We need to start a campaign of giving one-star reviews every chance we get. The only time they get more than one star is if the review is tied to the performance of a single, identifiable employee who might get shafted by a bad rating, like Uber drivers and the like.
But for purely corporate BS? One star, only because you won’t let me rate it zero stars. And when they beg you for a reason, cut and paste: “Stop bothering us with this stupid shit. If the product is still selling, it’s fine, stop obsessing about it. You’re like a clingy middle school kid worrying that no one likes them.”
I got an email survey from a company I never heard of and couldn’t figure out what kind of company they were from the generic name. Lumens or something like that. So, I said I definitely would not recommend them. I did get a box to say why, so I said “I have no idea what kind of company you are or why anyone would want to use your company, so I can’t recommend you.” I figure for the marketing arm of a company, that would hurt the most.
Since you’re on Kitsap (where I’m from) I’ll tell you who it is, you should know them. (Or some of their predecessors at least.)
Previously they were called CenturyLink.
Before that, they were Qwest. (Or to be more accurate, they bought/merged with Qwest in 2010.)
Qwest used to be US West, which was what evolved from Pacific Northwest Bell, a splinter of what was created when antitrust suits forced Bell to break apart.
In other words, it’s the latest evolution of the original omnipresent “phone company” in the Pacific Northwest.
(The Seattle Seahawks and Sounders play in a stadium now called Lumen Field, if that tells you how big it is.)
And yes, Lumen has done a shitty job with marketing. It is hard to maintain public brand recognition when change your name every few fucking years.
OMG, that’s hilarious. I still pay my bill to CenturyLink (I think). Of course CenturyLink and Qwest are both stupid names too, but at least I was aware what they were. I still think of Lumen Field as Seahawks stadium or The Clink. They must have thought it strange that I was ignorant of their company (if a human ever saw my response).
The ones I’ve seen generally are. “Rate your experience with our service” is going to get blamed in the particular clerk, not on the system that required them to shout greetings at me from across the store and then to bug me about getting their store card.
Most of my Google Play store reviews are one star “Just reviewing so the popups stop.”
In cases where the rating is about a single employee I’ll often lie on certain questions. One restaurant in particular would always ask “did your server mention our food is all handmade from scratch,” and “did your server describe our rotating beer selection?” No, fortunately the server just took the order, but I’m happy to give 5 stars to a server for skipping a management required schpiel.
That restaurant also offered a free appetizer on the next visit in exchange for completing the survey. Yes, I will spend 3 minutes clicking things on my phone for nachos at a future date.
I’ve filled out those surveys, but tend to lose/forget about bringing the receipt back on the next visit (which of course it what they are hoping for).
IIRC (I haven’t done one in a while) they have a QR code, and they scan the receipt the same way they’d scan a coupon barcode, and it will register with a discount in their system if you completed the survey.
Yes, I have probably forgotten/lost the receipt more often than not as well.
I don’t mind those outfits which give you a freebie on your next visit if you do the survey announced on your receipt provided I can get the receipt in my E-mail and the E-mail field fills in automatically for my subsequent visits after I filled it for the first visit.
Actually, It’s been over two years since I even had the opportunity to do that. Beijing is practically a cash-free society now, so the survey announcements and electronic coupons are provided in one’s WeChat/QQ Pay/whatever other payment service. And the best thing about the surveys I’ve done here is they’re short and there’s nothing delaying your payment in the first place.
Nope, states set their own rules to what I’m convinced is anti-immigrant BS. In my state one must show their original SS card; from the DMV’s website: “You must present your social security card when applying for a REAL ID. Your card must be original.”
I took the card out of my wallet probably decades ago because I both know my SSN & it’s prudent anti-ID theft advice to not make it so easy to get a hold of if your pocket gets picked. I got a passport card when I renewed my passport as that was much easier to do that taking 47 documents to the DMV.
…& if my license won’t allow me into a federal building that means I’m exempt from federal jury duty, right?
As for the surveys, I usually don’t fill them out because someone shouldn’t get a superior/best for just meeting the expectations; IOW, I expect a cashier to ring me up; someone who goes over & above expectations deserves a 10, but that’s not how they’re scored most of the time. If I give the average cashier an 8 then they’re getting penalized If you give everyone a 10, then there’s no way to reward the one who goes beyond just the basics of their job.
I shredded my Social Security card years ago when I figured it was no longer needed but when I was thinking of getting a Real ID, I went to the SSA office to request a replacement. I believe that would be acceptable to the DMV. I don’t think they’re demanding the original, first SS card I received as a kid, just one issued by the SSA as opposed to a photocopy.
I realize it has to be an original issue by SS, not my first card, but there was a name issue with my SS card that didn’t match my license & the hoops needed to get that taken care of, which meant scheduling an appointment & then take that to DMV just wasn’t worth it.
I’ve ranted about this very topic in the past. Now it’s not just auto repairs etc. - but DOCTOR’S OFFICES. I’ve started telling them “quit pestering me or I will leave the most negative rating I can, even though I was perfectly satisfied with the service”.
And there was the place where we bought our most recent car. Several people there told me that if I rated any part of the service badly, everyone would get penalized. While the sales experience was fine, mostly, we spent 45 minutes listening to the sales manager pushing harder and harder to sell us useless add-ons. It’s a damn good way to make sure you don’t get anything like honest reviews. We declined to participate.
Hey, great idea… but the problem is that where I work that POS survey affects the entire store If we don’t keep those categories of questions pretty positive (one category is now requiring 92% positive as the minimum) the entire store suffers the consequences. I’ve had people say “you were great, but this other thing was terrible so I’m going to smash the “I’m really unhappy” button”. Great, not only is the entire store affected (which might be justified) but because my employee number is signed in to that register it also affects my personal ratings. Gee, thanks corporate overlords - great thinking on your part!
Oh - and if a customer fails to answer at all it’s treated as the worst possible response. Because in addition to management wanting us to get you through checkout as fast as possible they want to add yet one more task to it all.
I don’t have a good answer to any of this, to be frank. I have to live with the bullshit every day I’m at work, but it seems to me that often these surveys aren’t measuring what management thinks they are. Not to mention what I’d say are unreasonable expectations.
ETA: I once had a manager who insisted that ALL our ratings, without exception, be 10 of 10 (highest mark). But she also said she NEVER gave out such a rating “because no one is perfect”. Then again, she seemed to enjoy screwing people. I was filled with glee when first she was publicly demoted and then, a couple months after I left the place, explicitly fired.
If all the stores in a region suddenly came up “below target” they won’t react as you’d predict. They’d blame the stores. I know this because it has already happened. I was at a mandatory meeting not once but twice when this was being reported and I couldn’t help but think that if the stores are exceeding expected profits but your surveys say they’re tanking that maybe, just maybe, there’s a problem with the surveys but hey, no one of importance listens to the peons, right?
Like I said, it won’t be easy. If you look at the “Nahployment” thread, and places like the “antiwork” reddit, the bosses have been pulling stupid shit for so many years that they’ve stopped thinking it is stupid shit. We, as a society, really need to push back on that, while acknowledging that the process will not be pretty.
But we’ve let stupid shit slide for far too long. Just about any problem you can name in current society is pretty much directly related to the amount of stupid shit we’ve let slide for too long.
