why is Woking Motors nowhere near Woking?
one of lifes mysteries.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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why is Woking Motors nowhere near Woking? one of lifes mysteries.
Its all relative, from here they are very close though from Woodham they are in opposite directions.
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The MB dealer ffor Guildford is much closer to woking then Woking motors in Hersham BUT,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Its all clear now
Woking Motors no longer exists,.
Its is in fact now called "Mercedes Benz - Walton on Thames"
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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The MB dealer ffor Guildford is much closer to woking then Woking motors in Hersham BUT,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Your quite right of course TVM. I have lived in the area so long that Woking Motors - even though now superceded - is the name that tends to stick with locals.
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A little while ago I went to a 3 pointed star dealer in Cardiff with the express intention of buying an E Class 320cdi Avantgarde. It was about 11.00 am on a Saturday, the showroom had 2 other customers in it, 6 x salesman and assorted service people & receptionists there. Every few minutes I looked at one of the salesman, indicated the car and asked if he could come and talk over some aspects of the car - the guy would give me a "in a moment" gesture, return to his collegue and carry on his conversation.
I repeated this process 6 times.
The ONLY person in the ENTIRE dealership that paid me any attention at all was a man who had a floor buffer and who was cleaning the floor. "A beautiful car" he said to me, "It surely is" said I. "I'd really like to know a bit more about it, but none of the salesman seem able to come and help me". "Don't go" said the cleaner "I'll go and see the sales manager. I know that he's not busy at the moment" and off he toddled to the Sales managers office to ask him to come and speak to the guy by the E class. This is where I got an insight to how MB view (some) of their prospects. The SM came to the door, looked straight at me, invited the cleaner bloke to leave his office, and closed his door leaving me on my lonesome in the middle of the showroom floor.
At 11.45 I left the showroom shaking my head and wondering why o why some dealers are like that.
But not all parts of Daimler Chrysler are like that.
My local Chrysler dealer where i bought my 300C and my wifes PT Cruiser are an advert for professionalism, good service and truly making the customer/prospect feel valued. I don't know what the site policy is on naming dealers, but if the rules allow it, I'll do so.
MTC
p.s. I think that it was mabye a lucky escape, because my 300C has vastly exeeded all of my expectations and left me over £15000 better off
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"The SM came to the door, looked straight at me, invited the cleaner bloke to leave his office, and closed his door leaving me on my lonesome in the middle of the showroom floor."
If that had happenbed to me I'd have burst into his office and demanded he speak to me - and if he refused, informed Mercedes sharpish.
No such problem at Greenoaks Reading - the service has been excellent (a pity the B-class itself is mediocre). Maybe their not being owned by MB has something to do with it.
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"The SM came to the door, looked straight at me, invited the cleaner bloke to leave his office, and closed his door leaving me on my lonesome in the middle of the showroom floor." If that had happenbed to me I'd have burst into his office and demanded he speak to me - and if he refused, informed Mercedes sharpish.
Hi avant
I could have done but I decided to spend my money elsewhere instead - but I admit that it did not set the Merc brand in a good light for me.
Mabye the problem is me ? I don't look like a "typical" expensive saloon buyer - this would explain the complete lack of interest that I have been shown by Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar & Audi salesman in the past.
Ho Hum, I guess that they didn't want my money.
MTC
p.s. sales at my local Audi dealer must be a bit weak at the moment because the Sales gadger has been in contact with me to buy a Audi A6 TDI. To cut a long story short, I told him that I currently wasn't looking to downgrade from my 300C.
"Downgrade" says the Audi man "I would hardly call a move from a Chrysler to an Audi A6 as being a downgrade"
"Well" said I, "It all depends how you look at these things. Personally, I consider changing my 300C for a car that is smaller, slower, much lower specced, smaller engined, and vastly more expensive would indeed be a downgrade. Besides which, I prefer to drive a car that is distinctive and made in small numbers, rather than some mass produced identikit German car. But thanks for thinking about me anyway"
I DID SMILE (a lot) as I said it.
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I wonder why they bother employing salesman at all, the car would walk out of the showrooms on their own. P.S. I'm sure the new E class is a genuinely good car too.
That's a very relevant point. I bet they've sold their next few months' allocation already. The salesman won't be doing much selling - more a case of 'managing the orders'.
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I had a very similar experience helping a friend with a potential Motorbility purchase. We walk into a MB dealership in Croydon at 4.30pm on a Monday. We ask to speak at reception (manned by two women) to a salesperson. We are told to go wait in the customer area. (which is not near any of the cars and appears to be a general dumping ground for customers with complaints/issues/servicing queries (ie you sit there as a potential customer hearing heated exchanges/arguments/excuses....for 10 minutes...after 10 minutes go to reception again and say
"Err we'd like to see a salesman....and we'd really like to see an A class....that salesman over there looks free (see usual salesman behaviour-routing in draws stapling umpteen documents together but not on the phone)"
"Oh no he's busy....he'll be with you shortly"
"Err well shall we see if he can speak for himself "
"Hello Mr X - we'd like to look at an A Class "
"Sorry mate I'm busy (sitting at desk doing more stapling)"
Receptionist stands between us and sales man and ushers us like sheep towards a B class...."would you like to sit in a B class? " we go "err no we are not interested in that model - its far too big and family sized - we're a couple - please listen to what we said - We are interested in an A class only!" (cue steam coming from ears)
Eventually get to see another salesman who recognises there is almost going to be an argument given the conversation...
Then we at last get better service.....after being in the showroom for 20 minutes before getting a sensible approach.
This is not the first time I have witnessed basic customer service failures in a Mercedes Showroom. Selling cars is not rocket science.....what the hell is keeping most of the staff busy (all those types you see in most showrooms carrying files around on mezzanine floors or endlessly stapling - is stapling and getting stuff out of filing cabinets a core skill of a car salesman?
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This is not the first time I have witnessed basic customer service failures in a Mercedes Showroom. Selling cars is not rocket science.....what the hell is keeping most of the staff busy (all those types you see in most showrooms carrying files around on mezzanine floors or endlessly stapling - is stapling and getting stuff out of filing cabinets a core skill of a car salesman?
I sat for a couple of hours in my local MB dealer while my car was being serviced and I could see 6 sales people sat at desks around the showroom from where I was. They never seemed to stop for a moment, filling in forms, ringing people, taking calls etc. I was just amazed at the activity level at what is a fairly small dealership. I'd love to know what they where all doing.
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I made the comment further up about 'managing orders'. This is what most of these 'salesmen' would be doing - in fact 'salesman' is probably the wrong term. In a reasonably affluent area the MB salesman is not going to have too much trouble meeting his monthly/quarterly targets - the cars will virtually sell themselves (MB don't sell as many cars as they possibly can, they set an 'allocation'). The salesmen will be busy tracking down cars with the 'right spec', sorting out registration, soothing callers whos cars are overdue. I'm sure if someone walks in an is ready to order then they'll show interest, if in there just to browse then they'll let you get on with it.
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My understanding was that Mercedes sales in the UK were falling...and that the volume sellers eg A, C and E class were being comprehensively outsold by Audi and BMW models.
Hence you would think there is a greater need to "sell" to maintain the appropriate throughput in the factory. The salesmen in our case let on that there was absolutely no waiting list for A classes and there was easy availability from stock in the UK.
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