Surveys and reviews

[Bobdogs]

Anybody else sick of the interminable requests for feedback.
In the past month I've been asked for feedback from;
A vet visit.
A phone call to Welsh Water.
My contact lenses.
Turmeric tablets.
Everything I buy on eBay including those that I have returned because they are useless.
How did my courier do (he delivered the parcel).
Am I alone in refusing to no longer do unpaid market research?

 

[Acey]

Anybody else sick of the interminable requests for feedback.
In the past month I've been asked for feedback from;
A vet visit.
A phone call to Welsh Water.
My contact lenses.
Turmeric tablets.
Everything I buy on eBay including those that I have returned because they are useless.
How did my courier do (he delivered the parcel).
Am I alone in refusing to no longer do unpaid market research?

Your not alone,it does get tiresome, nowadays I only reply to those who I think have given good service .

 

[Intercity110]

personally, i enjoy them.

 

[52290]

Your not alone,it does get tiresome, nowadays I only reply to those who I think have given good service .

I'm more likely to reply if I've been dissatisfied in some way.

 

[MikeWM]

Yes! For example, one of my pension providers askes me for feedback every single time I use their website, and then sends a 'reminder' if I don't. I've actually sent the survey back once or twice saying 'STOP SENDING ME A SURVEY EVERY SINGLE TIME I USE YOUR WEBSITE' but they still do anyway.

Occasionally I do fill in such a survey if I actually have something to complain about, which can be quite cathartic, but nothing actually seems to change in response.

 

[Ediswan]

I normally ignore them. I did once start responding to one for a very nice Bavarian Gasthaus* where we had stayed overnight (via hotels.com ?). The owner had said that good reviews did help. Failed at the first question: What was the reason for your visit ? None of the options offered came close to 'overnight stop during a long road journey'. GIGO.

* Also the local brewery, but we didn't know that until we arrived.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Yes! For example, one of my pension providers askes me for feedback every single time I use their website, and then sends a 'reminder' if I don't. I've actually sent the survey back once or twice saying 'STOP SENDING ME A SURVEY EVERY SINGLE TIME I USE YOUR WEBSITE' but they still do anyway.

Next time, fill it in saying "further surveys will attract a £50 handling charge for completion; your sending me any such surveys after this date will constitute acceptance of these terms".

Keep a provably dated screenshot of it, and proof of submission - maybe video your actually completing it and sending it in with that wording.

Then next time they send you one, invoice the company concerned for the sum and use a copy of the proof / video to back up your invoice.

You never know, they might actually pay up...

 

[Bobdogs]

Next time, fill it in saying "further surveys will attract a £50 handling charge for completion; your sending me any such surveys after this date will constitute acceptance of these terms".

Keep a provably dated screenshot of it, and proof of submission - maybe video your actually completing it and sending it in with that wording.

Then next time they send you one, invoice the company concerned for the sum and use a copy of the proof / video to back up your invoice.

You never know, they might actually pay up...

Very good idea!

 

[BenS123]

SWR is a right pain with this, I assume they get your email from joining their onboard/station WiFi and then send you this the day after travelling. Every single time.



Attached: Screenshot of an email from South Western Railway. Contents of the email are in the alt text.

 

[PeterY]

I just ignore them . Does anyone actually do anything with the data, or take any notice, especially with complaints?

My friend loves surveys. I had fill one out for her, for Boots, last week. That's 10 minutes I won't get back.

Some marketing groups drag you in with a £50 prize draw or something. To be honest I'd stand more chance of winning the lottery jackpot.

 

[dangie]

Some marketing groups drag you in with a £50 prize draw or something. To be honest I'd stand more chance of winning the lottery jackpot.

Out of interest just how genuine are these 'prize draws'? Is there actually any way of checking? Or are they simply false enticements?

 

[Bobdogs]

Out of interest just how genuine are these 'prize draws'? Is there actually any way of checking? Or are they simply false enticements?

Has anyone ever won the £100 prize. They are everywhere, Tesco, Lidl, Wilkinson and many more.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Personally I have no objection to being asked to provide feedback. After all, in my own business I always like to know if there's any way I can improve what I offer to customers, and as a customer, it's not exactly much effort to either click 'no' on a button or to simply ignore some text message asking for feedback if I don't wish to provide it. And there have been occasions on which I have provided feedback and then some time later got a reply that shows someone did actually read my responses. Usually those tend to be the smaller companies.

But I do object if the feedback form turns out to take more than a few seconds to answer (SWR looking at you... last time I clicked yes to respond to feedback about my experience, it turned into a seemingly endless stream of questions about where I was travelling to and the nature of my journey). Companies that do that are just wasting their and my time and probably getting either no or useless information back, because usually after the first couple of questions, I either abandon the feedback altogether, or start clicking random answers just to get the thing over and done with.

And I really strongly object to invitations for feedback that turn out to actually be marketing surveys. The ones where, instead of being asked what you thought of the service, you get asked how old you are, what your interests are, etc. etc. That's just plain dishonest by the companies concerned when those surveys are presented as feedback opportunities.

 

[Typhoon]

Personally I have no objection to being asked to provide feedback. After all, in my own business I always like to know if there's any way I can improve what I offer to customers, and as a customer, it's not exactly much effort to either click 'no' on a button or to simply ignore some text message asking for feedback if I don't wish to provide it. And there have been occasions on which I have provided feedback and then some time later got a reply that shows someone did actually read my responses. Usually those tend to be the smaller companies.

But I do object if the feedback form turns out to take more than a few seconds to answer (SWR looking at you... last time I clicked yes to respond to feedback about my experience, it turned into a seemingly endless stream of questions about where I was travelling to and the nature of my journey). Companies that do that are just wasting their and my time and probably getting either no or useless information back, because usually after the first couple of questions, I either abandon the feedback altogether, or start clicking random answers just to get the thing over and done with.

And I really strongly object to invitations for feedback that turn out to actually be marketing surveys. The ones where, instead of being asked what you thought of the service, you get asked how old you are, what your interests are, etc. etc. That's just plain dishonest by the companies concerned when those surveys are presented as feedback opportunities.

I have a lot of sympathy with this. I try to be helpful if I can, I have the time but sometimes the questions are really irritating - like ones that list options, tick all that apply; but none do. Try to go on but I am reminded I haven't answered the question - so I mark the one they will least want me to answer so that I can move with the hope that the next question asks for an explanation of my answer, Other things that irritate are the questions that ask if anyone ha done anything special, I can think of an occasion when I described in detail what the assistant did and the person concerned (not confusable, distinctive make up and hair style). I saw her in the shop a few months later, asked whether anyone had said anything to her - they hadn't. What is the point of asking the question if they are not going to act? The other irritating thing is when you are asked to respond in detail but are timed out.

 

[JohnMcL7]

Yes I find it's getting absurd now with just about every purchase made now sends a request for feedback and that's even when you've said you don't want any other e-mails from them but these surveys don't seem to count. It amuses me that they rarely offer any incentive or reward for doing it as well.

I did actually win a prize draw from a survey although I wasn't going to claim it as I thought it was a scam. I received a badly worded e-mail from a company to a spam address saying I'd won an Amazon £100 voucher although I like to look at these e-mails and see what the scam is however I was puzzled as I couldn't work it out, the links all looked genuine. I looked up the e-mail domain and found it belonged to a company that did promotions for Adobe and remembered I had done a survey for Adobe as I wanted to complain about their subscription only products. The URL to redeem the Amazon voucher had the voucher code within it so I tried going to Amazon and pasted in the code which was indeed a £100 voucher.

 

[Bobdogs]

I've just bought something from Sava and having completed my purchase was asked to touch a red green or amber light on the payment screen to indicate my level of satisfaction with the service provided.
Home bargains have a red and green button by the exit, depending on whether or not they have what I wanted I press one.
Sava will, next time I shop there be politely told to do one.

 

[duncanp]

Am I alone in refusing to no longer do unpaid market research?

No you aren't.

I never fill these wretched things in.

The worst are websites that have a pop up asking you for feedback when you are just browsing or looking for information, rather than buying something.

Especially when you have only just accessed the website, getting a pop up asking for feedback is really annoying

 

[Mcr Warrior]

The worst are websites that have a pop up asking you for feedback when you are just browsing or looking for information, rather than buying something.

Especially when you have only just accessed the website, getting a pop up asking for feedback is really annoying

Perhaps you should provide them with feedback telling them exactly that!

But yes, agree, normally a complete waste of your time!

 

[D821]

I don't mind a couple of questions, and I'll fill out a longer survey if there's a chance if a prize (not that I've ever won). If it's a website I use a lot, like for work, I'll consider doing longer ones for free.
Anything that has something 5+ pages of 10 questions won't get answered. Surely they can't get many responses from these?

 

[EZJ]

I filled one out for a well known restaurant chain as the server did a fantastic job and deserved some extra recognition. Imagine my surprise when about 6 weeks later a £200 voucher for said restaurant appeared in my inbox.
Generally though I would only do them to praise someone, if a complaint needs raising I'd contact the customer services separately rather than fill out a survey.

 

[3141]

I do them if something really good has happened. The main problem I find is the questions which assume I am constantly analysing what is going on during an entirely mundane event. For example, I go into a shop to buy something, I buy it, I pay and I leave. They ask me why I visited the shop, did I feel welcome, was it clean, was I able to find what I wanted, was the cashier friendly, would I recommend the place to friends and family, would I buy something there again, did the shopping experience meet my expectations. Often, there are ten-point scales for your answers. Actually I've bought a packet of crisps from a place about forty miles away from my home at 7.30 pm and the cashier said "Have a nice day!"

I think that in many cases such surveys are not so much intended to provide information to help improve the service, but to "manage" the staff. Are the scores for that branch improving, and if not, why not?