I would actually have bought from them but picking up about 9 voicemails in 4 days put me off.

They all work this way and it's tied to the salesman's bonus. Just fill it in.

It's definitely not all of them. I've never had anything like it before or since. I never understand why some MNers advise you to do as you are told when dealing with arseholes, it just encourages them to do the same next time.

divinededacende · 13/11/2023 11:19

In this instance, where it's also a sales based interaction, I can see why that's a bit much since you already have to dodge a load of extra's buying a car without extra pressure about surveys.

It's not just Arnold Clark or car sales though, a lot of companies are monitoring and judging staff based on satisfaction surveys now that technology makes it so easy to gather feedback. It's a horrible pressure to put on staff. I haven't worked in customer facing roles for years but, when I did, you could go to the ends of the earth for someone and never make them happy. I'd have struggled to accept being apprised on a random number generated from faceless surveys.