Rude car dealers
Discussion
I have sent a few e-mails to different dealers and with one exception I have received very abrupt responses such as "The car is available. If interested call for appt" No "Hi" or even "thanks", not even a name of who replied from most.
What's wrong with a little politness such as.....
"thanks Mr Kentish for your enquiry, yes the car is still available, if you'd like to call me on xxxx xxxxxx we can arrange an appointment to view. Thanks & regards, nice car dealer"
There has been one exception from a company called D Salmon who were extremely polite and even followed up with an email and a phone call and a voice message to apologise and inform me the car I enquired about had sold. Very impressed with them
But other dealers have been so damn rude!
What's wrong with a little politness such as.....
"thanks Mr Kentish for your enquiry, yes the car is still available, if you'd like to call me on xxxx xxxxxx we can arrange an appointment to view. Thanks & regards, nice car dealer"
There has been one exception from a company called D Salmon who were extremely polite and even followed up with an email and a phone call and a voice message to apologise and inform me the car I enquired about had sold. Very impressed with them
But other dealers have been so damn rude!
Actually, it's not just e-mails. I phoned one earlier and he was so abrupt. I asked how long the MOT was and he said it had expired, so I enquired whether he intended to re MOT the car for him to sell it and he repeated "the MOT has expired". SO I asked "it won't have an new MOT on sale then", "NO" he replied.
Bear in mind that he still wanted the full asking price which was similar to other examples elesewhere with a full ticket and tax and less miles
Do these people get up in the morning and make a point of being a complete arsehole and still expect us to provide them with a salary?
Bear in mind that he still wanted the full asking price which was similar to other examples elesewhere with a full ticket and tax and less miles
Do these people get up in the morning and make a point of being a complete arsehole and still expect us to provide them with a salary?
Edited by Kentish on Monday 19th February 17:29
kieran2006 said:
I experienced the rudeness when I was looking 'round at cars lately. You were lucky to even get replies from your emails! A lot of them act like there doing you such a huge favour just for giving you the time of day, seem to have a 'buy the car or leg it' attitude.
I agree and I haven't received a response from most to emails either, even when they do still have the car they haven't replied and I ended up phoning - email is much easier at work. I realise they can't be watching their PC all day but you'd think after 3 days they could manage to reply to sales enquiries. I don't mind that so much but when they do respond or you speak with them, so many are so rude. I guess there are many lookers and test pilots but I'm a mature sensible person asking serious and sensible questions and it's not as if I'm enquiring about a £1000 Fiesta either.
Edited by Kentish on Monday 19th February 17:39
I can never understand this approach from dealers, I hear it a lot when people hear I work in the trade, the usual story is that people have been into a dealership and the sales people couldn't give a shit.
What puzzles me is that pretty much without exception sales people are paid a pitiful basic (even at Mercedes I was on £10200 for a 56 hour week) but get paid commission based on the profit they make for the company and how many units they shift. As such it can be a nice little earner (£5-6000 months if you're doing well). If however you sit on your arse and don't do anything or are rude to customers you are looking at £850 gross per month. Now I for one wouldn't take stress from my sales manager for £850 per month, I would rather be Johnny No Stars, have a world less pressure and grief.
As such how do these people manage to be in a sales job and not bother selling cars?
What puzzles me is that pretty much without exception sales people are paid a pitiful basic (even at Mercedes I was on £10200 for a 56 hour week) but get paid commission based on the profit they make for the company and how many units they shift. As such it can be a nice little earner (£5-6000 months if you're doing well). If however you sit on your arse and don't do anything or are rude to customers you are looking at £850 gross per month. Now I for one wouldn't take stress from my sales manager for £850 per month, I would rather be Johnny No Stars, have a world less pressure and grief.
As such how do these people manage to be in a sales job and not bother selling cars?
I don't think this is an issue limited to car dealers. I've experienced this from all kinds of UK based companies. They'd much rather get you on the phone or have you there in person it seems, so they can throw their well rehearsed sales pitch at you. Emails are just not taken at all seriously.
Americans on the other hand are more than willing to converse by email by comparison.
P,
Americans on the other hand are more than willing to converse by email by comparison.
P,
Edited by PJR on Monday 19th February 17:48
I went to look at a car yesterday too and had a spotty faced youth just stand next to me and he was pleasant enough but said nothing, he was really happy to just stand there and tell me nothing about the car.
It did get a bit irritating after a while since he kpet following me around the car as I was looking it over, all the time saying nothing until I asked a question then he replied mainly with "I dunno". Not really "selling" it to me was he
It did get a bit irritating after a while since he kpet following me around the car as I was looking it over, all the time saying nothing until I asked a question then he replied mainly with "I dunno". Not really "selling" it to me was he
I think you might find that the ratio of email enquiries that result in sales, compared to phone/walk in enquiries shows that very few emails end up becoming a deal.
Whilst Im not suggesting the response you got was right, but its good to understand that most salespeople who after hundreds of email equiries that went nowhere end up not taking any of them seriously.
My advise is, if the dealer has a car in stock you are interested in, phone up speak to someone, then if all seems well make an appointment to see it. This will give you the best chance of being taken seriously, and being give the best possible service.
I know that in an ideal world everyone should be taken seriously, and given the best possible service, but human nature dictates that after getting messed around a few times most people who do the job become quite cynical.
Whilst Im not suggesting the response you got was right, but its good to understand that most salespeople who after hundreds of email equiries that went nowhere end up not taking any of them seriously.
My advise is, if the dealer has a car in stock you are interested in, phone up speak to someone, then if all seems well make an appointment to see it. This will give you the best chance of being taken seriously, and being give the best possible service.
I know that in an ideal world everyone should be taken seriously, and given the best possible service, but human nature dictates that after getting messed around a few times most people who do the job become quite cynical.
Edited by kentmotorcompany on Monday 19th February 18:44
00161wj said:
I hate it when people e-mail. If you want it ring up. When we see that someone couldnt be bothered to do this, we think 'time waster'. Thats why! Suprsied their emailing back atall tbh.
Interesting attitude. Not being funny here but it's called The Internet, and I can't see why an email should mean any more, or less of an interest than a phone call and I'd be interested to know why you think "time waster"?
Personally I like email because it means everything is there in black and white, if you ask a question there's less potential to be pissed about with vague and wooly answers.
00161wj said:
I hate it when people e-mail. If you want it ring up. When we see that someone couldnt be bothered to do this, we think 'time waster'. Thats why! Suprsied their emailing back atall tbh.
Couldn't be bothered to press buttons and speak, as opposed to press buttons and write??
Why have an email address if you don't want email enquiries ?
hutchingsp said:
[quote=00161wj]
Personally I like email because it means everything is there in black and white, if you ask a question there's less potential to be pissed about with vague and wooly answers.
Personally I like email because it means everything is there in black and white, if you ask a question there's less potential to be pissed about with vague and wooly answers.
Yep, I have repeatedly been told things over the phone by dealers in the past that have been pretty much lies. One time the guy 'didn't remember' saying 'Oh yes, full service history' over the phone (an hour earlier) when I pulled him up on it (the car had NO history). Now theres a timewaster..
An informed buyer with everything in black and white is probably a 'timewaster' to a less than honest dealer.
I purposely dont put the email address in adverts because all you get is time wasters, for instance people want to send me pictures of their px and me tell them what id pay for it. They just dont understand i need to see it. E-mailing doesnt work when your buying and selling cars, if your serious you'd ring up and make an appointment.
A lot of Traders have their sites set up with "e-mail us here" facilities and like someone else said if your at work or work long hours and need to leave a message/question out of hours its an ideal way to communicate.When I was looking for my first TVR i e-mailed a few places and only one replied.They got my business and £23000 of my hard earnt.( thanks Fernhurst )As for the rest of them...well f**k 'em.They need to sell cars more than I need to buy one !Usually gives you a good idea of their service after you've parted with your money aswell!!
)As for the rest of them...well f**k 'em.They need to sell cars more than I need to buy one !Usually gives you a good idea of their service after you've parted with your money aswell!!Untrustworthy dealer are the only ones that won't reply to email properly as they don't want anything in writing that could later come back and bite them, You are the customer, if they don't want to deal your way then go else where, this is the 21st century for god sake, if they can't figure out an email do you really want to trust them with your car!!
AND the polite bit of the email 'if you require any more assistance call me, xxxxx, on 01xxxxxx' could just be a signature saved to the end of all outgoing emails
AND the polite bit of the email 'if you require any more assistance call me, xxxxx, on 01xxxxxx' could just be a signature saved to the end of all outgoing emails
hutchingsp said:
Personally I like email because it means everything is there in black and white, if you ask a question there's less potential to be pissed about with vague and wooly answers.
Could this be a reason why many dealers don't like email...they actually have to put stuff in writing?
Yeah I phoned up one of the old guys out of Practical Classics once as his place was near the A505 where I was going past (can't remember the name).
It went something like:
- "Hi, I was in the area and wondered if I could look at some of the cars you have advertised"
"which one."
- "well, I'm not sure..."
"I'm not running a museum here, I'm running a garage, if you don't know which one you like then I can't help you".
- click
Needless to say I don't look at any of his adverts any more
It went something like:
- "Hi, I was in the area and wondered if I could look at some of the cars you have advertised"
"which one."
- "well, I'm not sure..."
"I'm not running a museum here, I'm running a garage, if you don't know which one you like then I can't help you".
- click
Needless to say I don't look at any of his adverts any more
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