Shafted....really?

[Martin Burnard]

I notice on a number of threads here that people are concerned about being shafted by a dealer. So This makes me wonder... are they really or is there a misunderstanding.

So here are some thoughts.......

If your car takes an 45 minutes to do the repairer requires an hour, ie get your job ready do it, do the paperwork.

If the requires specialist knowledge they will charge more if they have that knowledge (after it's the hours spent scracthing the head, ringing around, technicl forum etc that gave them the knowledge).

If a part can repaired for a fraction of the price why do that? Well a repair is difficult to gaurantee on a part (sticking turbo actuator for instance) and the customer is gauranteed to be upset if it goes in the next couple of weeks.

and the list could go wrong.....

So my point is

Are people being shafted or is it the dealers/repairers not communicating properly with thier customers?

So without going into "I was ripped off" can we have the i"It would have been better if......." type of response.

You never know it might help a dealer/repairer be a nice person to do business with!

[hagis]

I think it comes down to trust. When I bought my 306 the two muppets who sold it to me lied about a couple of things and messed up the delivery date. I wrote a letter to the dealer's owners but never got a response. The showroom is now a Marks & Spencers and I'm hoping they both lost their jobs.

I then took the 306 to a different Pug dealer to have it serviced who told me it needed over £1000 worth of work doing. This turned out to be rubbish (90,000 miles later the clutch and handbrake cable were still working, to name two of the things they were wrong about).

After that, I let a local backstreet garage service the car. They've always been professional and I trusted the work they did. The one time something went wrong with some work they did and an ABS sensor needed replacing they replaced it and apologised, I didn't get charged for that.

When I had to scrap the 306, the garage asked if I wanted anything removing from the car. They got the stereo, multichanger and alloys of it for me to sell (no idea how they got it the scrappy with no wheels). No charge and I was able to sell the stuff on eBay, which helped!

I bought my A4 from a small garage that seemed to mostly to fleet disposals and cars that were just out of the age range of what the car supermarkets sell. I got a great price and no hassle. As the A4 has been fine since I've had no reason to go back to them, I'd consider buying from them again. I'd say that it's only when things go wrong that you find out how good the garage is.

[HMANS3]

I just get Frustrated every time i go to my Local Audi Dealers as they don't treat me with respect and talk to me like im Stupid so i now take my business else where and my dad who is currently buying a new RS4 made it Quite clear that this dealership had just lost his custom due to there poor customer service

[Eshrules]

I do think sometimes Dealers can appear to go out of their way to be difficult with customers.

allow me to explain my experience :

Mum buys a Terrano 2.7 Td from Dace motor company, she's happy (ish) with the service she received and the car she got.

Brother takes a look up there, gets a 1.6 16v mk4 Se golf, over the moon with it (initially).... has it around a month and appears to have a gearbox fault, but Dace seem to take it in their stride and have it in a garage to repair straight away, not a problem everyone thought.

I get tired of everyone else having better cars and me still sat in my fiat brava. i go up to Dace motor company also, source a Gt Tdi 115 mk4 golf, over the moon the first few times i drive it, i sign for the finance, chop in my brava and off i go.

But wait.

as soon as i chop in the Brava, they give it to my brother as a courtesy car.... literally 1 day after i've got the golf, i take it on the m.way to give it a stretch, on the way back to Dace to pickup the new number plates, with the correct registration on for my golf. it dies, completely, no power .... me being new to these thought i'd done something. they take the car in and replace a vac hose, no luck. they replace the MAF (swapping it from a running tdi, not a new part), no luck. eventually, after scanning the car for faults myself and telling them that the code relates to an overboost, they replace the turbo with a recon unit.

meanwhile, my brother's managed to go through 4/5 courtesy cars (all cars off Dace's forecourt, all mechnically broke down) he's gone through 4 gearbox repairs and a reconditioned gearbox being fitted as well as various other bits and pieces. (read his story HERE)

we eventually get the golf back for the turbo fault, running fine, but the timing belt needs replacing and guess who won't accept the responsibility for it, despite agreeing to do it before purchase (verbally, granted). my finance company, Trading standards and a 3rd party arbitrator later, i get my timing belt changed as well as a few other bits and pieces.


Long and short of it, one issue always tends to just spiral and before long you're known as a 'screamer' because you do nothing but complain..... but then again, when a £5/6k purchase breaks down the day after you get it......

i don't think there will ever be a perfect dealer, but out of the 4 cars i've bought/help buy, ive never returned to any of the dealers again.

and, yeah, thanks... im off to get a cup of herbal tea now!!

[dansansome]

i went back to a dealer once, literally a couple of days after i had just bought a £2.5k car from them, and mentioned that the rear heated screen didnt work, stupidly thinking that they would take a look at it under the warranty.

i got told "well, what do you expect, its a 10 year old car." and after explaining that my 13 year old car i had pxed with them had everything working, they simply said

"have your old car back then."

awesome customer service.


if a dealer speaks to their customers like they really appreciate their custom, rather than treating them like the enemy, i think the customers would be far less hostile if/when they have a problem.

[Martin Burnard]

This explpains why I am a car dealer without a Bently!

Customer has a problem, no problem I fix it (unless they are being silly, which isn't common), if customer is just being silly I will offer to unwind the deal so they can buy else where (this I do politely... twice in 14 years).

Heated rear screen is interesting as it normally requires a rear screen, which isn't cheap, and the reason used cars are cheaper than new cars is because they will have faults (anybody who says not is a little hopefull!). BUT if I ever doubt whether to do a job, I just look at my advertising bill per week! No brainer isn't it! Do the job.

So

Small businesses have the edge? or can the big boys do it just aswell?

Keep the comments coming it all helps!

[dansansome]

well, the screen turned out to be a dodgy connection to the heater element. i simply renewed it, and all was good. the dealer's attitude just instantly got my back up. so much so, i can remember it to this day, and it was about 10 years ago.

even if it DID need a new rear screen, it would have been nice for the dealer to at least diagnose the problem and come to some agreement, rather than just pulling down the shutters in such a rude manner.

[The Glove]

I tried to by a car for the local Audi dealer in Poole. Nothing but out and out lies .

I'm not a novice at buying cars from dealers, so on a test drive the sales guy tells me there’s a deal to be had on the car I'm driving. Okay I said, all I ask, is that you’re honest with me, if you can do the right deal I'll buy.

Sales guy is alright but tells me he needs his sales manager to discuss a deal, usual patter. Sales manager comes over, after the get to know you bit offers me £500 off the car, only if I buy today blah, blah, I express my disappointment as was believe I was going to get a genuine deal.

The up shot is the sales manager becomes rude and obnoxious in front of my wife and kids. After I politely pointed out a few home truths for him to think about I pick the kids up, (by this time they had take an interest in the new shiney black R8 in the show room) and walk out. 2 hours later get a call saying they'll make it a £1000, all was lost at this point. 3 days later got another call from a pleased as punch sales guy advising me that the car had just been dropped that day by a £1000?? This will be the same grand it dropped 3 days earlier then !!

As hagis said, for me it’s about trust, these experiences don't help dealers.

[Martin Burnard]

well, the screen turned out to be a dodgy connection to the heater element. i simply renewed it, and all was good. the dealer's attitude just instantly got my back up. so much so, i can remember it to this day, and it was about 10 years ago.

even if it DID need a new rear screen, it would have been nice for the dealer to at least diagnose the problem and come to some agreement, rather than just pulling down the shutters in such a rude manner.

You are correct.

To just pull the shutters down is rude!

In this case the job could have been resolved easily, and at minimal cost, result one happy customer.

[Martin Burnard]

I tried to by a car for the local Audi dealer in Poole. Nothing but out and out lies .

I'm not a novice at buying cars from dealers, so on a test drive the sales guy tells me there’s a deal to be had on the car I'm driving. Okay I said, all I ask, is that you’re honest with me, if you can do the right deal I'll buy.

Sales guy is alright but tells me he needs his sales manager to discuss a deal, usual patter. Sales manager comes over, after the get to know you bit offers me £500 off the car, only if I buy today blah, blah, I express my disappointment as was believe I was going to get a genuine deal.

The up shot is the sales manager becomes rude and obnoxious in front of my wife and kids. After I politely pointed out a few home truths for him to think about I pick the kids up, (by this time they had take an interest in the new shiney black R8 in the show room) and walk out. 2 hours later get a call saying they'll make it a £1000, all was lost at this point. 3 days later got another call from a pleased as punch sales guy advising me that the car had just been dropped that day by a £1000?? This will be the same grand it dropped 3 days earlier then !!

As hagis said, for me it’s about trust, these experiences don't help dealers.

Again it's the obvious isn't it.... if they had said there is deal to be done today which we shouldn't do really until 3 days time..... it would have been true, and possibly (I did say possibly) have been the offer that swayed you to buy.

Why is honesty so difficult?