JD Power 2007 Customer Satisfaction Survey

unkel

Note for those not familiar with this survey: this is only measuring how happy customers are with their new car. It is not a survey of how expensive a car is to run, how reliable it is, or what not



More here

Mike2006

I used take a bit of notice of this until I heard/read an argument against that made very good sense.... It goes something like this......

If I buy a Skoda and after 6 months a part (e.g. sensor) fails and I have to return it to the garage for repair for 2 hours, I am a small bit disappointed but I get my car back after 2 hours and I forget about it again. Afterall, it is a Skoda so there things can happen. Perception of the car is still intact and it scores highly.

Now, Somebody else buys a Mercedes Benz and after 6 months the exact same part fails, they are disgusted. Afterall, it is a Mercedes and they should not break down. They should be of a really high quality and last forever... Perception of the car is very poor and it scores badly.

However, both of these cars have the same reliability/fault but because of the branding, htey score differently.


Sorry about rant but just wanted to explain as I thought it was a very good argument for taking this survey with a pinch of salt....

Mike.

unkel

Mike2006 wrote:

If I buy a Skoda and after 6 months a part (e.g. sensor) fails and I have to return it to the garage for repair for 2 hours, I am a small bit disappointed but I get my car back after 2 hours and I forget about it again. Afterall, it is a Skoda so there things can happen. Perception of the car is still intact and it scores highly.

Now, Somebody else buys a Mercedes Benz and after 6 months the exact same part fails, they are disgusted. Afterall, it is a Mercedes and they should not break down. They should be of a really high quality and last forever... Perception of the car is very poor and it scores badly

Absolutely, Mike2006. It's all about perception / expectation

bazz26

But doesn't a Merc cost about 2 or 3 times that of a Skoda, so is it unreasonable for the owner to expect a higher level of product or quality of service?

MB used to engineer and produce cars of the highest standard, charged accordingly for this and built up a great reputation. Their customers were willing to pay extra for this quality but these days some of their cars are simply not up to scratch yet they still charge for this perception of quality.

I would argue that the customer is then not getting what they paid for and these surveys are highlighting this point. I don't think it is the customer's fault to make unreasonable expectations.

unkel

LIGHTNING wrote:

But if this problem happens and you get the usual attitude from the Mercedes Benz garage then you generally wont be happy.I have had friends tell me of some shocking examples of Mercedes customer service.I don't expect a Merc to run forever, but I do expect them to listen to me!

I believe that the drop in satisfaction a few years ago for Mercedes was probably more to do with the dealers' inability to sort people out than the actual reliability issues of the cars themselves. It is good to see that Mercedes are doing a lot better recently though

prospect

Also,

I find people who spend alot of money on a car will generally will not say anything bad about it, as they want to take any credibility from their investment.

BrianD3

JD Power survey is just about worthless IMO. It's laughable the inconsistencies in there. In a previous survey the Skoda Fabia finshed something like 50 places higher than its cousin the Seat Ibiza and 100 place higher than the related VW Polo.

I also remember reading a detailed breakdown of the results - absolute bollocks - eg the Renault Megane got a poor 2 star rating for running costs while the Jaguar XJ8 got a good 4 star rating.

I also notice reading through the text on the whatcar website that Octavia owners rated the car above average in every area includng driving dynamics etc. You'd have to ask how many cars these people have actually owned and driven and are they in any way qualified to make judgements such as this.

Personally I don't believe very many car enthusiasts or those with a reasonable knowledge of cars would fill in this survey. Would you be arsed. Has anyone here ever gone to the bother of filling out something like this.

Basically I'd say the majority of people who respond to JDpower are busybodies with too much time on their hands.

unkel

BrianD3 wrote:

Octavia owners rated the car above average in every area includng driving dynamics etc.

People that see a car as just a means of transport are easily satisfied if they can get something cheap that reliably does the job. Just like a washing machine really. Same reason why many Japanese cars end up high on the list perhaps?

TomMc

bazz26 wrote:

But doesn't a Merc cost about 2 or 3 times that of a Skoda, so is it unreasonable for the owner to expect a higher level of product or quality of service?

MB used to engineer and produce cars of the highest standard, charged accordingly for this and built up a great reputation. Their customers were willing to pay extra for this quality but these days some of their cars are simply not up to scratch yet they still charge for this perception of quality.

I would argue that the customer is then not getting what they paid for and these surveys are highlighting this point. I don't think it is the customer's fault to make unreasonable expectations.

Yes, that is exactly how it should be. As Mercs were bulletproof & over engineered in the past, there was justification paying a huge premium over the more mass-manufactured cars. Not anymore.

Nowadays, using generic components is more the norm, whether it be a Skoda, VW or Audi. It you pay more you expect more otherwise you are just been taken advantage of and a glorified patsy. Things break but there is no excuse for poor service. You have a right to expect a reasonable level of service and an icremental improvement at that, when buying a more premium product.

Toyota, Skoda dealers and some others have grasped the concept of good customer service far better than their more prestigious counterparts. Skoda put VW/Audi dealers to shame at times, just like Toyota/Lexus do as so they tend to feature at the right end of these JD Power surveys.

MercMad

Yeah I wouldn't pay much attention to it for those reasons above (unless my car was at the top ! )

Also my SIL bought a new Megane in 2004, and shortly afterwards she went to park and the pass window would not go up. No matter what she did, so she couldn't leave it and had to abandon her trip. She was pissed off, and Renault couldn't take the car that eveing, Friday long weekend. So the car was useless all weekend.

She got it fixed on Monday, when here temper had calmed, yet 6 months alter the same thing. Then the front indicator failed, yet the bulb was fine, it was bad connection on the holder, but I had to jack the car up and reach up under the arch and eventually got it out and sorted it. I cut my arm and my clothes were filty ! This scenario repeated itself 3 times, then she sold the car !

Renault sent her some questionaire and she filled it in giving the car "Excellent" in all categories. I asked her about the incidents and she says "oh yeah..........I forgot ! "

Surveys are not accurate !

DukeDredd

prospect wrote:

Also,

I find people who spend alot of money on a car will generally will not say anything bad about it, as they want to take any credibility from their investment.

This is very true. I know someone from work who bought a new Saab 93 and has gone through 2 gearboxes since but they still can't speak highly enough of the car! When you buy a new car it's all down to how you get treated by the dealers when problems arise.

JHMEG

unkel wrote:

People that see a car as just a means of transport

Which is probably about 90% of car owners. Who want their car to be nice and as hassle free as their washing machine. Nothing wrong with that. Most people don't care if they have an I6 or a V6, they just want something that works.

unkel

JHMEG wrote:

Which is probably about 90% of car owners. Who want their car to be nice and as hassle free as their washing machine. Nothing wrong with that

Agreed although that percentage here seems to be a lot higher compared to other European countries like Germany, France or Italy

Maybe boards.ie should have a "white goods" section where the Daewoo, Whirlpool and Zanussi fanboys could fight it out in the washing machine forum?

DFan: mine has 1300W power!
WFan: mine only uses .389KWh for the economy cycle!
ZFan: mine can handle a 7KG load!