Buying blues - Parramatta Rd shocker <rant>

Hi all,

I'm helping a friend look for a car and so this morning we called a dealer
selling a vehicle found on a web search. It hadn't been sold so we set out
to see them as arranged on the phone, ~ 45min drive. Our man was pretty
helpful and seemed like an OK bloke but all this with the thoughts of
"P'matta Rd sleaze" echoing in the back of our minds.

At one point early in proceedings, he called over his manager to ask if we
could take the car for a spin. The manager approached, and he was a
beauty - fake tan, hair slicked back, business pants, business shirt, no
tie, top button done up and.... yes, mirror Carreras. He waved his hand at
the car and asked aggressively if we liked it. I said we'd only just
arrived and so he asked again. I repeated my position and said it appeared
to fit our needs but we'd only just arrived and hadn't even driven it yet.
(This was a $20K small 4wd). He said "We don't do 'test drives' here. We
finalise negotiations and then stamp the documents 'pending drive'. If the
car drives OK, then you buy it." He could have knocked us down with a
feather. I've test-driven >$200K cars with no problems - this guy was a
real charmer. He then enquired as to our ability to service the 'required
finance'. I responded that we were paying cash and that my friend could
purchase a Cayenne in cash if required (which is true). Thankfully, after
that exchange he departed.

After Carrera man left us, I made it very clear to our salesman that Carrera
wasn't to have anything to do with us again. A bit more chatting, poking
around the car and our guy decided that we were worthy of a test-drive. We
took the car for a spin and it was OK. Time to talk turkey.

We sat with our guy - a pretty decent fellow with a good sense of humour, we
liked him - and started to negotiate. Soon we were arriving at the decision
point and were about to say yes and hand over the 20 grand - this was
exactly the car my friend was looking for and there are few variants around.
In strode Carrera man, rudely reached across me and snatched (this is no
overstatement) the paperwork from in front of me, complete with my notes and
out he strode. We were gobsmacked and as we picked up our respective chins
yet another dealer walked in and happily announced that he'd sold the car.

Well faaaark me. The three of us almost fell off our chairs and I asked if
he was joking. No, he'd just sold it and that was that. Flabbergasted, my
friend said that she had no idea anyone else was looking and that she was
pretty shocked. I stood and (without raising my voice) said that we were
astonished at their actions and that they were extremely unethical and we
were very disappointed in them. Further, I said that it was probably good
to see their true colours, and that if this is how they treat prospective
clients, it was fairly clear how they would treat someone with a warranty
claim. Not only this but it was a terrible waste of our valuable time and
the time of our (still nice guy) salesman.

After standing there looking like fools, one of them asked me if I'd like to
leave my number in case another similar car appeared. We just looked at
him.

So, this is how you are treated by the people at Otomobile Shoppe at 208
Parramatta Rd, Homebush. I wonder about the perils of their clients and can
honestly say that in all my days and travels to some fairly remote and
bizarre locations around the planet, today's experience stands glowing as
the best example of the worst customer service I've ever had.

So if this email can serve to a. cure insomnia and b. prevent your time/$$
being wasted, then it's been worth my tenosynovitis and stiff neck.

Cheers,
Dave E (Sydney)
</rant>

 

My experience has been mixed, but once a guy like that comes and starts
throwing his weight around, I'd leave.

Usually, the saleman you first see is an employee and will, in most cases
act relatively normally,..afterall it is a car-yard.

In all the yards I visited, not once did they flinch at a test-drive.
Without one, the sale is dead,..they know-it, we know -it, so I wonder just
what was going on there. The only thing I can think of is that they had
another buyer lined up who had gone to get the bucks, or the manager with
the mirror sunglasses was in a shitty mood because he had been put in his
place,..so he canned the sale.

You dont need a yard whose has such a manager,..it was wise the sale was
canned, as you said, any warrenty claims would have been dealt with by the
same individual.

Jason

 

Hi Jason,

Yes, you're right. At this point though, it seemed to be the right car and
there weren't too many of them around so we just had to endure this guy at
first. For me, it was all I could do not to just laugh at him - he was
truly pathetic. A woeful example of a guy.

In hindsight, it appears that this is indeed the case. At one point, very
early in proceedings this guy had the ordacity to say that if we hadn't
fully made up our minds then we shouldn't be talking to him. He was the one
who approached us! This guy was a serious wanker. Later I explained to his
boss that it is psychology 101 that most people instinctively will not trust
someone whose eyes you can't see in conversation apart from all his other
delightful ways.

Absolutely. Though pissed off at having our time wasted and for being
treated like fools, we were relieved that it ended with no sale. I would
hate to have to interact with these gorillas again.

Cheers,
Dave E

 

http://www.otomobileshoppe.com.au/pictures/fullscreen.html

oh !!! They have "livechat"..talk to a sales person... suggest ausmotians
bombard this resource with requests to chat to MonkeyBoy...you know.... the
one with the silly glasses on...

oh!!! and they have video too...ask to see if MonkeyBoy can come on cam as
have heard what a complete prehistoric cretan he is.

 

Mate, you are a naughty boy. I'm going to give the MTA a quick call and
pass on some enlightenment. Part of the opening spiel was that they were
not the 'average' dealer and had 'several' yards (them and the one across
the road) and that they were fair dinkum MTA approved.

This has already wasted too much time but perhaps I can resort to a bit of a
verbal knifing for some mild amusement value.

Cheese,
Dave E

 

Damn...doesnt work with Firefox. Just a black screen.
Stupid developers that can only write for IE....

 

At one point, very early in proceedings this guy had the ordacity to say that if we hadn't fully made up our minds then we shouldn't be talking to him.

Why the **** didnt you walk away there and then?

 

After that, a few rampant apostrophes pale into into
insignificance.....

 

Try installing the IE Tab 1.0.6.4 into FireFox as an Extension. Gives
another button that can be installed on the toolbar to open the "offending"
page in FireFox but as IE would view it. The link opened OK when this was
used. Also use it to open those pages like banking that don't appear right
in FireFox..

Howie.

| alx wrote:
| > http://www.otomobileshoppe.com.au/pictures/fullscreen.html
| >
| > oh !!! They have "livechat"..talk to a sales person... suggest
ausmotians
| > bombard this resource with requests to chat to MonkeyBoy...you know....
the
| > one with the silly glasses on...
| >
| > oh!!! and they have video too...ask to see if MonkeyBoy can come on cam
as
| > have heard what a complete prehistoric cretan he is.
| >
| >
| >
| > | >
| >>| >>
| >>>| >>>
| >>>>Hi all,
| >>>
| >>
| >>Hi Jason,
| >>
| >>
| >>>My experience has been mixed, but once a guy like that comes and starts
| >>>throwing his weight around, I'd leave.
| >>
| >>
| >>Yes, you're right. At this point though, it seemed to be the right car
| >>and there weren't too many of them around so we just had to endure this
| >>guy at first. For me, it was all I could do not to just laugh at him -
he
| >>was truly pathetic. A woeful example of a guy.
| >>
| >>
| >>>Usually, the saleman you first see is an employee and will, in most
cases
| >>>act relatively normally,..afterall it is a car-yard.
| >>>
| >>>In all the yards I visited, not once did they flinch at a test-drive.
| >>>Without one, the sale is dead,..they know-it, we know -it, so I wonder
| >>>just
| >>>what was going on there. The only thing I can think of is that they had
| >>>another buyer lined up who had gone to get the bucks, or the manager
with
| >>>the mirror sunglasses was in a shitty mood because he had been put in
his
| >>>place,..so he canned the sale.
| >>
| >>In hindsight, it appears that this is indeed the case. At one point,
very
| >>early in proceedings this guy had the ordacity to say that if we hadn't
| >>fully made up our minds then we shouldn't be talking to him. He was the
| >>one who approached us! This guy was a serious wanker. Later I
explained
| >>to his boss that it is psychology 101 that most people instinctively
will
| >>not trust someone whose eyes you can't see in conversation apart from
all
| >>his other delightful ways.
| >>
| >>
| >>>You dont need a yard whose has such a manager,..it was wise the sale
was
| >>>canned, as you said, any warrenty claims would have been dealt with by
| >>>the
| >>>same individual.
| >>
| >>Absolutely. Though pissed off at having our time wasted and for being
| >>treated like fools, we were relieved that it ended with no sale. I
would
| >>hate to have to interact with these gorillas again.
| >>
| >>Cheers,
| >>Dave E
| >>
| >>
| >>
| >>>Jason
| >>>
| >>>
| >>
| >>
| >
| >
|
|
| Damn...doesnt work with Firefox. Just a black screen.
| Stupid developers that can only write for IE....

 

it's macromedia flash too.....

 

Hehe - you got me a good one there Dave. I'm still chuckling at my complete
disaster and your wonderful exposé.

Hehe

Well deserved and I love your work (here in Chatswoo we say "love your
wok"...).

Cheers,
Dave E

 

Yes Big, good question. I guess at this point she was very smitten on the
car and a. had been looking around and had seen no others, especially in its
condition and b. we were originally dealing with the OK guy so I had plans
to eliminate Carrera man from the proceedings at that point.

However, he is going to get his and I'm not one to be fvcked over,
especially when a friend is hurt in the process. The syllabus for a crash
course in ethics and etiquette is being drawn up as I type and though I
doubt it will do anything, it will give them some feedback from high places
and hopefully some exposure to others who may be in the firing line.

Cheers,
Dave E

 

It's not always that easy...depends on the person you are I guess..
My old man usually says in this situation "your a fuckin' burglar mate, ya
got no bloody chance with me"

Unfortunately i'm not as blunt as him...as much as it could have been
usefull at times.....best i do is just laugh at them and walk away and say
"forget it mate"!!

DJ

 

Wanna know how to get their credit stopped?

That's fun - trouble is, it'd most likely take out the better of the
sales staff first.

Still, if you find the guy with the half decent 'tude' has been given
the boot, let us know

 

Worst shark I've seen.

Were taking a young 21 yo female friend to get her first car, she had no
idea what she wanted, so we decided to let her walk around a few yards, and
see what she liked and warn her what was crap.

The first yard we enter, we are looking at a nice little Charade, me and my
mate spot him coming from the other side of the yard, he's spotted her like
a shark and zooming in, I intercept him halfway and start asking a lot of
dumb questions about a Charger there, he itching & hopping trying to escape
me to get to her.

Eventually I let him over and she takes the Charade for a test drive, me and
my mate in the back. She explains that she's not really sure what she wants
and this is the first car she's test driven, He responds with:

"Well don't bother test driving any others, buy this one, you'll only
confuse you self more if you keep looking".

Funniest thing was when I took my old Valiant in for a trade in valuation
and the guy lent his hand on the roof, probably 6 inches from wet paint,
where I had bogged some rust

 

You shouldn't end a sentence with multiple full stops either.

 

It's my "trademark" now I suppose..................................

The apostrophe remark alludes to a thread on an other newsgroup.
(There, you satisfied ?)

 

Maybe you should have posted it on the right thread then

 

And maybe they sank the wrong Rainbow Warrior all those years ago.

 

It's called an ellipsis and there should be three dots...and there's
nothing grammatically wrong with using it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis

Except of course the fact that nobody uses it correctly.

JL
(my spellin' an' gramma should not however be emulated, there's at least
one intentional error above and I dread to think how many unintentional
ones)