Dodgy Sales Tactics

[Fandango]

On the weekend I tried to buy an Audi A6 from a VAG dealership advertised in the Glasgow Herald motoring section:
A6, 2006 on 06 Plate, Auto, Met.Black, Sat Nav, 30 odd k, listed a few more options that I can't remember, £15,995.
(you'd pay more for this car at auction)

Now I called the dealer the morning the paper came out, said I was very interested in that A6 for 16k.
Salesman says: Mmm, Errr, I don't remember that one at all sorry (went away and came back) oh yea, that one is errr...sold. Got another one for 22k

I don't think the car ever existed, it was justy a ploy to get idiots like me to fall for the cheap price tag and call so that they can sell them their over priced ones.
Do they really think this works, I mean surely if I'm calling about a reasonably priced car I'm not going to pay 6 grand more.
What a phenomenal waste of time that was.
I suppose I'm not defecting just yet then

Karl

 

[janner]

Car supermarkets do it all the time.

 

[Shude]

This trick is called "bait and switch" and is illegal in the USA, among other places!

 

[chriswt]

Job agencies do it as well and they're as bad if not worse than car salesmen!!

 

[crockers]

Report them to Trading Standards - this is an illegal practice in this country too...but it may be hard to prove

 

[Ash]

Fandango - curious about your choice of car, but just because I nearly bought one - and in the end got a 53 E320 CDI est, 64k on the clock (another story).

The A6 can look great inside & out I think, especially with lighter interior. But most of them are grey, grey, grey inside and mainly 2.0 diesel, which I think is a bit of a nail. I couldn't find a 2.7 multitronic for a sensible price - when I did it had gone, but actually it was a non-specialist who had priced it wrong and some lucky sod snapped it up. I looked for ages. Lots of 2.4 manuals. For me it would have been the 2.0t petrol auto or pref the 2.7 diesel either. Happy hunting. If you go for a W211 i suspect you'll like it. I traded a 2001 2.4 V70 which had a better stereo and a wider (though shorter) boot, crap turning circle and one or two small but annoying rattles. 211 is better, especially drivetrain

I know your post was about the dealer scam - but what's your view on A6 Vs E?

cheers
ASH

 

[recycled]

Job agencies are the worst.
Advertise phantom jobs .when you call in they will say come in and register and then we will get back to you.

 

[fuzzer]

its just life , happens all the time

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Snr Dazzler and I went car hunting at the weekend. Heartlands Ford were advertising 05 Ford Ka "Now £3595".

I said too good to be true, but we'll call into their largest dealership in Erdington for a look-see as we were passing anyway. Surprise, surprise they hadn't got any.

Best part about it was the advert stated "one per household only"!!

Seriously!!

PS Bought a Honda Jazz in the end - pick it up on Wednesday.

 

[glojo]

Report them to Trading Standards - this is an illegal practice in this country too...but it may be hard to prove

Adverts placed in newspapers take days to come out. This car appears to be an exceptional bargain so is it possible someone bought it before the newspapers come out?

Just a thought.

John

 

[crockers]

Adverts placed in newspapers take days to come out. This car appears to be an exceptional bargain so is it possible someone bought it before the newspapers come out?

Just a thought.

John

Possibly - but Trading Standards will take note and if it seems that its a common occurence can actually check on the car and to whom it has been sold to see if it was genuine....

 

[janner]

Trading standards prosecuted Thomson a while ago for their holiday adverts in the windows. You know the sort of thing.. Maldives from £99..
I loved that program where they dumped tons of sand outside a Thomson shop, added a few palm trees and sat in deck chairs outside. The only way to get a Thomson holiday for £99 Classic!

 

[davidpavey]

Was it the Audi Dealer in Paisley by any chance?? I only ask as my Dad bought an A6 from there 6 years ago, ex-demo, same spec and only one reg different from the one in my local (Hitchin) dealer. Local one £22k, Glasgow £16k!!!! Rang up, checked it was still there, never asked the price, drove up there immediately, spotted it in the valeting bay with no price tag on, whistled up a salesman, drove it, said we`d take it, sat at desk and put down printout from their website with £16k on it. One hour later and a lot of huffing and puffing down the line (from them), we drove it home for £16k, not once did anyone mention anything about the price. I think they realised their **** up and couldn`t do anything about it, so didn`t even bother to challenge it. A bloody long day, but a cracking car at a silly cheap price He`s still got it to this day, it`s done over 100k now and has never missed a beat :bannana:

 

[television]

Adverts placed in newspapers take days to come out. This car appears to be an exceptional bargain so is it possible someone bought it before the newspapers come out?

Just a thought.

John

Thats true John, how about the mags like Top Marques, when I was looking for a SL just to have a look I was monitoring them all for weeks, when one came up at Taunton, I drove up the same morning to have a look, no one new anything about it, though it was advertised for 2 weeks, I rang and no one ever knew anything though it was the most expensive car on sale.
Same thing with a Bristol outfit.

Even MB at Bromley did it, I drove all that way after being told it was there, only to be told that the car belonged to a friend of the Boss, and if I cared to leave a £4k deposit they would get it in for me to see, but they had a similar one that I could see

 

[Fandango]

Was it the Audi Dealer in Paisley by any chance?? ...

No, it wasn't the same dealer.
The salesman called me back yesterday as they had a 2004 A6 Avant in stock for the same price
I asked him if the 2006 A6 for that price ever existed, he said it may have been a mis-print with the year. He was quite apologetic about it and ensured me that they didn't intentionally mis-lead prospective buyers. I shall watch their adverts in future to make sure.

To answer an earlier question (Ash), I wasn't really going to defect (can't afford it), was going to sell the Audi on for a little profit
Should have known it was too good to be true.

 

[tintin]

Our worst experience with a car dealer was a Subaru dealer in Rochdale. Rang up about a used Galant estate and they said it was sold. They rang us back a few days later to say it was still available - did we want to test drive it? Drove it, liked the car. Agreed a price and shook hands on the deal. Kept ringing up about when we could collect, sorting insurance etc. We could never get a straight answer and they would never 'phone back. Spent Christmas looking forward to the new car. We rang them again - finally the main guy got a lackey to ring back and admitted they had accepted a deposit from someone else. Then proceeded to reel off a list of other vehicles we might be interested in! Needless to say we weren't - though we may well have been if they hadn't been so deceitful about the first car.

Didn't mind not getting the car so much, just being messed around and not having the decency to own up - all over a car they 'phoned up and badgered us to go see! Spoilt Christmas a bit - the kids spent it looking forward to the car only to be disappointed. Still we ended up with a same year but cheaper Saab 9-5 which is much nicer to be in than the Galant.

 

[jonm]

FYI I went to look at a 220CDI estate at MB direct (which happened to be about 3 K cheaper than elsewhere). It was sold by the time I got there, but it did exist, salesman took the time to show it to me to prove it. The only bugbare is that I didn't get a call to say that it had been sold before I got there (as requested and agreed).

I agree with Glojo, bargains are never going to hang around too long, with saying that I am sure they don't always exist!

 

[crockers]

Our worst experience with a car dealer was a Subaru dealer in Rochdale. Rang up about a used Galant estate and they said it was sold. They rang us back a few days later to say it was still available - did we want to test drive it? Drove it, liked the car. Agreed a price and shook hands on the deal. Kept ringing up about when we could collect, sorting insurance etc. We could never get a straight answer and they would never 'phone back. Spent Christmas looking forward to the new car. We rang them again - finally the main guy got a lackey to ring back and admitted they had accepted a deposit from someone else. Then proceeded to reel off a list of other vehicles we might be interested in! Needless to say we weren't - though we may well have been if they hadn't been so deceitful about the first car.

Did you leave a deposit or sign an order form?

 

[crockers]

FYI I went to look at a 220CDI estate at MB direct (which happened to be about 3 K cheaper than elsewhere). It was sold by the time I got there, but it did exist, salesman took the time to show it to me to prove it. The only bugbare is that I didn't get a call to say that it had been sold before I got there (as requested and agreed).

I agree with Glojo, bargains are never going to hang around too long, with saying that I am sure they don't always exist!

Did you travel far? I would have sent them an invoice based at the IR max allowance of 40p a mile for travel wasted.

 

[Rory]

FYI I went to look at a 220CDI estate at MB direct (which happened to be about 3 K cheaper than elsewhere). It was sold by the time I got there, but it did exist, salesman took the time to show it to me to prove it. The only bugbare is that I didn't get a call to say that it had been sold before I got there (as requested and agreed).

I got my car from MB Direct Birmingham and drove from Chester to see it - the salesman suggested that if I gave a fully refundable deposit over the phone then they'd hold the car. I took the chance to negotiate the price over the phone and knocked £2K off, then started at the reduced price and knocked another £1500 off when I got there and liked the car.
And it turned out that the salesguy never even processed my deposit anyway - he said he felt confident I'd turn up.