Outrageous!! [Archive] - New MINI Scotland

Alfie

14th March 2007, 09:05 PM

Went to my local MINI dealer at the weekend, to arrange a test drive in the new Cooper S.

As I work away during the week, I can only manage the weekend and had had a prior agreement with the salesman. to come in 'en spec'.

Anyway, needless to say he said the Cooper S wasnt in. Astonishingly, I was told that the accountant 'uses' it on a daily basis (!). She is also part time and therefore she uses it when she is 'off'.

The salesman apologised and said that this is the current arrangement - there were no other Cooper S cars to 'demonstrate'.

The more I think about it, the more scandalous it is. Can the lazy accountant not make use of a 1 series or second hand mini so that buyers can drive the new MINI??

In the end, I don't know when the vehicle will be free!! I HAVE TO ARRANGE MY LIFESTYLE AROUND THE FLAMING ACCOUNTANT!!

Is it just me?? or is this type of attitude typical of a dealership who does not have to 'sell' vehicles, because they sell themselves.

Sick of it......

euan

14th March 2007, 09:16 PM

Frustrating, esp as he'd said to just come in. It's economies of scale I'm afraid - a dealer cannot afford to run demo cars and give the sales guys cars as well. However, should a part-time accountant have a demo car? Probably not...

Same at my dealer, that's why they like to book as they will give the person who runs it a different car for the day.

Also, it doesn't matter what car they give to the staff, someone would always want to drive that model (what if i wanted to drive a one series or a particular used car mini?)

I agree with you, he had an agreement and didn't keep it, but in my experience most dealers operate in a similar way.

rpn

14th March 2007, 09:39 PM

I would go somewhere else. :disapprove: :disapprove:

Had similar problem some years ago, not a Mini though. :mad:

ianking

14th March 2007, 10:43 PM

I had an experience like this about 2 years ago. Not with a mini though. It was at a VW dealership. I was out looking for a car that day and was keen on the golf. Went in and saw a nice nearly new GTTDI outside. Had to find my self a salesmonkey as amazingly none came and pounced on me, when I found one, said I was interested, the 1st thing they done was to ask what I was currently driving. When I told them it was a nice 18 month old mini they were then happy to talk to me. I shouldnt think it would matter what kind of car you drive at the time of going in to see a dealer as they should not judge a book by its cover. Anyway they let me have a sit in the car. I asked if we could take it out on a test as I hadnt driven a MK5 golf before. They said I would need to book a test drive and make an appointment to get my own car appraised. Even when I told them that if I drove the car that day and I liked it I would prob buy it they still said I had to make an appointment. I was a little suprised by this and also a tad pis$ed off so I just took my business else where and stuck to mini.

Alfie

14th March 2007, 10:58 PM

quote:Originally posted by euan

Frustrating, esp as he'd said to just come in. It's economies of scale I'm afraid - a dealer cannot afford to run demo cars and give the sales guys cars as well. However, should a part-time accountant have a demo car? Probably not...

Same at my dealer, that's why they like to book as they will give the person who runs it a different car for the day.

Also, it doesn't matter what car they give to the staff, someone would always want to drive that model (what if i wanted to drive a one series or a particular used car mini?)

I agree with you, he had an agreement and didn't keep it, but in my experience most dealers operate in a similar way.

Sorry, whether or not the dealer can afford it or not isnt my problem. I ask, sorry require, that when I am looking to spend nearly £20k on a new car, that the dealer can at least accomodate my request to drive one first. I do not blame the salesman, I blame whoevers decision it was to give a part time employee the car in the first place.

Who is most important here? The customer or the flamin' accountant? This is their top of the range model - surely they expected to have huge demand (which they have) and should have taken this into account.

Is it any wonder that Lexus consistently come top of the customer service?

As a customer of theirs, I asked for a demo of their brand new top of the range RX400h (4x4 hybrid). ''No bother, have it for the weekend.'', he said. THE WEEKEND??? its £45k worth. I didn't have to pay for the insurance - it even had a full tank of fuel!!

I give up. I can't be bothered any more. The country has went to rack n' ruin....:)

Clare1

14th March 2007, 11:04 PM

Fife isnt too far away from Stirling you know...:p;)

Gaz B

14th March 2007, 11:28 PM

I would tell him where he can park his mini mate!;)
There is plenty of other dealerships would love your business.

Big Col

15th March 2007, 12:36 AM

I'd tell him to park his Cooper right up his 'Sh!^&er mate and go to another Dealers.

X30YES

15th March 2007, 12:59 AM

quote:Originally posted by Big Col

I'd tell him to park his Cooper right up his 'Sh!^&er mate and go to another Dealers.
:eek::eek:.................................That's ma boy !!!,and couldnt have put it better than that myself:approve::approve::approve::approve:

vintageb3

15th March 2007, 02:13 AM

quote:Originally posted by Clare1

Fife isnt too far away from Stirling you know...:p;)

But luckily for Fife...its far enough!!!!:evil::evil::evil::D;)

mark

Clare1

15th March 2007, 02:33 AM

quote:Originally posted by vintageb3

quote:Originally posted by Clare1

Fife isnt too far away from Stirling you know...:p;)

But luckily for Fife...its far enough!!!!:evil::evil::evil::D;)

mark

:eek: Im so hurt!! lol

Alfie

15th March 2007, 02:50 AM

quote:Originally posted by Clare1

Fife isnt too far away from Stirling you know...:p;)

Yes, but do you have a Cooper S demo?

Scottie

15th March 2007, 05:05 AM

typical accountant I would say. Those FCA peeps are shockers:eek:;) (thats accountant speak)

not the salesman fault bet he is annoyed as you but can't show it. I would give them another chance but that's just me.:D

sleepyrascal

15th March 2007, 05:21 AM

Thing is remember the accountant is probably paying company car tax every month for use of a car less than a year old. The dealer should still have a car on standby always.

AeroJonny

15th March 2007, 06:03 AM

which dealer is it?? I used to work in the Lexus dealership in Glasgow, even though they're Arnold Clark they're brilliant. The customer service is A1 and both of my parents have bought from them.

Gorbash12346

15th March 2007, 06:24 AM

hence me trying to get a test drive in a new focus st-3... got told to come back with an insurance quote as he didn't believe i could afford it so i told him to stick it up his ****

i admit i'm 20 but i have 3 years ncb and he just took the p*ss

AeroJonny

15th March 2007, 06:52 AM

i got the exact same thing when i was lookin at one. Dickheads. 'do you know what the insurance is on one of those??' Yeh, I do...bloody expensive but I can afford it u twat!

sh@z

15th March 2007, 07:41 AM

Yeah, I get that all the time... it's funny to see the look on their faces when you show them that you probably earn more than them...

Big Col

15th March 2007, 03:11 PM

quote:Originally posted by ScottieCoop
not the salesman fault bet he is annoyed as you but can't show it.

Of course he can bloomin' show it!!! In fact if he's a half decent salesman they should be needing people holding him back to stop him going and meltin' whoever it was that was stoopid enough to give an 'S demo car to a part time employee. He should then be going off on one at whoever it was that failed to arrange for the part timer to take the Cooper or 1 series or M5 blooming demo car home that day since someone booked a test drive of the 'S! After that he should go out and batter the frig out of the dealer principals motor just to make himself feel better!

Not allowed to show he's upset?!?!? What on earth is the world coming to!!!!

I'm going for a coffee! :sleepy:

Gismo

15th March 2007, 03:30 PM

I'm with Big Col on this one :approve:
Plus, i'm sorry, but, i just don't see a part time accountant being issued with the rights to take "any" car home at night just like the regular sales staff :evil:
I certainly wouldn't have been very impressed having made an appointment to then not be able to test drive the car.
One thing though, maybe the sales guy forgot to tell the part time accountant that hye needed the car at the weekend for you ;) he maybe just blamed the poor lassie :p

X30YES

15th March 2007, 04:30 PM

I agree with BC and BS....and why have a demo car if you cant demonstrate it.I dont have a problem either with some "FCA" :pdriving it for jollies or any other person for that matter ...however if it requires to be shown off (as thats what its there for ...is it not )I should be at the dealers when its booked for a test drive !!!!!!!try before you buy .After all you would'nt get married without a test drive......or would you :p;):D

rpn

15th March 2007, 06:12 PM

quote:After all you would'nt get married without a test drive......or would you

:p :D :p :D :p

AndyP & Lenore

15th March 2007, 07:17 PM

And even more shocking.... I find myself agreeing with BC, BS & Angus on this one.:eek:

Something doesn't gel here though. I know what my accountant is like and they are a strange breed of their own most of the time, when it comes to lateral thinking and turnover/profit engineering, they all tend to sing from the same hymnbook..... So why in the world would an accountant think it is a good idea to tie up one of his/her customers major marketing tools? Doesn't make sense.

A.:(

Mark R

15th March 2007, 07:28 PM

That kind of thing happening would put a lot of people of even buying a MINI at all. Not only does something like that effect that dealerships sales but it also has an effect on MINI sales in general. If someone can walk into one dealer and try one make of car they are thinking about buying and then they walk into another dealer where they can't for whatever reason chances are they'll buy from the place they were able to try a car out.

euan

15th March 2007, 09:21 PM

OK, so I'm in the minority here...

1 - I agree with you, the car should have been there
2 - the part time accountant should not have a demo car (as the car won't be there half the time)

However, (I'm playing devils advocate here) if you go to a showroom in an off chance to look and drive a car, then while it's nice to be able to drive the car, I don't expect to be able to just walk up and drive something. There are any number of reasons why the car may not be driveable. If I'm serious about buying a car and I've just walked in, I'll happily wait and drive it if it's not there. There are a limited number of demo cars, and a limited number of staff at any one time in a dealership and most will accomodate you if they can. The dealers try to improve customer service buy booking timeslots to dedicate to each customer for test drives, to allow both you the time to drive the car a decent time, and also to go over any questions and issues with you - it's to make the customer feel like they have dedicated service from someone. It doesn't always work.

Also - if you go in during the week you will have a much greater chance of driving the car as a walk-in (I know that's not an option most people have however). Saturdays in car dealers can be mad.

Now, if you book an appointment and it's not there - open season as far as I'm concerned.

Mark R

15th March 2007, 09:55 PM

It is fair enough to be given a time to come back to test drive a car if you're just a walk-in, I'd have no issue with that and I don't think many people would but assuming you'd booked a couple test drives already and the first place had the car and you tried it out but the second tell you that it's gone even though you booked it previously, well that's when I think you'd see people walking away from buying there.

Scottie

16th March 2007, 03:53 AM

quote:Originally posted by Big Col

quote:Originally posted by ScottieCoop
not the salesman fault bet he is annoyed as you but can't show it.

Of course he can bloomin' show it!!! In fact if he's a half decent salesman they should be needing people holding him back to stop him going and meltin' whoever it was that was stoopid enough to give an 'S demo car to a part time employee. He should then be going off on one at whoever it was that failed to arrange for the part timer to take the Cooper or 1 series or M5 blooming demo car home that day since someone booked a test drive of the 'S! After that he should go out and batter the frig out of the dealer principals motor just to make himself feel better!

Not allowed to show he's upset?!?!? What on earth is the world coming to!!!!

I'm going for a coffee! :sleepy:

Jeez your grumpy lot today;)

duncan

16th March 2007, 07:03 AM

quote:Originally posted by euan

OK, so I'm in the minority here...

1 - I agree with you, the car should have been there
2 - the part time accountant should not have a demo car (as the car won't be there half the time)

However, (I'm playing devils advocate here) if you go to a showroom in an off chance to look and drive a car, then while it's nice to be able to drive the car, I don't expect to be able to just walk up and drive something. There are any number of reasons why the car may not be driveable. If I'm serious about buying a car and I've just walked in, I'll happily wait and drive it if it's not there. There are a limited number of demo cars, and a limited number of staff at any one time in a dealership and most will accomodate you if they can. The dealers try to improve customer service buy booking timeslots to dedicate to each customer for test drives, to allow both you the time to drive the car a decent time, and also to go over any questions and issues with you - it's to make the customer feel like they have dedicated service from someone. It doesn't always work.

Also - if you go in during the week you will have a much greater chance of driving the car as a walk-in (I know that's not an option most people have however). Saturdays in car dealers can be mad.

Now, if you book an appointment and it's not there - open season as far as I'm concerned.

Yep, pretty much how I see it too.
A wee phone call in advance can work wonders in these situations.

Alfie

16th March 2007, 07:06 PM

Eh, sorry, this was the SECOND occasion I had been in. Each time, I was advised that the best time was during the week. Sorry, but some of us work.

So I was told to come in on a Saturday when the car MAY be in.

It wasnt.

What I am annoyed about is - WHY HAS A PART TIME ACCOUNTANT GOT THE DEMO CAR?? He/she takes the car home and leaves it there!! IS IT JUST ME?? Why do we always look for excuses for stupidity?

Tip for the dealer - Saturday is traditinally a busy shopping day. Have your best car in to demonstrate.

Further tip - look at Arnold Clark Honda next door who had their brand new TypeR Civic sitting, waiting to be driven on a demo. Not an accountant in sight.;)

s12cot

16th March 2007, 09:58 PM

disagree with the saturday thing, i went into the Lotus Garage a few weekends ago to test drive an elise, I had not booked, they did not have the demo car avaliable so they took one out the showroom.... now that customer service. We are looking at getting another car as we are moving out of Edinburgh and when we do i will be going to them....

don't worry we will still have the cooper s...

If the garage really want to make a sale they will organise something, even if its taking the car to you during the week. There is just no excuse for crap service.

euan

17th March 2007, 05:53 AM

Lotus (certainly in Edinburgh) are a different kettle of fish - the service I got from there was not on a par with any car dealer I've ever had - for a 20K car they made you feel like you were spending 200K.

Alfie - I'm agreeing with you that the accountant should not have a car. It's mad, esp as the car should be there on a Saturday. If you cannot book a test drive at weekend with that dealer, go somewhere else. Some dealers are rubbish at booking test drives at weekends - that is rubbish service.