What does a 5 star rating mean?

mcfiddish

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At the end of May we test drove a Mach-E and put a deposit down on one the dealership had already ordered. A month later the salesman calls and says "oops, we sold your car." It was an Infinite Metallic Blue, which we really liked. He found a Space White in transit with the same options, so we agreed to buy that with $400 off for the less expensive color.

We picked it up yesterday (maybe 10 days after we would have gotten our first pick), and are very happy with it. The salesman asked us to give him a five-star rating when we came to pick it up, and we said no, you sold the car we initially agreed to buy, so how can we give you five stars? He was apologetic, took responsibility, and explained that anything less than 5 stars is basically a fail. According to him, Ford can keep cars or rebates away from poorly performing dealers. So how is this a ratings system? It's a pass/fail, not 1-5.

I understand people make mistakes and this was a paperwork error that in the end was no big deal. I also get that the Mach-E is in high demand and we're not in much of a position to make demands.

We ended up giving him 5 stars on the "preliminary" paper form and he said he'd talk to his manager about the mixup. We'll see if the dealership contacts us about it before filling out the online survey.

TL;DR We were asked to give the salesman and dealership a 5 star rating. We were told that anything less than 5 stars is a fail. So why isn't it a one star system?
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generaltso

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I don’t buy into that “anything less than perfect is a fail” garbage. Give him the score you think he deserves. If it makes you feel any better, Star White actually costs $200 more than Infinite Blue, so you came out ahead with a $400 credit.
 
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mcfiddish

mcfiddish

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That does make the most sense. I'll wait a few days to see if the dealer contacts us before submitting.

Star White is a premium color ($600 additional), but Space White is not. Star White is a brilliant white and Space White is a duller white, almost grey. It still looks nice but it's not Infinite Metallic Blue!
 

BMT1071

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For whatever reason, this is the way dealership CSI systems have worked for years. I can personally attest that what he told you is accurate. Which is not to say that I wouldn't give them a low rating since they sold your car. He did fail to mention the CSI bonus that he almost certainly gets.
 

Andeh

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I don’t buy into that “anything less than perfect is a fail” garbage. Give him the score you think he deserves. If it makes you feel any better, Star White actually costs $200 more than Infinite Blue, so you came out ahead with a $400 credit.
Space, not Star.
 


MG101

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I don’t buy into that “anything less than perfect is a fail” garbage.
Unfortunately that is how CSI works in most industires. Anything less than a perfect score means the customer was not completely satisfied with the experience. An unhappy customer tells 10 people about their experience but a happy only tells 2...or something like that.

Anyway doesn't sound like a 5 star experience to me so I would hit them on the survey...unless they sufficiently bribe you
 

generaltso

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Star White is a premium color ($600 additional), but Space White is not. Star White is a brilliant white and Space White is a duller white, almost grey. It still looks nice but it's not Infinite Metallic Blue!
Right, sorry. I guess two whites Is too many to keep track of :)
 

Murse-In-Airy

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Customer service has become pass/fail. Even as a nurse, if someone fills out a patient survey and doesn’t rate me as perfect, I have to explain it to the boss. And too many of those and CMS (US gov’t) can reduce the rate they pay hospitals for serving Medicare/Medicaid patients, which is most of them.
 

Mickey the T

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This has always bugged me as well. There's no point in having a 1-5 range when it's really 5 and everything else. (That said, being on the other side of the equation, I recall being upset when I lost my 5.0 Uber rating.)

My sales rep e-mailed me asking to give him five stars and said if for any reason I wasn't going to give him 5 stars, I should talk to the GM first with my concerns. My initial sales rep was decidedly unhelpful and I was planning on dinging him on the rating, but he wasn't in the day I picked up my car and I ended up working with someone considerably better.
 

Mirak

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I’ve found that life is just better if we all try to extend each other as much grace as possible. Here’s what grace looks like to me: even if somebody screws up and causes me an inconvenience, if they own up to it, apologize, and do what they can to make it right - that’s all I ask. I’m not going to ding someone unless it’s absolutely necessary. And yes, I’m well aware of the counter argument that the dealer won’t improve if they aren’t held to account, etc. My reply; Grace. Try to live by it. Just my two cents.
 

moocrab

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I hate this system so much; What ratings have become of the last few years. I did not give 5 stars on the survey and because of that I've been contacted by the sales agent and two different managers several times. I stand by my original assessment but now because of the added harassment I would rate things even lower.
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