Does not filling out a customer survey make me a bad person?

In My Humble Opinion
21

I used to manage the survey results at my old job. I read all the feedback. I advised management on trends in the data and made recommendations on areas for improvement. I took positive individual comments to the individuals so they knew they were appreciated. I listened to call recordings if the feedback suggested that was prudent.

We used a modified NPS (Net Promoter Score) survey, which I hate. That’s the one where they ask how likely you are to recommend the company. There are way too many "0/10 I don’t make recommendations” people in the world.

22

. No .

23

I believe the most satisfying response to a telemarketer (one who is pitching something) is “What are you wearing?”

24

I don’t do surveys for products bought on line.

We were on a cruise this summer and I got several emails asking me to rate the excursions we booked, referencing them by number. As if I remember which bus trip was 826BX39A…

I used to fill out the surveys from the doctor or dentist, but I’ve quit bothering with those. Seriously, if some survey company is asking me about office cleanliness, I may rethink using that provider - shouldn’t the manager be aware of that without my input?

25

They are almost certainly rewarding or punishing agents based on survey results, and any response less than top marks can be harmful to the agent, including a non-response.

That’s why I always answer these if I can find time, giving the agent maximum credit unless I’ve decided I want them to lose their job. There’s no in-between. I only give negative responses in the rare cases where the person acts like a complete asshole or I cannot understand their spoken English at all.

26

“Khakis.”

27

It is my suspicion that anything other than ‘Excellent’ or ‘Five Stars’ (or ‘Ten Stars’) is taken as a negative for the representative.

28

I used to fill out some surveys when I felt in the mood, or when I was angry or very very pleased with the service I received. All three happened seldom, but they happened.

Then I received a call from my bank finance assesor after filling out an anonymous confidential survey where I did not give him top marks, and he complained about it. I am no longer a client.

Then I answered a long survey from a hotel in Brussels where I used to stay, I gave rather good marks, mostly 7s and 8s out of ten. The director wrote a personal e-mail that included this (thank Godott for the search function):

While I understand that your recent stay experience was overall up to your expectation, I also noticed that we have the opportunity to further enhance your stays as you have scored us “8” for “Intent to Recommend the Property” and for “Cleanliness” and for “Maintenance & Upkeep”. I acknowledge that 8 is an acceptable scores, yet, I genuinely believe there is room for improvement. As there were no additional comment in your survey, naturally, I have called for an investigation, speaking with our Duty Manager and reviewing our log-book recording all guest’s feedback, but understand that no comment has been raised to our team or recorded during your stay or upon your departure. It is very unfortunate that you have left our doors disappointed and dissatisfied on this occasion. Nevertheless, I always value our guest’s feedback, the good, the bad and the ugly as it help us to improve. Thus, and in order for me and my team to look at ways we could ensure a greater stay on your future visits and our guest’s experience, I will highly appreciate if you could kindly share any detail about your stay to enhance. Thank you in advance for any further comments you may wish to provide.

To which I replied:

I would like to reassure you, if I can: 8 out of 10 is a very good score and it was meant as such. There is something fundamentally flawed about those online surveys if the only acceptable score for you or your employer is 10/10. In this case you would not need the scores in between: 1 and 10 would be enough. Either fantastic or not good enough, therefore bad. This is too manichaean for me.

What was not perfect? Details, mostly. The air conditioning does not work intuitively and is difficult to turn off, also a little too loud when in operation. The power sockets are behind the bed, thus difficult to access for charging devices when lying in bed, the lights are not really good for reading (no hotel I know gets this right! I wonder why)… things like that. No big deal.

The only thing I found wanting is that at the check out I was promised a copy of my invoice by e-mail and this has not been sent so far. I only have a paper copy and will have to scan it to process it. Not a tragedy, but meh.

Please let me reassure you again that I am not disappointed or dissatisfied: I was well treated and it was a pleasant stay. I was not sad to leave you and go back home, but that is to be expected. Home and family are simply better that a hotel and work. That is not worth an investigation or a reprimand of your Duty Manager, for whom I now feel sorry. Please tell your staff I am sorry if my responses have been unpleasant for them. They were good!

I forgot to mention that I would stop filling out surveys. They are badly conceived, executed and analyzed. And it seems many managers are overburdened by them and use them wrong.

29

When I get a survey directly after a personal interaction with a call center, and the person was helpful, I hang on and give them the maximum rating. I’ve never had to wait 15 minutes for the survey, they come on instantly.

I also hand out positive feedback on Amazon deliveries, even when it was just a basic delivery - it can be a crappy job, why not.

30

I almost never fill out surveys, and see no point in doing so for large anonymous corporate transactions like Amazon. Recently, however, I bought a tortilla press from a small family owned business. They emailed me a survey and I said that I was generally happy with the press, but the paint chipped at the hinge point and they should consider redesigning it to avoid that. They promptly emailed me back, explained they were looking into the issue and issued me a 20% discount! I was amazed! So, I guess it sometimes does pay to fill these out.

31

Well that’s a remarkably hostile response. I’ll just note that it’s not correct, based on how they eventually DID respond, saying “I don’t know” or equivalent.

Plonk.

32

Amazon has a complex ecosystem around rewards/complaints, though it depends on the type of delivery partner. Drivers see both positive and negative reviews (anonymously), with negative weighted much more heavily in their evaluation, and there’s also a level of game-ification, particularly around holidays (badges, rewards, etc.).

In one sense it is indeed a lot of corporate bullshit, but it does matter at the local level - the driver. I get an email whenever there’s a delivery, and that email has a “how did the driver do?” button, and I just click it and give a high score unless they fucked something up.

ETA: there’s a similar dynamic in call centers. Yes, they’re massive warehouses of people in a corporate engine, but often the person you’re talking to has a team leader who’s managing a bunch of people (I’ve seen as few as 20, as many as 200, it depends on complexity) and being held responsible for aggregate statistics. But how they manage those aggregate statistics is at the local level, the rep, and any time that rep does a good job I’ll provide that feedback.

33

I filled out an anonymous feedback form after a training session at work. I was summoned to see a senior manager shortly afterwards, so clearly the anonymous feedback was anything but. It’s been around 20 years since I last provided feedback on anything at my job.

34

To support the workers, I try to take all the surveys, but yeah, it is too onerous, to a ridiculous degree these days. But one thing is vital: because corporate statistical analysis is both idiotic and evil, if you take a survey at all, you need to give a perfect score (unless of course you’ve decided the person should lose their job).

Five is the best. One is the worst. But 2 is also the worst. And so is 3. And so is 4. Everything other than a 5 is the worst. This is corporate math, and in corporate math, four equals zero…..And so, with every purchase and every transaction, you are invited and required to participate in gaming the stats. You are asked to distinguish between the actual meaning of numbers and the perversion of their meaning through corporate math. You are asked to distinguish between the purported significance of corporate metrics and their actual significance in practice. You are asked questions in a language of lies and are thus forced to respond in kind.

But don’t worry if all of this seems complicated and ethically murky. It doesn’t have to be. Your job is simply to give all 5s. To everyone, everywhere, every time.

35

:rofl:

My last two grocery deliveries I was offered a chance at a $500 gift card for completing a survey. While I know the odds of winning are somewhere between slim and none, I decided to do the surveys anyway.

36

My theory is that the surveys are somehow tied to the placement of that company’s search results. If they have enough positive reviews, they’ll show up on the very crucial first page.

37

Agreed. I wonder, are companies mostly doing this stuff internally themselves?

Or have they been sold on the idea by ‘consultants’ who push it as a ‘service’? Rather like the ‘team building’ exercises (shudder!) which used to be unpleasantly popular….

38

I’ll fill them out if you give me something for them. Like Subway or Dunkin used to give coupons for free cookies and donuts if you filled out the receipt survey.

39

In my experience companies do read some of the surveys. Probably some algorithm to decide which ones need further action.

Last year I went to fast food restaurant as I like their food. Noticed as I was sitting in the dinning area (I normally get it to go/drive thru) that the legs of the tables/chairs along with the floor way under the table, by the wall, were absolutely disgusting. I filled out the survey explaining what I saw and hoped the kitchen area were not in the same disgusting condition due to lack of cleaning. The next week when I stopped in the areas where clean, along with the discolored ceiling tiles by the vents. 10 months later these areas are still clean.

40

I’ve had a few uncomfortable experiences where people coming to do work in my house have begged for a positive Google review and to mention their name because it’s the only way they could keep their job, and then they would stand there expecting me to do it on my phone while they waited.

Generally I only review products and services I have strong feelings about, one way or another.