TomPierce
04-21-2008, 07:25 PM
from someone who said he worked for Pontiac and wanted me to participate in an owner satisfaction survey.
He had the standard list of questions ("on a scale of one to ten how do you rate the ... ) but to give him credit he did follow up with more questions if I mentioned problems. It was apparently a serious survey and not just another "marketing satisfaction" exercise.
Once I figured out he was serious, I gave him a full load of my opinions, mainly transmission and drive-by-wire concerns as well as the some of the more common things you've all heard about on the forums.
Once we got into the details it was apparent that he didn't work for Pontiac (which he readilly admitted when I asked). I guess when he asked if my 2008 G8 GT was a manual or an automatic that kind of gave the game away :)
He kept saying he was going to record my answers once we got into the details - which he did because I could hear the change in the phone line when the recorder was active. My chance for immortality, I guess :oldfogey:
All in all, I was impressed with the effort they went through to actually get accurate feedback from the owners.
So if you receive a call like this (this happened to be 30 days after my purchase - that may be a clue) don't just blow them off as meaningless marketing drivel - it may sound like it in the beginning but hang in there and you may be able to provide some valuable input and perhaps influence.
And, he closed the conversation by asking if it would be allright if he had some Pontiac emgineers give me a call later to get more detail - pretty impressive if they actually follow through.
Always knew being a gearhead would come in handy some day :)
Tom
He had the standard list of questions ("on a scale of one to ten how do you rate the ... ) but to give him credit he did follow up with more questions if I mentioned problems. It was apparently a serious survey and not just another "marketing satisfaction" exercise.
Once I figured out he was serious, I gave him a full load of my opinions, mainly transmission and drive-by-wire concerns as well as the some of the more common things you've all heard about on the forums.
Once we got into the details it was apparent that he didn't work for Pontiac (which he readilly admitted when I asked). I guess when he asked if my 2008 G8 GT was a manual or an automatic that kind of gave the game away :)
He kept saying he was going to record my answers once we got into the details - which he did because I could hear the change in the phone line when the recorder was active. My chance for immortality, I guess :oldfogey:
All in all, I was impressed with the effort they went through to actually get accurate feedback from the owners.
So if you receive a call like this (this happened to be 30 days after my purchase - that may be a clue) don't just blow them off as meaningless marketing drivel - it may sound like it in the beginning but hang in there and you may be able to provide some valuable input and perhaps influence.
And, he closed the conversation by asking if it would be allright if he had some Pontiac emgineers give me a call later to get more detail - pretty impressive if they actually follow through.
Always knew being a gearhead would come in handy some day :)
Tom