Bait N Switch? What do I do now?

[Fraser]

Originally Posted by DeadPhish

Here is the real situation regarding the surveys... ( 99.6% over the last 20+ surveys in the last 3 months )... Toyota and the dealership consider that the salesperson is fully responsible to his customer for everything that happens during the process. Right or wrong that's the system.

Overall for the entire sales staff it's the dealership that has to answer to Toyota.

If a salesperson is not getting scores above the regional or national average in both SSI and VDQ then he will be fired after a period of time. Negative surveys are death notes to both the dealership and the salesperson.

Here is how to get around it... if you truly liked the salesperson and feel that he/she deserved a good score then give 'Excellents' across the board. But Toyota has an 800-number for very important complaints. Toyota monitors how many 800-complaints a dealership gets as well. The owners and GMs have to respond back to Toyota when it's Toyota that gets the complaint. The salesperson is generally excepted here unless he/she caused it.

You are correct in stating "Right or wrong that's the system." It's a wrong system, a bad system. Toyota Corp. and the dealers must know that people will not fill out the survey honestly if they like their salesman (or hate him, for that matter). So the surveys are worthless.

[hyo silver]

Originally Posted by DeadPhish

Here is the real situation regarding the surveys... ( 99.6% over the last 20+ surveys in the last 3 months )... Toyota and the dealership consider that the salesperson is fully responsible to his customer for everything that happens during the process. Right or wrong that's the system...

Without dissing the OP's concerns, I'd say that's the bigger problem here. Toyota is not getting honest feedback from its customers, and is wasting a lot of time and money gathering useless information. How do they expect to improve their product and their salesmanship when they're not hearing the truth?

Originally Posted by Fraser

...Toyota Corp. and the dealers must know that people will not fill out the survey honestly if they like their salesman (or hate him, for that matter). So the surveys are worthless.

Yeah, I didn't even get to fill mine out. The salesperson had already done that for me, checking 'excellent' for everything. How convenient.

[JimN]

Why protect the salesman? What did he do to prevent this situation? It's payback time. Ask them how much a "good" survey is worth. If it is less than $600 then I would give the lowest scores for EVERYTHING. If it costs someone at the dealer money that's too bad. If it costs someone a job that's too bad. They should have thought about that before playing their games. I believe if enough people do this things may improve.

If he's a good salesman he can find another job.

[DeadPhish]

Originally Posted by Fraser

You are correct in stating "Right or wrong that's the system." It's a wrong system, a bad system. Toyota Corp. and the dealers must know that people will not fill out the survey honestly if they like their salesman (or hate him, for that matter). So the surveys are worthless.

It is a wrong system but all the auto makers have bought into it. The Customer Satisfaction Index is one of the key criteria surveyed and reported by JD Power and others. Every year a report is published and one company or another is hailed as the 'Best'. Lexus is very often up there on top.

The high volume / LOW MARGIN brands often don't do that well for a number of reasons. The HIGH MARGIN / Low Volume brands normally populate the entire top tier.

How this got to be so important I'll never understand but it's there right or wrong for every vehicle maker and every dealer.

[SPEEDEAMON]

Hello,
I'm new here but not new to car sales and dealer practices. FREEDOM, did you look at your window sticker? If the options were installed by Toyota USA, it should be printed right into the window sticker. If the dealer installed them, it should be printed after the original TOTAL or on a separate sheet with a revised TOTAL. If so, you have a case. This practice has been going on for as long as car dealers have been around. Unfortunately we bought cars at the wrong time. Only a few months ago, they were heavily discounting them and would have given iot to you at invoice or less. But with its current popularity the dealers become greedy and try every trick that's been around long before you or I was born. I had to agree to pay $695 for the Starter Guard but total was still less than what the other dealers were demanding.

[hyo silver]

Toyota Canada seems to do things a bit differently than Toyota USA. Here, we have what's known as a 'no dicker sticker.' Nobody gets a discount from MSRP, and nobody pays more. Dealers can be creative with their trade-in allowances, and there's the usual BS of 'documentation fees' (how about I charge them a fee for writing a cheque?) but other than that, the whole deal is pretty much straightforward. With all the crap that goes on with US dealers, and the number of disgruntled customers, maybe Toyota USA might consider changing their policy.

[wantaprius]

Freedom, I am glad you made an informed decision and ended up with a great car.
I can tell you that $600 doesn't pay for many months of blood pressure medication!
It's good to fight the battles that count and only you can figure out which ones are worth it.

[bac]

Originally Posted by Freedom

the Manager told me if he doesn't get all excellent, he gets fired.

The manager lied to you - plain and simple. Fill out the survey with that in mind, and don't let the manager bully you into stating anything that's not true!

Originally Posted by Freedom

Boch Automotive

This is good information for the group. ThanX for posting!

... Brad