I had originally tried to post this the week of Christmas but either this site was having problems or my browser was wigging out. Anyway, here is a condensed version of my story:<p>Have a 98 30V that has 16K on it. I have been to the dealer for all my maintenance (sheduled & otherwise) and on the average have been treated well. I have gotten phone surveys from AOA or a company that AOA has contracted on maybe 75% of those visits. Typically my car is serviced without much issue and given back the same day. In those cases my rating feedback was EXCELLENT. However, after having my car in twice in one month for problems starting - my service began to take a turn for the worse. On one occasion after my car had been flatbedded to the dealer after dying on the roadside - the dealer kept my car for 4 days - twice giving it to mechanics to drive home at night and park in their driveways. But that's another story - anyway, the bottom line is that when the car would be given back to me unwashed and with grease on my ecru leather seats and floor mats, I started giving much more realistic ratings to the AOA survey lady. I rated them poorly in several areas twice.<br>So that brings me to last month. My 15k service. Oh joy. My car was serviced without issue, but I was also treated quite coldly by my service rep. When I get home and look at my copy of the repair oorder, right on the top in computer print out under my name it says "Gives Poor CSI". At first I thought it was a comment on my car - then my brother spotted it (he works for a Saturn dealer) and he told me it was a reflection on my poor Customer Service Inquiry. So my dealer knows. That explained a lot about the way I was treated. I got pretty pissed about this but then the holidays came and I mellowed out about it - but I still think it's pretty unfair to have AOA directly single out those who gave (in this case HONEST) feedback. It was pretty lame having them basically put a red flag on my file due to no fault of my own.<br>One more thing - they are so into stressing EXCELLENT! YES! reviews they have it plastered all over the waiting room and key tags. You think they'd make more of an effort where it counts.<p>VK<br>98 30V Qtip

AoA didn't single you out, and didn't print "gives poor CSI" on your ticket, the dealer did. There's NO excuse for giving a serviced car back with grease marks on the interior; the dealer should be grown up and try to do better the next trip yo EARN an Excellent.

AoA should keep the surveys confidential, but the service dept/dealer is also effectively bribing you with it. If you don't give them an "excellent" rating, then they don't treat you well. It should be, if you don't give them an excellent rating, they treat you better and earn that rating next time. Maybe you should give this particular dealer "good" ratings from now on when the do the service well but still give you the cold shoulder. To me, "excellent" includes more than doing the job right. It's doing the job right with the right attitude.<p>btw, I just picked up my 1.8T last week and plan on giving my sales guy "excellent" ratings. He earned it.

Why should AoA give dealers information about which customers give less than stellar reviews to their service department? Doesn't that pretty much encourage treatment like this? (I'm assuming that's what happened in this case, since I don't know how else the dealer would know how VK rated them).<p>-Roger f.

Besides, this should have a better effect on customer service. Since they won't know who's giving them good and bad scores, they'll have to treat everyone well.

They treat me right in the first place, checking out every minor detail that (anal me) I ask them to, and going over things clearly afterwards. They (service) have never asked for me to give a specific rating. Consequently, I always respond most positively to AoA surveys. It really makes owning my A4 that much better an experience.<p>Best of luck with your dealer - maybe ask them how you can start over - tell them you love your car and just want to take care of it and have them take car of your care - remove the personal aspect.<p>Darryl<br>98.5 1.8T qms

Maybe they tagged you so that it would be an alert for them to go the extra mile to please you to have a better eval. next time? Just trying to give them benefit of the doubt. I guess your future treatment will determine their intentions.

I appreciate the comments. I'd have to agree that my dealer should know that they are not earning an 'excellent' rating - and that maybe this is an effort on their part to recognize and improve. Like I said, the holidays came at a good time and I've put it behind me - we'll see what happens next time!<p>VK

First, if AoA wants truthful responses from their customers for dealer satisfaction surveys, they absolutely cannot reveal the identity of the customer to the dealer. Basic human nature determines how both the dealer and the customer will behave in this type of situation. If I know that the dealer will find out that I bashed them, and I know I have to take my car back there, then they aren't going to get bashed. I'll bring it up to the service manager, et al, but I'd keep it in the dealership.<p>Second, if AoA actually wants a productive program, they need to modify the valuations of the different responses. This way, dealers won't be pressuring their customers into giving excellent responses, for non excellent service.<p>I could go on, but I'm sure you all get the point. The existing process ends up being a sore point between dealers and the manufacturer, and in no way helps the consumer.<p>Any dealer can tell you they have a 95% Excellent rating response rate, but knowing how these surveys are conducted makes that totally meaningless.<p>I'm sure about all of the propaganda and lobbying that dealers do to get their Excellent ratings, what I can't prove is their ability to influence who gets called. I always get called after basic oil changes, but whenever I have a problem, the call never comes in. Maybe that is coincidence, from a marketing standpoint, the calls should be selected randomly from all service records.<p>Anyway, in all, I think the CSI system in use by most dealers is a bunch of crap, however, I have never noticed any blatant labeling after poor reviews.<p>Jim H, what effects do these ratings have on dealers? Are there any plans on changing this system, dealers can't like it anymore than consumers?

Next time the survey'ers call me, I will ask if the answers are kept confidential. If not, I will refuse to participate. Perhaps Audi will get the message that way.<p>Dave<br>98.5 2.8qms

It is EXTREMELY difficult for even the best salesperson or service advisor to score 90% or above on their quarterly CSI, and that's where the real money is paid. If you answer "Very Good" to every question, your service advisor is a BIG FAT 50%. The problem is Audi's grading scale. It's as if you FLUNK a ten question exam if you don't answer EVERY problem correctly.

I agree that the Excellent, Very Good, and Good are very bad ways of giving a survey.<p>What they are saying is that they will never be 'Very Bad' but they also wont give out Very Good bonus' with a Very Good rating.<p>I seldom give anyone 100% on anything because nobody is perfect, however beiong that my service is quite good, I have to say 'Excellent' whether I want to say 90% because they certainly weren't 50%.<p>Very good to me is not 50% so Audi is misleading the customer.<br>

<br>nt

Then why aren't the ratings valued as follows:<br>Excellent = 76-100%<br>Very Good = 51-75%<br>Good = 26-50%<br>Poor 0-25%<p>Also, does everyone get called after every service? I *always* get a follow-up call everytime I bring my car in for something. Am in some sort of magic group? I would have thought they would randomly call people that have been serviced.

The dealer gets rewarded based upon the customer survey. Their incntive is to perform well. Our job is to apply our knowledge of the Customer survey to make them perform well !!!!!!

nT

...you're actually consuming oxygen that someone else could be putting to much better use.

VK_<p>As you may not be aware I have posted many response as it relates to A of A and dealer service problems. I have had several problems with my 98.5 2.8 causing me to bring to the dealer for servicing.<p>On one occasion in September the dealer had the car for two weeks (A of A rented a Volvo S70 for the two weeks). When the car was returned back to me the dealer had not fixed all the problems, including fixing an apparent bad bearing in the steering column (causing the steering column to make an awful noise when turning).<p>Anyway, on several occasions I received the car back with grease on the interior rugs and seats. This is one of the many reasons that I have found the Audi A4 QMS, Leather, Moon Roof, Trip, Bose, ect. with 9077 miles a product that I look forward to relinquishing (too bad, I had hoped for much more.<p>To the dealers credit they had successfully provided servicing one occasion. That is when fixed the remote range problems. Pretty weak?<p>R-

I think Audi's customer service system is complete worthless bullsh*t -- Audi of Bernardsville refused to service my car (permanently) after a complaint. My view - F' them. Reality is that it's a hassle for me. Never had a problem with the their service department (who was excellent) - the GM (Spencer Sherman) and sales manager (Kevin Ginsberg) are *******s.<p>-josh