Bought a different brand because of salesperson/dealer

[como]

I have just walked away from MB for the exact opposite reasons mentioned here. I don't like fuss and cringe at the thought of the insincere 'Have a nice day Sir', customer service routine. So, having purchased 3 new cars from Sytner Teesside and whilst preparing for the 4th, I was a very easy lay. The problem was that I was met with a wall of indifference and ineptitude. I was looking at moving to an Estate or SUV and asked for a test drive. Not a big ask. And having my history with the dealership since 2012 they would hopefully see that I was not just a tyre kicker. Months passed and allowing for Covid restrictions, still nothing but phone calls and promised return calls. In the meantime they valued my current car as the trade in and came back with a price that was well below any book price. Even WBAC offered almost £2K more. The car had 13,400 miles and was purchased and serviced by them from new. It was in excellent condition. so no reason to significantly drop the trade in value. This in itself was not a problem because I would just sell it to the highest bidder. However, trying to work with the Sales staff to agree a model/price proved impossible. Apparently they work on existing customers as a secondary duty for one month at a time. This made for disjointed, rushed conversations with nothing meaningful or productive as an outcome. It felt as if they had x amount of existing customers looking to change their car and they would hop between us all in the hope of hitting a target. The irony was that, with very little time and effort, I could have been that target. I was deciding between 2 models, wanted to stay with that dealership/MB and was ready sell my car. In the end I decided to walk. Not just from this dealership but from MB. Why would I continue to try to buy into a brand that did not want my business? And while I fully understand that most dealerships/brands operate this way, I may as well benefit from the new customer experience for at least the first purchase and make the process simple and quick. I suppose it's like a lot of other industries e.g. insurance, your loyalty is seen as a weakness. I will miss MB and would certainly not rule out buying another but if I did, I would be a new customer and as such would be afforded a little bit of time and focus no doubt.

 

[Fastcar155]

I have just walked away from MB for the exact opposite reasons mentioned here. I don't like fuss and cringe at the thought of the insincere 'Have a nice day Sir', customer service routine. So, having purchased 3 new cars from Sytner Teesside and whilst preparing for the 4th, I was a very easy lay. The problem was that I was met with a wall of indifference and ineptitude. I was looking at moving to an Estate or SUV and asked for a test drive. Not a big ask. And having my history with the dealership since 2012 they would hopefully see that I was not just a tyre kicker. Months passed and allowing for Covid restrictions, still nothing but phone calls and promised return calls. In the meantime they valued my current car as the trade in and came back with a price that was well below any book price. Even WBAC offered almost £2K more. The car had 13,400 miles and was purchased and serviced by them from new. It was in excellent condition. so no reason to significantly drop the trade in value. This in itself was not a problem because I would just sell it to the highest bidder. However, trying to work with the Sales staff to agree a model/price proved impossible. Apparently they work on existing customers as a secondary duty for one month at a time. This made for disjointed, rushed conversations with nothing meaningful or productive as an outcome. It felt as if they had x amount of existing customers looking to change their car and they would hop between us all in the hope of hitting a target. The irony was that, with very little time and effort, I could have been that target. I was deciding between 2 models, wanted to stay with that dealership/MB and was ready sell my car. In the end I decided to walk. Not just from this dealership but from MB. Why would I continue to try to buy into a brand that did not want my business? And while I fully understand that most dealerships/brands operate this way, I may as well benefit from the new customer experience for at least the first purchase and make the process simple and quick. I suppose it's like a lot of other industries e.g. insurance, your loyalty is seen as a weakness. I will miss MB and would certainly not rule out buying another but if I did, I would be a new customer and as such would be afforded a little bit of time and focus no doubt.

Hi ,

typical of the motor trade in general and but what I find so frustrating that dealerships in the same group are run totally differently.

Time for a massive change to move the metal

 

[Rich764089]

I hate pushy sales staff, but... the exact opposite was the reason I didn't buy a BMW from my local dealer. They didn't have any cars with the engine i wanted in stock, but wouldn't let me test drive a (used) car of the same model and suspension to get a feel for the drive. No one ever followed up with me on the car they were meant to be getting in for me.....

My suspicion is they thought I was not a genuine buyer and just wanted to test pilot, possibly not looking 'right'. I'm fairly scruffy at the best of times, and appearances still get judged. No skin off my nose, I have a lovely E63 from an excellent non pushy independent dealer instead

 

[Benz17]

When we were looking for the Lexus NX300h for my father, the nearest dealer to us is in Woodford, they didn’t have the 2018 car we wanted to buy, but had a 2020 one, told the dealer we wanted a test drive only to get a feel of the car, and to see how it was for getting in and out of it for my elderly parents, the dealer couldn’t have been more accommodating, gave us the keys for a 2 hour test drive, we only did half an hour though, they answered all our questions, gave us coffee, truly a good experience from Lexus Woodford, would have bought from them if they had what we wanted, but have taken a service plan with them, so they got some business from us.

The thing about “possibly not looking right”, really what’s this all about, heard this many times, why do dealers treat people differently, and assume the not looking right person, or scruffy person, would be a time waster, never a judge a book by its cover as the saying goes. Scruffy or not, anyone walking through the dealers door, is a potential buyer, even the one in the mankini

 

[Deleted member 113659]

never a judge a book by its cover as the saying goes……..

Definitely. I have a friend that works on the front desk at a bank. She says the bank accounts don’t always match the perceived image. A very smart well dressed guy can be overdrawn just as often as a ‘scruffy’ well trodden guy has a 6+ figure balance.

 

[Benz17]

Definitely. I have a friend that works on the front desk at a bank. She says the bank accounts don’t always match the perceived image. A very smart well dressed guy can be overdrawn just as often as a ‘scruffy’ well trodden guy has a 6+ figure balance.

This is definitely true, I know plenty of people, and some who are relatives, have plenty of the Wonga and properties, who if you didn’t know them, you wouldn’t know they were well off, they don’t have any interest in designer clothes, fancy cars or premium cars, expensive watches, nor holidays, but can definitely afford it, if they wish to. Some just don’t flaunt their wealth.

There are others who have the wealth, and buy the designer gear, fancy cars, and so on, and there is nothing wrong with spending your hard earned money on whatever u fancy.

I also know some who are hardly wealthy or reasonably well off, but looking at them and their fancy cars and clothes, and expensive holidays, you would think they were well minted, but unfortunately all the spending is on debt, which has to be serviced, and one that will be called in.

 

[Deleted member 113659]

This is definitely true, I know plenty of people, and some who are relatives, have plenty of the Wonga and properties, who if you didn’t know them, you wouldn’t know they were well off, they don’t have any interest in designer clothes, fancy cars or premium cars, expensive watches, nor holidays, but can definitely afford it, if they wish to. Some just don’t flaunt their wealth.

There are others who have the wealth, and buy the designer gear, fancy cars, and so on, and there is nothing wrong with spending your hard earned money on whatever u fancy.

I also know some who are hardly wealthy or reasonably well off, but looking at them and their fancy cars and clothes, and expensive holidays, you would think they were well minted, but unfortunately all the spending is on debt, which has to be serviced, and one they will be called in.

Then there’s the other category (me ). Scruffy & no money.

 

[E55BOF]

There's no excuse for rudeness, but the thing is, I think you mostly can 'judge a book by its cover'; we all do it, all the time, we get better at it as we gain experience, and most of the time we're not far off. That's why a good copper's 'nose' is so useful.

Don't agree with me? Go and watch the queue of people for a food bank in Middlesborough, or a crowd of Millwall supporters on their way to a home game, and see if you can identify the eccentric millionaires...

 

[Rich764089]

There's no excuse for rudeness, but the thing is, I think you mostly can 'judge a book by its cover'; we all do it, all the time, we get better at it as we gain experience, and most of the time we're not far off. That's why a good copper's 'nose' is so useful.

Don't agree with me? Go and watch the queue of people for a food bank in Middlesborough, or a crowd of Millwall supporters on their way to a home game, and see if you can identify the eccentric millionaires...

I agree we all judge by appearance, and I agree that the judgements are probably broadly correct *most* of the time. But certainly not all the time, and that's the issue. It is not acceptable to judge by colour of skin, so why should it be to judge by any other metric?

Using the examples you gave (I've been to quite a few Millwall games!), are you saying you can make accurate assumptions about all the crowd based on generalisations? I don't think you can. Interestingly, several friends I got to know through travelling to watch football had a stereotyped impression of me, and were very surprised when they found out the job I did was quite different from their impressions.

Likewise, my scruffy appearance probably doesn't fit with being a BMW/MB driver. I'm no millionaire though! Personally, I don't care about being judged in this way, but many will.

I'm not sure the analogy of the foodbank is relevant, as I don't think even eccentric millionaires queue at foodbanks do they?!

Anyway, this is far too deep for a Monday morning

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

My experience of MB dealerships and MB customer service make it pretty unlikely that I'll buy another MB... put me off

People on this forum have been pretty nice and helpful however, so that cancels it out a bit.

Would never go near a dealer.

 

[Fastcar155]

Hi , why don't we start a Name and shame forum for good and bad MB dealers.

 

[mioba]

Also a name and applaud for good service/dealers. ppl by their nature complain - sad

 

[Rory]

Apparently they work on existing customers as a secondary duty for one month at a time. This made for disjointed, rushed conversations with nothing meaningful or productive as an outcome. It felt as if they had x amount of existing customers looking to change their car and they would hop between us all in the hope of hitting a target.

That's interesting - haven't heard that way of working before.

Although there is sometimes "conquest" pricing support and bonus if they move someone from a rival brand. Manufacturers really pay a lot of attention to market segment share.

 

[Dryce]

There's no excuse for rudeness, but the thing is, I think you mostly can 'judge a book by its cover'; we all do it, all the time, we get better at it as we gain experience, and most of the time we're not far off. That's why a good copper's 'nose' is so useful.

Don't agree with me? Go and watch the queue of people for a food bank in Middlesborough, or a crowd of Millwall supporters on their way to a home game, and see if you can identify the eccentric millionaires...

Conversely you can watch a group of people board an aircraft and it's not always clear who sits in the better seats.

We have found car dealers quite perplexing to deal with. I think that about 3 in 4 salespeople seem to misjudge/miscategorise us.

The title of this thread is "Bought a different brand because of salesperson/dealer" and in our case while it's not as simple as switching just because of that - it has been the initiator. In 2011 SWMBO acquired our first BMW and that was as a direct consequence of just being messed about by the local MB dealer - we stopped in the local BMW on the way home just because she was hacked off and at that point I inadvertently discovered the Z4 that we hadn't looked at had a metal roof and that started a process that led to three BMWs.

But does that mean BMW dealers are perfect? No - they're often just the same. When looking to change a BMW 6 series for a another BMW (X3, X5 or 7 Series) I made 4 visits to two dealerships and generally was not treated seriously until the sales person realised I had the 6 Series.

Clearly I give off the wrong message to car sales people. Which is a bit frustrating. Because by the time I've entered a dealership I'm in the process of finalising a purchase for myself or SWMBO and it's the final stage of the decision making process - I'm not there to mess about.

Staff turnover has been an issue for us. We've never managed more than two successive transactions with the same sales staff when we find somebody we like. Typically the good ones (or at least the ones we think are good) move on. We've switched dealership in the same chain to engage with the same person who sold us a car previously. And also have avoided doing business with a couple of dealerships where the senior staff are ones that I have previously encountered and had a bad experience at other branches.