CAD Managers

[#1]

Apparently Autodesk will send us a questionaire/survey about our experience with our reseller...

Now I am being informed by our reseller that we need to deal with "a cultural difference":

- Apparently Dutch people (ie. our reseller's customers), when very very very satisfied will grade max with a 8 out of 10.

- Apparently American people (ie. Autodesk) , when confronted with a 7 out of 10 will assume "low performance".

Afraid they will get "high ratings" from Dutch customers (7 or 7.5) and then get punished for "bad performance" from Autodesk, they have been stressing us to grade high.

Now I know (from school, experience with survey's etc) that Dutch will never rate anything really out of the middle (really bad=3, really good=8, 1,2,9 and 10 are never used) but I was wondering if Autodesk really does not take such matters into account when grading internationally.

As in: is our reseller trying to get an overly high rating by claiming all of this?

[#2]

It would appear your reseller is trying to influence the final outcome (aka cheating), nothing more.

[#3]

Funny thing is, that I was planning to grade them with a 5 or something... according to their own reasoning that would then become a 3 or 2... right? Then again, at this locale (the Netherlands), we haven't got much better then our reseller... putting them down would basically lower what can be done with CAD in the entire country. I just wonder why resellers and distributers still exist when I need to download everything from the subscription site... Sure, they can get us discounts... but without them we can all just get lower prices

[#4]

Rarely have I ever been so jaded that a business will get lower than a 4 on a satisfaction survey.

On the other side I've got to be absolutely elated to give a 10. Rarely is this the case.

We all have our own personal quirks as to what is acceptable. Culture AFAIK makes no difference.

But maybe it is all culture if you believe Malcom Gladwell: Outliers

[#5]

Have you ever tried to contact Autodesk direct if you have a product license /subscription/access problem?

They also do best for companies with more than 1-3-5 license needs, help get you through software audits, add-ons, training, and help you decide if you're ready to move on to other software packages.

[#6]

Yes, I have been forced to contact Autodesk direct about license needs etc... because my reseller failed to deliver.

Autodesk helped out, directly, effectively and immediately... within the time my reseller won't even call back (even when promised by them).

The "get started with your autodesk product" forums are really useful in this.

It is not that we have 3 or 5 seats either, it just looks as if the reseller just wants its cut on the yearly subscruiption money and no further obligations.

[#7]

Sounds like you need to be more honest about answering the Survey then as opposed to following your reseller's fishy "suggestions".

My reseller is great and responsive, 99% it's same day and within hours, but I'm in a region of the world were I can pick more than one and have moved when my service needs were not met. They get high marks from me whenever I get a survey, and they don't email me to tell me how to vote.

[#8]

Yes, that was my first impression at well.

But moving to another here is not really an easy option (unless you want out of Autodesk products) and I'm starting to get the impression that the bad service etc is mostly because of the salesman who handles our account: when I bypass him, I get instant help and all that.

I guess at times it is just not so easy to evaluate your reseller - especially if you consider that if you grade them low and Autodesk punishes them, they end up with less services to give to you.

[#9]

He asked you to "fudge" the survey, that's enough for me to do the right thing.