When we first starting looking at cars to replace BB and Little Blue Car, we went to the same family of dealerships where we bought BB. It’s a Honda/Toyota/Scion/etc. group. We were looking at and drove the Honda Fit. While we had a fabulous experience buying BB, in the wake of the quakes/tsunamis in Japan, and coupled with Honda’s slimy sales tactics, we weren’t happy. But, apparently, they don’t read their Yelp reviews before repeatedly calling formerly-potential customers.
Our sales person from that day had called right when we got back…and with the luxury of Google Voice, I blocked him from calling again. However, as technology would have it, he can call from a number of lines and, today, manged to get through [1]. I was on my way out the door and off my game for just a moment….a moment of weakness. argh!
The convo went something like this:
Hello, Ms. Loosa, this is [Miguel] (not his real name) from Round Rock Honda. How are you today?
Fine. How are you?
Great! Listen, I just wanted to see if you and Aaahmeeel (also not E’s real name!) were back in town from your trip and if you were still looking for a Honda or Toyota or a Scion or any other [car we have in stock]”.
(Really…he said something not much different than that!)[……drum roll, please….. (’cause this next part is that good!)]
“Actually, after we left your dealership, we drove up the road to Mazda. They were willing to work with us on the price,
so we bought TWO cars from them.”[I couldn’t quite make out the sounds of the crickets chirping in the background…. </smug> <!nah, not me>]
Well, if you ever need anything from our family of dealerships, maybe with your next vehicle purchases, I’d be happy to help.
Thank you. [Thanks, but no. You gave us a hell of a time when you knew we were trying shop quickly and then get out of town for family business. What’s more: you are slimy!]
When I told E the story at dinner (’cause it’s just too juicy to tell in a 140-character Tweet!), he was all giggles!
#Booyah, Honda. Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out!
zoom-zoom [2] [3]
I will repeat this because I know they care: Round Rock (city of), you lost the tax revenue on not-one-but-two vehicles because of one slimy salesperson. We quite likely would have purchased two cars from that RR dealership. But, by driving just a little further north, we found some down-to-Earth and real people. And, we contributed to all that lovely tax revenue in Georgetown, instead. (You’re welcome Ali & Andy, and the Winklers, too!)
[1] Google Voice gives me an extra layer of call screening. He got through because he called from a different number. He still had to state his name to connect the call.
[2] Our experience with Roger Beasley Mazda was so good that E (yes, E!) wrote a letter to Mr. Beasley to thank and recognize our sales person and the rest of the staff at the dealership. You should have seen the faces of our salesperson (Mark, who was at the top of the board for the month with-or-without our purchases) and the other staff members when we gave them a printed letter. I guess no one does that anymore! Our full review on Yelp will come when we get our real license plates and my cargo net.
[3] E even signed our letter “Zoom-zoom, E & L Luza” Nice.