Post-purchase surveys for EVERYTHING!

[HYHYBT]

I've got four in the last two days, three of which I consider excessive: a drive-thru order, a pizza pickup, and a spare charging cable for my phone, all very simple transactions.

About the only problem I've had with any shopping experience in the past year where I was asked to take a survey afterwards was *being asked to take the survey.*

Once in a while is fine. After a particularly involved interaction is OK, so long as it doesn't happen too often. Every trivial purchase everywhere is NOT.

Of those I've actually taken, the Pizza Hut one's the worst. Not only, apparently, do they hold it against them unless everything gets the highest possible mark, but the way they handle the "did we exceed your expectations" question is totally unreasonable. It's either yes (and then make up specifics on how) or no (and then make up a story about how they did something wrong.) They don't allow room for the surely-common "no, but you met them." You have regulars. Be glad of it, even if it means you can't regularly beat expectations because we know what to expect.

[Rapscallion]

I actually fill in the Pizza Hut one every week, since I go for a regular showing at the local fleapit every Monday. I get a two-for-one voucher from it (I dine in), which has saved some coin over the last year, and the staff there are great. I often go in and have my regular drink handed to me before I sit down, partly because I'm friendly, but also because I give great feedback.

The thing I realised the other day is that since I know that corporate uses it to remotely control their workers through fear, I'm actually fighting 'the man' by ... being nice.

Bit of an odd realisation, that one.

Rapscallion

[TheHuckster]

A few of those Retail comic plotlines revolve around this, where they scrutinize the survey results and if someone simply left feedback saying they were merely "satisfied" rather than "really satisfied" it was reason to make the sales staff's lives miserable.

And, of course, a lot of customers' feedback is based on their own unrealistic expectations, like "I bought a CD and expected the clerk to carry my item to my car and give me a free sample of perfume. I was disappointed. I expect service like this everywhere." But, their "worse than expectation" assessment gets added onto the statistics.

I avoid these surveys simply because I'm too honest to really give corporate what they want. If I walk into a store, try on a shirt, take it to the counter, and purchase it, I'm satisfied. I came in for a shirt, the price was fair, I bought it, and walked out. Satisfactory experience.

On the other hand, if I go to a store where I bought a shirt and soon after tripped and fell into a puddle right in front of the store, and, seeing my unfortunate situation, they offered to replace my just-bought but now dirty shirt and also offer me a credit, then I'd say they went beyond their line of duty and deserved an "exceeded expectations" feedback in their survey.

Typically in order to exceed expectations, or become "extremely satisfied" with someone's goods and services, you need a less mundane story than "I bought a shirt. It fit, so I bought it. The cashier smiled."

[Dreamstalker]

The only surveys of that sort we ever fill out are receipt-based coupons that our local not-Starbucks does--take the online survey, get a code for a dollar off. We're regulars there and everyone knows us and our drinks; rarely do we have a complaint (unless a complicated drink got screwed up--even then, as long as it's caffeinated and we were charged correctly it's good but we do let the manager know in private "hey, you should show everyone how to make X properly").

Any constructive criticism we might have we mention to the store manager directly as we know that Corp may not know how to deal with complaints that aren't actually complaints.

[Mr Hero]

I hate these surveys. I've often given snappy answers. A couple that I remember from surveys in the past:

Were you satisfied with your experience? Yes/ No (Yes)
Explain Below: I went in and bought what I needed.
Did the worker exceed your expectations? Yes/No (No)
Explain Below: Because I got exactly what I came for.
Did the worker recommend such and such promo drink? (Yes/No) (No)
Explain: I'm a regular and they know my preferences. As soon as they saw me, they prepared my usual drink of Dr Pepper.

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

The first call center I worked at used a survey like this. It was a 10 point system and the way it was broken down was as follow:

1-6 = -100%
7,8 = 0%
9, 10 = 90%, 100%

So you can see that even if we were rated 8/10 across the board, which by most cases is good to very good, we got practically nothing. I remember one time my supervisor freaked out at me because I got three 8/10s in a row and he gave me a write up and this laundry list of things I needed to do to better satisfy customers.

But at "Gamestore" it was even worse. They used a 5 point scale, but it was really more like a one point scale because if a customer gave us ANYTHING less than 5 on that survey management was like "OMG What the fuck happened?!". Yes a 4/5 was considered an "abysmal" score. That came straight from my DM.

Three guesses as to one of the main reasons I quit working there.

From the consumer side of things though you can use these to your advantage. Want to get speaking to a manager REALLY fast? Give the company or employee all 1s or 0s on the survey. One of their butt kissing corporate robots will contact you so fast it will make your head spin. Sometimes, that's the ONLY way you can get to someone who can actually fix a problem.

The system really is weighted AGAINST the employees, despite what the suits will try and tell them.

[TheHuckster]

...and, of course, the reason they give you the score could be something totally beyond your control or due to customer idiocy. It's why especially when I'm looking at reviews for restaurants and hotels, I make sure I dismiss any low ratings that aren't at all justified.

E.g.:

Score: 1/5 - The entire week we stayed at the resort, it rained! We had no fun!

Score: 1/5 - We tried to get a seat at this restaurant on Valentines Day without a reservation. They said it was a 2 hour wait! It ruined our date!

Score: 1/5 - One of the other customers had a heart attack right next to us, and the parametics asked us to move out of the way. Very unprofessional!

Score 1/5 - This is the worst Chuck-E-Cheese ever! I confused my son with another kid, and when I tried to leave the place with him, they accused me of kidnapping! Even got the police involved! I have never been so embarrassed!

Of course, corporate doesn't throw out or ignore those stupid reviews, so it just gets added to the average along with the others, and if it has enough impact on your overall score, it's all your fault, of course.

[mjr]

About the only problem I've had with any shopping experience in the past year where I was asked to take a survey afterwards was *being asked to take the survey.*

Whataburger does this from time to time. Except they try to incentivize people to complete the surveys by occasionally telling you "You could win $1,000". I think other chains do this, too. I've never filled out a survey because I might win some money.

[Mr Hero]

Whataburger does this from time to time. Except they try to incentivize people to complete the surveys by occasionally telling you "You could win $1,000". I think other chains do this, too. I've never filled out a survey because I might win some money.

A lot of places do this and I don't bother. On the other hand, I remember filling out a survey for Subway in exchange for a free cookie on my next visit. That one I was more willing to cooperate because 1. I go there often. 2. I've been happy with the staff service and I had been meaning to voice that opinion to corporate. 3. I'd rather be guaranteed something even if it's small instead of a small chance for something larger.

[cindybubbles]

I sometimes complete surveys for Popeye's chicken so I can get free chicken. I normally ignore surveys, though.

[BrenDAnn]

I rarely, if ever, do these kinds of surveys. For the most part, I ignore them. It's a certain department store *cough*Kohls*cough* that always asks to "give us a rating of highly satisfied" or whatever that annoys me. I'm going to be honest, and honestly, maybe you don't deserve a high rating today. Oh, and no, I don't believe I can actually win any of the multitudes of $500 gift cards/sprees various places offer, either. Nice try, though, stores. Nice try.

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

Most places I've worked at specifically PROHIBIT directly telling the customers to "give us a 5" or give us a 10".

[NecCat]

There is a sign up in a local Subway: "Take our online survey and score us an Excellent in everything for a chance to win ..." That part changes from month to month, but $500 maybe or a tv or whatever. I have never tried the survey so I don't know if it's true that you are entered in the draw only if you score Excellent on everything, but the way that sign is worded irks me to no end. I've never wanted to take a survey and score someone the worst possible score on everything as I do every time I go in there. And the service and food is fine, I guess it just makes me feel contrary for some reason.

[Racket_Man]

Most places I've worked at specifically PROHIBIT directly telling the customers to "give us a 5" or give us a 10".

my pizza company did at one time require us to "suggest" to the customer to give us all 5's on the survey. we had posters that the customers could see and we had BIG buttons with the same thing on it --- "HEY give us all those HIGH 5's on our survey."

I just upgraded my phone and calling/data plan and now I am inundated from my phone company with surveys

[MadMike]

There is a sign up in a local Subway: "Take our online survey and score us an Excellent in everything for a chance to win ..."

I'm very suspicious of those. Usually buried deep somewhere is something along the lines of, "By participating in this, you are agreeing to receive sales calls, regardless of any "Do Not Call lists."

So basically, chances of winning a prize, 1:500,000. Chances of getting spammed, 1:1.