... Audi's post-purchase/post-service, follow-up calls.

They called me about ten days ago to follow up on my 5K service and I told her I couldn't answer a survey then. She asked when it might be a better time for them to call back and I said not for at least a week or two. But I have noticed on my caller ID that they have continued to call, almost every day since.

I am more than happy to answer a written survey (at my convenience), but I can't stand the phone calls. Half the time the questions are barely relevant anyway -- how exceptional can a basic service be? I've been completely happy with every other aspect of my Audi-buying experience, and I know this is common practice among car companies, but I find these calls annoying.

Soon I may need to add them to my "selective call rejection" list, but in the meantime I just needed to vent!

I am on my third Audi and, after many of those calls, can't deny that the calls are annoying. But it really doesn't take that long and it is really important to the dealership and the service advisor. I don't know how, specifically, but I understand that the dealership's and advisor's compensation may be tied to that. Considering that I go to the dealer at most five times a year, I have no problem giving the caller five minutes after each service to go through the survey. If nothing else, I think my service advisor (who has really been great) deserves it. I value my time as much as the next guy, but I am not so self-important as to not give a damn about people who provide me with good service. Also, if you had responded to the caller, you would have learned that they are considering a move to e-mail surveys.

happy and there are no resolved issues. The call is only 2 minutes time. Once they complete the quick survey, they will stop calling.

...and when it was delivered?

But I agree that answering the call can just ensure your service team is doing a good job. If they botched your service or forgot to do something, this would be the time to point that out.

when they called me to check in.

OK, I admit I absolutely detest telemarketing calls of any type. I find any unsolicited call intrusive and although I'm probably in the minority here, it's the same reason I rarely turn on my cell phone: I like my privacy.

What really bothered me this particular time was that she asked when it would be a better time, I told her, and then they didn't honor my request. It wasn't about the time it would take (2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 seconds), but the timing. I had a very good reason for not wanting to deal with anything seemingly insignificant at that moment; unfortunately, I was expecting another call and made the mistake of answering the phone without first looking at caller ID.

And the first thing I asked was if it would be possible for them to send me a written survey instead. The answer was no.

OK, enough said. I'm over it now -- at least until they start calling again tomorrow!

The first time they called, I told them I was very busy and asked them to call back in a couple of weeks.

They called back the next day, and on the first question about how satisfied I was, I answered, "I was prepared to give an extremely satisfied rating but can't due to one minor detail."

Immediately the lady on the other end asked me what the problem was, and I politely replied that "the survey folks couldn't tell the difference between one day and 2 weeks and called me back after 1 day instead of 2 weeks that I had suggested, when I am not busy." She understood my point immediately, thanked me for my time & never called me back.