westernrvparkowner wrote:
It is bad form and bad customer service to treat customers like the OP has been treated, but in all fairness it is probably the logical conclusion to our wired internet age.
This is the likely scenario to play out on the OPs request for the availability of a slide seal. The dealer will consult their parts manuals to find the actual part number. They will confirm that part with the customer. Then they will tell the customer the price. Then armed with that information, the customer will order it off the internet (cheaper price and no two hour round trip to pick it up. The savings in gas will more than make up for the internet suppliers overnight shipping charge). The dealer will have spent 15 minutes of an employee's time for no return. Multiply that by 10 or 20 calls a day and you basically have an employee doing nothing productive.
Unless the dealer specifically runs a dedicated parts department, they see customer requests for parts as a loss position as far as profit goes. They fail to realize that they maybe creating a new customer if they would only treat them right. They only see the now and not the future.