Stories from the Sales Frontlines

jwilliams2

...the thing he said that ignited it wasn't that bad.

Probably not. But as my ex used to say, "it's not what you said but how you said it". :P

fezo

"it's not what you said but how you said it".

You nailed that one. Exactly so.

oldfarmer50

"...you slammed my hood down on a wrench..."

I once saw a service tech forget to put down the prop rod (is that the correct term) holding up the hood before he slammed it down. The hood bent nearly in half with a giant crease across it. The paint was broken at the crease and I could see it had cracked and flaked.

The tech looked around, put down the rod, closed the hood and walked away like nothing happened. :sick:

oldfarmer50

"...We give out that number to those we don't want calling..."

LOL What's wrong with telling those people "We don't want you calling" and not giving any number?

Many people must use your stategy though. Our home phone number is an odd combination of the same two digits. Young ladies being pestered by louts must find it comes easily to mind when thinking up a phony number. We frequently get calls from men at all hours looking for "Dorris" or "Saniqua" or "Rose". At one point I started saying that I was the husband and asking for the guy's home address so I could "come over there".

My wife told me I was an idiot and that I was going to get myself shot so now we let the english lady on the answering machine tape screen for us. That may confuse them more than me growling at them.

snakeweasel

So you know what it is like to get "the feel of the road."

Actually the ones I have driven have had nice smooth rides.

FWIW I have never felt disconnected from the road in any car I have ever had.

snakeweasel

Oh I would have had the dealership pay for it, but being all upset when you could only see it with the hood up is a bit much for me.

That being said the post was made in jest.

oldfarmer50

"...Basicly you have no rights at the border..."

That brings back memories of two time I crossed between USA and Canada. The first time in 1971 a bunch of us guys had spent a weekend getting drunk in Montreal and were on the way back. Having just seen "The French Connection" we bet each other we could smuggle drugs (a deck of cards) through customs. We each hid a deck in the car where we figured they wouldn't be found. We were sure we could "cool" our way past customs.

We didn't get to say word one before they hauled us out of the car and started searching our belongings, checking IDs and even taking the air cleaner apart on the car. In the end they figured us for a bunch of knuckle head wise a$$es and sent us back to the USA.

They never did find my hidden pack of cards though.

The second time I went as a businessman with suit and tie. They asked the purpose of my visit and I was stricken with panic and mumbled like an idiot until I could figure out exactly why I was there.

They let me pass without another word. :confuse:

snakeweasel

Well I did shoot an e-mail to the dealership with a request that I get contacted vie e-mail only. I get a phone call that I didn't answer (only answer calls from family when at work) that was the dealership. I did get an e-mail asking me to come down for a test drive, I am trying to get my wife to go there first because there is no real reason for me to go if she doesn't like it and I am working long days these days.

But right now I am tempted to go down there for that test drive. We are having one heck of a blzzard, high winds, lots of snow and traffic all bogged own.

jmonroe

But as my ex used to say, "it's not what you said but how you said it".

Hell...I have a present that says that to me all the time. :surprise:

jmonroe

jwilliams2

Hopefully it's a 4-Matic...

sterlingdog

Next time, try this:

Caller: May I speak with Mr. Richard?

Me: Who's calling please?

Caller: So and so business or charity.

Me: (In a somber tone) Mr. Richard died last week. Could you please remove him from your mailing list?

Works like a charm.

I use the same method for all wrong numbers:

Caller: May I speak with Jimmy Joe?

Me: I'm so sorry. I thought that everyone knew by now. Jimmy Joe was killed in an accident this morning.

Believe me. They won't dial my number a second time.

Richard

snakeweasel

I have a friend who is a small business owner in downstate IL. He gets cold called all the time by people asking for Mr. [last name omitted], when they get calls asking for Mr. [last name omitted] they simply hang up. I didn't know that until one time I called and got his wife and I asked for Mr. [last name omitted] and she hung up on me. I would have thought she would recognize my voice.

fezo

Me: (In a somber tone) Mr. Richard died last week. Could you please remove him from your mailing list?

When are they reading the will? :P

mako1a

Years ago there was a Rib Place with the phone # 466-RIBS.

My number was 466-R1BS. After fielding 6 to 10 calls a night
my wife and I went in, explained and asked for a nice Rib dinner
on the house and we would continue to redirect callers.

To my surprise the manager said no. From then on I recommended
customers go there immediately to get the $2 special and free salad.
They went out of business about 6 months later.

imidazol97

Interesting that they couldn't come up with a name of one store which they wanted to go to at the mall. They said they had been there many times before.

I think I've been there three times on three different visits to Niagara Falls over the years. It's awfull small to claim 150 stores. It's the same mall: I just checked the map. I remember that the parking lot was littered with trash by late afternoon: shoes, belts, boxes, sacks, etc. People left their old clothes and put on the new items to wear them back to Canada so that they didn't have to claim them at customs is the story we were told.

We can't see the body language the guy was demonstrating as he was talking to the first agent. I suspect there's more here than we can just hear in the audio.

With the 2nd guy, it is very clear the perpetrator has an attitude. He someone feels entitled to enter the country.

Can we get the administration to put controls on the Mexican border equivalent to the Canadian?

imidazol97

When I had moved near Cincinnati, I had to demand the telephone number I wanted, e.g., 752-IMID. Because that number a blocked as part of a large group for an unbuilt shopping mall, they were reluctant to give it to me. But I reminded them that Ohio had passed a law of had an Attorney General decision that utilities could not discriminate in service level between residential and business customers.

Many years later after the mall came out of bankruptcy and was built, I started getting calls for a Sears store. But that was only after a downtown store had closed and left a poor quality recording which confused a number and people started calling my number thinking it was for the newer Sears.

I called Sears and ask for a manager who could ask them to redo the recording and make the digits clear. They did. No free gift cards or anything for me though.

explorerx4

That does suck and I hope you at least kept the ratchet.
If you have somewhere you need to be, tell them that ahead of time.
Back when I had my first SHO, I brought it in for a brake rotor recall.
Got a phone call that the tech didn't pump up the brake pressure and when he backed up, it wouldn't stop, and it hit the wheel alignment machine.
Back bumper, trunk lid and the panel between the tail lights were all damaged.
They did repair it, but i still had to push get anything out of them to make it right.
I hate being the squeaky wheel, but sometimes that is what it takes.

nyccarguy

I went to college in Ithaca, NY. One of my best friends was 3 years older than me and from Buffalo (2 1/2 hour drive). He graduated 3 years before me & bought himself a brand new 1995 E36 BMW 325is (this is that car that ignighted my passion for the brand). He was into weight lifting and club promoting. He frequently crossed the border over the weekend to go to a club or a rave and due to his young age (this is before anybody with $2500 down + $400 per month could drive a BMW), he was stopped and searched EVERY TIME he came into the USA. One Sunday morning at 2:00 AM, another friend knocked on my dorm room door:

"Snake (my nickname in college), get dressed, we have to drive to Buffalo."

"Rich, what did Chris do now?"

"He came back across the border and they asked him what he was doing in Canada. He told them the truth, that he went to a rave in Toronto. The border agent saw one of his vitamins on the floor and they took his car apart."

"Rich, it is 2 AM. What does this have to do with us?"

"They took the seats out and he can't get them back in. He's afraid to drive his car home. He thinks it is unsafe. I've got to go put the seats back into his car & you've got to go for a ride with me to make sure I stay awake."

"OK, anything for Chris."

metmdx

Awesome story NYC. Went to Cortland. Bunch of us went to visit friends at UB. Go over to Cdn side to pound some good Molson beer. Try to come back to US and spent 3 hours convincing border agents that one of my friends really was same guy as his driver lic and college id. He had grown his hair 'bout foot long and they didn't believe he was same person. Was almost dawn by time we got back to UB

tjc78

what color is your Genny again?

Mine is the same burg/red color as Jmonroes. I was on 295 a little after 12 today.

snakeweasel

When I was in high school our phone number was one digit off of the local post office. A few times each week we got a call for them.

fezo

A true phone number story.

When I started grad school I get my apartment and arrange to get a phone put in. The Bell South guy comes and puts in a phone. While he's putting his tools back and such the phone rings. Someone looking for an arts and crafts store. I look it up in teh phone book and sure enough there is the store with two locations, one bearing my phone number. (It turns out they had closed that location which is how the number became available.) The phone guy says "it probably won't happen again." I say "What do you mean? The phone hasn't been connected 5 minutes and I already have a call and it's listed in the phone book!" He says, "Well, I could change your phone number." Good lad.

Funny thing is that the original number was just a bunch of digits that weren't memorable at all. The new number was memorable enough that 35 years later I still remember it - 224-2040.

metmdx

Well, 3 yr lease is almost up on my Subaru Legacy sedan, and am shopping for new ride. Been great vehicle (get 32 mpg on highway w/cruise at 68), but need something bigger as boys are getting bigger and so is their stuff. In addition, too many trips to Home Depot w/ 2x4's sticking out the window (lots to do on the house). Wife drives Sienna (I drive it occasionally).

Anyway, looking at Pilot, Jeep GC, and 4Runner. Each has pros/cons. Have sent e-mails to at least 6 different dealers for each. Amazing the variety of responses. I send very specific email requesting cap cost, residual, and money factor on a specific VIN. I get everything back from a legitimate quote, to "come on down and take it for a ride" without even so much as acknowledging my request.

Best one so far is 'asst sales manager' who quotes me 500 below MSRP as cap cost, swears it's great deal, tells me 'it's 500 behind invoice', then supposedly realizes he 'may have done something wrong' after I point out the obvious, and gives me a cap cost 2,500 below MSRP after 'someone else ran the numbers' and says 'first one was good deal, second one was great'. Are you kidding me? I'm supposed to trust this guy; NOT. Hopefully will get this figured out by EOM as lease comes up in April and I'm not waiting till last minute.

I would have thought that things would have changed more than this in the last 3 years. Oh, well :confuse:

metmdx

Love it. Variation on the 'dead guy' is to pretend to be the local PD and start quizzing the caller why he's calling, when's the last time he's seen him, were they supposed to meet? Then shout away from the phone "don't move that body".

nyccarguy

when did you graduate? I graduated Ithaca in 1998.

metmdx

If I told you......well you know. Let's just say it was quite a while before that.
If you heard stories from anybody about the "North 40" it will give you a clue, otherwise I'll have to take the 5th

driver100

Me: (In a somber tone) Mr. Richard died last week. Could you please remove him from your mailing list?
When are they reading the will?

ROFL... CGU: (Rolling On The Floor Laughing... And Can't Get Up - from Texting for Seniors) My best laugh of the day

bolivar

I agree with gimmie. If you saw the hood/fender seam not matching, there well could be more damage than the inside of the hood. The hinge could be bent. The hood might be bent upward. If the seam looks ok when the wrench is taken out, it might be ok. But I would want one or two outside body shops to take a look at this and write an estimate.

fezo

Just a shame Richard isn't here to appreciate it....

metmdx - too bad you started on which things you are looking at. I was going to say a nice car that's bigger than your Legacy is ..... a new Legacy! Or, say, an Outback....

metmdx

More importantly; "am I included in the will?" :lemon:

metmdx

That (Outback)actually may have to be the fallback position if there's disagreement 'in the boardroom'.

fezo

I could surely live with the current Outback as a fallback position! The only thing I'd have to check out is how that CVT is. Of course I'd get one with a stick so it wouldn't matter...

stickguy

well, unless you were at eagle plaza in Voo at about 2, someone else local has the same color Genny as you do.

stickguy

if we ever do shop for a new family truckster for the wife, the new outback would be high on the shopping list.

doesn't hurt that I am friends with an exec over at subaru NA (headquartered in Cherry Hill)

28firefighter

Since there was such a huge window of time before I could bring it in to them to repair it, I took the car over to one of the best collision shops in the city to see what they said. They found no additional damage beyond the hood, which is why I haven't pushed the issue further.

I did place a call to Mazda USA who took a complaint, but made it very clear they had little control over things.

...Thought about keeping the ratchet but I was so agitated it took everything in me not to throw it at the showroom window.

tallman1

Phones: I had a number that was one digit different that a landscaping company. Those folks get up early! Later is was one off from a 7-11... those came at all hours.

My sister had a number that ended in 3131. A Baskin-Robbins moved into the neighborhood and they called her up asking if she would give it to them. She agreed and got free ice cream. She also was invited to their grand opening.

tallman1

Has anyone else noticed that after the big hiccup around here the other day that the emotorcons are acting up again?

canadiantoyota

I had a similar experience with Canadian Tire. They changed the oil in my wife's Camry and left the filler cap off. The oil change was done while she was 80 miles away and by the time she got home, oil had saturated the entire engine compartment. It dripped on my garage floor and driveway (that's how I discovered the problem). I called the store and they denied any responsibility and offered to do nothing. A person I deeply respected once told me that "always remember, CRAP FLOWS DOWNHILL". I have never forgotten that fact and I emailed the head office and included a copy of their final inspection report where it clearly indicates that the oil filler cap was installed and checked. Within 1 day I had a credit for a complete engine cleaning (by the Toyota dealer), a new hood blanket, a cleaner for my garage floor and driveway and 2 free oil changes (we threw them away). I would contact Mazda head office if the repairs do not meet your expectations. I would also find another dealer to service your vehicle.

With regards to the couple arrested at the border, too often we forget that it is a PRIVILEGE to cross the border, not a right. I have had my share of weinerheads on the U.S. side of the border and I am sure that our guards are not all sugar and spice, but regardless of the question you are asked, if you argue with them, you get what you deserve. We have taken for granted that we are entering a foreign country and it comes back to bite us once in a while. I do however wish that the U.S. would become a little less xenophobic and Canada become a little more.

canadiantoyota

I have not flown in the U.S. since the installed the scanners, but I don't think that I would mind. They can view my "junk" all they want. I would be inclined to warn them that "if those scanners are in 3D, you may want to wear safety glasses when you view my package"!!!!

oldfarmer50

"...when he backed up, it wouldn't stop, and hit the wheel alignment machine..."

Boy, that sounds fishy to me. More likely they were out joy-riding in your SHO and crashed it while doing doughnuts in the parking lot.

oldfarmer50

"...emotorcons are acting up again?..."

Yes, yesterday's didn't post but in the last few posts before your's they are OK. I didn't notice any hiccup. What did I miss?

driver100

, too often we forget that it is a PRIVILEGE to cross the border, not a right.

Yes, that is true. And in many foreign countries you don't have the same rights that we take for granted....so you have to play along and not become arguementative.

I will say, most of the times I have gone through customs the customs people have been friendly....even pleasant. Unfortunately, it is the ones that give you a hard time that you remember.

driver100

"if those scanners are in 3D, you may want to wear safety glasses when you view my package"!

Good idea. Tell them you are an exhibitionist and would love to be on the scanner.....and maybe make extra copies so you can give them out on the street.

Just take a recorder along so we can listen to what happens.

tjc78

someone else local has the same color Genny as you do.

Yep, wasn't me... I haven't seen another one in my color around our area. Actually, I couldn't tell you the last time I've seen one in any color other than mine.

graphicguy

I've always been of the mind that public officials, regardless of their stripe, must be held accountable to the public, for their performance....even for their jobs.

Just like the TSA, the Customs Officials need to put their best foot forward in representing our country, and in turn us....the public.

You let someone get away with this type of behavior, and it will continue. Gotta hold them accountable.

When asking the folks trying to cross the border...."Do you kn0w how much trouble you're in?"

Obviously, whomever was recording the fiasco probably was not keen on this recording being made public.....I think I would have asked the Customs Officials..."Do you know how much trouble you're in?"

michaellno

Speaking of solicitations, I may have told this story before....

A number of years ago, one of our credit card companies had the annoying habit of calling on Saturday mornings to market something or other.

One time, my stepson, who was probably a young teenager, told the person on the phone that my wife was dead and not to call back. We all got a chuckle out of it.

Well...

A couple of weeks later we went on a family vacation to Vegas. Our first stop was in Grand Junction, CO for dinner. Wife tried to use her CC and it was rejected.

Huh?

She called the company and was told that the cardholder was deceased so they put a hold on the card.

Stepson, who at that point wished he could teleport himself to an alternate dimension, got my wife's anger for the next 150 miles (we had other forms of payment available to us, so it didn't affect our vacation).

Took a couple of phone calls to the CC company to get things squared away once we got home.

jmonroe

Yep, wasn't me... I haven't seen another one in my color around our area. Actually, I couldn't tell you the last time I've seen one in any color other than mine.

I’ve mentioned this before. I think it was in the Spring of 2010 when I saw a guy in the parking lot of a supermarket one weekend morning that had an ’09 V6 Genny in Cabernet Red Pearl that was parked just a few spaces from me. I offered an invite that we line them up and have a waxing party but you didn’t show.

I agree that there are not many on the road and I’ve stopped looking for them. Several times when I’ve got out of my car a few people have come over to look at it or there are a few gathered around it when I return after shopping. They usually say, “I’ve heard/read about these cars but have never seen one before…pretty nice”. Can you imagine the freak show if you were to buy an Equss?

jmonroe

snakeweasel

Lots and lots of snow and lots and lots of wind. Yes the snow in front is much higher than the hood.

tjc78

I've been stopped and asked about mine a few times. Once my GF was driving it and it freaked her out when a man came over to her about it. I think the lack of AWD limits it's sales potential in the northeast.

driver100

Consumers Report gavd poor ratings to Ford's Edge and Lincolns because the MyTouch systems are very complicated to use while driving.

The Tahoe got a bad rating because of the poor handling "ungainly". Or as I would say, "the opposite of the feel of the road".
I drove my SILs Suburban once and I thought it really felt unsafe to drive. Big bulky vehicle with absolutely no feel of the road.....no connection between the steering wheel and what you are doing with the steering. My SIL was going to the airport with the family, I drove that big hunk of metal back to his place. I said i wouldn't drive it back to the airport to pick them up, the handling is....well there is no handling, and I sure wouldn't want to try to manoeuvre that thing in a parking garage.

Consumer Reports said reviewers found the MyFord Touch and MyLincoln Touch systems that allow drivers to operate audio, climate control and navigation systems using a touchscreen or voice commands to be “a complicated distraction while driving.”

Ford has touted its “MyFord Touch” system as a key selling point on some newer models, such as the 2011 Ford Edge SEL and 2011 Lincoln MKX tested by Consumer Reports.

General Motors Co’s Chevrolet Tahoe also did not score well enough for a “recommended” rating. Consumer Reports said the Tahoe’s handling was “ungainly”