Last month I did a number of J.D. Powers auto shops for a particular MSP. Because these were high-end shops and required a test-drive, I had to use my real name on all of them, since they would want to copy my license.

Today I went back to one of those dealerships for a different MSP and a different client. Someone had gotten a price in a phone shop, and I was to pretend to be phone shopper (use his name) and see if I got the same price in person. I was going to be shopping a different salesman than the one last month.

I asked for the salesman to be shopped and was told he was out for the day, as as per instruction I asked for anyone else to help me. The sales manager (who I had briefly met on the previous shop) came up to me and asked if he could help. I gave him the phony name and started going into my story when he said "No, you're (real name) and you're a secret shopper!"

I admitted to my real name, but claimed ignorance of shopping, when he said that he got a report from J.D. Powers on the shop with my name on it. Apparently J.D. Powers is telling all the dealers who it was who shopped them, which will make it impossible to go back to any of these dealerships in the future.

Question: Should I notify the MSP that does the Powers shops what their client is up to and how they are ruining it for everybody?

P.S. The scheduler I was shopping for today called to get more details as to what happened, and she suggested I definitely call the other MSP and let them know what Powers is up to. She also very kindly offered to pay $20, since none of this was my fault.

Sounds very civil of the scheduler. There are a few things I have learned over time. One is not to be more specific than necessary in what I said and what the associate answered. Obviously some specificity is needed but extraneous detail is not. The other thing is that I use faux names as often as possible and certainly would not have attempted to shop the same dealership where I had left a copy of my drivers' license last month. Part of a salesman's training is good recall of names so they can greet you by name like a long lost friend next time you show up. I have been impressed on a cell phone shop where I was greeted by my faux name 3 months after my prior visit when nothing had been put in writing on the earlier visit.

It wouldn't have mattered if they remembered my name if it wasn't on the report by Powers. It also didn't help that I had given the salesman some low marks in the previous report.

Flash Wrote:
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> I have been
> impressed on a cell phone shop where I was greeted
> by my faux name 3 months after my prior visit when
> nothing had been put in writing on the earlier
> visit.


My son and I have a bar/combo visit we do every other month or so a a chain TGIF. It is non-reveal and we vary the days/times we do it and we almost never see the same personnel altho sometimes we see the bartender months later. One particular bartender, who we had been the secondary bartender (NOT the one who assisted us) 4 months previous, but who had introduced himself and asked our names, REMEMBERED US when we returned as his customer AND he remembered our names! It was OK, he just introduces himself to everyone and somehow remembers names but it really shook us both up, thinking at first "HE KNOWS"....but the service is always so tip-top there that I guess it wouldn't matter......

AM, Visiting a bar/restaurant and a dealership are not the same thing. Many people return to a restaurant they like and have a drink...it is full of familiar faces. The car dealership I won't do more than once, will do same in a different location only. Folks looking to purchase a car will usually do so within a couple months, and not return after they found out original information. Car dealerships and apartments fall into the same category, you can't keep returning. I don't get J.D.Powers putting names on the report, however they do get your names from your drivers license (how do you escape that). I'm thinking if it's a negative report, they don't want you to come back. You did nothing wrong, but, that story is an eye opener for all of us.

Yes, restaurant is totally different than a dealership. I would not do the same dealership again because every dealership shop I have done has had a test drive, which required my drivers license, so I would be leary of returning for another shop whether I used my own or a different name. Once you've provided documentation of your name, many salesmen would, whether they made you for a shopper or not, recognize you. In fact, many of the dealership salesmen continue to call and e-mail me forever. My son and I were just shocked that anyone had a good enough memory after 4 months to remember names when there was just a casual conversation and no documentation.

Wasn't there a thread a few months ago about certain companies putting the names of shoppers on the report that goes to the client (even to the actual store shopped) as a matter of course?

You are brave. I won't do a dealership a second time even if it is for a different MS. I won't risk stuttering/stammering in public it ruins my lipstick.

Once upon a time, many moons ago, I was waiting for my car to be serviced when the manager sat next to me and asked if I was with the state. I was shocked for many reasons but the primary was because I understood that I was missing out on those great pensions.Interestingly enough the manager accepted my explanation: "yes I live further away from this dealership but my husband works around the corner" and added that he would give the go-ahead to rotate my tires.

Yeah, out J.D. Powers. They deserve it if only for their incompetence and the nerve to whine "we need additional info", info that's there.