Poor customer service from dealership.

[bigmike]

I'm not much of a dealership ranting guy. I know many people are and have good reason to be. I will however vent my latest experience has been pretty poor.

I've been looking at many vehicles as of late. I've gone on to test drive around 8-10 (I can't recall). Mostly sedans.

I was checking at a local Cadillac dealer here in town and noticed a '07 CTS with under 11k miles that is certified and looks good. I sent a simple email to their sales department contact and requested only one thing: a Carfax. Pretty simple, right?

I immediately get the complimentary email automated response sent to me via email. Then a few minutes later, I get a slightly more personal response via email requesting my phone number so they can converse with me about selecting a vehicle, etc. I don't intend to have a conversation, so I waited.

The next day I get another email. Still no Carfax.

I respond to this email and say the following:

Sterling,

I'm not interested at this point in any phone conversations and this is why I did not furnish my contact numbers. I'm disappointed nobody has responded to my request via email. I asked for a Carfax report for a particular vehicle. Is it available?

Thanks for your time,

I get back the following:

Dear Michael..............I did reply to you by e-mail yesterday at 1:10pm. I received your request at 1:04pm. Check your trash area of your computer. Yes, we can provide you with a carfax should you decide this is the vehicle you want. If you are unable to find the e-mail I sent in your trash, let me know and i will resend it.

Sorry for the confusion. Have a great weekend.

By this time I've pretty much had it. Why does it take this many emails to get a simple request furnished?

Sterling,

I have all of your emails. None of them responded to my request. Please don't lecture me in the art of email, considering I run an IT department. I don't need you to resend me 4 emails that contained no response to my question.

I thought I had decided this is the vehicle of interest. I'm not interested in any others, in your inventory or otherwise, or I would have questioned the sales team on those as well.

You still haven't responded to my request. What's the problem? Do I need to show up in person to receive a carfax report? Is there something on this particular car that you do not wish to disclose? Can you forward this email to someone that is more willing to lean towards customer satisfaction?

I'm miffed at this point. I dislike being this way, but when the poor quality of response (not quantity) is the norm for many dealerships, I was hoping a place of business with the reputation that Claude Nolan has, it would be much different. I'll give you an example. If I'm a customer and consumer in the market to purchase your item and I request information of said item, that request should be met without responding 4 different times and not giving the consumer the requested information. I'm in the market of consulting and I'd be glad to assist your sales department in reaching this goal.

You have made my choice of purchasing this much easier.

Have a nice day Sir,




I'm not usually this way. Many of you all know me by some of my responses and statements on here. I try to purse my responses most of the time, even if the inner voice tells me to choke someone. I did get a reply back, only to state someone else will send me the report - which I still don't have.

Is this customer service these days? I've been to half a dozen or more dealerships lately and I've received responses like this in person and via email from over half. How do they sell anything or make money?

I apologize for the long rant. It's purely anecdotal. I'm irritated and I wanted to document my irritation to relieve my stress.

 

[John_K]

I'm sure it's all part of their strategy to get you in the store. Too bad they can't listen in the process.

John

 

[Drew99GT]

Their number 1 job is to get you in the show room, and they think they'll get you in there by responding the way they did. Works for 99% of the sheep out there.

I don't get it. Every dealer we dealt with when buying my mom's car furnished a carfax immediately upon request. Unfortunately it looks like you got the pushy "closer" sales guy to respond to your email!

 

[eljefino]

Yeah I can pretty much see their sales meeting where they dictate how to handle email inquiries. "In the door, that's your score, behind the wheel will seal the deal."

Does carfax let you verify with a specific link? If I were shopping for a late model caddy I'd verify with carfax somehow to make sure the dealer didn't "retouch" the report.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Car salesmen = future politicians.

 

[Tdbo]

E-mail is a great tool in determining sleazy dealerships. If they treat you this poorly on the front end, guess what they will do to you on the way out the door?

 

[BearZDefect]

I had a similarly poor exchange with the Internet rep for our local Honda dealer a couple of years ago. He tried everything but answer my question, called me when I requested no calls on the form, wrote a bunch of nonsense to make me feel what? Like my request was unreasonable and the said Honda vehicle was a rare collectable gem I should be rushing to pay 110% list price for?

All I asked for was a firm price on a basic model Fit with MT.

In my final email I politely thanked him for convincing me not to do business with Don Jacobs Honda.

Interestingly, the number he called from wasn't even a dealer number, it was a residence. He was working from home, but acted as if he were in the showroom walking back to the sales manager baloney.

 

[SZR48207]

Don't dealerships make more profit on new cars and have more incentive to move them off the lot to make room for more new cars?

This is why I despise car shopping. Everyone gets the run around.

 

[ccs v2.0]

The margins are on service and used car sales.

I'm with eljefino. If you do get a copy of the carfax (I assume it will be PDF), double check it. PDFs can be edited using Acrobat.

 

[mpvue]

most car dealers are fighting very hard to keep the status quo: doing business the way they always have. THEY want to control the deal, which means NOT giving you what YOU want, but what THEY want.
they can't be bothered to take the time to send you the carfax, they figure you're just a tire kicker, that if you were serious, you would come in.
they still haven't figured out that WE DON'T NEED THEM to provide us any info on the cars; heck, we already know more about them than they do!
I bought my Mazda5 from the dealer who gave me their price, in an email, no pressure, just like I asked for. all the other dealers either wouldn't give me a price, or they promised to 'beat any deal', or they wanted me to come in so they could help me 'select the right car for me'.

 

[rationull]

I've only had less than a half-dozen interactions with new car dealers but in almost all of them I've seen this type of behavior too. No firm prices over email, they almost always want to get you at least on the phone, or preferably in the dealership where they can talk to you and run the hard sell.

To balance that out, though, when we bought my wife's car from a dealership out of the area, we got an ridiculously good deal arranged completely through email. I don't think I talked to the guy at all except when I called him on the day we picked it up to tell him we were running a little late.

There are good dealerships out there. Just makes it not worth dealing with the bad ones IMO. I would definitely be frustrated too in the situation you described. A CarFax is a pretty simple and, one would think, standard request that would've taken then almost no time to respond to. Instead the annoyed and lost a potential customer.

 

[GMBoy]

Not defending the dealership, because I dispise them as well BUT - Carfax was basically invented for the car buyer. I think it's your responsibilty to get and pay for the carfax. Sure, it's nice for the dealer to furnish it for you but how do you know it's genuine? I've heard of situations where the carfaxes were altered.

Bottom line - Car Fax it yourself. It's not expensive.

 

[Win]

Good grief.

Why are you even wasting time sending snotty e-mails to the sales person? They can't make any type of a deal on a car.

Just pick up the telephone, call the dealership, ask to speak to the sales manager, and just politely ask them to provide whatever it is you are wanting.

Buying something as simple as a car is not a difficult process. Talk to them nice and they will probably bring that Caddy to your office for you to look at.

 

[bigmike]

Fair enough, guys. I only wrote emails due to it being easier for me to handle at work than dealing with potential phone calls while I'm in the middle of something. In my line of work, email is the priority communicative tool.

I only vented because I found this to be the rough average of the responses.

I thought that dealerships would embrace technology (as most retail stores have) this opportunity to attract consumers. To be fair, I have dealt with 3 dealerships that were exceptional in their responses, without the email barrage of fluff.

 

[BearZDefect]

Originally Posted By: mpvue
...
they still haven't figured out that WE DON'T NEED THEM to provide us any info on the cars; heck, we already know more about them than they do! ...

So true, their salespeople know way less about the vehicles than BITOG type shoppers. I found the salespeople to know nearly nothing about the car at my local Ford dealer and Hyundai dealer. It was a waste of breath to ask them anything about the car itself.

I've never been rude or unkind to a car salesperson. But some of them seriously waste my time.

 

[Mr Nice]

I would pay for the Car Fax myself only I drove and inspected the car with a 'fine-toothed comb'

 

[mrsilv04]

Any dealership that won't post a Carfax report ONLINE along with the information/pictures of the car, is a waste of time for me...

 

[The Critic]

Also, get AutoCheck in addition to Carfax. Autocheck will report on their record if the car was declared to have unibody damage during a Manheim Auction. Carfax does not report this info.

 

[addyguy]

I can't stand ANYBODY that can't be straight-up about something, even when given the opportunity to make a sale if they are.

1994, my folks are shopping for a car. They've decided they want a compact, and they can afford $250/month (or every two weeks, I don't remember) for payments. They like to keep things simple.

We're at a Ford dealership. A red Ford Tempo has met their criteria as a suitable next car. They start the discussion with "We can only do $250 a month for payments - can this car be had for that payment? If not, we understand, and we'll look at something else."

Salesguy: "Yes, no problem we can get this car to you for $250 a month for everything, I'll just go get you the actual 'final number'"

Salesguy comes back, and hands them the contract to sign. The payment is something like $280 a month. No 'I'm sorry, THIS is the best we can do - he just hands the contract to them to sign like $30 over is nothing.

My parents say "We said we couldn't do more than $250 a month"

Salesguy: "Well, that's the final payment I can do"

My parents and I quietly get up, and without a word, walk out of the office. We get to the door, and my parents say "We told you the amount, you said you could do it, and you didn't. We'll just have to find someone who can"

We got to our car, and had startd the engine, when the guy came sailing out of the front door, over the steps, and said, "I made a mistake - payments will be $247. "Oh, okay", said my folks, and went back in and signed the contract.

I know salesmen play games, but when faced with a situation where they really don't have to, and still make a 'good' sale, you'd think they'd take it - my parents payment range wasn't insanely low. It just bugged me the way he handed over the contract like ti was exactly what they had just talked about.

 

[Brons2]

Originally Posted By: bigmike
In my line of work, email is the priority communicative tool.


Not when I'm buying a $100K switch or router it isn't!! You better come to my office and tell me how company X builds a better mousetrap, AND TAKE ME TO LUNCH, otherwise you ain't got a chance :-D