5-star rating system

Totally unrelated to mental health but what is your take on the 5-star rating system?

I just got blasted by my car dealership for awarding them 3 and 4 stars for what I felt was an expected service experience. They met my standards and that is that.

In my book, 5-stars is reserved for an experience that goes above and beyond my expectations. It must wow me and be memorable. Merely meeting the standard expected does not fit this criteria.

Thoughts? Should my auto-service department have even called me? Ought they to be even tracking who completes their surveys and responses to begin with? Isn't this a privacy issue?

To me, nowadays 5 stars means they did not mess anything up. Or maybe just one minor thing. Esp at a car repair, thats a lot of different factors / people.

I used to work for the department and or company that does the surveys. They are probably thinking, if you had no complaints, then why not 5 stars? They sincerely use the surveys to improve their service - you gave them no way to get a better score, yet you deprive them of the top score and the prize that comes with that.

I cant answer all your questions, but i hope this gives you a better insight into why your responses are so important to them.

I give 4 or 5 stars when I am satisfied. I think giving 3 stars for an expected product/service isn't fair. I see this on Amazon sometimes; giving 3 stars on products with a comment saying "great product"!! Doesn't add up.

To me, 5 stars means there were no problems and I would use the service again. I only give less stars if there are problems. I personally would never consider buying a product or using a service if it had 3stars reviews.
I work as a part time private tutor and I would be very sad and disappointed if one of my students gave me 3 stars without explaining why or giving me a chance to improve. I would definitely call them and ask for explanation.
To me, three stars mean "I won't complain but I will never use this service again".

I usually give 5 stars when rating a book, though this means having read it and making notes as to its merit. Rating books encourages the author and gives them valuable feedback on their hard work. Similarly, I appreciate being awarded the same since I'm a writer, also.

I think it's a good system.

generally a good guide for future users of the service

I've used services that should have been rated higher, also services that said 5 star but were actually crap.

but you're going to get differing user views where ever you go

i've never rated anything 1 or 2 stars, but I did rate amazon 3 stars once after they sent me a copy of the cd of the troy soundtrack with coca cola spilled all over it.

how does that happen. I mean it's rare, but I guess it does

happened to me on ebay too- ordered a games console (with games), only got the box delivered- an empty box

Some people do either 1 or 5 stars (1 star if it was terrible and 5 stars if it was good). When I have left reviews for doctors I felt were incompetent, I gave them 1 star but also explained why.

For Amazon, I don't usually rate items, but I do look at the ratings other people leave.

Hey wishful: I personally would contact whatever manager or management team you can and ask them why they are contacting you to chew you out. I would also contact whatever website you used to rate them and tell them that this dealership reached out to you for no good reason to question you about your review. I can see if you left a 1 star horrible review but 3 or 4 stars is fine. It seems like genuine feeback to me.

When I shop on Amazon, I use the rate system heavily. If many reviews are 3 stars I will pass. I only look for products with a rating of 4 stars and above. If people give 3 stars to mean good products, this creates the illusion that the product is not good, while it is not the case. If many customers are like me, this will hurt the business for no fault of the seller/provider.

I'm the same, I never buy anything that has an average of 3 stars or less. I assume it's a low quality product. When I see 3 stars or less, I don't even click on the item and only look for the 5 star products. I assume many people are like that.

It should be up to you what you rate something as. I've been chewed out before for leaving a 3 star review on a website before now.

I guess I disagree.

Awarding a full '5 stars' for merely meeting the grade is rather like awarding everyone a medal for participation. Besides, it is hardly fair to put such products or services on par with those that are outstanding and well above the set standard. Isn't it?

When it comes to giving 5-star reviews for products and services that just meet expectations doesn't that seem a bit fraudulent? I mean, when I order something based on a 5-star review - and I've done this - I expect then something pretty amazing that stands out from the rest. How disappointing for it to arrive and it is no more appealing or effective that anything else on the market.

Hmmmm, just my thoughts.

Oh, and in the ongoing saga that sparked this controversy to begin with....

I had my car in today for follow-up service. Afterwards I got an email from the service manager telling me how to fill out a survey Ford was going to send me with all answers 5 stars and 'excellent'. OMG! How utterly rude. What kahoonas he must have to tell me to lie.

There is a 4-star option if 5-star is for something exceptional to you. 3-star and below are considered critical reviews, at least according to Amazon (there is an option to display all critical reviews only). I agree though, the seller/ service provider should not press on good reviews. I wouldn't be happy with that, either. Recently I rated a product on Amazon with a 5-star review, and the seller keeps contacting me to rate the product and if I am satisfied!! It's very annoying.

Now, this definitely IS rude!

I do not think it was right that the car dealer contacted you about your review. I have seen instances where a company will get in touch with someone because of a negative review in order to make it right but I have never heard of a company berating someone over their average review.

I give 5 stars if there was exceptional service & something that really stands out. I give a 4 if it is just normal without any problems but nothing outstanding. I give a 3 if I have "a" difficulty usually resolved. I give a 2 if I have problems not resolved & a one if I feel they totally failed my needs thst they claimed to be able to fill.

I'm right there with you. IMO 5 stars is the absolute MAX. The top of the line. A great experience? 4 stars. Meets my expectations? 3 stars. BLOWS MY MIND IN AN INCOMPREHENSIBLE FASHION NEVER TO BE TOPPED FOR THE REST OF EXISTENCE. 5 stars.

If dealership gets feedback anything less than completely satisfied it is considered a failure by head management. It means they didn’t do something right. If you can’t explain what was done wrong, then why not give 5?

3 stars actually means that even though service wasn’t completely horrible, you’d likely never go there again, it’s only 60% satisfaction. 4 might be just a ok. But 3 certainly isn’t “meeting your expectations”. You are telling them they met your expectations only at 80% and 60%. Not that they met your expectations

How do you want a dealership to wow you and make it memorable? It’s not like seeing a movie that yiu want to remember. They supposed to get their job done. I love my dealership and only ever give them 5 stars. What is your dealership not doing right by you? Or you just generally very picky and hard to please?

Sorry, but you have missed the point. They didn't not do anything right. They did in fact do all the things expected. My point is that they did just that - and no more. A '3' then isn't a failure in my book. As I said, it is merely a passing grade. In no way is it indicative of a failure. A '4' or a '5' is for goods and service that are above the standard - an award for surpassing the grade. I need to be "wow'd" by the experience or product. It needs to speak to me as being beyond good. To suggest that an exceptional score be awarded to something average then is what frustrates me and has sparked this conversation - which is a great one by the way.

Am I picky? I don't believe overly so. I have spent my working life in the military and in the retail and service industries - much of it at a leadership level. I am well versed in the setting and expectation of realistic standards and goals - in most cases performed with a minimal effort. I thus also believe in reward and acknowledgement for those making an added effort to perform well above those standards. Based on my knowledge and experience then I have in my mind those things that are required to be done Vs those things that come about because of extra effort and attention - things that usually arise out of a wish to perform well and do the best job to their ability. I still acknowledge those who get the job done to the standard but reserve accolades only for those who stand out.

In the case of my last service, they did in fact meet my expecations but by no means did it stand out to me. It didn't make me think, "boy, did they ever do great."

I actually just awarded 5-stars yesterday and wrote a glowing review for an art supply. Based on what I paid, I expected a certain level of peformance. However, I was absolutely thrilled and surprised when it came to using them. Wow. Hence the full 5-stars.

I also received a delivery of an essential oils product. The description was what I was looking for but my purchase and choice between this and other products was based entirely on the 5-star rating. I was really disappointed that what arrived was not up to my expectations. Nothing was wrong with it. It just wasn't above average.

I think you hurt businesses for no real reason. I think you will understand this if you would ever be a seller/service provider, and see how you would deal with a customer who gave you 3-star review for meeting their expectation and for doing everything just right. I give 4 or 5 stars because they deliver what they promise. I build my expectations from what they promise. I don't have a uniform standards for everything, and expect sellers/service providers to meet it. If I don't like their promise and how they deal with other customers complaints (especially this one, because I expect something to go wrong), I find someone else.

I am glad you responded because I kinda feel at a loss when it comes to reviews- I have never left one. I think I am always afraid of what will happen if its negative and I guess I figure if its positive then me not leaving a negative review is enough. But now that I think about it, I base some of my choices off of other good reviews, it seems like its only fair to put in the extra effort to help someone else. With all that in mind- are there direct meanings for stars? Like 3 average, 4 good, 5 excellent>? Would 1 be awful and 2 be barely passing? Like you, I felt that 3 stars made sense in the context of what you described. But maybe I have it all wrong.

Question: would you go to a service provide/seller whose most of their reviews are 3-star reviews? I wouldn't.

A car dealership usually has you hooked because you bought your vehicle there. Even my used truck's extended warranty required I go back to that dealership for service even though my truck is dodge & the dealership was Chevy. They had to get the parts or determine if my truck had to be sent back to a dodge dealership.

They always did a good job & repaired many problems that would have cost me a fortune to fix.

Had one recall that I had to take back to dodge. They told me that if they did this procedure & it broke then my truck was part of the recall BUT if it broke they would have to order the part & wouldn't get it for a week & NO they didn't privide a vehicle for me during that time. I gave bith the dealership & dodge a low rating on that experience. My truck is my only vehicle & Dodge With it's money could have expedited the part & provided money to cover a vehicle especially for customers with no other transportation since it was their faulty part/production that caused the problem in the first place & yes I made calls & complained to everyone in dodge corporation & even sent a letter to their CEO.

Even though they did the job required that got a very low review for how it was handled overall.

Reviews need to look at the big picture too not just whether the job was done correctly

I totally agree

I once purchased anti-virus from Amazon, but had a technical issue. So, I contacted the company of the anti-virus (not the seller) to solve my problem. It took two weeks and I was pissed off on how they ignored my messages and complaints. I told them I am not satisfied how they treat customers, but no one cared. I didn't review them, because the review on Amazon was not about them, and my issue was unique. But I would give them 2 or 3 stars maximum for how they treated me, although I got my problem fixed eventually.