Stories from the Sales Frontlines

mako1a

I was gone for a week and come back to 130 posts. Mustang was well behaved (no tickets).

Nice way to unwind from a 6 hour drive. I would like to hear more about the C-Max.

Didn't Ford produce hybrids for a while now? Is this one different? I'm not the kind to rig cables after every trip to the store so would rarely charge the car. Would it still be worthwhile? What happens if you forget you're plugged in and drive off? Did you have to add extra electric panels to your garage?

snakeweasel

If you want to know more about the C-Max I believe that there is a website called edmunds.com that you can research it on.

I actually had a chance to test drive it before it was introduced to the US market. I passed on it in favor of the electric Focus (which I loved).

But the C-max comes as either a hybrid or a plug in hybrid and you never really have to plug in the plug in one but you would use more gas.

The plug in one has a much higher price tag so I wonder if any savings would be worth it.

snakeweasel

We do have a street bike, and I keep threatening to "bedazzle" it and the riding accessories with butterflies, hearts, and perhaps something with a "Hello Kitty" vibe. I'm still working on that one.

Wow this forum keeps the surprises going. Now unless that "bike" is a bicycle for a 5 year old girl you have a twisted mind. All I can say is do it and post pictures.

No wait someone beat you to it.



With that I am outta here, the water parks open in 15 minutes and I am going to get soaked before my sisters and I go to the winery. Enjoy your workday.

verdugo

"Ther are a bunch is SL models for 25K as well."

I'm not sure how as the MSRP for the S trim (lowest trim) is $28,800.

The SL MSRP **starts** at $34,840. $35,690 with the destination charge added.

If you can find a SL for $25k, you should buy it. Not even Mike can get that kind of pricing.

verdugo

"Didn't Ford produce hybrids for a while now? Is this one different? I'm not the kind to rig cables after every trip to the store so would rarely charge the car. Would it still be worthwhile? What happens if you forget you're plugged in and drive off? Did you have to add extra electric panels to your garage? "

This one is a plug in hybrid. It has a bigger battery so that you can drive up to 21 miles on battery power alone. If you drive more than that, then the car works like a regular hybrid.

If you forget to charge it, it works like a regular hybrid. As long as you have gas, you will never get stranded.

Hopefully I'll never have to find out what happens if you drive off, while you're still plugged in. In my case (plugged in to a regular 120 volt outlet,) I would just drag the cable since it would unplug from the outlet. If you had a charging station? Yikes, hopefully they have a quick disconnect back up. Otherwise, you will take the charging unit with you.

We didn't get the charging station because they are about $1k. It charges the car in 2 to 3 hours. I just charge it from a regular outlet and leave it overnight. I wouldn't pay for a charging station, but if I were to get it for free, I'd take it. :-)

mako1a

Thanks, verdugo that answers my questions. I think you were wise to lease as technology may make current electrics obsolete and you just turn it in.

sterlingdog

LOL! Just combine both images and you'll get an old dog. That will be a truer image than either of the other two.

Richard

sterlingdog

"I think that would be Sterling Moss."

I think that she meant my deceased dog Sterling.

"Yea, what was that 64 all about?"

I never knew either. It was attached to my name when I first signed up here. In the beginning, I didn't realize that people made up a tag name. I simply used my first name. Edmunds added the "64" on the end.

Richard

robr2

You were probably the 64th attempt to sign up the user name "richard".

jayrider

I got that price on cars.com. Can't say if it's real or not but there are various dealers offering at 25K. Since I'm not buying, I'm not checking. I did hear there were big discounts and credits because they aren't selling well. Maybe or maybe not.

Kirstie_H

That wasn't intentional. We had some servers that apparently got into a spat and weren't speaking to each other. When the real transition happens, you'll be warned ahead of time and you'll know. We reported the issue as soon as we saw it.

Kirstie_H

With that I am outta here, the water parks open in 15 minutes and I am going to get soaked before my sisters and I go to the winery. Enjoy your workday.

Jealous!! Although, I did get to help install a light fixture and I replaced a rusty heat/AC vent, so it's not like I didn't have ANY fun.

explorerx4

My daughter graduated in 2011. I've been oxford quite a few times.
It's a great college town.
My few regrets are never seeing a hockey game there, have seen several on the road, and only driving those nice twisty roads in a decent handling car one time.
Was always driving the Explorer or something else that was a pack horse.

kyfdx

"I think that would be Sterling Moss."

Is he related to Stirling Moss? Or, is that just the Canadian spelling? ;-)

tifighter

Zing!

driver100

"I think that would be Sterling Moss."
Is he related to Stirling Moss? Or, is that just the Canadian spelling?

Oh, yeh, I forgot, Sterling was Stirling's lesser known twin brother who had a Lada dealership just north of Manchester.

(My name is Stirling and this is my twin brother Sterling)

Michaell

Reminds me of the often used line from the (second) Bob Newhart show:

"This is my brother Daryl, and my other brother Darrell"

kyfdx

Greatest series ending... ever.. ;-)

driver100

"This is my brother Daryl, and my other brother Darrell"

That's what I was thinking of with the Stirlings......I have to maintain my reputation of never being wrong by making up some kind of silly arguement to win my point.

On the topic of cars...I was just reading in today's paper auto sales are set to hit a record in Canada this year. Since the peak of the recession, 2008, not too many cars were leased or sold to fleets, in fact less than half the normal amount. So, few of those coming onto the market. There is a real shortage of 4 year old cars. Dealers have had so many incentives on new cars that many people opt for a new car over a highly marked up used car - seems prices are about 20% higher than normal for 4 year old cars.

Car manufacturers say if sales keep going the way they are, they will cut back on incentives. If you are planning on buying a new car, maybe you should plan to do it soon.

oldfarmer50

"...if you forget you're plugged in and drive off?..."

Never thought of that but I bet it happens often. We've had several bus drivers drive off with the diesel hose still connected. There's a break-away connector built into the hose so you don't tear the pump off it's mounts.

Perhaps they have something similar for the wires on a charging station.

oldfarmer50

"...a web site called Edmunds.com..."

Yeah, but it's so full of glitches lately that it's hard to navigate.

oldfarmer50

"...that wasn't intentional..."

I don't know, you know how much change upsets me. I'm still trying to get out of the 1950's.

(where are my dang emotorcons!)

explorerx4

The car probably won't go anywhere if plugged in.

snakeweasel

Don't be to jealous as I came home today.

But the weather at the winery yesterday was great, low 70's. Sat out on the wine deck with a bottle of wine and some great cheese and enjoyed them with my sisters. Can't get much better than that.

mako1a

Is this site working or did everyone go on vacation?

oldfarmer50

"...is this site working..."

We're all out driving our new cars. You must have missed those posts.

driver100

Is this site working or did everyone go on vacation?

Canadian Thanksgiving...they gave me the weekend off.

driver100

Even if it is my day off!

Michaell

Happy Thanksgiving to all our CAnadian members!

driver100

Happy Thanksgiving to all our CAnadian members!

Thanks...we'll be Snowbirding in Florida in November, so we like to treat Thanksgiving equally......we can celebrate it twice this year.

explorerx4

officially gave up her hippie/tree hugger facade. Although not new, she bought one of those small 2 seat Mercedes convertibles. I'm guessing she will drive the older F150 they bought a few months ago, in the winter. Their high schooler will drive the Prius wagon.
Her convertible is white/black like my convertible. Hmmm... sibling rivalry?

oldfarmer50

"...hippie/tree hugger facade..."

Ha ha tell her welcome to the 1%. Ask her if she will take some of us for a ride in her capitalist running dog. We lower classes seldom get to rub elbows with the elites.

oldfarmer50

Especially since the Mass Mutual building is located in Springfield MA not Albany NY. I think Igor is selling from Russia.

http://albany.craigslist.org/cto/4116556804.html

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lm59wn91QF1qa1w1no1_400.jpg

snakeweasel

And seeing that Igor is using periods not commas to separate the thousands and the dollar signs are after the numbers I think you are right.

Also what year is it, how many miles and other information that is missing makes me not want to touch that ad with a ten foot pole.

graphicguy

When I see ads like that, I'm alway tempted to give them a call to "bust" them.

But, then I wonder why I would waste my time.

Off topic....but seems things have slowed here.

I don't eat snack foods often (chips, popcorn, etc). But, when I get lunch at my favorite deli, I usually buy a sandwhich, a soda and "popcorners" (chips shaped like triangles but not fried).

Anyway, a month or so ago, I do my routine at the deli. Buy my lunch. Go find a nice park bench and relax for 20 minutes or so to have lunch. I open the pop corners and they're crushed.....mostly crushed chips and crumbs.

Ordinarily, I let stuff like that roll off my back. I look at the back of the chips bag, and there's a web site you can go to for leaving comments about the company's products. For reasons that confound even me, that night, I visit their web site and tell them of my experience with the "crumbly" chips.

There was an area to fill in name, address, etc that was available if the company wanted to contact me. I decided to fill it out (again, not wanting the inevitable spam that would follow, I can't explain why I gave them my contact info).

Fast forward to Saturday, I'm doing yard work when a UPS truck pulls up. The driver has a fairly good sized box. I take it from him. For the size of the box, it is very light. I get it inside, open it up....lo and behold, inside was 3 cases of different variety "pop corners". Not the small lunch size bags, either. They were the large size. Accompanying the snacks was a very nice note apologizing for my experience.

THAT is customer service (although I don't know how long it's going to take for me to eat all of them).

mako1a

I've never heard of "pop corners", but I'll surely give them a try after hearing that testimonial. I really appreciate a company that does that sort of thing.

oldfarmer50

"...THAT is customer service..."

It was probably the surly kid at the deli that did it.

driver100

I have Nissan Altima I ask 12.999$$ today 11.999$$$ drive the baby home .. Call me if u vana car. Only cash 11.999 $$today 518 428 2580 ask Igor

Call me if u vana car. Yeh, I don't know if I vana buy a car from Igor - although it is a pretty nice looking car.

driver100

The driver has a fairly good sized box.

Some people complain about things like that to try and score something for nothing. It is nice that Popcorners company is trusting and really tries to please their customers. I like companies that do that, and the word of mouth youare giving them will more than pay for itself.

btw GG....do you own shares?

imidazol97

>There was an area to fill in name, address, etc that was available if the company wanted to contact me. I decided to fill it out (again, not wanting the inevitable spam that would follow, I can't explain why I gave them my contact info).

I occasionally contact a business about my experience with a product that is less than right especially if it's one I want to continue getting to eat or use. Occasionally they respond with a coupon for replacement or more. You hit the jackpot.

The feedback is the only way the company learns if something is not quite right. One example was Club crackers that are the wheat variety and were darkened on one edge way beyond typical. Also many of the cracked with no effort while still in the plastic sleeve. Love the whole wheat crackers.

Another was Colgate toothpaste with the large cap so the tube can stand up on end on the ceramic corner shelves in the shower to take less room. I was just asking if the sensitive formula paste also had the large cap since the site, advertising, and package did not make that clear. Responded with a coupon so I could try it. I think it helped that I had converted to Colgate from a lifetime of Crest and had been using the regular paste with large caps.

driver100

. Responded with a coupon so I could try it.

I always buy Edge but I bought a can and it didn't spray properly.....only used about a quarter of the can and then it froze up. I wrote and complained and they just wrote back...thanking me for letting them know. Now if Gilette is on sale I buy that.

Also Cascade didn't (sorry to start in about dishwashers again) work for awhile when they had to change the formula. They said that was too bad, if I bought the new improved Cascade I would get better results. We switched to Finish and I will never buy Cascade again....even if it is on sale.

driver100

Speaking of customer service. My Sirius expires on Dec 2nd, but we leave for Florida early in November and I didn't want to mess around. So, I called today, and said I wanted to renew again, but only if I get it for the same price....$73 plus artist fees and tax = $97.

The nice lady laughed and said it was a good thing you called...if you didn't call we would have automatically renewed it for over $200. She gave me the same promotional rate as last time.......but, I don't trust them. I wrote it down to call them before October 14th next year.

It's worth about $2 a week to me (using the Driver method of pro-rating goods and services) but not one penny more. I like it for the 24 hours of driving time between here and Florida and back again.

graphicguy

driver....nope...I don't own any shares of the company who makes "popcorners".

I do think many people (including myself) let poor products, poor product design, poor product packaging, etc slide thinking it's too much of a hassle to put forth an effort to let them know what their customers (us) think.

I've never known a company that went out of business listening to what their customers want. Some listen. Some ignore. I know the ones I'll continue to do business with.

oldfarmer50

Just discovered that some idiot dented my Lincoln while it was parked. 4 inch dent on passenger's side near rear wheel with three dings above like someone slammed their door against it. White paint. Had to have been at the mall yesterday as I didn't notice it coming out of church. What is wrong with some people?

Angry emotorcon needed here.

mako1a

I've rented cars in a lot of states, but only in New York do they count the dents before and after renting and if not too many were added you get the OK (no charge). Sorry to lump you in with the city folks, but if the license plate is the same, you must file a claim. (That was supposed to rhyme with...well you know).

oldfarmer50

"...count the dents..."

They do that in Florida too. Last time in Tampa they did a walk around of my rental Passat. Other times I had to check myself. A few rentals had numerous dents and scratches. When I went back to the office and reported them they gave me attitude, as if they were hoping I wouldn't check. Probably hoping to charge me for repairs on return.

As for the Lincoln the damage isn't that bad just annoying. I don't carry collision on any of my old cars so reporting it wouldn't help. Never bought a beater with a body this pristine before so it's almost as upsetting as having a new car dinged.

mako1a

I have full coverage on everything I own!

I once tried to pay less and cancel full coverage on a paid off car. I got a stinkin' 35 bucks back. You can't win. Now I pay for everything and hope they make it all right. Fortunately everyone is polite here so no dents in ten years.

jayrider

To never buy Cascade again is soooo cold!!

tjc78

Funny you bring that up.... I was just thinking about whether or not to drop full coverage from my 04 Grand Marquis. Is there a "rule of thumb" for what a car is worth?

kyfdx

On our "extra" cars.. full coverage was only about $360/yr... So, wasn't worth it to me to drop to liability only.. even though the cars were only worth $4000-$5000 (and, probably had an insurance value less than that)..