VW dealerships still don't get it.
A younger friend went into the local dealership recently with a serious view to buying a Golf or Jetta.
Perhaps because he was dressed somewhat casually he was ignored and, even after approaching a salesman and asking some questions about the models in which he was interested, was subsequently treated as though invisible.
He left and bought his new car elsewhere.
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Penultimate visit to VW showroom: met by a brash, pushy, fast-talking specimen. Must have been a Perrys reject. We winced and made a rapid exit. Bought a Japanese car. Last time I went in, couple of years later, a customer was exiting, ranting at full volume at the service dept. No sales approached at all. I think they were hiding. Anyway, message received and understood:)
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"Astonishingly enough, when I called them to take them up on their offer the actual premium was 3 times what it said in the letter (none of my details had changed). Equally astonishing, the MD doesn't take calls from customers. "
Spend some time writing him/her a very snotty letter, explaining how you are amazed at their concept of doing business, and how all those you have told fell off their chairs when you recounted the tale.
Worth it for the reaction - I reckon you may just get a grovelling phone call from the MD.
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Spend some time writing him/her a very snotty letter
I do sometimes write out such letters, but rarely send them. No company of any size seems to care about customer service....until they're on WatchDog, of course, when they then do the things they should have done in the first place. This simply servces to lose them any remaining respect that they might have had.
I'm saving such battles for when I retire. :-)
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When I used to receive such snotty letters as a Director, I would always find out internally what the problem was (from our side) and then ring the customer up.
Sometimes we sent them a cheque for hassle even although there was some doubt.
The actual spend each year - in a multi £ million busines - was under £1,000... BUT we had remarkably little long term complaints.
I know car selling etc is hard but the number of national names - mainly insurance - who have lost my business permanently by being unco-operative is to me amazing.
And yet supermarkets generally can do it for millions every day.
Financial services companies are worst of all...
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I had precisely the same reaction from two VW dealers: I was casually dressed but a serious potential purchaser for a new Passat. I was ignored at one dealer, and refused a test drive or brichure at the other. I bought a new Accord instead.
EDIT: okay, maybe they didn't have a brichure, but a brochure would have done, I'm not fussy.
Edited by Gordon M on 21/01/2009 at 14:27
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I was recently at my VW dealer to get oil and filter for my Passat and had a look around the cars afterwards. Even though I looked like a tramp a salesman came out from the showroom in the cold, greeted me and asked if there was anything he could do to help. Spent a few minutes exchanging pleasantries about the cars and then left me to look but again offered to help me again if needed. Can't complain about the service there.
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That is how it is at my local VW dealer. I always look slightly trampish, but they always take me seriously there. And I've bought two brand new cars from them in the past 5 years.
No complaints, and even now they seem busy with customers. When we bought in November 08 they showed me their sales numbers, and I was very surpised at the amount of new cars they were still shifting. For our deal they almost matched a broker price, and threw in 3 years servicing for nowt. I was quite pleased and will be back.
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Three satisfied VW customers in a row on the HJ backroom!!!
Is this a record, or are we all mad?
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Even a nice fluffy thread can turn into a VW haters paradise. You lot amaze me at times! :)
Anyway... I can barely contain my excitement.
I phoned the sales manager this morning, and he said that the good news is that they are desperate for MkV Golfs like mine to sell as used cars, and wanted to make me a good offer for mine.
Tempted as I was, it's a company lease, so I wasn't able to take him up on his thrilling offer. He was getting a bit exasperated with VW UK by the time I phoned, because everyone they'd sent letters to at that point had said the same thing.
First rule of marketing - get your database right!
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>Tempted as I was, it's a company lease,
How do VW UK have you on their database as the owner when it's a company lease car?
My guess is that the dealer's been trawling through the service department's records looking for potential punters to try and move new stock. The invoice addresses should have given them a clue.
Kevin...
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and wanted to make me a good offer for mine.
Did they just want to buy it, or were they hoping to move you into a Mk6 Golf?
When the last SEAT Ibiza was running out middle of last year, the dealer we use called us out of the blue and said they had "stunning" deals available to move the last of the old models. "Stunning" turned out to be a distinctly average p/x for our 3.5yr old car and no other discount.
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In response to quizman above........
Was that a cue for me quizman .......... ?? :-)
Edited by Pendlebury on 21/01/2009 at 20:15
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People are queuing up at the moment to buy cars? Total clap trap.
Toyota sent us a mailshot in a similar vain - "there are too few second hand Aygos and we need yours", needless to say there was also a mention that they could sell us a new Aygo on a very good finance deal!
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I have just got back in touch with an old school chum I haven't seen for some years via a social networking site, and he happens to be the sales manager at a large VW dealership in Oxfordshire.
He tells me the only thing missing from their showroom right now is tumbleweed. A few tyre kickers only, and if they do get a serious punter through the door, and they're not paying cash, chances are they can't finance them.
They still give him an R32 to play with though.
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well someone still has that rare stuff we used to call money i saw a brand new porsche Cayman S the other day (outside Mcdonalds...guessing it wasnt an employee car).....sweet car!!
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They have reduced the price of an oil filter by 27p?
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They have reduced the price of an oil filter by 27p?
and raised the cost of the seal by 30p :-)
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Central London is still awash with 08 and 58 reg Range Rovers, Porsches and even the odd Ferrari and Bentley. Funny, as I always thought these kind of things belonged to bankers, but we all know the bankers haven't got any money these days, and the hard times are affecting everyone, right??
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There's still plenty of money out there.
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Reckon that's true, and central London has always been awash with the latest and most expensive motoring toys.
Jack Barclay in Berkeley Square don't sell Hyundai, do they?
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Was that a cue for me quizman .......... ?? :-)
It took a whole week for another "VW" thread to become a slagfest........ Unless I missed one :o/
Maybe there should be a specific never ending threads where each manufacturer gets a slating, The "I saw a Volvo in the middle lane today" thread or "Today I saw a BMW driven in an aggressive manner" thread or "I stood in a VW showroom for 756 days and was ignored" thread.
Not aimed at you Mr P, it was just a convenient starting point
Yours
A Keyboard-Warrior
;o)
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None taken and for the record you talk a lot of sense, it is an irritating trait here occasionally..
Anyway the thread has gone askew - lets get back on PG's topic
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On dealers (not VW but VAG...)
Had an interesting experience at my previously favourite SEAT dealer at the weekend. We'd been to Hyundai and Kia, and were shown round the cars we liked, allowed to play, and in particular try my son's pram in car boots. Salesmen neither pushy nor uninterested (the Kia guys was a little hovery, but not overly so). Impressed, we were. So, in we go on a sunday afternoon, into the ghost town of the local SEAT dealer. There's the (solo) sales-weasel at his computer. I ask him about this guy I used to know, find out he's left. Back to his computer. I ask if there's an Altea we can look at and he points vaguely towards one, wanders off somewhere, then back to computer. We have a good look around, make generally positive noises, anticipating being pounced upon. No movement. We go out to get my son's pram (past the weasel), dismantle it, then part of the car's boot to get it in, not a peep from your man. We put it all back together. Nothing. I ask if there's an altea XL and he points at the 4x4 version muttering that the boot's the same size. We do much the same with that. No reaction. We left.
I ought to add that we have recently received an inheritence and are in the market for a potential replacement for the sensible family Avensis. All options are open (up to about £13k), so several SEATs are in there. We were relatively smart-casually dressed, with junior in his car seat in tow. A normal family looking for a normal family car.
Now, in the current climate, you can forgive salespeople for being a little over-zealous or even needy, which can grate. But the display of total non-interest from this guy was astonishing. I suppose we could have gone repeatedly back to him to ask the questions we had (options, engines, prices, trade-in etc), but I was expecting him to come over to us (the customers). Needless to say, we left without making a purchase... and my previous warm fuzzy feeling about all things SEAT is not so warm and fuzzy any more. :-(
Hrumph.
Going back to look at i30, Ce'ed and Carens.
Incedentally, the boot on the i30/ Ce'ed is bigger or at least easier to get a big pram into than the Altea.
BW to all,
Alex.
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But the display of total non-interest from this guy was astonishing.
I had that once - I know often salespeople can appear dis-interested, but this was a bit wierd - couple of weeks later the dealership had lost the franchise, so I guess he must have known and had given up.
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Now in the current climate you can forgive salespeople for being a little over-zealous or even needy which can grate. But the display of total non-interest from this guy was astonishing.
I had a similar experience a few weeks back when I went on boxing day to a white goods retail shed, and found a raft of completely uninterested sales people ... and concluded that they had given up trying, which must be why they weren't interested. And from that I concluded that trying to purchase from them was an unwise use of my money.
The shop was Empire Direct, which went into administration on monday, and shut it doors promptly, having no stock left. It appears likely to be wound up.
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