ACSI: the perils of satisfaction surveys

Today the Detroit News reported on the latest results of the American Customer Satisfaction Index, specifically the fact that Detroit brands did worse this time around and ranked near (or at) the bottom. Claes Fornell, the professor who heads the study, noted, “The gap is extending. Detroit is falling. It’s all foreign at the top and all American at the… More →

Mountains out of molehills

In late June I asked, “Satisfaction studies, is there a point?” Well, today the results of another such study, by Claes Fornell of the University of Michigan, were released. And The Detroit News subtitled an article based on these results “Customer contentment with U.S. automakers improves sharply as Asian brands drop.” Really? Let’s take a closer look. Results were only released… More →

Satisfaction studies – is there a point?

J.D. Power got its start performing reliability research, which is also what TrueDelta has been focusing on. But some critics mused, “Enough about things gone wrong. What about things gone right? Perhaps some cars are so pleasurable to own and drive that a few extra problems are of little consequence.” And so research firms started conducting a second type of… More →

Corruption in dealer satisfaction surveys

“Don’t Coach Me on how to Answer your Stupid Survey,” Mrad writes over at Volksbloggin, a VW-focused blog. The object of his ire: dealers that ask you to give them perfect marks on sales and service satisfaction surveys conducted by the manufacturer. I’ve come across this myself, and read about it often on various forums. Why is this survey process… More →