How to lose a customer, car dealership edition...

mtuomi said:
The brand GM should have saved was Saab. Likely the best engineering innovations in the whole industry.
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If they were so smart, why the hell did they put the key down on the floor where it will get all crudded up?
 
RalphInCA said:
If they were so smart, why the hell did they put the key down on the floor where it will get all crudded up?
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I actually like that feature. The later ones have the ignition switch a bit higher so it won't get crudded at all.
 
Going back to the original topic - I just got ANOTHER phone call from this Ford dealer (6:30PM). This time she wouldn't take a no for an answer.
"Hi I'm calling on behalf of XYZ Ford, you were a guest with us a couple of days ago and" me interrupting "Yes, I'm having dinner right now, is this urgent?" "And we would like to know if you enjoyed your visit to our dealership? Calls are monitored for quality control purposes"

Before I said "I enjoyed the visit but not the calls" she kept going, "how did you find out about out dealership". That's when I kinda lost it and just said "I'm not going to do a survey right now, I said I'm eating dinner. I will not go back to your dealership and do not call me again".

Christ. Never again. Thankfully there are good Ford dealers out there... :)
 
SoCal RV Flyer said:
Yes, miserable excuse for a car. Buyers were non-car people, looking for an appliance and lured in by the no-haggle pricing. Grainy-sounding engines, Rubbermaid interiors, and plastic exterior panels that could take a hit from a shopping cart....but dimensionally they were terrible, with huge, uneven panel gaps. Orange peel for days in the no-luster paint jobs.

Saturn "engineers" were proud of the lost-foam casting technique for blocks and cylinder heads, but Styrofoam cooler texture on castings was kinda pathetic. Actual Styrofoam for the blocks might've made for a longer-lasting engine. :eek:

Drove an LH 300 sedan once (not my car...let me make that point very clear!!) and pushed it hard through a favorite cloverleaf. The torsional rigidity was so poor that the door tweaked away from the unit body just from cornering loads. I could hear wind noise past the rubber seals that went away when the road straightened. Crap, crap, crap!!!

Gotta love BMWs. The current vehicle, a 2002 3-Series, shows no signs of slowing down at 161K-plus miles (maintained well, certainly) and even at its advanced age the chassis is remarkably tight now despite tired bushings. I'm in the market for a new one in about a year, so I went sniffing around at the local dealership. Even though I said up front that I was a year out from purchase, the salesman bent over backwards to make me feel comfortable. He went as far as having the new objet d' lust (M240i) delivered to my house for a test drive. THAT is how you win over a customer.
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By the time the L series came out, the Saturn experiment was already over, killed by lack of funding, other GM platforms, and the UAW. The LS was built in a Wilmington DE GM plant, not the Spring Hill Saturn plant. Too little, too late.
 
mtuomi said:
Going back to the original topic - I just got ANOTHER phone call from this Ford dealer (6:30PM). This time she wouldn't take a no for an answer.
"Hi I'm calling on behalf of XYZ Ford, you were a guest with us a couple of days ago and" me interrupting "Yes, I'm having dinner right now, is this urgent?" "And we would like to know if you enjoyed your visit to our dealership? Calls are monitored for quality control purposes"

Before I said "I enjoyed the visit but not the calls" she kept going, "how did you find out about out dealership". That's when I kinda lost it and just said "I'm not going to do a survey right now, I said I'm eating dinner. I will not go back to your dealership and do not call me again".

Christ. Never again. Thankfully there are good Ford dealers out there... :)
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I promise not to call you at dinner! :D
 
RalphInCA said:
If they were so smart, why the hell did they put the key down on the floor where it will get all crudded up?
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The ignition switch also functioned to lock the car in reverse gear...at least on some manual-trans models.
 
SoCal RV Flyer said:
The ignition switch also functioned to lock the car in reverse gear...at least on some manual-trans models.
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That's actually not just a Saab thing but yes, the old stick 900's, you couldn't get the key off unless you were in reverse.
 
Best ever dealer commercial! CAUTION: very strong language. Think this is one of N747JB's salesmen.


 
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mscard88 said:
Cool! Whatya playing? Sing, instrument, brand?
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I do sing, but my register is very low pitch so I don't get as many lines as the other guys. I play bass guitar, four and six string. My main is a plain Jane Black and white fender P bass that has seen over 100 gigs easy, been playing it live since I was 13. My other more "advanced " bass is my custom Keisel Six string. As seen above. We all have tons of fun, sing and write our own music and make a little play money on the side.
 

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Jim Case said:
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I do sing, but my register is very low pitch so I don't get as many lines as the other guys. I play bass guitar, four and six string. My main is a plain Jane Black and white fender P bass that has seen over 100 gigs easy, been playing it live since I was 13. My other more "advanced " bass is my custom Keisel Six string. As seen above. We all have tons of fun, sing and write our own music and make a little play money on the side.
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Cool! I played a bit of bass in HS, mid 60s, then went in the Air Force. Haven't played since but I did start back 3 years ago, so I tell people I've been playing about 50 years with a 47 year lay off. :D
 
mscard88 said:
Cool! I played a bit of bass in HS, mid 60s, then went in the Air Force. Haven't played since but I did start back 3 years ago, so I tell people I've been playing about 50 years with a 47 year lay off. :D
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That's funny! I like it. It's rare that we can all get together any more, but we have a great time when we do, with me always ending up Designated Driver! :) its fine since i don't drink. My brother, who is a "Boater" ( he's gonna be a ferry captain, he's a great boatman ) plays keys, our friend dale, who is also a pilot, plays guitar. And dales sister plays drums, she's a manager for a trucking company, were all in the transportation business! We have a blast every time, it's great stress relief.:thumbsup:
 
Jim Case said:
That's funny! I like it. It's rare that we can all get together any more, but we have a great time when we do, with me always ending up Designated Driver! :) its fine since i don't drink. My brother, who is a "Boater" ( he's gonna be a ferry captain, he's a great boatman ) plays keys, our friend dale, who is also a pilot, plays guitar. And dales sister plays drums, she's a manager for a trucking company, were all in the transportation business! We have a blast every time, it's great stress relief.:thumbsup:
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I'm jealous! Play any Grand Funk?, old Flint band back in the day.
 
mscard88 said:
I'm jealous! Play any Grand Funk?, old Flint band back in the day.
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We've never actually covered grand funk. But we're all huge fans, i own the entire "trunk of funk" box set, I've had to make at least two copies of every record over the years. Grand funk railroad has been a main stay in my car collection for years and years.
 
mscard88 said:
BIG GFR fan here!
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I wanna Grab you buy those BIG BUNS! Soo tight! Yeah my dad turned me on to the railroad when I was 4 or 5. Loved them ever since.
 
I bought their first 2 vinyl's in '69 just before they made it big. Kick myself for not driving up to Atlanta Speedway to see them, not really them but the other big groups as GFR was unknown. But after that concert they were known! I was about 4-5 hours away at an Air Force base in S. Georgia. Still listen to them. They're still rocking but in separate bands unfortunately, in their late 60s, like me lol.
 
Norman said:
How about Ford re-branding a Taurus and calling it a Jaguar?
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Now you're just trying to make us all mad. :)

(Screw the modern Jaguar stuff.)

RalphInCA said:
Amazon.com is trying to get into the car sales business.
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THAT would be interesting. I suspect Bezos will have as much luck as Musk with anything "out of the norm" in many States, which is sad. I can buy nearly everything else online with a few mouse clicks and never have to talk to a salesperson, cars should be no different.

Click click click, someone delivers the thing to my door and does a delivery inspection at an appointed time or I can go to a location where it's sitting and ready to do said inspection and leave in 10 minutes. Done. Especially with no trade in.

If I have a trade in, make it 30 minutes. Pre-laid out double parking spot, cable for them to plug into the OBD on the trade, already there and an inspector waiting at the appointment time. I give 30 minutes because they probably want to drive it.

If not, I want to be out the door, everything signed and paperwork pre-printed in 15 minutes total. Automate this crap!

Car buying through a dealer is a horrible waste of time in the modern world. No offense to the dealer reading along. It's antiquated.

I'd happily do video or phone call prior to arriving from my desktop machine or mobile device for any NECESSARY questions before going to the 15 minute vehicle swap session and inspection. No, asking me if I want underbody "protection" isn't a NECESSARY question -- that's a checkbox on the order form.
 
denverpilot said:
Now you're just trying to make us all mad. :)

(Screw the modern Jaguar stuff.)



THAT would be interesting. I suspect Bezos will have as much luck as Musk with anything "out of the norm" in many States, which is sad. I can buy nearly everything else online with a few mouse clicks and never have to talk to a salesperson, cars should be no different.

Click click click, someone delivers the thing to my door and does a delivery inspection at an appointed time or I can go to a location where it's sitting and ready to do said inspection and leave in 10 minutes. Done. Especially with no trade in.

If I have a trade in, make it 30 minutes. Pre-laid out double parking spot, cable for them to plug into the OBD on the trade, already there and an inspector waiting at the appointment time. I give 30 minutes because they probably want to drive it.

If not, I want to be out the door, everything signed and paperwork pre-printed in 15 minutes total. Automate this crap!

Car buying through a dealer is a horrible waste of time in the modern world. No offense to the dealer reading along. It's antiquated.

I'd happily do video or phone call prior to arriving from my desktop machine or mobile device for any NECESSARY questions before going to the 15 minute vehicle swap session and inspection. No, asking me if I want underbody "protection" isn't a NECESSARY question -- that's a checkbox on the order form.
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+1000. My biggest complaint with buying a car at a dealership is time. It always seems to take at least an hour from the moment you agree on a price to driving off the lot. I don't mind the wandering around the lot checking out cars or the negotiation part but once you have a deal it takes forever.

I should go find the old t-shirt but I bought 1 vehicle through ?cars.com? that went the way you want. It was a 2000 Jeep Wrangler. Everything was done online, actual dealer turned out to be ~1 hour away we met in a strip mall parking lot 1/2 way. He brought the Jeep on a rollback. Did a walk around, 5 minute test drive, signed a few papers and the deal was done in 15 minutes max. The price was great, too. I reckon that's why their business failed within a year or two of me buying. I see there's still a cars.com but it's a completely different thing.
 
noobJohn said:
+1000. My biggest complaint with buying a car at a dealership is time. It always seems to take at least an hour from the moment you agree on a price to driving off the lot. I don't mind the wandering around the lot checking out cars or the negotiation part but once you have a deal it takes forever.
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Even if you pay cash it takes hours. I just bought some land and was done in less than 30 minutes. Even buying a house and doing the paperwork seems to take less time. I never have understood why they take so long.
 
mscard88 said:
Even if you pay cash it takes hours. I just bought some land and was done in less than 30 minutes. Even buying a house and doing the paperwork seems to take less time. I never have understood why they take so long.
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When you buy the land, nobody is trying to upsell you on a protection plan.
 
mscard88 said:
Best ever dealer commercial! CAUTION: very strong language. Think this is one of N747JB's salesmen.


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I love that spot!! My ad guy used to threaten to take all the out takes from our radio commercials and put them together. This guy is great!
 
I think the tactics some dealers use are in place because they just work - if you walk away because of them, well, there are 99 other folks that buy into it. Email blasts, constant phone calls, "I have to check with my manager", the closer who tries to sell you useless or overpriced services. . .it just works, for the most part. I've bought a few new cars, and never went back to the same place twice - last time was a staright-up shopping trip; had my price figured from Consumers, and visited three dealers - the ;last one met the price. Still tried to up-sell, of course.

Called to get some PM done a while later - the maintenance desk put me through the ringer on gathering demographic info, wanted to set up an internet maintenance account/schedule, make an appointment for the week after next, etc. Called it a day, went to the local independent shop. . .
 
Sundancer said:
I think the tactics some dealers use are in place because they just work - if you walk away because of them, well, there are 99 other folks that buy into it. Email blasts, constant phone calls, "I have to check with my manager", the closer who tries to sell you useless or overpriced services. . .it just works, for the most part. I've bought a few new cars, and never went back to the same place twice - last time was a staright-up shopping trip; had my price figured from Consumers, and visited three dealers - the ;last one met the price. Still tried to up-sell, of course.

Called to get some PM done a while later - the maintenance desk put me through the ringer on gathering demographic info, wanted to set up an internet maintenance account/schedule, make an appointment for the week after next, etc. Called it a day, went to the local independent shop. . .
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Not defending what some dealers do, because some are pretty "creative", but there is basically no profit in selling a new car, especially a domestic in a metro area. I think the average gross profit on a new Ford car in metro Atlanta is $2-400, so you have to offer other products and services to make up the difference. I personally don't like it, but if we don't do it that way, we will either lose money on every car or try to sell them at a profit and not sell anything. It's a little like airline fees, the tickets are cheap, but you've still got to pay the crew and buy fuel! We just treat our customers with respect and give them an honest price on a vehicle, sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. We have a local dealer offering $5000 discounts on new Focus, plus rebates, so it's almost $9000 off. Sounds great! Trouble is he is adding $2500 to the sticker price, then discounting it $5000!! :rolleyes:
 
noobJohn said:
I can't take credit for having that good a memory. Someone posted that on page 2 of this thread. I need to watch that move again.
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That'll teach me to not skip over the first part of the thread! :D

OP's video clip was much higher quality too.
 
mtuomi said:
Going back to the original topic - I just got ANOTHER phone call from this Ford dealer (6:30PM). This time she wouldn't take a no for an answer.
"Hi I'm calling on behalf of XYZ Ford, you were a guest with us a couple of days ago and" me interrupting "Yes, I'm having dinner right now, is this urgent?" "And we would like to know if you enjoyed your visit to our dealership? Calls are monitored for quality control purposes"

Before I said "I enjoyed the visit but not the calls" she kept going, "how did you find out about out dealership". That's when I kinda lost it and just said "I'm not going to do a survey right now, I said I'm eating dinner. I will not go back to your dealership and do not call me again".

Christ. Never again. Thankfully there are good Ford dealers out there... :)
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"calling on behalf of XYZ Ford"

Any chance this is an even lower form of pond scum - a telemarketing company hired by the dealership to ask these inane questions?

(sorry John :D)
 
I think that's exactly what it was. Different area code phone number and so on.

Can't wait to send them an email tomorrow... :)
 
"Won't take No for an answer"??? I don't even talk to them, I just hang up. When they call me at work, I at least get the satisfaction of slamming the phone, can't do that with a cell . . .

If I've been having a bad day, I yell as loud as I can into the opine, then hang up. Maybe their ears will ring for a minute, giving one victim that day a break.

Only people with thick skin make it in telemarketing. I'd personally prefer if nobody "made it" in telemarketing, I'd have a lot fewer interruptions. I tell the the professional fund raisers who take 2/3 of the money they collect for their favorite charity just what I think of them, THEN yell and hang up.
 
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I broke down and got caller ID for my land line a year or so ago. Why didn't I do that sooner? I don't answer calls from numbers I don't recognize. They can leave a message.
 
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