Something I have noticed over the last five years or so is the vast increase in requests by vendors to complete surveys on customer service, supplied goods, etc. In the past year or so the amount of surveys I am invited to complete has doubled.

Yet, I have never completed a single survey. Why? Because I find the endless requests to complete them invasive and I generally operate by the policy that if the vendor doesn't hear from me after a purchase then there is nothing they should worry about.

Since companies rarely listen to customers anyway, why do they bother with surveys, especially when most of them only ask for generic information? The survey that probably annoys me the most is the one built in to Windows, asking if I'd recommend the OS to a mate. Again, I simply do not waste time answering. I'm happy for others to make their own choices and rarely recommend anything to others unless asked by the interested party - certainly not the vendor.

I think that you will find that this is just part of the Quality Assurance TQM process that all companies are supposed to meet these days. As you say the companies pay no attention to the feedback but it is part of being able to tick the box for 'Feedback system in place Y/N?'

In recent times I have used these surveys to leave a lot of negative feedback but it is never acknowledged or the problem corrected. (This post panel is not big enough for me to write about my on-going complaints about Westpac!)

Many (most?) surveys are usually cynical attempts by marketing to get your details so that they can bombard you with advertising.

My local council hires a telephone survey mob to call you after you make a report about something -- I usually report dumped vehicles in the area. At first I agreed participate, but after 10 questions, half of which were merely mindless re-wordings of their previous questions having no regard to my previous answers, I told them not to bother calling me again, but they did, so I have barred their number in my phone.

Such surveys only need comprise just 3 questions: (1) Was the job done (yes/no)? (2) Are you satisfied with it (yes/no)? (3) Anything you'd like to add? Thank you and goodbye.

If I have a real complaint about the performance of a company or organisation I write a letter to the CEO giving all the details. That usually gets things going. A good CEO will direct the appropriate manager to investigate and report back to him/her, and will reply accordingly.

Yep , jay car, total tools! Everybody asks for your email address and phone number when you buy anything!,
I just so NO! So now there have bought in a new system where you get extended warranty on the item your buying,,,,but ONLY if you supply your email address to the store where you bought the item!
Hate it! Wish I had a time machine!

I learned a long time ago not to supply my details to the Good Guys - they are so very insistent about getting those details.

I no longer shop there because of that.

Agree with Brad about surveys - no news is good news. If there's a problem they can be sure they'll hear about it. And if they ignore the problem, then the rest of the internet will hear about it.

I learned a long time ago not to supply my details to the Good Guys - they are so very insistent about getting those details.

Back in the 1980s/90s it was Tandy that used to annoy me. Every time I bought something, even a bag of resistors, they demanded my name and address for the handwritten receipt/docket. I knew full well that if I gave it to them they would put me on their mailing list (and the lists of other companies handled by their mailing house contractor). I used to say just write "cash sale" on the docket but I'd get the usual BS routine about returns, and I'd say "If I need to return it I'll bring the cash sale docket with me". If the purchase was small, I'd just leave after paying to avoid that stupid ritual.

Hah I remember that. It didn't worry me at the time because I looked forward to Tandy's specials - I was a regular customer in the late 70s and the 80s.

If I didn't buy anything for a few months I would automatically fall off their mailing list, so in the end it worked out pretty well.


Their receipts were pretty awful though - they only had the part number, they were blurry (being the 3rd carbon copy or whatever), and they faded away after a while.

Their receipts were pretty awful though - they only had the part number, they were blurry (being the 3rd carbon copy or whatever), and they faded away after a while.

They had docket machines similar to this one. Probably Kalamazoo brand:

https://victoriancollections.net.au/media/collectors/4f729f7797f83e030860184f/items/5a8111cc21ea690fd88a2717/item-media/5a811e5921ea690fd89a88a3/VictorianCollections-medium.jpg

Back in the day, those mailing houses used to leak information and combine mailing lists. That's how I ended up on Time Life's list and it was the devil of a job to get off it. At one stage I used to invent a new middle initial to enable me to trace back to the source.

I remember Harris Technology asking me for name, address, e-mail, phone number, etc and stated that the warranty on the ADSL modem I was trying to purchase would not be honoured unless those details were supplied. I then gave them false details as I badly wanted the modem at the price it was being offered at.

Under common law, everything from a box of matches up to a D9 bulldozer is covered by a seven year guarantee. Retailers get away with only offering a 1 year guarantee because people don't know what their rights are and few would bother with the expense of civil court action over most of the junk that is sold these days anyway.

That said, a retailer cannot deny a warranty because personal details are not provided. As long as the tax invoice is kept as a proof of purchase, this is all that is required.

I pity the poor bugger that has holden69hotmail.com.au as their e-mail address because they would have received any spam that Harris was sending out at the time.

They had docket machines similar to this one. Probably Kalamazoo brand:

I remember Tandy's policy of no cash registers. I also remember waiting ages for the attendant to take my money and then head to the back office to rummage for the correct change.

The Tandy stores I visited had entirely hand-written receipts that came in a booklet. Even though they sold computers, none were used in store operations.

I have a Gmail account for just such purposes. I never look at it but it must be mighty full by now ha ha. If we all do this it should surely clog up the Gmail server (hopefully).