Recent Dealer & Manufacturer experiences

[LordThornber]

In the paraphrased words of Andy Stothert, this is what we found on those days, here goes.

 

I used Baileys website to ascertain which was my nearest dealer. Bad start, their website wasn't capable of this, despite it asking for a postcode.

 

Contacted Bailey, told them about the website performance and they responded quickly. They told me that particular element of their website was being reviewed, well done Bailey.

 

Anyway off to view the 740, (I worked out the nearest dealership myself), rang first to establish that one was on site. Upon arrival we found the 740, mooched about it externally, attempted to look inside but it was locked.

 

Into the main building we went, we were quickly acknowledged by a staff member who explained that he was with a customer but would be with us shortly, excellent.

 

We waited, and waited, until another staff member came in and he completely ignored us. Crap.

 

Waited again, and another staff member came in, asked if we were being attended to, and away we went.We explained we'd like to view the 740 internally, he said go ahead it's unlocked. We said it wasn't and he got a bit short, saying that it was definitely open.

 

We gave him the benefit of the doubt, thinking we'd perhaps been a tad cautious with the handle, returned to the van and of course it was indeed, locked.

 

Back we went, and there wasn't a staff member to be seen, indeed the roller shutter door on the office was half closed, (4 hours to close of business).

 

A queue of customers started to form until eventually we ran out of patience, got in the car, fired up the sat nav and went to Campbells near Preston.

 

740 was on site, viewing no problem, no high pressure sales, left alone to mooch and re mooch, superb.

 

Told Bailey of our 2 dealer experiences, the response was sadly predictable, oh dear but at least

it ended well was essentially it.

 

Went back to Campbells 2 weeks later for our van to be appraised, again, excellent prompt service.

 

I then followed my usual format when considering a vehicle purchase, I contacted 4 further dealers for a quote including all my requirements, a perfectly simple to understand request.

 

Only 2 of the 4 dealers managed to actually answer the question, well done Don Amott and Flintshire caravan sales.

 

In my 2 years with BMW, one message that was continually rammed down our throat was not to judge customers by appearance.

 

We deliberately turned up at both dealers dressed down and driving our old car, you can read whatever you like into that.

 

Martyn.

 

[maggyd]

We had a bit of that when we were looking at couple of places! we just walked away ! in the end we got excellent service at what was Browhills at Burtree and was quickly take over by Marquise (mid deal) even so the hand over went very well and the after service has been very good as well.

 

(lol) You sound a lot like my O.H he says he is not getting dressed up to spend a lot of money !! we didnt find that when buying the van, but on buying a new car in 2000 we ended up going to Holland for our new passat !! if they dont come to us at a Dealership he certainly wont go to them (lol) on the other hand now with our mini cooper the Dealership bend over backwards to be of help (lol) I wonder if HE is dressing a bit smarter after all my nagging?? ridiculous isnt it !! who the heck are they? SALESMEN !!

[lennyhb]

If they want my money they have to put up with how I dress "I don't do smart" don't even own a suit. (lol)

[AliB]

LordThornber - 2014-03-20 2:56 PM

 

 

I then followed my usual format when considering a vehicle purchase, I contacted 4 further dealers for a quote including all my requirements, a perfectly simple to understand request.

 

Only 2 of the 4 dealers managed to actually answer the question, well done Don Amott and Flintshire caravan sales.

 

 

 

Martyn.

 

I had a similar experience. One dealer did not reply at all. Another said they would only quote me a price if I came into the showroom. Two did quote.

So 2 out of 4 cant be bad can it?

[nuevoboy]

It's good that LordThornber has highlighted the dealers where he got good service, but like most folk on here, I would also appreciate knowing the name of the first dealer, where their service was poor.

Is it so unacceptable to actually name dealers such as these?

I presume LordThornber passed on the name to Bailey and I doubt whether they'd inform the dealer of the issue.

But if they got to know that their service was deemed unacceptable by prospective customers, then it would benefit everyone, including themselves.

 

Incidentally, a few years back I was interested in buying a VW transporter and waited unattended for around 20 minutes, with salesmen glancing over occasionally, but otherwise ignoring me. How sad that people are judged so much on appearances. In the end I walked away and spent my hard-earned cash elsewhere.

[Guest JudgeMental]

Hey!

 

So where have you been then Thornber....doing a streeeeetch on her majesty's pleasure for impersonation? :D

 

nice to see you around again...

[Brock]

Good to see you back on the motorhome forum, Martyn. I'd seen a post of yours on Chatterbox.

 

I'm pleased that Campbells were on the ball. I think they took over the old Madisons/Hymer UK property. I'm guessing your other trip was down to Bury but it doesn't really matter now.

 

I read dealers boasting of their 'no hassle' sales techniques and always stay away from them. I want a dealer that works hard for a sale. Alas when we bought our current motorhome last July, we gave two different salesmen at the same dealer a chance to sell us a van [on different days]. One salesman didn't know his product and was disinterested. We couldn't understand why. The other was better and got the sale.

 

One of the differences we found when we bought caravans compared to buying motorhomes is that caravan dealers sell them whereas with motorhome dealers, we have to persuade them to sell us a van.

 

 

[LordThornber]

Hello John et al, no flies on you eh?

 

I thought I'd give enough clues to the poor dealers, as for actually naming and shaming them, well I've seen enough wars started on here because of doing just that so no thank you.

 

To be honest, the objectives of my post was more to highlight just how in the dark ages some elements of the industry still are.

 

The fact that a salesman was practically arguing with me, a manufacturer was barely troubled that one of it's appointed dealers was behaving abominably, that's where I was coming from.

 

Cheers Eddie, grub in pentonville not recommended :D

 

Martyn

[Pete-B]

I know what you mean by judging from appearance, I only did it once and promised myself never again.

 

I had my own business exhibiting expensive art work on show grounds like Badminton, Silverstone, agriculture shows etc. I was doing Burghley horse show one year and things were a bit quiet, when this old lady came on the stand and to say she was scruffy would be an understatement in fact I would say her personal hygiene left a bit to be desired. She looked around for about 20 minutes, walked up to me and said " I'll have that one that one and those two, would you wrap them up and I'll call back later". I thought in your dreams particularly as the total came to nearly 8 grand. I usually ask for a deposit so I can put a red sticker on them but I didn't even bother in this case thinking I won't see you again.

 

Then the guy exhibiting next to me came over and said I see Mrs xxxxx as been on your stand, I said " why do you know her" he said, " yes she's worth a fortune and has a string of quality horses", So with that I gave myself a right ollocking for being arrogant and daring to classify people.

 

Sure enough she came back at the end of the day, paid and asked me if I would take them to her Range Rover which I did, then she stuffed another £50 in my hand.

 

[kelly58]

My son used to work for a local " High Class " Kitchen Supplier, as a fitter one day this chap came to the showroom looking like he had just come off the fields wellies and all . The owner and son completely ignored him whilst he browsed in the kitchen displays . On his way out to his Land Rover he said to my son What's with your boss not interested in making a sale ?. My son said they only serve shirt and ties in suites can I come and give you some advise and help plan your kitchen for you in private and do the supply and work myself , which he did supplied and fitted a kitchen from another supplier and made a very satisfied customer happy and himself a good lot of cash . 

[Will86]

About 6 months ago when trying to decide what new vehicle type to buy I went into a Mercedes showroom in Crawley in my everyday working cloths which are really rather tatty. I talked to an older salesman who was extremely polite and showed no disrespect at all to how I dressed. The same procedure applied at VW in Crawley, they too were most helpful.

 

For a test drive I never drive but sit as a passenger I'm then able to assess how a vehicles performs much better by sounds and feel.

 

Both types I decided were not at all practical, Ok so they looks smart with safety uppermost and that was all. The VW T5 beat them all.

[Guest pelmetman]

People only try to sell me stuff by phone or email now we live in the sticks :D..............haven't been to a showroom for decades ;-).........................To busy doing important stuff like using it rather than changing it :D............

[Archiesgrandad]

We bought our current van from a dealer whom we believed had a first class reputation, and who seemed well regarded within the industry. We bought at a show, and they said they would be happy to hang to it for a few weeks whilst we sold our existing van. We were happy to pay top price for a van which appeared to be in excellent condition, and which had a number of good extras. During the time it took to sell our old van I made several attempts to speak to the dealer about our progress, but on each occasion that I asked for the name on the business card I was told that he wasn't there, and no-one knew when he would be there. It seemed that the people at the other of the 'phone line were enjoying a private joke, but being paranoid I assumed it was probably just me. I did later learn that the person I was asking for had died some time previously.

The old van sold without no real problems and we excitedly arranged to pick up our 'new' van, from the dealer 85 miles away. On arrival we were quite quickly ushered into the office and relieved of our money, we had noticed that our van was parked outside on the busy main road, but we were not invited to look around it before we handed over the money, and with the formalities completed we we given a £20 note, "get some diesel because the tank was empty", and invited to take a look at our new van. It was still parked on a busy main road, we couldn't really look around the outside in safety, there was no gas bottle in the locker so we couldn't check the appliances, but it seemed that everything else was OK, and the salesman had demonstrated that the roof aircan was working, but they would not cover the aircon in the 90 day warranty because of it's age so we accepted that because to be honest we intended to remove it anyway.

We filled the fuel tank at the first opportunity, and drove home. It is a lovely van and a joy to drive, but I noticed that the cruise control was not working. I wasn't too bothered at that stage, because we have what looks like the same device on the old Jeep that we bring into action every winter when CG lays up her sports car for the bad weather, and that often takes a bit of use to get all the switches working, and when we arrived home I connected a gas bottle and everything worked fine.

We had a super holiday in France, but the cruise control never worked and as expected the aircon never worked again, and out of the blue the exhaust pipe broke and a temporary repair made by the AA allowed us to complete our holiday and get home, but we love our van.

I called the dealer and explained about the exhaust pipe and cruise control and a few minor bits that could be better, and an arrangement was made to take the van back on Saturday morning. I decided not to bother about the aircon because I did not intend to use it and in any case I had specifically accepted that it was not covered. ( I still feel that the dealers stance on this subject was not right, but I did accept it.)

I drove the 85 miles to the dealer as arranged, arrived at lunchtime and found the premises closed until Monday. Although all their literature gives their Saturday hours as 0800 to 1700, they had closed at 1200. They knew that I had made an appointment, they did not think to contact me before they locked up and went home, and I had no reason to contact them because I knew they would be there till 1700.

I drove home, sent off a snotty email, and eventually arranged to take it again on the following week. They did, sort-of, apologise, but I felt that they thought that I should have known that they would close.

I took it back, they loaned me a courtesy car to get home, and a few days later I drove back picked up the van. The broken exhaust pipe has been replaced, the odd little niggles are all resolved, but they don't know what's wrong with the cruise control, and the workshop manager said that if I could get it fixed myself they would help me with the cost. This offer has now been withdrawn, and they now insist that the warranty does not cover any after market accessories.

By nature I am a belligerent, miserable, uncouth slob, devoid of charm or anything else that might make me a nice person. 40+ years of CG's influence,(repression) have taught me to use a lot of self restraint, and to the world at large I often seem like a reasonable person, but I think that I've not had good or even fair treatment, from these people.

They advertised this van as a top class example, with lots of extras, and I think that in advertising it in this way I am entitled to expect that all these extras should have worked when we picked it up, and continue to work for a reasonable period thereafter. My local trading standards people also see it in this way, and are itching to get the name of the dealer, but I hold back in the hope that the dealer will be reasonable and make the cruise control work, at no cost to me. This hope is now fading, and I will soon have to decide how to proceed. Am I being unreasonable?

AGD