Rude car dealers

[s.m.h.]

MK4 Slowride said:

POORCARDEALER said:

all dealers are lazy dishonest tossers.

Which is no reflection on the arseholes customers we often have to deal with.

I had a couple of different ones with weekend. Some bloke who I just couldn't get a conversation out of at all, miserable I spotted the car he was on demo in only had a range of 50 miles or so and said I'd fill it up. "well that's not very good is it" I won't bother next time.

Another bloke delivers back the new 123d after a 2.5 hour t/d, dumps it in the entrance right in the way. Gets to reception where the lady was on the phone to a customer imediately he's pacing up & down tuting so I go over and he has a go at me because she wasn't ready to speak to him, off.

I worked for a very big dealership, was a Tech for 6 years and then did a stint as service advisor. I have qualifications as a service manager so thought it would be a walk in the park...
That was the hardest 6 months ever. You would not believe the crap you get from customers. Not all were arsey but the ones that were certainly made up for it. Its not difficult to see why salesmen, car, electrical etc could over a period of time lose some of their niceness after people give them crap when ultimatley theyre only there to assist. After all they cant make people buy cars only help.
Poor service is another matter.
Oddly enough customers were pretty good to the mechs as they normally did stuff for free ( bulb change wiper blade swap etc)...

[ph123]

What came first?
General Public or Car Dealers?
Generalisations or evil don't you think?

[MK4 Slowride]

s.m.h. said:

MK4 Slowride said:

POORCARDEALER said:

all dealers are lazy dishonest tossers.

Which is no reflection on the arseholes customers we often have to deal with.

I had a couple of different ones with weekend. Some bloke who I just couldn't get a conversation out of at all, miserable I spotted the car he was on demo in only had a range of 50 miles or so and said I'd fill it up. "well that's not very good is it" I won't bother next time.

Another bloke delivers back the new 123d after a 2.5 hour t/d, dumps it in the entrance right in the way. Gets to reception where the lady was on the phone to a customer imediately he's pacing up & down tuting so I go over and he has a go at me because she wasn't ready to speak to him, off.

I worked for a very big dealership, was a Tech for 6 years and then did a stint as service advisor. I have qualifications as a service manager so thought it would be a walk in the park...
That was the hardest 6 months ever. You would not believe the crap you get from customers. Not all were arsey but the ones that were certainly made up for it. Its not difficult to see why salesmen, car, electrical etc could over a period of time lose some of their niceness after people give them crap when ultimatley theyre only there to assist. After all they cant make people buy cars only help.
Poor service is another matter.
Oddly enough customers were pretty good to the mechs as they normally did stuff for free ( bulb change wiper blade swap etc)...

People do tend to fly off the handle to quickly, I think they believe if they give you enoguh shit then you'll cave in to their demands. Some people use that same approach to buying a car, I've even stopped a prospect and said that I felt we had a personality clash and could I get another salesman to deal with him. He appologised & was as nice as pie from then on, so there was no need he probably thought he'd get a better deal.

A while back a customer didn't put the handbrake on his car properly which then rolled into another parked customer's car while he was in the showroom. We had to contact this customer to say his P&J got damaged on site, he went mental and accused us of all sorts when it was completely out of our hands. The customer who caused it also said it was our fault. These people are supposed to be reasonable adults.

Having said that all that there are enough friendly customers who are great to deal with to make up for the nasty ones.

[Dracoro]

Schmalex said:

DBSV8 said:

you will not get this service from Lexus dealers

absolutley in a different class

first class

Rubbish. I had a brand new is200 as a company car a few years ago. Whilst they were good during the initial viewing etc, their after-sales was appalling. Not only did it never get washed after a service, it came back in worse condition than it went in every time. Only a small thing, but for this reason I would never buy another Lexus again.

Rubbish back!
It's pretty much iniverally recognised that Lexus dealers tend to be the best.
Yes, there will be some that aren't as good (as you've experienced) but the ratio of good:bad is far better with Lexus than any other.

If you'd never buy Lexus again for something as trivial as not washing your car, why would you buy ANY car as you can see from this thread ALL manufacturers have horror stories.

Apart from that, many dealers do NOT wash cars as many customers request them not to. Why don't you just ask them to wash it. Ideally, they should ask if you want it washing however rather than assuming.

No I don't own a Lexus BTW!

My uncle has one however, they pick it up from his home, give him a decent courtesy car (a rare thing indeed!), ask him if there's anything particular that needs looking at, return the car when agreed, all at a reasonable price and a week later they give him a polite courtesy call to check everything is OK and that he's happy with the service. Oh, and it's never gone wrong, not one little niggly thing.

A lot of "premium" (hahahahha) manufacturers have a lot to learn. Audi/BMW are barely adequate and Mercedes are awful. They provide no better (or worse) service than the more mass market manufacturers (your fords, vws etc.)

[briSk]

Pwig said:

I personally love 'What's the best deal cash mate'

It's like we still stuff cash in the back pockets and it's all a bit hush hush

this is actually deeply annoying..!

the fact that the in house car firm finance business means it's better for you guys to sell on the never never makes it very annoying when you were rought up to expect a discount for actually having all the money..!

[DBSV8]

Schmalex said:

DBSV8 said:

you will not get this service from Lexus dealers

absolutley in a different class

first class

Rubbish. I had a brand new is200 as a company car a few years ago. Whilst they were good during the initial viewing etc, their after-sales was appalling. Not only did it never get washed after a service, it came back in worse condition than it went in every time. Only a small thing, but for this reason I would never buy another Lexus again.

I see from your profile you are in the South ,

My experience was based at Lexus Poole , who would valet / wash car as a matter of course following a service or repair
They even drove 7 miles to pick my car up at my fathers house left a new is200 in the drive and drove mine to the service centre to perform mot , then returned the valeted car ...for no charge !!
then give you a courtesy phone call /or letter afterwards to ensure you were satisfied with the service.

Compared to my father's experience with a local Honda dealership it really was first class.

Have also used Southampton who fitted a towbar , the car was returned valeted

so I guess I have been very fortunate with dealers

[TonyHetherington]

My experience of Lexus (I've had 2 x IS200's) was, shall we say, not up to their reputation. I live in the South-East and bought the car from somewhere in the west, but a bit east of wales

Tell you what though, their head office was superb.

Ok long story short; buy car from official dealer. It comes with full service history, as stated in ad and as deemed necessary by official Lexus warranty etc.

I get the car but they say they've lost the book, don't worry we'll forward you one on it's all on computer. Months go by, I chase now and then but never too particularly worried about it. A year later a service is needed and so I start to get all snotty about it.

Turns out the car missed it's last service.

So, they offer me....a free service. Cheeky feckwits, I told him on the phone I was actually offended at that. They said "that's the best we can do".

So, got on to Lexus UK. Within 1 hour of my e-mail arrving I had a phone call from the UK director I think it was, giving me his personal mobile number and saying he'll be back to me by close of business. He phoned me at 5pm to say he was on his way down to (the dealer in question) that night, will establish a resolution first thing in morning.

Following morning I got a phone call from Mr UK director, sir we'd like to offer as a direct replacement this car which is slightly better spec, 10k miles less than yours and a year newer.

The dealer were appauling, Lexus Customer services UK were first class.

[TonyHetherington]

Oh, and my experience of Lexus canterbury (my "local" dealer) was having to pay for a courtesy car's insurance while mine was being serviced or having warranty work, and them not picking up the car me having to take days off work to get it there.

[mightymouse]

Schmalex said:

Trying to buy a Range Rover at the moment & trying to get the dealer into a negotiation is an absolute nightmare. You would have thought that at this time of the year, being the end of their FY they would bite my hand off. But no. ho hum..............

Simple.................go elsewhere

[AdamT]

TonyHetherington said:

The dealer were appauling, Lexus Customer services UK were first class.

Thats quite a result Tony

Did you then sell that newer one and make a bit of $$$?

a

[GregE240]

Schmalex said:

DBSV8 said:

you will not get this service from Lexus dealers

absolutley in a different class

first class

Rubbish. I had a brand new is200 as a company car a few years ago. Whilst they were good during the initial viewing etc, their after-sales was appalling. Not only did it never get washed after a service, it came back in worse condition than it went in every time. Only a small thing, but for this reason I would never buy another Lexus again.

Well, having now visited 4 different Lexus dealers with mine I would say you are the exception rather than the rule.

Mind you, you only had a cheap Lexus

[TonyHetherington]

AdamT said:

TonyHetherington said:

The dealer were appauling, Lexus Customer services UK were first class.

Thats quite a result Tony

Did you then sell that newer one and make a bit of $$$?

It was a result! The UK Lexus (as opposed to the Franchised dealer) were superb.

The newer car I had for a year and a half I think it was and it meant that on the total I just lost a couple of grand less when I traded in my newer car for a Lotus

[AdamT]

TonyHetherington said:

AdamT said:

TonyHetherington said:

The dealer were appauling, Lexus Customer services UK were first class.

Thats quite a result Tony

Did you then sell that newer one and make a bit of $$$?

It was a result! The UK Lexus (as opposed to the Franchised dealer) were superb.

The newer car I had for a year and a half I think it was and it meant that on the total I just lost a couple of grand less when I traded in my newer car for a Lotus

[Paracetamol]

Far Eastender said:

My experiences as follows:

Mercedes - Terrible, totally not interested, even though I drove up in a Merc and was obviously looking to replace it. Wife wants to look at M Class, salesman tries to sell her G Class. I make my mind up to buy something else.

BMW - My wife wants an X5 and I take her to the garage. Sales person is told by my wife that she is buying the car. He spends 15 minutes telling ME all about it. My wife says she's no longer interested.

Porsche - I've always had good treatment at Porsche, both buying and servicing. My wife looked at a Cayenne, but salesmen clearly not interested in making a sale.

Audi - Very good. My wife test drives a Q7, but it's too big, I order a new S6

VW - Even better. All salesmen are busy, sat down with a coffee, newspaper and TV, asked if 'all-right' every five minutes or so. My wife wants a car and the salesman realises that she is the buyer, not me. Sold - new Touareg.

Jaguar - Best service and follow up. The only thing they didn't tell me was to buy two, as one would always be in the service department, but that's another story. Even so, I will go back to a Jag one day.

Bloody hell..your wife's a bit demanding..she wanted an ML , X5, Caynne, Q7 (not at the same time!)...does she do alot of off roading then?

[rude-boy]

TonyHetherington said:

Problem is though, look at the responses on this thread. Some are saying "I want to be acknowledged" some are saing "I will come to you when I am ready".

Poor salesmen don't know which bloomin way to turn!!!

When i step into a showroom I certainly think that my existance should be noted if they aren't up to the eyes. It takes nothing just to raise the head and smile/nod etc to acknowledge they have seen me.

If they want to come over that's there job, to sell me one of their cars. Their 'can i help' will usually be responded to with a 'yes please' or a 'no thanks, i'll search you out if i need a hand.'

The ones that really bug are those that follow me round like a lost puppy or, even worse those that hear you say no thanks, i'll pop over when I've had a look and then come up to me every 2 minutes...

[Schmalex]

DBSV8 said:

Schmalex said:

DBSV8 said:

you will not get this service from Lexus dealers

absolutley in a different class

first class

Rubbish. I had a brand new is200 as a company car a few years ago. Whilst they were good during the initial viewing etc, their after-sales was appalling. Not only did it never get washed after a service, it came back in worse condition than it went in every time. Only a small thing, but for this reason I would never buy another Lexus again.

I see from your profile you are in the South ,

My experience was based at Lexus Poole , who would valet / wash car as a matter of course following a service or repair
They even drove 7 miles to pick my car up at my fathers house left a new is200 in the drive and drove mine to the service centre to perform mot , then returned the valeted car ...for no charge !!
then give you a courtesy phone call /or letter afterwards to ensure you were satisfied with the service.

Compared to my father's experience with a local Honda dealership it really was first class.

Have also used Southampton who fitted a towbar , the car was returned valeted

so I guess I have been very fortunate with dealers

I used to use Southampton. This was 6 or 7 years ago, so things have probably changed in that time. It was only a little thing, but it really niggled me at the time. As the old saying goes, "perception is reality".....

[Pwig]

I also love the way people judge an eintre brand by one salesman at one dealership. If you don't get along with the salesman mention so and ask to speak to someone else. There are alot of different characters who work at dealerships. cos guess what, we are all different!

[PhilLL]

This makes for very interesting reading; being in sales (different industry but the principles remain the same) everyone is a potential customer and not replying to an enquiry seems unfathomable!

Are the dealers so busy with enquiries that they don't have the time to deal with email or text enquiries?

[SplatSpeed]

i had a rude dealer at a merc garage

looked down his nose at me when i looked at an e55 amg

so i bought an XJR

and a skoda dealer with a octavia VRS

aranged a test drive and then they had no idea when i turned up to do it after having to wait 2 days for them to get the car back from another showroom
FFS bought a monaro instead

moral of the storry dont piss me off if you want my money

[Scraggles]

had a certain renault dealer refuse to believe that I did not want any more renaults, most likley as was driving a ford focus company car. Asked for my details to be removed from their mailing list a good 4-5 years ago. Last year got some fliers, seems they had decided to keep my details after all.

Wrote back to them asking what part of remove my details did they not understand ? Told them any more junk mail would be returned, think that cost them £1.50, the next one maybe a lot more as it was weighted down with some other pap I had gotten..

Then got put on junk mailing lists to the army, some bunch of god lovers and stannah stair lifts, the muppets used their office phone, so when the lift guys phoned me to check on some details, no-one in the renault office knew anything about it.

Tried renault uk, who were utterly useless as got more renault offers after that from the same retards