I requested a dealer quote on Ford.com for a new Fusion. I figured since I went about it via the Ford website and that Ford is a pretty hip company these days, that I’d get an email back with suggested retail price for the model I chose.
Nope.
I got my first call about 20 minutes after hitting send. Not recognizing the number, I let it go to voicemail.
The next day I got another phone call from the dealer (again, didn’t recognize the number and so didn’t answer).
Repeat the next day.
Then about 5 days went by and again they leave a message.
I think they’ve called 6 or 7 times now, and I have yet to answer.
Now it’s just a game. I will not ever answer! I wonder how many calls it’ll take until they tire of it? 10? 20? 500???
It really is the little things in life that make life so much fun!
When I was in commission sales it was constantly drummed into our heads that we should follow up by phone with customers at least 5 times, because there was some :rolleyes:data:rolleyes: somewhere that said a huge percentage of customers decided to make a purchase by the 5th call. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
NEVER give out your phone # to a dealership. I have a spam/crap email address I use for BS stuff - and I use it for that too. I’m in the same boat - getting a new or used Venza or CRV sometime in January or February. I dread them having even my spam email address.
If he’d ordered a car from this dealership and they were calling to arrange pickup you’d have a decent analogy.
It’s highly doubtful they were calling to give him a price quote on what he wanted (as noted, it’s easy to do that by e-mail). More likely they did not have the model he was looking for but were hoping to lay down enough doubletalk to get him in the door of the dealership and sell him something.
I’ve given up on requesting auto price quotes via the Internet. Dealers will find a way around a system that does not work to their advantage. Giving out competing price quotes is not in the dealers’ interest.
Ugh, car dealerships. I spent half a day trying to work out a deal with one, they didn’t come low enough and I left. They called the next day and offered a lower number, and I went in, chose my color, and told them I’d take it. This entire time they have been pitching the college rebate to me, worth $400 dollars. I asked them repeatedly what the requirements were, and every time they said I had to be a recent college grad. That was it. When we sit down to fill out the credit application, all of the sudden I have to have a job (no problem) and make 2000 dollars a month, and because I don’t I won’t get the rebate and I have to pay an extra $20 a month than what we agreed upon.
Um, have you heard what jobs college grads have to take nowadays? I even have a pretty good job, but I don’t make that much. It’s more than what I need to make to apply for the loan. I even called other dealerships, and none of them have that requirement. AND I called Hyundai Financing, and they said there was no income requirement. But that’s not the issue - the problem is that they purposefully didn’t share this information beforehand. I’m not naive, I know they were just trying to jack up the price right at the end. I walked out.
The last car my wife and I bought, we picked out the car from the lot, and said to the salesman, “We’ll take it if you can get us out the door for $15,000 or less.” Sure, no problem, let me go work out the paperwork.
The salesman and financial guy (whatever his title) came out with a price of something like $15,600.
I am a very easy-going guy. But I, for once in my life, let my fury out. I didn’t yell or scream, but was very purposeful in my words. “I told him 15 grand or less. He said OK, no problem. You came back with 15,600. Am I paying $15,000, or am I leaving, not coming back, and bad-mouthing this dealership to everyone I know?”
What I don’t understand is the complete and total lack of transparency in car dealerships. You really don’t see that level anywhere else. Heck, buying a house is far more straightforward as far as price goes. Sure, you have to get home inspections (and make sure your guy isn’t a moron) and there has to be disclosure for all the known problems which is fraught with tension, but the whole process is far more straight-forward than buying a car.
I’m with Leaffan on this. The OP, sparky!, expressed an interest via the website in purchasing a Ford Fusion. Perhaps he specified that he wanted a red one with the mid-level trim level. Well, perhaps the dealer only has one in stock in the upper-level trim level, but he has a blue one in the mid-level trim level. Or perhaps he wants to mention the cool new Canyonero model that offers something different. Few people are really stuck on a particular model, color and trim level; most of us are willing to change one or more of those items. So the dealer wishes to have a conversation with sparky! to see how strict his requirements are. It’s entirely reasonable that he would want to speak to a prospective customer.
Was there an option on the form to specify how you wished to be contacted? If you specified that you only wanted to be contacted via email, then I can understand the rant. If not, I think it’s reasonable that he’d call you, although I’d expect him to leave a message the first time.
It’s not a cold call. You contacted them first and left your phone number. If they leave you a quote in writing then you have that quote to shop around at other car dealers. They know this.
The dealership is trying to stay in business, and the salesman is trying hard to feed his family.
Once upon a time, in the dark ages before the Internet, email, call display, and answering machines people used to talk to one another and communicate face-to-face. Salespeople think this is common courtesy, not dropping you an anonymous email quote, that you can then bargain with at another dealer.
I think I’ll answer on the 10th one and go: “What the hell took you guys so long? I asked for that quote 2 weeks ago and you’re just now calling me? Screw it, I’m buying a Toyota instead.”
