Worst dealer story you have heard

[portzy]

On Monday I was in earshot of this, at a VW garage I might add.

Some chap was wanting to trade his.....? I dont know what it was as he never said but during the conversation the sales guy was taking him through the re-payments & GFV documents etc when the punter suddenly realises that his part ex is valued at nothing, yep thats nothing.

When said punter tries to bring this to the attention of the sales guy he is reminded by the salesman that the car will not be traded out through the dealership and that it would be going straight to auction. Punter still not happy/convinced says it must be worth something?, salesman says its got lumps/bumps/scratches/rust on every panel and would be very expensive to put right and that he, (punter), might be best selling privately? Punter, still pushing the issue asks why the salesman is being so negative?

Salesman says, and I kid you not........

"Look, your car is effectively a pile of scrap rubbish and junk metal that no-one in their right mind would want to buy, if you think that we would want to give you any allowance for it then retail it then you are mistaken, I dont think that it would even make it to the scrapyard so my advice is to ring a breakers yard and ask them to take it away right now"

Punter takes on a resigned look, gets up to walk away, gets nearly to the door, then comes back and continues with the proposed purchase which I'm assuming concludes in a sale.

I bet the salesman had been waiting all his life to drop a one liner like that.

Portzy.

 

[Birdman]

On Monday I was in earshot of this, at a VW garage I might add.....
Portzy.

Recently, I had a polite equivalent of that conversation with the sales manager of a main VW dealer when I asked about the p/ex value of my year-old Phaeton:

"We can't underwrite it in the current market but we will put the details on our website when you purchase your new car."

I didn't take up their rather sad "offer"!

But I bet they aren't alone in making it.

 

[maddog]

This one?

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=57398&highlight=Audi+RS4



WARNING! - Dragon Daily Mail quote thread!




.

no not that one i think it was a Corvette or some other muscle car

 

[pint6x]

My worst story dates back to 1988 - I had my first company car - a VW Golf 1.6 (mk 2) and I had to go and see a customer in Cumbria (from Newbury, Berks). Knowing that I needed new brake pads and discs, I made an appointment at the VW garage closest to the client for them to do the work - no problem - all arranged.

I was up in Cumbria for a few days and picked up my Golf on the last day.

Driving south on the M6, at around Sandbach, I heard a knocking at the front. I pulled into the service station and the brake calliper on the passenger side front wheel had come off completely and was held on by the brake hose!

I phoned the dealer and told them, while waiting for a recovery truck. This was in the era before mobile phones were commonplace, so I was sitting in a phone box with a pile of 10p pieces! Anyway - dealer rang me back and told me the mechanic had been fired, and they refunded the cost of all the parts and labour!

 

[Sp!ke]

Back in 1998 I took my six month old CBR600 in for a routine service at a Honda main dealer.

Later in the day I had a call from the main dealer saying they couldnt undo the rear wheel spindle as it was seized solid into the wheel and wouldn't budge. They went onto say that to change chain they had no choice but to remove the spindle. The only way forward they said was to cut throught the spacers either side of the rear wheel and through the spindle itself and then make a warranty claim to honda for a new rear wheel, spindle and spacers. A process that could take a while to authorise.

So later that day, I popped back to the shop with a friend who knew a little it more than I did at the time about mechanics. Armed with a large club hammer and a 1 foot length of scaffold tube, he walked into the service department, moved the bike up close to the wall, slid the scaffold tubing over one side of the spindle between the rear swingarm and wedged against the wall itself so there was no movement or strain put on the swingarm and then gave it an almighty wallop.

The whole process took less than two minutes to remove the spindle under the watchful eyes of the dealership staff with only very minor damage to the head of the spindle.

That was the very last time I used any main dealer for any type of servicing, car or bike.

 

[pint6x]

Armed with a large club hammer and a 1 foot length of scaffold tube, he walked into the service department, moved the bike up close to the wall, slid the scaffold tubing over one side of the spindle between the rear swingarm and wedged against the wall itself so there was no movement or strain put on the swingarm and then gave it an almighty wallop.

That's an excellent tip - I shall remember that one - having had my fair share of recalcitrant wheel spindles over the years when changing tyres, chains, sprockets and brake components.

 

[Birdman]

I expect it works 99% of the time. And on the hundredth occasion, the bike explodes into thousands of unnumbered parts!

 

[Sp!ke]

...or the wall falls down.

 

[maddog]

Back in 1998 I took my six month old CBR600 in for a routine service at a Honda main dealer.

Later in the day I had a call from the main dealer saying they couldnt undo the rear wheel spindle as it was seized solid into the wheel and wouldn't budge. They went onto say that to change chain they had no choice but to remove the spindle. The only way forward they said was to cut throught the spacers either side of the rear wheel and through the spindle itself and then make a warranty claim to honda for a new rear wheel, spindle and spacers. A process that could take a while to authorise.

So later that day, I popped back to the shop with a friend who knew a little it more than I did at the time about mechanics. Armed with a large club hammer and a 1 foot length of scaffold tube, he walked into the service department, moved the bike up close to the wall, slid the scaffold tubing over one side of the spindle between the rear swingarm and wedged against the wall itself so there was no movement or strain put on the swingarm and then gave it an almighty wallop.

The whole process took less than two minutes to remove the spindle under the watchful eyes of the dealership staff with only very minor damage to the head of the spindle.

That was the very last time I used any main dealer for any type of servicing, car or bike.

I wouldve loved to see them try and cut a spindle , they are very hard , i managed to bend a few on my dragbike and we had a hell of a job getting them out then , hitting one very hard will likely damage the wheel bearings as well I can see why the dealership refused , worst senario is the wheel could fracture or crack and fracture later on