Dealer Rater Question

[Tallcool1]

Clint, maybe I can help provide a different perspective on this for you.


For me online reputation and reviews goes much deeper than stars and reviews. It's a tool you can use to help pioneer real change at your dealership. DealerRater provides dealers the platform to prepare, promote and build a process for that change.

IF you're going to do it (online reviews) for all the right reasons, then you need to allow each and every sales and service customer the opportunity to review their experience. Be prepared for some no so great reviews - which is great, because this is how you change.

I agree with this, and these are the reasons that we encourage our customers to leave reviews.

I am by no means saying that I will not sign up with Dealer Rater. In fact, after reading the responses that have been made I believe that I will.

A couple years ago I had a competing dealer talk one of my customers into writing a really nasty review about my store. It involved a vehicle condition report on the vehicle that this customer purchased from me, and it happened several months after the purchase. The location that the review was written from ended up matching the IP of the competing dealer. (I believe the dealer actually wrote it). Dealer Rater will prevent this type of garbage from being posted and becoming part of my online reputation.

I thank you all for sharing your own experiences. You have educated me, and changed my mind. I appreciate that.

Clint

 

[craigh]

A couple years ago I had a competing dealer talk one of my customers into writing a really nasty review about my store. It involved a vehicle condition report on the vehicle that this customer purchased from me, and it happened several months after the purchase. The location that the review was written from ended up matching the IP of the competing dealer. (I believe the dealer actually wrote it). Dealer Rater will prevent this type of garbage from being posted and becoming part of my online reputation.

They will to an extent. We had a customer write a review on our Service DealerRater page about a bodyshop next door to us.
Completely separate company, separate employees, just happened to be named after the same neighbourhood as the dealership. The review even said his car was completely disassembled and that he went there because of his insurance company.
DealerRater went back and forth with us a dozen times and we finally got it removed, then it came back 24 hours later and still exists to this day.

It's good because they protect consumer interests, just don't expect them to remove every review you don't like.

 

[Tallcool1]

They will to an extent. We had a customer write a review on our Service DealerRater page about a bodyshop next door to us.
Completely separate company, separate employees, just happened to be named after the same neighbourhood as the dealership. The review even said his car was completely disassembled and that he went there because of his insurance company.
DealerRater went back and forth with us a dozen times and we finally got it removed, then it came back 24 hours later and still exists to this day.

It's good because they protect consumer interests, just don't expect them to remove every review you don't like.

I appreciate your post. I am a little on the other side in that I likely will not encourage or even discuss editing or removing a review with any of my customers. The customer will know (through Dealer Rater) what their options are. I will leave it 100% up to the customer and the Dealer Rater system. If a review is edited, then so be it. If not, I will learn from it.

My focus is on taking care of my customers, and resolving any concerns that may arise. I will use the customer feedback to change processes and try to improve the overall experience for my future customers.

Thank You.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

a neutral place whereby we can reach out to a customer who feels strongly that we failed to meet their needs while at our store and hopefully resolve the issue and recapture that person as a valued customer. The DealerRater platform and process provides this for both our store and our clients...

Our experience is that the customer who generally writes a negative review is simply wishing for someone to listen...

The DealerRater review process simply makes us a better at what we do....

What has happened over time is that our staff has simply gotten better at customer service...

Has having DealerRater as part of our process (including the negative review process) benefited our store in sales? The answer is YES...

We hear it all the time from many of our customers, that they are in the store because they read our reviews...

The DealerRater negative review process is very fair to both the customer and to the Dealer as it provides a neutral platform for dialog and hopefully resolution. We as a dealership realize that the customer is in control and makes the choice if a negative review is left as originally written....

John, we were responding at the same time. We obviously see eye to eye on this. It's great to know there are others out there that understand the TRUE value in rating and reviews and how when done properly can change the core philosophy of customer service at the dealership.

The buzz word being used at all the industry conferences is CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE. You're customers will tell you what experience they want if you listen. Don't just respond to a negative review and make it better that one time. Dissect it, evaluate the steps that led up to the dissatisfaction. Find the broken steps and start building bridges to help prevent it from happening again. Embrace each and every bad/negative review for exactly what it's worth. You're online reviews can be your starting point to build-out and tweak your process for establishing a great customer experience.

 

[Bill Simmons]

I don't have a problem with the delay period. Many people, myself included, say or write things in "the heat of the moment" that we wish we could retract later. Customers writing reviews are no different. I have been able to salvage a service customer who initially wrote that they would never return again. I never however ask them to remove the review but have found that they will rewrite the review once we have become active and resolved the issue.

 

[Tallcool1]

I don't have a problem with the delay period. Many people, myself included, say or write things in "the heat of the moment" that we wish we could retract later. Customers writing reviews are no different. I have been able to salvage a service customer who initially wrote that they would never return again. I never however ask them to remove the review but have found that they will rewrite the review once we have become active and resolved the issue.

I agree with the way that you handle the review, and understand that if the issue is resolved the customer will most likely just handle it the way the see fit.

Thanks for the insight.

Clint

 

[Jewanski]

I recently received a call from a Dealer Rater representative asking me to subscribe to their service, get my inventory posted on yet ANOTHER really important Marketplace, etc..

During the sales pitch, the rep actually came right out and told me that if a negative review is posted it goes into a "held status" until the customer is contacted to actually confirm the information in the review. At that point the dealer that did a bad job and pissed off the customer gets contacted before this review goes any farther.

Is this true?

How does everyone feel about this?

I'm an IT manager/ admin/salesperson at a smaller store, and I have very mixed feelings about this feature. I have a boneheaded dealership culture, so sometimes people say and do things to customers (not mine) that I don't approve of, and that leads to reviews that I am responsible for "handling". Some issues you can resolve, make the customer happy, and the review goes away. Some customers are past the point of no return, and even if you do what the dealership should have done in the first place, that review is going to stay up. With my sales hat on, I know that this effects me, because I will have less customers because of a review about one of my co-workers. So I pray to the DealerRater gods and make the review go away. Ask your rep for their policy on removing reviews. Cause I've had some removed here that we straight up deserved. (Employees referenced in review no longer work here.)

So, like I said- I feel it violates the integrity of dealerrater as a review site, but I'm not going to not use the tool my store is paying for.

 

[skeetle]

How am I just now seeing this thread?

Anywho - who've been with DealerRater for years -- love them. My salespeople love them, my customers love them - signing up for the Certified Program is a glorious thing.

I love the delay period - if you have a culture of Customer Satisfaction, sometimes, things get misinterpreted - the delay period gives you (as a dealer) a chance to "work things out" & if it was more than just a misunderstanding, the review goes live. But you still have a chance to publicly respond to it - which is key to winning fans.


Aside from just the reviews - why has no one mentioned SEO? (At least not that I've seen) - pick a salesperson (one who at least has a few DealerRater reviews) & google "Salesperson Name, Dealership City" - for example, Google "Phil Young, Harrisburg, PA" (one of my Sales Professionals at my Honda store) - Dealer Rater is the first thing that pops up. He's got 140+ reviews and his overall rating is a 4.9 - ummm.. who wouldn't want to buy from him?

We're googling our customers (at least I am - and if you're not - you should be!) don't you think our customers are Googling US???? They want to know who they're buying a car from.

 

[Alex Snyder]

...don't you think our customers are Googling US???? They want to know who they're buying a car from.

Excellent point!

 

[Tallcool1]

How am I just now seeing this thread?



We're googling our customers (at least I am - and if you're not - you should be!) don't you think our customers are Googling US???? They want to know who they're buying a car from.

......and this is why I need a forum like this. I need to have things like this pointed out to me. Looks like my "to do" list just grew again!

Thanks