I have just received an email from my local Mercedes-Benz dealership, in which the ‘Service Team Manager’ asks me to score him nine or ten regarding my recent service. This is the second time we have complained about this coaching through customer surveys. I bought the car one year ago and at that time was advised the scores I should give in the sales questionnaire, and was subsequently badgered by him to fill it in. As the owner of a dental practice we also carry out patient surveys but these would be totally meaningless if we had to tell our patients only to fill it in if they were going to give us excellent scores.

We complained a year ago about these bullying tactics. It is high time Mercedes-Benz UK changed its policy in this respect. Whilst customer satisfaction surveys seem to be here to stay, Mercedes-Benz UK is turning this into a totally pointless exercise. The repeated pestering and requests to fill in what are effectively meaningless questionnaires are alienating previously happy customers and I shall never buy a Mercedes again. In fact I feel that despite being happy with the car I would gladly trade it in tomorrow to rid myself of the constant harassment.