Question for Ford Service writer/managers

TaraFirma

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My question concerns the surveys that come after service is completed at the dealership.
Would you say that you are paid strictly on the surveys? Like, if you get a bad survey, or something less than "5 stars" will Ford, or the dealership literally not pay you?
Or is it that surveys can effect your pay?
Is there a flat rate/commission scale? and a bonus if you get all perfect survey?
Will they deduct pay if you get a bad survey?
I had an interesting conversation with a guy at a Ford Service center, and I'm trying to get more information on the matter.

Thanks in advance..
 

SHOdown220

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I'll try to keep this short, but most likely it won't be lol.

Its up to the dealer but yeah most dealers pay you based on your survey scores. How they base it is different from dealer to dealer. I've worked at dealers where it actually affects the percentage I get paid overall on all my work, and I've worked at dealers where it gives me a bonus or loses me a bonus at the end of the month.

I get paid on a 3 month average, meaning if I have a terrible month for surveys it can affect me for months to comes. For instance. I had a bad month in may that has drug my 3 month score down for may, June, and july. I have lost a total of $3,536 in that 3 month time frame due to surveys. And no, none of those surveys were bad because of me. They were people unhappy with their car, unhappy with their wait times, or other garbage.

Surveys are the most broken system in the automotive field and no one talks about them. I am graded on the entire survey score but only actually about 30% of the survey pertains to me. The rest pertains to my cashiers, the dealers amententies, how happy the customers are with their vehicle, appointment length. etc etc.

Problem is I'm not allowed to tell customers these surveys affect my pay. They think giving you "great" across the board is gonna hook you up when actually you just got a 75 but you have to average a 93 or higher. Manufactures expect customers to be 100% happy with your service but fail to build quality vehicles that require multiple visits on a 2019 car they just spent 50 grand on.

Hope this helps
 

TaraFirma

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@SHOdown220 It dos help. Thank you for the response.
So what you’re saying is that you don’t get paid on the amount that’s billed, or a percentage but strictly on survey responses. This seems like a terrible way to pay employees/make money. Why would anyone stay at a job that pays like this?
 

Mpoitrast87

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Just about all brands pay advisors based on surveys to an extent. I believe BMW is one of the few companies to not count surveys against advisors. I’m with Honda and I’m paid 5.5% commission on gross parts and labor sales. If I hit my CSI it goes up to 7% and it’s weekly. Been very lucky lately and my CSI has been through the roof. If you have complaints about the service just leave it in the comments section. Don’t take it out on the advisor.
 

SHOdown220

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Just about all brands pay advisors based on surveys to an extent. I believe BMW is one of the few companies to not count surveys against advisors. I’m with Honda and I’m paid 5.5% commission on gross parts and labor sales. If I hit my CSI it goes up to 7% and it’s weekly. Been very lucky lately and my CSI has been through the roof. If you have complaints about the service just leave it in the comments section. Don’t take it out on the advisor.

+65000. Email/call/text your advisor or their service manager to get concerns corrected before taking it out on the survey. If a customer isnt being unreasonable than most likely we will bend over backwards to make them happy.
 

me32

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+65000. Email/call/text your advisor or their service manager to get concerns corrected before taking it out on the survey. If a customer isnt being unreasonable than most likely we will bend over backwards to make them happy.

I believe this is what needs to happen. Unfortunately there are alot of bad dealerships where the service advisor and the techs are not on the same page and dont address the customers concerns or issues.

In my experience having a great relationship with your service advisor will go along way. And because of that i always give a great survey and positive comments.
 

Double"O"

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When I was service writer (2011-2013) we were flat rate...surveys didnt have anything to do with our pathetic pay...hated that dealership group lol

No commission nothin...ever
 

blackfang

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The CSI is and has been for a long time, the most broken, abused and flawed part of the automotive system and many dealer owners, GM's and Managers know this, but refuse to address it. When it first came out and still to this day, it was never designed to be included or tied to an Advisors pay plan, but yet so many are.

It is the only thing I know where out of a ton of questions if you get 2 not perfect answers, you can get a failing score. Some manufacturers are going away with the current style survey and switching over to a more of a social media review style survey(Nissan and Toyota come to mind).
 

bdcardinal

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I will forever refuse to acknowledge JD Power & Associates as a valid source for what they have done with surveys. I work in parts but we have been threatened to have our pay tied in with surveys. However every time they have tried based on a specific survey, I work back counter, I have been able to show that either the part was on back order beyond our control, we informed the customer and the writer that the recall was "advanced notice", or we notified service the special order part was in and they neglected to inform the customer.
 

Gringo185

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I was an Ford service advisor for a couple of years after I stopped turning wrenches. For my dealership at least, the surveys were a HUGE part of pay and performance reviews. They pretty much exclusively determined bonuses. One bad survey could easily offset 10 good ones. And the worst part is, the tech’s performance is included in the advisor’s survey. So if the tech scratched or dented a vehicle or didn’t resolve an issue and the customer (rightfully so) gives the service an unsatisfactory survey, that falls solely on the advisor. Those surveys are one of the primary reasons I got out of the industry.
 

SHOdown220

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It would be interesting to see across the industry if there are any dealers left that do not have some sort of compensation based on csi. Thankfully for me although my surveys do affect my bonus, my standard percentage is very high for the industry compared to the few different dealers I've worked at and from what I've read from other advisors.
 

VRYALT3R3D

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I never got a single survey ever from Ford. After my last experience with my Ford dealer, I would give them 0 in everything.
 

VRYALT3R3D

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I'm positive they removed your email address before closing your ticket.

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It is strange because I never got a survey at other dealerships either. I never got any surveys when I bought my '12 Boss 302 LS new either.
 

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