GTs collection - dealership gripe - interested in JBD view

[rsk21]

I fully appreciate that the below may well make me look like a pompous tw@ so move on if you think so ! Nonetheless it's really peed me off so I thought I'd document it.

Almost exactly a year ago I submitted an order for an AMG Gts. Throughout that wait the experience has been mixed, a very enthusiastic contact at the dealer giving us regular updates and a slightly confused MBUK in the background making occasional contact sometimes thanking me for my order and at others asking me if I had ever thought about buying a GT !

Anyway .....

About three weeks ago we get the call saying the car is in the UK, a day later it's at the garage and then a phone call asking when are we (my business partner and I) going to collect it ?

Given that we were both working overseas we said something along the lines of "well we've waited this long so a few more days won't hurt how about next weekend ?".

Clearly this was the wrong answer as we were then told that the car must, repeat MUST, be collected and off the premises by the last day of the month. Obvioulsy this was all to do with dealer numbers, quarter end etc etc however it really riled us and here's where the pompous bit comes in so apologies but.....

We had waited almost a year for this car. It's not our problem if for some reason the dealership suddenly decides to stick it in their quarterly numbers when uo until two weeks before it arrived they stil didn't know exactly when it would come.

It cost an absurd amount of money, there was no discount, no special deal, no added extras as a favour in return for some kind of quid pro quo.

That absurd amount of money could have been spent with Porsche, ferrari or Aston Martin, none of whom would have resorted to A Class box shifting volume tactics.

It's a beautiful and very special car but Mercedes UK still have work to do in terms of the customer experience. :fail

 

[c_200k]

I see exactly where you are coming from and I would have expected more from them than that.

Also as a side note it's not just Mercedes-Benz, i bought a car from BMW costing roughly the same new and was told the deal needs to be done and dusted the next day.

 

[MancMike]

You've paid for it haven't you?

Call me stupid, but what are they really going to do if you don't collect it? Crush it? Sell it? It's yours. Am I just being stupid. :/

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Although I can understand it from a sales point of view, I don't think you're being pompous at all, I'm assuming when you say "next weekend" it means you're asking them to wait maybe 7-10 days? It's not like you're saying 5 weeks...

Towards the end, did they ever give you a definite collection date?

 

[Simon_M]

Why dance to their tune, collect it whenever you want and tell them so, don't get stressed about it.

S

 

[rsk21]

Some clarity.

We have the car and picked it up at a time that worked for us.

Wasn't asking for advice on how to deal with it

Was more making the point that it was a crappy way to treat a customer which rather tainted the experience.

Was interested to hear a dealer's perspective as I'm surprised that it happened that way.

c200k seemed to get the point

 

[C240Sport97]

it's all sales targets ..

I'm sure rsk21 would have put them in the place they should have been

 

[Doodle]

That absurd amount of money could have been spent with Porsche, ferrari or Aston Martin, none of whom would have resorted to A Class box shifting volume tactics.

It's a beautiful and very special car but Mercedes UK still have work to do in terms of the customer experience. :fail

Is that because they don't deal in volume shifting tactics because they have no bottom end line to sell? For them, all their cars are high-ticket items, which means a uniform level of service. Mercedes (like BMW who were also mentioned) have a much wider range of sales to deal with.

Arguably their level of service should be same regardless, but reality dictates they'll go further for the bigger fish. However, I wouldn't have stood for that crap if I was buying a base model A-class, let alone dropping six figures on a car that I have to wait a year to arrive.

 

[renault12ts]

Some clarity.

We have the car and picked it up at a time that worked for us.

Wasn't asking for advice on how to deal with it

Was more making the point that it was a crappy way to treat a customer which rather tainted the experience.

Was interested to hear a dealer's perspective as I'm surprised that it happened that way.

c200k seemed to get the point

We all got it.

They were wrong.

When did you collect it...and what was their attitude?

 

[rsk21]

Is that because they don't deal in volume shifting tactics because they have no bottom end line to sell? For them, all their cars are high-ticket items, which means a uniform level of service. Mercedes (like BMW who were also mentioned) have a much wider range of sales to deal with.

Arguably their level of service should be same regardless, but reality dictates they'll go further for the bigger fish. However, I wouldn't have stood for that crap if I was buying a base model A-class, let alone dropping six figures on a car that I have to wait a year to arrive.

You make a good point and on reflection the cost is irrelevant.

I have bought plenty of cars where in return for a great (in my eyes) deal I have accommodated the dealership's desire to hit a target and so gone out of my way to meet their deadlines. That's how it works and I get that.

This however was different, a limited production car, with a huge waiting list and an uncertain delivery time, no special deal suddenly wrapped up in "do it now" tactics.

Hey ho it's nonetheless a beautiful car, I made the point to the nice lady from the feedback team who rang me yesterday and they'll either do something about it or not. At the end of the day I shouldn't be surprised about the motor trade's continuing ability to frustrate !

 

[Simon_M]

Porsche dealer once told me I had to collect a car mid week as they do no provide handovers on Saturdays (read maximise sales time).

I stupidly agreed and collected it in the dark, however the salesman had forgotten to charge me for the £8000 deposit

S

 

[bob6600]

Even if they wanted it to count towards their monthly/quarterly figures, it would have been registered and already accounted for. Was it due to lack of space inside the showroom/handover area?

Either way I would have put my disappointment in writing to the DP

 

[rsk21]

Even if they wanted it to count towards their monthly/quarterly figures, it would have been registered and already accounted for. Was it due to lack of space inside the showroom/handover area?

Either way I would have put my disappointment in writing to the DP

DP is being informed

Apparently it's due to a physical stock audit and vehicles have to leave the premises.

Like you I assumed registration was sufficient.

I wonder if this is a Sytner thing ?

Given the size of the site space wasn't the issue.

 

[c_200k]

The BMW dealership I dealt with was also Sytner!

 

[GazzyFizzle]

I think that's pretty poor.

I recently bought a car from Mercedes Epsom, and the discounted price was only available if I did the deal and collected the car before September was finished.

Fair enough in my eyes, he made it quite clear he would do the deal if I could collect it before the end of September. It was a gentlemans agreement I guess, and one which I was pleased to honour to achieve the discount I did.

Hope you're enjoying the new car OP. Don't let the experience ruin it!

 

[Gene]

Same thing. I even suggested they leave the car on the street, where it would not be on their premises. No chance. This was with MB Retail.

 

[AMGeed]

Not what I would expect from a perceived prestige dealership no matter what reason.
A physical audit should make no difference if the customer cannot be there in person to remove the car.
Good sense and moreso good customer relationship could be lost over something like this. It would somewhat sour the experience for me too.
No doubt the DP will be reminded of this

 

[JBD]

Firstly, it's pretty easy for us to track delivery of a GT, as they come from America and take almost 2 months to ship. Your dealer will have known well in advance that it was coming in that quarter and should have advised you so. If they had, you would have been more prepared for it's arrival and would have already discussed a convenient date for you to pick it up.
It doesn't sound like it was handled in the best way, especially for that type of car.

 

[st13phil]

A physical audit should make no difference if the customer cannot be there in person to remove the car.

This sort of thing isn't confined to car dealerships.

So many businesses are measured on short-term performance parameters that there is a huge incentive to claim a sale - any sale - in the current period. The trouble is that the less scrupulous will then de-book the sale at the start of the next period. This has lead to stricter and stricter audit rules that normally require the goods (whatever they are) to be out of the direct control of the selling company for the sale to be claimed.

 

[rsvgreg]

Robin.

Am I mistaken or is this the same dealership that produced a short video of the car on arrival at the dealership? If this is the same the video, the narrator concluded with a fairly laid back "Let's us know when you will be able to collect the car". No sense that the dealer GM was chasing the sales number for the period.

This just looks like a great example of the wrong type of incentive being put in place by either MB or the dealer network. If all you measure is sales made in period, that is all you will make. In this day and age however that's a pretty short sighted view as great customer service leads to repeat sales and recommendation. In our small business we rank customer satisfaction alongside our service outcomes and our Financial performance. Result is a focus on customer satisfaction which in turn has lead to increased sales many from customer referral, oh and a doubling of T/O in three years to £10m. We've all heard that unhappy customers tell at least five people of their experience and they in turn tell five more etc.

I hope as others have mentioned however it does not detract from the ownership experience.