Salesman goes into the back for ages to talk to his manager

Salesman goes into the back for ages to talk to his manager

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Discussion

foxsasha

1,416 posts

134 months

Friday 12th February 2016
quotequote all
Butter Face said:
To be frank I couldn't give two monkeys how the salesman acted, when I'm buying something I'm in it for me. I want it at my price and on my terms, I'll listen to any waffle that someone wants to give me and see how close they can get to what I want.

If the deal isn't happening, say thanks and go. Walking out at any point before actually getting to the hard figures at the end just seems incredibly odd....
I'd do the same to be honest, there's a large element of cutting off your own nose in walking after investing a chunk of time getting to that stage in the process. I can, however, understand why someone would get to the end of their tether after dealing with car salesmen though.

buyer&seller

768 posts

177 months

Friday 12th February 2016
quotequote all
WJNB said:
Michael Caine tells a similar story of when scruffily dressed but having just been paid thousands for a film he walked into a London Rolls Royce dealership & was told by a snotty salesman that he couldn't afford such cars.
Mr Cain walked about 100 yards down the road to a competing RR dealer where he is welcomed & about an hour later drives off the forecourt in a new convertible. Instead of driving home ( you may be ahead of me here) he drives round to the first RR dealer & parks up on the forecourt. Ensuring he gets the attention of the snotty salesman he give him the finger.
The nearest I got to that scenario was when I intercepted a Ford salesman who was trying to contact my wife to establish when she was going to change her Fiesta which she had bought from him 2 years prior. When he realised I had no idea he launched into a non-stop scripted sales patter & became obviously irritated when I continued to be vague about my wife's intentions.
After a while I had to tell him to shut up which I followed by saying that I had just been appointed UK fleet manager for a food company & had been asked to purchase 20 cars for the sales force from whatever local dealer could give me the best deal. A Sierra/Granada mix had been my choice & I took great delight in telling the salesman that his telephone manner had just lost him not only the sale of a Fiesta but 20 cars too. On reflection I doubt if he would have handled the sale anyway, so maybe I should have let his manager/dealer principle in on his manner. I suspect Ford encouraged such aggressiveness in any case, or should I say desperation.
I bought Vauxhall instead by the way, ensuring they were German built NOT Luton.


Bull Scensoredt

-Z-

5,980 posts

205 months

Friday 12th February 2016
quotequote all
unrepentant said:
SpeedyDave said:
What do you think about Tesla's direct sales model and their fight with the franchise networks, auto dealers association etc?
It's illegal in a lot of states and quite rightly. The consumer gets protection from the franchise system. In a city like Chicago there are 6 JLR dealers, 10 MB, 10 BMW etc.. and they all compete with each other. Punters know that they can get prices from multiple dealers and they have a choice about where to do their business. The Tesla model gives them no choice, they buy from Mr Musk at the price he sets and if they don't like it they don't get a Tesla.

Having said that Tesla is losing about $18k per car right now so their business, let alone the business model, may not be sustainable.
If Tesla's are being sold at a loss then wouldn't a franchised dealer system add another layer of profit making,thereby raising prices for the consumer?

Given the way franchised dealers lobby local politicians in the US it smacks of pure protectionism!

wildcat45

8,056 posts

188 months

Friday 12th February 2016
quotequote all
Buster73 said:
Completely true story , the lad worked on the oil rigs ( land based not offshore ) he was one of three local lads who worked for the same company , was refused a test drive at Priory BMW in North Tyneside , went back and paid £9 k in cash.

The name of the dealer shows you how long ago it was.


The same three lads all bought the same trials bikes , Kawasaki Z650's and all ended up with TVR's

Otherwise I've got a very vivid imagination....
Ah, " Pirioreeee, we're your friends in the trade....." As the Metro Radio advert used to go.

30 years ago my Dad was in the market for a new car. He'd had 3 series and having left his job with an old school golden handshake, fancied a new car to turn up to his new job in.

We ran an old Horizon too and he was using it to tool around in. On the day he decided to go to see Priory's Beemers it was in for a service and the little local garage he used lent him a knackered bright yellow Polski Fiat.

We turned up at Priory on Queen Alex Road West in this car. Totally ignored in the showroom until my Dad - a well spoken professional guy who'd been around the world a bit asked "anyone interested in selling a car?" The sneering salesman's response was something like, "You couldn't afford what
We sell mate."

Oh dear. As my old man pointed out to the now borderline tearful salesman at the end of the bkng, it was the term "mate" that really annoyed him. As he then pointed out to some sort of manager who had arrived on scene to placate the situation, there are ways to qualify and brush off a customer, and that wasn't one of them.

Priory were part of the Co-Op at the time and I think my Dad was big pals with some bloke who ran that. He did make a huge fuss, it was directed specifically at this salesman.

We bought a Volvo.

A shame as when we walked into that showroom we had the precise spec we wanted sorted out. A 323i with TRX wheels, Electric front windows, manual roof, green tinted glass and he'd even agreed to my suggestion of a rear spoiler. The only decision was going to be the colour. Mum wanted Weiss, I wanted Hennarot, an my my Dad wanted Lachssilber,.

The salesman's lost sale was to my annoyance as I'd already told everyone at school we were getting a new Beemer.

"Well you'll just have to in-tell them." I was told.

Edited by wildcat45 on Friday 12th February 23:21

Sheepshanks

32,539 posts

118 months

Friday 12th February 2016
quotequote all
WJNB said:
Mr Cain walked about 100 yards down the road to a competing RR dealer
Blimey - not only are the streets of London paved with gold but there's a Rolls Royce dealer every 100 yards.

andymc

7,334 posts

206 months

Friday 12th February 2016
quotequote all
WJNB said:
ashleyman said:
What about salesmen that judge you based on what you're wearing and don't let you test drive something or don't call you back to discuss anything so you don't get to negotiations.

A local Audi dealer told me to my face very bluntly that I couldn't afford an Audi A4 as they are 'very expensive cars'.
Michael Caine tells a similar story of when scruffily dressed but having just been paid thousands for a film he walked into a London Rolls Royce dealership & was told by a snotty salesman that he couldn't afford such cars.
Mr Cain walked about 100 yards down the road to a competing RR dealer where he is welcomed & about an hour later drives off the forecourt in a new convertible. Instead of driving home ( you may be ahead of me here) he drives round to the first RR dealer & parks up on the forecourt. Ensuring he gets the attention of the snotty salesman he give him the finger.
The nearest I got to that scenario was when I intercepted a Ford salesman who was trying to contact my wife to establish when she was going to change her Fiesta which she had bought from him 2 years prior. When he realised I had no idea he launched into a non-stop scripted sales patter & became obviously irritated when I continued to be vague about my wife's intentions.
After a while I had to tell him to shut up which I followed by saying that I had just been appointed UK fleet manager for a food company & had been asked to purchase 20 cars for the sales force from whatever local dealer could give me the best deal. A Sierra/Granada mix had been my choice & I took great delight in telling the salesman that his telephone manner had just lost him not only the sale of a Fiesta but 20 cars too. On reflection I doubt if he would have handled the sale anyway, so maybe I should have let his manager/dealer principle in on his manner. I suspect Ford encouraged such aggressiveness in any case, or should I say desperation.
I bought Vauxhall instead by the way, ensuring they were German built NOT Luton.


thats sounds like a good franchise model to buy into, a competitor not a 100 yards away

petop

2,135 posts

165 months

Saturday 13th February 2016
quotequote all
Adding to the "refused a car and come back scenario" i was looking at a Cayman S at my local Porsche dealer. I couldnt pay all of it with cash so went for the 1/2 cash the rest on finance. Had the car in mind and went through the 10,000 questions for fianance. Came back after 24 hours and the dreaded "its with our finance department" for them to say "no, sorry Mr Petop".
Now i didnt have any CCJ's etc and never used a credit card and wasnt on the Electoral register (my bad!).
That was a couple of years ago. When i got my Vantage (cash bought) i returned to same dealer and parked up, went inside to look around. Same salesman came to me "anything take your fancy" spiel and got chatting. I relayed the previous episode and he did say that Porsche finance can be like asking for Her Majesty to lend you one of her Corgis for a local dog baiting meet. No hard feelings and he came out to look over the car and even had a coffee. Actually inbetween the prospective Cayman purchase and Vantage i ended up in a 911 C4S but that was from a Indy.

williamp

19,217 posts

272 months

Saturday 13th February 2016
quotequote all
[quote=buyer&seller]
WJNB said:
Michael Caine tells a similar story of when scruffily dressed but having just been paid thousands for a film he walked into a London Rolls Royce dealership & was told by a snotty salesman that he couldn't afford such cars.
Mr Cain walked about 100 yards down the road to a competing RR dealer where he is welcomed & about an hour later drives off the forecourt in a new convertible. Instead of driving home ( you may be ahead of me here) he drives round to the first RR dealer & parks up on the forecourt. Ensuring he gets the attention of the snotty salesman he give him the finger.
The nearest I got to that scenario was when I intercepted a Ford salesman who was trying to contact my wife to establish when she was going to change her Fiesta which she had bought from him 2 years prior. When he realised I had no idea he launched into a non-stop scripted sales patter & became obviously irritated when I continued to be vague about my wife's intentions.
After a while I had to tell him to shut up which I followed by saying that I had just been appointed UK fleet manager for a food company & had been asked to purchase 20 cars for the sales force from whatever local dealer could give me the best deal. A Sierra/Granada mix had been my choice & I took great delight in telling the salesman that his telephone manner had just lost him not only the sale of a Fiesta but 20 cars too. On reflection I doubt if he would have handled the sale anyway, so maybe I should have let his manager/dealer principle in on his manner. I suspect Ford encouraged such aggressiveness in any case, or should I say desperation.
I bought Vauxhall instead by the way, ensuring they were German built NOT Luton.


Bull Scensoredt
And how do you make sure its built in a certain factory? Only accept it you check the chassis number first??

berlintaxi

8,535 posts

172 months

Saturday 13th February 2016
quotequote all
WJNB said:
The nearest I got to that scenario was when I intercepted a Ford salesman who was trying to contact my wife to establish when she was going to change her Fiesta which she had bought from him 2 years prior. When he realised I had no idea he launched into a non-stop scripted sales patter & became obviously irritated when I continued to be vague about my wife's intentions.
After a while I had to tell him to shut up which I followed by saying that I had just been appointed UK fleet manager for a food company & had been asked to purchase 20 cars for the sales force from whatever local dealer could give me the best deal. A Sierra/Granada mix had been my choice & I took great delight in telling the salesman that his telephone manner had just lost him not only the sale of a Fiesta but 20 cars too. On reflection I doubt if he would have handled the sale anyway, so maybe I should have let his manager/dealer principle in on his manner. I suspect Ford encouraged such aggressiveness in any case, or should I say desperation.
I bought Vauxhall instead by the way, ensuring they were German built NOT Luton.


As an ex car salesman, and a tttish one at that judging by your post, surely you understood he was just doing his job?
Car salesman to UK fleet manager, yet no contacts to source a major order from, right.scratchchin

Pothole

34,367 posts

281 months

Saturday 13th February 2016
quotequote all
Thankyou4calling said:
Feel free to acknowledge my "Richer than Yow" post but I went into Lamborghini Birmingham yesterday and was very impressed with the knowledge of the Sales Manager.

Knew everything about the car and you really felt comfortable that you were looking in the right place.
You were looking for a Lamborghini at a Lamborghini dealership, but you needed the Sales Manager to reassure you?

Butter Face

30,192 posts

159 months

Saturday 13th February 2016
quotequote all
I do love these threads and the anecdotes they turn up rofl

My grandad once went into a Mazda dealership to buy a car. The bloke was a bit odd, but my grandad being a normal human being managed to buy a brand new 323 Executive. Lovely car. I save that story for parties. hehe

Hol

8,364 posts

199 months

Saturday 13th February 2016
quotequote all
andymc said:
WJNB said:
ashleyman said:
What about salesmen that judge you based on what you're wearing and don't let you test drive something or don't call you back to discuss anything so you don't get to negotiations.

A local Audi dealer told me to my face very bluntly that I couldn't afford an Audi A4 as they are 'very expensive cars'.
Michael Caine tells a similar story of when scruffily dressed but having just been paid thousands for a film he walked into a London Rolls Royce dealership & was told by a snotty salesman that he couldn't afford such cars.
Mr Cain walked about 100 yards down the road to a competing RR dealer where he is welcomed & about an hour later drives off the forecourt in a new convertible. Instead of driving home ( you may be ahead of me here) he drives round to the first RR dealer & parks up on the forecourt. Ensuring he gets the attention of the snotty salesman he give him the finger.
The nearest I got to that scenario was when I intercepted a Ford salesman who was trying to contact my wife to establish when she was going to change her Fiesta which she had bought from him 2 years prior. When he realised I had no idea he launched into a non-stop scripted sales patter & became obviously irritated when I continued to be vague about my wife's intentions.
After a while I had to tell him to shut up which I followed by saying that I had just been appointed UK fleet manager for a food company & had been asked to purchase 20 cars for the sales force from whatever local dealer could give me the best deal. A Sierra/Granada mix had been my choice & I took great delight in telling the salesman that his telephone manner had just lost him not only the sale of a Fiesta but 20 cars too. On reflection I doubt if he would have handled the sale anyway, so maybe I should have let his manager/dealer principle in on his manner. I suspect Ford encouraged such aggressiveness in any case, or should I say desperation.
I bought Vauxhall instead by the way, ensuring they were German built NOT Luton.


thats sounds like a good franchise model to buy into, a competitor not a 100 yards away
Are you sure it was Michael Caine?

I have heard the exact same story about another British celebrity, who was naturally scruffy.

Riktoid

231 posts

111 months

Saturday 13th February 2016
quotequote all
I just bought a clio for my commute.

And that's about it really....

DonkeyApple

54,934 posts

168 months

Saturday 13th February 2016
quotequote all
Thankyou4calling said:
Feel free to acknowledge my "Richer than Yow" post but I went into Lamborghini Birmingham yesterday and was very impressed with the knowledge of the Sales Manager.

Knew everything about the car and you really felt comfortable that you were looking in the right place.
Don't panic. You said Birmingham. No one is going to be envious. wink

djdest

6,542 posts

177 months

Saturday 13th February 2016
quotequote all
DonkeyApple said:
People easily forget that the digital world didn't exist in the 80s and that lots of people were paid cash, lots of people kept large lumps of cash and lots of people made big cash purchases and it was pretty normal.

If you wanted your car that day then a cheque wasn't exactly going to cut it or a bank transfer. And high earners from working class backgrounds often didn't use banks in that way as a cultural legacy.

Younger people often fail to imagine how the world worked before the digital age and have also watched too many gangster films. biggrin

In today's world you would consider such a person to be a crook or a mentalist.
I grew up with large amounts of cash hidden around the house in the 80's and 90's, my dad has his own building company and often got paid in cash for extensions and big jobs.
I remember when we picked up his brand new Audi 80 quattro in '88 it was paid for in full with cash, and the 80 Sport in '86 before that was too come to think of it

CS Garth

2,860 posts

104 months

Saturday 13th February 2016
quotequote all
I once knew a lady of the night who got fobbed off by some snobbish store assistants in Beverly Hills. She the came back with her newly acquired trick who was minted and she made them run around and generally act serf life. It was hilarious.- should have made a film about it

CS Garth

2,860 posts

104 months

Saturday 13th February 2016
quotequote all
djdest said:
DonkeyApple said:
People easily forget that the digital world didn't exist in the 80s and that lots of people were paid cash, lots of people kept large lumps of cash and lots of people made big cash purchases and it was pretty normal.

If you wanted your car that day then a cheque wasn't exactly going to cut it or a bank transfer. And high earners from working class backgrounds often didn't use banks in that way as a cultural legacy.

Younger people often fail to imagine how the world worked before the digital age and have also watched too many gangster films. biggrin

In today's world you would consider such a person to be a crook or a mentalist.
I grew up with large amounts of cash hidden around the house in the 80's and 90's, my dad has his own building company and often got paid in cash for extensions and big jobs.
I remember when we picked up his brand new Audi 80 quattro in '88 it was paid for in full with cash, and the 80 Sport in '86 before that was too come to think of it
He DOES sound like a crook or a mentalist

daemon

35,724 posts

196 months

Saturday 13th February 2016
quotequote all
Butter Face said:
To be frank I couldn't give two monkeys how the salesman acted, when I'm buying something I'm in it for me. I want it at my price and on my terms, I'll listen to any waffle that someone wants to give me and see how close they can get to what I want.

If the deal isn't happening, say thanks and go. Walking out at any point before actually getting to the hard figures at the end just seems incredibly odd....
+1

If they're fking me off, i'll let them know. If they insist i'd have no qualms asking to deal with a different sales person

daemon

35,724 posts

196 months

Saturday 13th February 2016
quotequote all
Hol said:
andymc said:
WJNB said:
ashleyman said:
What about salesmen that judge you based on what you're wearing and don't let you test drive something or don't call you back to discuss anything so you don't get to negotiations.

A local Audi dealer told me to my face very bluntly that I couldn't afford an Audi A4 as they are 'very expensive cars'.
Michael Caine tells a similar story of when scruffily dressed but having just been paid thousands for a film he walked into a London Rolls Royce dealership & was told by a snotty salesman that he couldn't afford such cars.
Mr Cain walked about 100 yards down the road to a competing RR dealer where he is welcomed & about an hour later drives off the forecourt in a new convertible. Instead of driving home ( you may be ahead of me here) he drives round to the first RR dealer & parks up on the forecourt. Ensuring he gets the attention of the snotty salesman he give him the finger.
The nearest I got to that scenario was when I intercepted a Ford salesman who was trying to contact my wife to establish when she was going to change her Fiesta which she had bought from him 2 years prior. When he realised I had no idea he launched into a non-stop scripted sales patter & became obviously irritated when I continued to be vague about my wife's intentions.
After a while I had to tell him to shut up which I followed by saying that I had just been appointed UK fleet manager for a food company & had been asked to purchase 20 cars for the sales force from whatever local dealer could give me the best deal. A Sierra/Granada mix had been my choice & I took great delight in telling the salesman that his telephone manner had just lost him not only the sale of a Fiesta but 20 cars too. On reflection I doubt if he would have handled the sale anyway, so maybe I should have let his manager/dealer principle in on his manner. I suspect Ford encouraged such aggressiveness in any case, or should I say desperation.
I bought Vauxhall instead by the way, ensuring they were German built NOT Luton.


thats sounds like a good franchise model to buy into, a competitor not a 100 yards away
Are you sure it was Michael Caine?

I have heard the exact same story about another British celebrity, who was naturally scruffy.
In fairness, whilst not an absolute recount of what happened - eg, not a Rolls Royce dealer 100 yards down the road - apparently it did happen

http://www.thinkinghomebusiness.com/2012/03/09/the...


Thankyou4calling

10,596 posts

172 months

Saturday 13th February 2016
quotequote all
[quote=buyer&seller]

Bull Scensoredt

[/quote]

Bit unusual to have two Rolls Royce dealers 100yards apart.

You'd think a prestige car like that would have a broader appeal, still, what do I know.

A bloke heard that Michael Caine said it 40 years ago so it must gave happened.