Rant: Town North Mazda Sales Department

[apex2apex]

So my college's roommate, his girlfriend and another friend of mine were in town over the weekend. My roommate's girlfriend is trying to buy a small SUV as her next car, so we thought we would stop by Town North to test drive the CX-7.

Some background info about my friends: Two of them are from Houston and the other one from Austin. We are all in our late 20s and Asians.

I have heard stories about bad experience with the sales department of Town north, but the part guys seems cool and they did an ok job on my RX-8 services. So I thought I will give them a try.

Boy, was I wrong! The first thing the salesman asked is how serious we are buying the car. Then when he asked for DLs and noticed they are out of towner’s, his attitude totally changed. He pretty much hinted he doesn't want to give us a test drive. Saying alot of out of towner’s kill time on test driving cars on the weekend. When I insisted we want a test drive, he went check with the sales manager.

I was shocked when the sales manager sided with the salesman. The manager told me Saturday is a very busy day, and if we are not seriously buying we could be wasting their time on a potential sale! He went on asking if I have a job, and how we are all trying to earn a living. The whole time they were very rude with bad attitude.

I am usually a very mellow guy, but I was pissed off! So I asked them do they know what customer service is. And how dare they have the idea we are test driving for fun and wasting their time. Have they heard of people buying cars across the country for a good price. And I went on how could they be so foolish just looking for the short term and forget how they will lose a potential long term customer with possible referrals. They finally agreed to let us test drive the CX7(which is inferior to the RAV4), the salesman was black faced the whole time.

Why would they be so foolish to piss of customers like this? Didn’t’ they know the power of the Internet when it comes to bad news? Mazda cars are sold on how they feel behind the seat, but how would anyone find out if they couldn’t get a test drive?

I really do like Mazda cars, but I am sadden by their awful dealerships. My friends who are Toyota and Honda loyalists probably will never consider Mazda again. The funny thing is, we later went to Lute Riley for a test drive in the just released Civic SI sedan. The sale didn’t even blink when we asked for a test drive………

Thanks for hearing my Rant.

Alan

[srivendel]

That's BS. I'm surprised they were so blatant in their disdain for out-of-towners. While I'm somewhat sympathetic to sales guys who wanted to deal with "serious" buyers on a beautiful Saturday afternoon where there's lots of floor traffic, it sounds like these guys went pretty far off the rails.

I also know for a fact that their sales gnome doesn't have to ride with you on a test drive because my wife and I test drove an MS6 there with no salesman in the back seat. They could have gotten copies of your license and insurance, given you the keys, and told you to have fun.

A much more important question: how did they like the Si sedan?

S.

[channelmaniac]

+1 on their sucky sales dept...

The guy that sold us our Mazda3 didn't even try after I told him where we wanted our monthly payment.... until we told him I had $2500 to put down.

Even then he was still an idiot. Kept trying to upsell to the 2.3L Mazda3 until my wife had enough and told him she didn't want those ugly assed ricer (altezza) taillights.

I think they are douchebags when it comes to sales.

At least the service dept at Town North is OK. I won't set foot in Eldorado's service department after their lies and shoddy work.

RJ

[HudsonHawk]

I am glad i went to Freeman when we were looking at used Miatas. The sales guys were great. Never any hassle and we actually drove the car home that night without actually leaving any kind of down payment what so ever. Of course I came in 4 days later with a check to pay for it in full (insurance settlement from my wifes accident in her toyota.)

[cam76034]

"Saying alot of out of towner’s kill time on test driving cars on the weekend."

What a dumbass. I bought my new F250 in Huntsville.

"We are all in our late 20s and Asians... He went on asking if I have a job, and how we are all trying to earn a living."

Of course you told him you were all black belts and would kick his ass, Jackie Chan style, right?

"Didn’t’ they know the power of the Internet when it comes to bad news?"

You ought to copy and paste all these posts back to their sales manager.

[tailchaser]

Please feel free to post the name of the sales guy... I think we may have all met him...

[Nexus Flux]

You ought to copy and paste all these posts back to their sales manager.

Or just send him an email thanking him for his time and service and just stick a link to this thread in the last line.

[Nexus Flux]

He went on asking if I have a job, and how we are all trying to earn a living.

Did you tell him you were a pimp, the friend was a dope dealer, and the lady was lady-of-the night? It sounds like the guy was a




Disclaimer: The referance has nothing to do with BR, it's just the only smiley I could find that could mean "royal". Also nothing against your friends. I'm sure they are great people if they drive all the way from Austin and Houston to hang out for the weekend.

[MiataMike]

Just out of curiosity (And to play Devils Advocate).

Did they buy a car this weekend or were they just looking to test drive a car to pass the time, with the purchase being made back in the city where they reside?

[sammm]

What a bunch of 's. Their loss Alan, not yours.

[apex2apex]

Did they buy a car this weekend or were they just looking to test drive a car to pass the time, with the purchase being made back in the city where they reside?

No, they did not buy the car this weekend. The girlfriend has already ruled out the CRV and pretty much set on the RAV4 V6. But the roommate could get S Plan pricing on top of the 3k off Town North advertised online, so it could undercut the RAV4 for several thousands. But the combo of turbo laggy engine, cheaper interior, premium gas only and worse gas mileage than the RAV4 crossed it off the list.

[MiataMike]

So the sales Rep could of SOLD them ON the car but not SOLD HER the car.

But it really sounds like to me that she knew what she wanted before she even got there to look.

[altiain]

I had the same thing happen to me back in '96, when I was looking at 4wd trucks/SUVs. I stopped in Hudiberg Chevy in North Richland Hills to look at a 4wd Blazer. I was 23 at the time, and I told the sales clown up front that I was comparison shopping and wouldn't make my purchase deicision until I'd had a chance to drive other vehicles in my price range. He told me he didn't have time to take me on a test drive because he might miss a "paying" customer, and that I probably couldn't afford what I was looking at anyway.

Imagine his suprise when I pulled up a week later in a brand new Tacoma with the sticker still on the window (a sticker some $7k higher than the price on the Blazer I'd wanted to test drive) and asked him if I could have a small chat with his sales manager about poor customer service and lost opportunities.

[MiataMike]

I had the same thing happen to me back in '96, when I was looking at 4wd trucks/SUVs. I stopped in Hudiberg Chevy in North Richland Hills to look at a 4wd Blazer. I was 23 at the time, and I told the sales clown up front that I was comparison shopping and wouldn't make my purchase deicision until I'd had a chance to drive other vehicles in my price range. He told me he didn't have time to take me on a test drive because he might miss a "paying" customer, and that I probably couldn't afford what I was looking at anyway.

Imagine his suprise when I pulled up a week later in a brand new Tacoma with the sticker still on the window (a sticker some $7k higher than the price on the Blazer I'd wanted to test drive) and asked him if I could have a small chat with his sales manager about poor customer service and lost opportunities.

I'm sure now that you look back on it. That salesman did you a favor in not selling you a blazer :-P

[trickyrix]

A few years ago I went with my buddy while he went car shopping to replace his decent-but-aging-poorly '96 VW GTI VR6. First stop that Saturday was Town North, and as soon as we pulled in, the crustiest guy in the office came waddling out to help. My buddy looked at a loaded Mazda 3, and was pretty interested in it, but I've never seen a sales guy give less of a crap about selling a car. Zero effort. None. He didn't know jack about the car, couldn't answer any useful questions, and he smelled like stale Doral cigs. He wasn't a rude a-hole, but let's just say he was probably killing time there.

However, that doesn't hold a candle to what happened when we went to John Eagle Honda down on Lemmon. First off, the sales guy snags the keys to the VW and disappears to "get his guy to look at it." Fifteen minutes later, he comes back and sticks us with another guy to go drive an Accord - fine. We get back and THAT guy again - for a good 30-45 minutes (we never saw the original sales guy). He gets back and my buddy wants to talk price, so we get shuffled over to ANOTHER d-bag in the business office - who tries to upsell him on a bunch of BS dealer options - foglights, spoiler, rims, etc etc. Then he keeps talking payment, not actual price. Finally, my buddy cuts him off and says, "Hey, I'm done here... you're wasting my time now, so just gimme my keys and I'll be out of your way." At which point, we get bounced back and forth to other sales guys while they "find" his keys. That whole "test drive" process took about 2 effing hours!

Short of the story is that he stopped off at Park Place Audi to look at a used A4, and he was out of there in about 45 min with his new ride. Granted, it's no paragon of reliability (here lately it's suffering from a mysterious coolant leak), but at least the guys there were actually interested in selling a freakin' car!

[icepenguin66]

Wow, that's pretty crappy service! Wonder which sales person it was? When I test drove the NC when they first got one it, they were great. Probably since they see me up there at least a few times a month to buy some dealer only clip, etc from the parts dept. They asked if I was thinking of upgrading from my 90 and I said I just wanted to check it out maybe see if there's a chance of talking my parents into one over the Solstice! Of course they wanted to see my license, then I took it on a very nice drive.

[MadMonkey]

What's a good Mazda dealership in the Grapevine or Lewisville area to get my $25 gift card at? Somebody who doesn't care if I'm driving a car just for money

[channelmaniac]

There's the one on the South side of Denton... in Corinth.

[randy7601]

(shaking my head) This is just wrong! And they wonder why people don't like car salespeople. The guy experienced the "self-fulling prophecy." He didn't expect to sell a car, and he didn't.

[Radio-Active]

At Eldorado,

The first sales guy was great. I told him flat out I was only in it for a joy ride and that I was waiting to see the 2006 MX-5. This was Mid-August 2005. He let me test drive the RX-8 and the MSM, but they had not received the 2006's yet. When they got one in, he followed up by calling me imedtiatly. They were still putting on the inspection sticker when got there. I took the test drive and said that I was not interested in the newer 2006 and that I was still looking. He left me alone after that, but gave me his card and told me to remeber him if I should decide.

Smae dealership a week and a half later, I decided to talk to him about the 2005 MSM with info I had pulled off of the website. He was'nt at the dealership, but I was told he would be there in a little bit. I was left in from of a female salesperson that could 'help' me according to the Sales manager.
I told her I was waiting for the other salesperson and the sales manager came in and expained that he would still get his commision, but that she could help me, unless I just wanted to wait.

She pulled out figures, playing the "let's make a Deal!" cenario. I laughed at the first set of numbers and told her "What type of Fool do you think I AM?" The second time I said "Try again!" rather frustrated. The third time I said "You have got to be out of your mind." and got up and told her thatI was through. I started to walk out as the sales manager came running out with the key in hand and said take it overnight. I did and handed the key back to him the next day with 250 miles added to it. I found out that she had quit right after I drove off of the lot.

I talked to the original sales guy a week later, August 31 and showed him my offer and the ads from Town North and told him to show it to the sales manager and if he did'nt want to sell the car that I could leave. I was there for about 45 minutes and out the door with my new car.

Long story short, two different experiences, same stealership.