Kubota Shoots Themselves In The Foot With Survey On My Experience

[Kanook]

Typically these surveys are handled by 3rd party orgs on behalf of retailers/suppliers. I recently had the same experience filling in an online survey from Nissan. In this case I don't know if Kubota does it in house or farms it out....just glad they're primary function is to build reliable tractors. A few years ago I filled in an online survey from a retailer here in Canada that does a big chunk of its business in auto tires/parts etc. in which I was very critical of that recent shopping experience. I got a phone response within hours and was sent a 'gift box' that contained an assortment of Meguires auto products to make up for my troubles.

 

[Wagtail]

Earlier this month, I ordered something online from Sam's Club for the first time. I received the package as scheduled, then I received an email survey asking how they did, and I promptly answered all their questions. And I just now received the 3rd duplicate request to answer that survey.

X2

I see what you did there Bird.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Reminds me of when I worked for a couple of companies that hired outside agencies to see what was ailing the companies. They went around with clip boards and stop watches but never spoke to the employees or asked them their opinions.

Seems no one wants to hear the truth. Like, the whole internet is full of LIKE buttons but no DISLIKE buttons.

 

[crazyal]

I had the seat belt break on my Kubota BX a few years ago. It seemed like a safety issue to me so I emailed them some pics. I never heard a thing from them. It seems like most of the time they would at least send you some kind of canned response but I got nothing.

You have to wonder who gets those emails. Is it someone who is ignoring it because there's no repercussion for deleting it or if it ends up in some little old lady's in box who wouldn't know what a tractor seat was or who she should contact.

 

[MHarryE]

Having worked in Engineering at Allis-Chalmers, Case-International, and Caterpillar, I can confirm that survey responses were usually taken very seriously by all 3. Sometimes survey complaints were serious enough to merit a customer visit, and at both Case and Caterpillar I recall instances where that visit was by a line assembler who did something wrong and was tasked for apologizing for their mistake (with others along for support because putting an employee out for slaughter is never good for anybody,). Kubota is somewhat of a surprise to me because I have had problems reported on my last 3 Kubotas, written up in a non-threatening manner that would have elicited a response from all of the 3 I mentioned but I have heard nothing from Kubota. The problem with all 3 has been lack of service parts availability in a timely manner. Having a 2 week planting window and having a minor, but vital, part fail that takes 3 weeks delivery from Japan is not acceptable. Fortunately when I had such a failure on my M135GX this year my dealer came through with a loaner until Kubota could get the part, and the previous time I had a major failure on the same tractor my dealer pulled the part off a new tractor on the lot to keep me going. So my dealer has come through where Kubota has failed which keeps me loyal to the dealer, but the dealer sells another major line that may get consideration next time I buy. I still have a copy of a letter from a Case IH customer that was attached to his survey - the letter made it all the way to the CEO. Heads rolled due to the severity of the complaint he raised, and one of the heads that rolled was the CEO's.

 

[dbotos]

Maybe the survey is hosted on the same servers as the Obamacare exchange.

 

[SPYDERLK]

I've had my L3200 HST for 2 years. So far I only have 40 hours on it. The only complaint I really have is the herky jerky rear hydraulics - a problem that seems quite common. Terence Criss with Kubota sends me a survey after my 2 years of ownership. I'm prepared to return an overall positive review. The survey says I can complete it online and gives me an address and survey ID. When I try to take it I get a "We could not find a survey for you." I call and leave a message and 2 weeks go by without a response. I call back and they tell me they're looking into it with their 3rd party survey company. After A MONTH I get a call today that the internal database issue is resolved. I go out to take the survey and "We could not find a survey for you."

Good grief. I can only thank heaven the people in the US running customer support aren't the folks designing the tractor. If you make a good product and then survey people, don't you think you ought to be able to at least conduct the survey with a minimum of frustration to your customer if you want the positive results you're hoping for? What sort of survey result do you think they will get if/when they ever get their act together? As good as it would have been initially? :thumbdown:

Concentrate on making your attention devoted to the survey issue similar to your tractor duty cycle.

 

[Gator6x4]

I filled out a survey on a new vehicle purchase. I read a brochure and ASSUMED I was upgrading feature wise. When I finalized the purchase and started checking I found out I was wrong. I complete the survey referencing the misleading information in the brochure and owners manual. I get a letter back informing me to contact the dealer reference my concerns. I wrote the idiot back and asked him to advise if the dealer designed, or built the vehicle or published the brochure. Still waiting on a response.

 

[check]

Not once, but TWICE a car salesperson asked me to return the survey BLANK to them personally!

 

[Chilly807]

I like phone surveys the most. To be fair, I warn the caller that I'm not interested in the survey. They usually insist, and so it starts. There are two main approaches, one that I end up asking more questions than they do, so they get frustrated and end the call.

The second, and my favorite, is to tell them that if they will answer one simple question of mine, I'd be happy to help with their survey.
The question is, "What is the flying velocity of an unladen swallow?" Tricky question, as anyone that's seen Monty Python's Holy Grail can attest.
The right answer, near as I can determine, is 47 mph. That's important, because to be fair, you have to have the "right" answer in mind, just in case.
I haven't had to fulfill my promise to finish a survey yet.