This was prompted today after calling about a car I noted on the internet in Texas, it's a Honda dealer in Huston, Tx that made this error. I'm limiting my input here to "customer service goofs" and how they often do NOT think about treating a (potential) customer.

So...I called about one car, had the stock # in hand. After being transferred three different times to the internet manager (the one listed on the website was no longer there) I spoke to a heavily-accented person who asked what I wanted. I mentioned only that I wanted to check on the avalibility of the stock (#). After repeating it to him three times, he got it. Then immediatly he asked for my name. After getting my full name he immediatly asked for my phone number...whoa there! I stated I did not give that info out unless I was serious about the car. He simply asked again, he wouldn't check without a number in hand. That was it, I was done...They'll not hear my voice on thier phone again.

So...dealer folks, PLEASE respect your customers. Give them a chance to OFFER to provide a phone number. Don't demand it from them. Especially if they are only checking the avalibilty of a car or truck. Thanks for hearing this rant...hope there are other helpful inputs.

 

Don't ignore the ladies. Big mistake. That happened to my wife at the Chrysler dealership in Mt. Vernon, WA. The sales person grudgingly listed to what she wanted. Said the did not have the van she wanted. They would call when the got one in. Never called, when she called several times told her that the ones the got in had been sold.
Previous we purchased a 03 T&C AWD from them.
Never got a call. Daughter started looking and contacted a dealer in Bellinghame WA that got us the van by the weekend. Traded in the 03.
When we were looking for a Dodge truck, called up to the dealer in Bellingham. Our sales man told her he would find our truck. We wanted a 2nd gen CTD 3500 DRW. He called back in about 5 minuits. "I have your truck here."
She asked, "how do you know it is my truck?"
He said, "it's blue!"
Sig shows what we have.
Local dealer lost 2 sales by ingorning the lady.

 

Unfortunately, dssimecek, when I went to the local dealership to look for a 12v-I had exhausted my resources around here, and I figured they had a line on some. Turns out they did have a line on some. I told them the years I was looking for, price range, options, etc. Got a call the next day, after I had requested a 97(this had been a few years ago), saying they had a 99 with 150k miles on it for 19k dollars. I told them to just stop looking, they had written down what I wanted, and not pulled through for me. I wound up getting this 03 a year or so later from a dealer back home, where my stepdad had traded it for a toyota, and he cut me a heck of a deal for it.

Bottom line: Listen to the customer, what he/she wants, not what you want to pawn off on them.

 

write up the service order for what I state; not what you want me to pay for..

Maybe it goes toward being sexist; but once i speak like a mechanic- maybe i do know what is going wrong/situation. List it that way.

local dealership: me: " the water pump is cracked, and the bearing is shot"
them: "check engine"
Guess what- they added antifreeze and told me I was all set AFTER giving me a public lecture about (in a tone that suggested i was an idiot) c h e c k i n g
the r a d i a t o r for w a t e r. I was fuming but asked him, in a defenseless female voice to start the truck. He smiled and did, then i motioned him out of the cab to watch all of the pretty green stuff flow down the lot......I bought from another dealer and made sure that they called this dealership's owner to explain why. and the second truck....and the one ton....and my son's truck. LOT of money lost by allowing an attitude....
Heidi

 

I agree with listen to the ladies.

My wife and I took our business 150 miles from where we live due to the male chauvanists sales people in our area. We test drove two different SUV's at two different dealerships and each time I clearly stated that this was going to be my wife's car, not mine so direct all your attention to HER not ME! Each time during the test drive, the salesmen would direct all there conversation to me and I again said "Talk to HER! I'm not the one buying the car!" They then just acted like they got mad and wouldn't give us the time of day. So the last three vehicles we purchased, the deal was made over the phone and all of the paperwork was ready for us to sign after the test drive and we were out in less than an hour each of the three times (my truck included). I'll test drive locally but the days of me going to a dealership and negotiating for hours if over!

Back in 05 when I was looking for a truck, I found a potential truck at a dealership in Greenville South Carolina. I test drove a 3500 4X4 Cummins dually with a salesguy that maybe had the IQ of a dead chicken. He didn't know anything about the truck. Then when I was directed to the sales manager to start the deal. He was totally out of place. Here was a guy with a very heavy Brooklyn accent trying to sell a good ole country boy a diesel truck. He was telling me about the 700 hp and the allison transmission it had and how you could hook up a generator to the transmission to run everything in your house if the power went out. (I test drove and wanted a manual transmission by the way, he couldn't even get that right!) The truck was a dealer transfer and had been smoked in for about 200 miles so I wasn't real interested in it any way. I gave him what I thought was a ridiculously low number ($33,500), he came back with a ridicousley high number ($38,900) and wouldn't budge so I said See ya! I then found the truck I really wanted at Commerce Dodge in Georgia and did the deal over the phone for a better price than what I had originally given as a starting point to the Greenville dealership ($32,500)!

 

this is more of what they should do.

Make sure that the vehicle that is to be sold is SAFE, and it dosent have parts on it like this. wether or not it is being sold AS IS!
dealership-----> <--------- me



took that rotor off the passenger side front after i noticed some brake noise.

 

Let me guess: they threw some brand new pads on it because they were worn to metal, and left the rotor like that. You sure see that lots on "for sale" vehicles.

 

At the caddy dealer they took the guy who was doing all the used car inspections off that job, said he cost them to much money on parts and labor. They put a new tech doing it and gave him a $1000 cap on spending. So now that's your "certified used car" and what you pay extra for. I've seen some shoddy poo-poo go out the door and it's left up to the customer.

All us good technicians could do was shake our heads and say, not our problem. Don't get me wrong, it chapped my hind quarters to know a good person was gonna get the shaft when they bought it.....but I was not gonna try and change the world of the dealer, or loose sleep thinking about it. I've tried to talk to people about change this, change that and all it did was cause me heartache. They're chasing the dollar, top profit, least amount of money spent.

Yes, listen to the ladies.....but from a mechanic/technician point of view you have to take anything the customer says with a grain of salt. But the idiot in your case should have pressurized the system to check for leaks??? Duh?? Like all jobs, some people don't need to be mechanics or technicians.

On a job site friday, guys say there machine blew a hydraulic line. They fixed it, topped off the hydraulic oil and started the machine. When put in gear it would not move. So I get there and 5 different people tell me about it, most saying that I should change the hydraulic filter because adding hydraulic oil probably stirred up some dirt in the tank causing it not to go in gear. So I test it, I'm very green on this machine so I have to figure out how it works before I can fix it. I find the parking brake is not releasing, find a fuse for the parking brake switch missing, replace it and the machine goes forward and reverse. I park the machine away from the buildings and the first guy comes up to me and says, " you got it working, did you replace the hydraulic filter". I told him no that the parking brake won't release without a fuse for the switch. He was shocked. So I realized that these guys must have thought I was an idiot while I was testing this stuff (cause they could not help but stand there and watch me) with my test light and wires.

So as a mechanic I listen to what the customer says, but do my own testing based on what they say is wrong with it.

Sorry this is so long......I need to paraphrase..........

 

That's a good story, dodgeguy71. I would sure agree with that.

 

dealers
#1 you dont need my phone number! I will call you back instead. Reason is I dont need 4 or 5 spam type sales pitch calls over the span of a week and a half about vehicles I dont care about.
#2 when I request a specific year, truck, and motor listen to it! Dont say "well we have a great........over here." If I wanted a 1/2 ton one year newer with a hemi, I'd have added that to the list of interests!!!!
#3 when I say no extended warranty or other add on crap, learn that NO means No! and not maybe if I pester the buyer a little while he'll say yes

 

When we were looking for a new Volvo for the Mrs, we couldn't get anyone to see us at one dealer. (I know, usually they're at your side before you get out of your car) We were looking at all the S70's they had and other couples arrived after us and someone always came over to them. We left.

When I started looking for my CTD almost two years ago, I emailed several dealers, telling them what I was looking for and wanted an NV, but would settle for a G56 only after I found one to drive. (sticks aren't very popular around here) "We have no 6 speeds in stock, but come on in and we'll order you one" was the usual response. At the time, the G56 was on restriction so I couldn't order one if I wanted. No dealer was aware of this.

One dealer told me they had two on the lot and said they were G56's, not NV's. This seemed very unlikely as this was in March (2 months after the NV era ended) and the dealer was in NH, not that close to Mexico where all the CTD's were built then. Surprise....they were wrong, both NV's and none close to what I wanted.

Bottom line.....Dealers, put potential customers in touch with someone who knows the product they're interested in, or make sure your employee can answer questions immediately.

"Let me check on that. Wait here." (No, bring your answer man to the customer) or "I'll ask someone, how about I get back to you tomorrow?" is like telling a customer to go elsewhere.

The way things are now, customers aren't walking in the door every 30 seconds. Answer questions for the ones who do. Free stale bagels in the waiting room aren't the answer. (OK, I'm done)

 

but but but.... there is free cheap tasting coffee also

 

12PACK: "How old is this coffee?"

Employee: "Sir. That's not coffee, that's tonor for our copier."

12PACK: "Tonor???? What's it doing in this pot, next to the fridge?"

Employee: "It isn't as bad as our coffee if you put enough sugar in it."

12PACK: "Any idea how long my tongue will stay this color?"

Employee: "Sir, your truck just fell off one of our lifts."

12PACK runs out of the room.

Employee: "SIR! YOU FORGOT YOUR COFFEE!!!!"

 

Somebody's been spending too much time around a dealer...

 

HA! they didnt even put new pads on it. the pad that came off the inside of that rotor was ground down past the rivets!