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Getting Online Reviews

If you don't think reviews happen whether or not you are actively gathering them......Miller Auto Group - Nissan - Dealership Ratings

I bet these cats didn't ask for these.....maybe they don't even know they exist, but I doubt this helps them write deals.

5 bad reviews in a 15 month period is not horrific. What's horrific is that they don't have any good ones to mask the bad ones. I don't care who you are, you're going to irk some people from time-to-time. You can have the best people and processes in the world and there's always going to be some clown who wants to throw you under the bus.

Take the review below in italics. There's a good chance these folks were financially challenged and the dealer had to shop the banks to get them bought. The process should have been explained to the customer better. It probably wasn't due to a weak salesperson. The fact that they were not given what was promised is a failure by the salesperson. Our industry as a whole seems to think they can get away with cutting corners when it comes to getting a financially challenged customer bought. I say they should be treated fairly just like everyone else. The below review is a great training opportunity for this dealer.

"My Review of Miller Auto Group:
We were not looking to purchase a vehicle but rather to 'shop around' and see what I might like. Nine hours later, having felt trapped and coerced, we left with a vehicle that I like but was not prepared to purchase. The dealership would not work with our credit union, after saying previously that they would. Instead, they put in loan applications to various financial institutions without our knowledge until they found one with an interest rate that would lower our payments. We were unaware of this 'loan shopping' until several weeks later when we received letters from these companies in the mail. Needless to say, each time you apply for a loan your credit rating is impacted. We were/are very angry about this. The salesman made multiple promises, including that they would fill the gas tank, fill the washer fluid (which ran out during the test drive), check on a missing antenna, etc., which he never fulfilled. The salesman also refused to discuss how the various payment amounts were reflective of the sales price and refused to negotiate the sales price even though we did not want to trade in a vehicle. This was a miserable experience and one I will not repeat. Lesson learned."
 
OK, quick question and it may be a dumb one. If we have a computer set up in the dealership that allows customers to write a review on Google, Dealerrater.com ,etc, will that get flagged by any site as fake since they are coming from the same IPO address?
 
OK, quick question and it may be a dumb one. If we have a computer set up in the dealership that allows customers to write a review on Google, Dealerrater.com ,etc, will that get flagged by any site as fake since they are coming from the same IPO address?

AJ,

I wish I had time right now to read through this thread in it's entirety. SO MUCH has changed since you posted this in Dec of 2010.

All credible sites have some TOU and means to enforce it, I think you can safely assume that most will use IP as a component of that algorithm to some degree.

I can tell you with 100% certainty it won't post on DealerRater. We've never allowed multiple reviews from the same IP and are staunchly against review collection in the store (I've posted a lot about this here on DealerRefresh and am more than happy to talk off line with anyone that is interested, pm or call me). Until last week at this time I would have said Google doesn't necessarily care, but that appears to have changed. Read this post from Mike Blumenthal and the associated comment string for more information...

This part really upsets me:
- car dealership reviews are usually, but not always, spammy

If you haven't checked your review content on your Plus page you should. It is likely that you have been the victim of a very aggressive algorithm that is removing, or best case suspending, reviews. The auto industry beat out all others for earning the dubious distinction of "spammy."

I would pay close attention to Mike's comments in regard to "spammy" content:
The ones that I have looked (at) appear to be guilty of either the misuse of on site terminals to gather reviews or the use of third parties to post feedback cards as reviews.

My opinion only, but this is largely the fault of Vendors and Consultants in this industry that have taken advantage of a hot button issue and sold poorly conceived "solutions" to dealers. I promised not to post in this thread anymore, but that doesn't stop me from pointing out that the gentlemen that was charging dealers to post CSI scores owes them an apology and a refund...
 
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Here's something I designed for a dealer and it works very well. They got "DealerRater Dealer of the Year" for I think it was (5) of the brands they sell and have pretty solid reviews compared to most dealers.

Now, getting the sales guys to actually give them to the customers - that might be a bit harder. :x




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