Arrogant and Unprofessional

[Rocco1]

I have posted here recently that I would like to own a Diablo in orange but as we know there are none avalible.So my second choice is a Scud,on Friday I went to my local Ferrari dealer(xxxxxxxx) to have a close look at one.They had two Scud's one in red and one in dark grey.The saleman introduced himself and gave me the sales chat.When I asked him how many UK cars there are he replied "no idea"( I found out later from Maranello Ferrari Egham the number was 136 uk cars).I was rather taken back when he did not know the answer, if you was about to part with the best part of £130k one would like to know how many there are out there.The red Scud looked the part had done 3k miles so when I asked him I was looking at one that had done up to 2k miles he walked away and grinned! He came back and said we do not have any in our group(xxxxxxxx)with that milage.So then I asked him can we do a deal on this one when he replied " I thought its done too many miles for you and I have to take this call" I was taken back,(what a arrogant T**T I thought, felt like smacking him)and walked out,and all because I was in work clothes and not wearing Alexander McQueen/Gergio Armani suit!

MOD EDIT: Please, do be aware of our name and shame rules Thanks.

Edited by TonyHetherington on Monday 16th May 10:18

[koolchris99]

Take your business elsewhere, then turn up and rub his face in the commission he could have got.

[crostonian]

This must be the most incompetently run F/M dealer in the country from my experience with sales/service and parts. They are soon to move to a new site in Wilmslow but unfortunately I doubt they will be changing the personnel.

[UH-Matt]

I phoned them up about one of their Scud's around a month ago. It would have been a long way for me to go to view/negotiate so I tried to get an idea of condition and what they may be prepared to do on price over the phone - while nobody was arrogent or rude on the phone they certainly were not interested in trying to do any sort of deal with me, call lasted around 2 minutes and I promptly whisked myself away to Maranello Egham and HR Owen St Albans and ended up buying a car in HR Owen.

In my search for a car (same applies to other marques to) I have never found (xxxx) to be all that great (and I bought an Aston from them at one point). Greypaul, Sytner and HR Owen have always been helpful.

[Another Fluffer]

koolchris99 said:

Take your business elsewhere, then turn up and rub his face in the commission he could have got.

This

[Durzel]

Can I ask what the significance of being under 2k miles is? Is it a psychological thing? Reason I ask is that I could understand if you were talking about, say, a car that had done over 10k vs one under - but what is the practical difference between a used Scud that has done 2k vs one that has done 3k? Both are (presumably) less than the initial service interval, I fail to see what would have manifestly changed about the car in such a short space of miles.

Sorry if it sounds like I'm trolling but I'm really struggle to see the significance of an extra 1k miles, and if I were a salesman and someone said something similar in the context of trying to negotiate a discount I'd probably think they were wasting my time too.

[paddyhasneeds]

Rocco1 said:

said we do not have any in our group(*****xxxxxxx*)with that milage.

Regardless of marque or cost, there's your clue.

[Rocco1]

UH-Matt said:

I phoned them up about one of their Scud's around a month ago. It would have been a long way for me to go to view/negotiate so I tried to get an idea of condition and what they may be prepared to do on price over the phone - while nobody was arrogent or rude on the phone they certainly were not interested in trying to do any sort of deal with me, call lasted around 2 minutes and I promptly whisked myself away to Maranello Egham and HR Owen St Albans and ended up buying a car in HR Owen.

In my search for a car (same applies to other marques to) I have never found Stratstone to be all that great (and I bought an Aston from them at one point). Greypaul, Sytner and HR Owen have always been helpful.

Talking about Maranello Egham there service was and is excellent.I bought my Gallardo from there(4yrs ago) over the phone without even looking at it, £5k less than asking price with first years service thrown in(the Gallardo was 7/8 months old) 12 months tax, full tank of fuel and delivered to Manchester area all this over the phone,if only others had the same attitude.By the way Manchester Ferrari have a 458 in grey/dark silver (it looks naff sorry).

[simonspider]

I encountered an attitude from most Ferrari dealers on searching for the 458 from polite indifference to downright arrogance. I simply explained that I wanted a new 458 and was ready to pay the required premium. Yes I know with hindsight this was a bit naieve. But there were a couple of exceptions HR Owen and Graypaul were both helpful.

[franki68]

I wanted a 430 in grigio,I went to Manchester Ferrari and they didn't have one,but a week later he rang me saying they had one.it was an 06 with 3k miles and absolutely mint.I don't like these cars that have ultra low mileage as experience and that of others leads me to believe that these cars tend to have more issues than cars which have actually been used.so I said o would think about it.
Anyway I drove a gallardo spider and fell in love,bought it...I then get a call from the Ferrari salesman asking me what I wanted to do with the 430,I told him I bought the Lamborghini and he says " you'll be back to buy a 430 off me in a month"
The arrogant stbag,not only was he increbily wrong,but if he had been right I wouldn't have given him the business.

[jackal]

Trying to see both sides ( as there always are) i dont get the remark about wanting a 2k car when you were looking at a 3k car. Does 1k really matter ? No dealer likes it when someone looks down on his stock and with respect that could sound like you were trying to wind the fella up and of course it all depends on how you said it which we'll never know. You could interpret it that he just came back to you and gave as good as he got. Could all be complete BS but just offerin up an explanation. I find that when salesman are poor there is often an initial attitude from the buyer that elicited it. Did you feel a bit insecure because you weren't dressed smart ? Maybe that meant that you came across as a bit defensive ? When you asked about build numbers was it in a friendly offhand way or did your body language give the impression that you were trying to test him. Your post almost suggests that his sales patter made you angry and your reaction to this was to quiz his knowledge. Again im only guessing here. I tested a 430 recently at Stratstones and the fella was nice as pie ... Superb serviceand I was dressed in jeans that had giant rips in both knees and white gloss paint all down them, no joke.

Edited by jackal on Sunday 15th May 13:54

[sjn2004]

Durzel said:

Can I ask what the significance of being under 2k miles is? Is it a psychological thing? Reason I ask is that I could understand if you were talking about, say, a car that had done over 10k vs one under - but what is the practical difference between a used Scud that has done 2k vs one that has done 3k? Both are (presumably) less than the initial service interval, I fail to see what would have manifestly changed about the car in such a short space of miles.

Sorry if it sounds like I'm trolling but I'm really struggle to see the significance of an extra 1k miles, and if I were a salesman and someone said something similar in the context of trying to negotiate a discount I'd probably think they were wasting my time too.

My thoughts exactly, saw a GT2 recently with v.low miles and more stone chips than I've ever seen on a car. It still had the stickers inside the windscreen for Spa. Buy on condition first, mileage secondly.

[phib]

paddyhasneeds said:

Regardless of marque or cost, there's your clue.

Spot on tried to buy an aston and rangerover off them, tried being the operative word !!!

Hopeless

Phib

[POORCARDEALER]

I think the fact that there are only 136 cars around, they have a 3K car but you say its got to be under 2K will have indicated to him you are a messer (apologies if thats sounds harsh, certainly not saying you are)

[Harry Riddles]

sjn2004 said:

My thoughts exactly, saw a GT2 recently with v.low miles and more stone chips than I've ever seen on a car. It still had the stickers inside the windscreen for Spa. Buy on condition first, mileage secondly.

Agreed, but if the OP was just curious whilst looking at the car asking about UK numbers and mileage then I think the salesman was arrogant in his reaction.

I am far from being a supercar buyer, but the people at HR Owen Ferrari London are nice guys who are enthusiastic and always happy to chat about the cars with me, I could not imagine them acting in the same way the salesman from Manchester did.

[1]

POORCARDEALER said:

I think the fact that there are only 136 cars around, they have a 3K car but you say its got to be under 2K will have indicated to him you are a messer (apologies if thats sounds harsh, certainly not saying you are)

I agree. A large part of his job will be trying to wade through time wasters/dreamers. Looks like he got this one wrong, but IMO you didn't help yourself.

Who cares exactly how many cars are in the UK? You knew it was a fairly limited number, you could probably guess somewhere between 100-200, in reality what's the difference between 136 or 175? As for the mileage that is just ridiculous.

[Rocco1]

Porsche Bolton know me,when I go there the girls greet me with a smile,the sales men/man have a drink ready for me,same group Stratstone's! Going back to the question how serious I was about buying this car,well I was on my knees for 5 minutes looking at the wheels and crawling along the floor looking for wear and tear! I found many inperfections ie uneven wear on tyres track use,front grill showing signs of track use,windscreen that still has excess silcon/sikaflex around the windscreen area(not to mention I don't think its been put in properly one side shows an area that should not be visable to the eye)oh and the area aruond the footwell needs a clean! As to the milage if you had a choice of buying a car with lower miels I am sure most would,this car has been tracked,how many times I dont know but £130k for a car thats been tracked and needs bits sorting out and an arrogant salesman,somehow does not tally up.By the way I hope the owner of this car Red Scuderia 2009 (F1 SCU reg ) for sale @ Manchester Farrei(SOR) is reading this post,if you are serious about selling your car drop me a PM you are waisting your time with them! I have cleared founds avalible to buy your car at a right price.

[jtremlett]

Rocco1 said:

...When I asked him how many UK cars there are he replied "no idea"( I found out later from Maranello Ferrari Egham the number was 136 uk cars)...

Well Maranello gave you the wrong number anyway so it turns out they didn't know either. To be fair, Ferrari SpA are not terribly helpful at giving out production numbers, for various reasons...

Jonathan

[AL001]

Not surprised by salesmans response and this cowardly, immature personal attack on him via a widely read Ferrari forum here leaves a bad taste.

I doubt many Scud owners will be rushing to do business with you as it's obvious from this and numerous other car "buying" posts of yours, that it is much more trouble that it's worth.

[andrew]

some plonker walked into my showroom the other day
couldn't tell if he was yet another scruffy chancer, so i gave him the benefit of the doubt
said he was looking for an orange diablo, but couldn't find an orange one, so was looking for a red ferrari. or maybe a grey one
then he starting giving it the old "i can't have a car with more than 2k miles, ferraris aren't built for high mileage, gotta think of the resale" patter. i have to admit that i had to turn away for a moment : it was all i could do not to burst out laughing. must be professional.
so then we came to the usual derisory offer. no test drive. not a clue. guy didn't know what the car was worth, didn't even know how many there are in the uk !
i excused myself and took a brief call from someone who may have been a genuine buyer - i'm conscientious and never like to have people drop to voicemail.
then he walked out : obviously yet another scruffy chancer