User:
llamaman
Date: 12/20/2005 7:38 pm
Views: 3057
Rating: 9
The following is a copy of a letter that I sent to the Rohrman Subaru dealership in Lafayette after my wife and I went looking for a new car. As you might guess, I received no response from my letter. We did not purchase the car from them, and we will not do business with them in the future based on our experience. But I would be honored if you posted it on your web site so that others might view it and spend their money elsewhere, also. By the
way... I do visit the Rohrman dealerships now and then for a test drive. If they can advertise falsely, I can window shop.
Chris
13 September 2000
Dear Mr Rohrman:
I am the proud owner of a 1998 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS which I purchased new
in Atlanta, GA while I was living in the Southeast. Because I was so pleased with the quality of my past Subaru experiences -- both sales and maintenance -- I was able to convince my wife to consider a new Subaru Outback Sport Wagon to replace her aging college car, a 1994 Saturn SL2.
Earlier this evening my wife and I visited your Subaru dealership located
on US HWY 52 in Lafayette to begin shopping for her new car. The
salesperson who assisted us was very helpful. She guided us to find the
vehicle we were interested in and suggested that we take a test drive, which
we did. Following the test drive we all stepped into the office to discuss
numbers for the trade in and the new car. Tonight being our first night out
shopping, and having done some rudimentary pricing research, we expected to
get at least $3000 for the trade in and to pay $17,000 for the Outback
Sport. Obviously we were unable to reach an agreement with the combined
difference between our offers being about $1500, $1000 of that difference
from the Saturn trade in value. So my wife and I weren't able to reach a
deal on our first night out, no problem. All that tells me is that we need
to sell our Saturn for ourselves and we'll get more for it. The rest can be
worked out after we sell our Saturn. At that point we would have gladly
left and returned at a later date when we found a buyer for my wife's car.
But if that was the only thing that happened tonight then I would not be
writing you this letter. Before we left, the salesperson brought in the
manager on duty to talk with us. This is the reason for my complaint. We
were ready to leave and come back later, but suddenly the manager wanted to
see us. Imagine our surprise when he made no attempt whatsoever to
negotiate with us. However, he did give us a lecture about how foolish we
were to come in with such expectations on what we were willing to pay. Let
me remind you, this was our first night out looking for my wife a new car.
Also, all of his discussion was directed at me and not my wife. Let me
remind you, my wife was the one looking for the new car, not me. He also
told us that we do not know what makes good business sense. What he was not
aware of is that before we moved to this area I was employed as a Sales
Representative responsible for about $20 million/year of bulk chemical sales
in NC and VA. Because of my past experience I do think I have some
knowledge about what it takes to run a business. Additionally, my wife is
currently employed as a Customer Service Representative at a printing
company and we are both in agreement that customer service is a very
important characteristic of any company we deal with. We did not appreciate
the attempt the manager made at strong-arming us into closing a deal that
night after we were ready to leave. Insults and intimidation will not
create loyal customers for the Rohrman car group. This couple will be
shopping elsewhere in the future.
Sincerely,
Chris
