Confused about dealer response to order inquiry

they only have one salesman?
bumpy

I'm an Internet Manager in the car business, been in the business for 23 years. If the person who sent you that email worked for me, they would soon find him or herself with a lot of extra time on there hands. I'm in the GM business and I pride myself on answering all my customers questions upfront and complete. I also expect the same for those under me. I will also provide an actual bottom line quote without being asked as long as I know what there looking for.

I would strongly suggest you explore other dealers as that one doesn't seem to be very interested in your business. Another way to maybe light a fire under them is send the exact same email to the GM of the dealership telling them exactly what you said on the forum. While I see this go on a lot more than you would think I would never condone it.

I think it's the 4th of July on Friday. You probably got an email from the receptionist that answers the phone. Call and ask for a salesman with your questions and see what kind of response you get. If it's no better than the email...look elsewhere. Good luck with your new truck!

Bumpyroad wrote:
they only have one salesman?
bumpy

I'm an X-Plan participant and I must go through the fleet manager, who is the person that responded to my email.

Many businesses treat email like it's not serious - if they happen to respond to it at all.

I usually go elsewhere.

MikeInOregon wrote:
I'm interested in purchasing a new tow vehicle. My wife and I would like to order a 2015 F150 EcoBoost as soon as the order banks are open.

So today I sent an email to my local Ford dealer asking if they could tell me when orders will be accepted. The reply I received was a very short single sentence stating that they will contact me when ordering information is available.

I replied and said that we are not sure if we want to order the XLT or the Lariat. I asked two questions 1. Do you have a 2014 XLT and Lariat that we can see? 2. Can we stop by this Friday morning to look at the trucks? The reply I received was another very short single sentence stating that the dealership is closed this Friday and the salesman will be off for the weekend.

I was expecting an answer that showed a little more interest in selling a truck. Something like, "Yes, we have the XLT and Lariat and we would be happy to show you the trucks. I'm sorry, but we are closed this Friday. Can we schedule another time to show you the vehicles". I feel like the only information I received is a report on the salesman's days off.

What is your opinion of the responses from the dealership? Am I overreacting or do you think they could show more interest?

I think your feelings get hurt a little too easily. You have already indicated you won't be buying any of the vehicles in stock. They told you they would contact you with the information as to when the new vehicle can be ordered. They also told you that you couldn't look at vehicles on Friday, since they will be closed. As for scheduling an appointment, the salespeople are most likely on commission. If a salesperson set up an appointment to show you vehicles you aren't going to buy, they would be foregoing an opportunity to actually make a sale and a commission. If you chose not to show for that appointment, there is no penalty to you, but that salesperson would have waited around to show vehicles to a person who wasn't going to buy those vehicles and then didn't even show up. They would have basically sat around doing nothing, which neither they, nor their employer would appreciate. I am sure they wouldn't have any problem showing you vehicles, should you visit the dealership, but to expect them to set time aside for a guaranteed non-sale is over-reaching. On top of that, you are an X-plan purchaser, meaning the dealership will make a bare minimum amount of income from the sale. Quite frankly, the time versus reward equation is not very favorable to the salespeople and the dealer in those transactions.

Questions asked and answered. Well done.

kcmoedoe wrote:

MikeInOregon wrote:
I'm interested in purchasing a new tow vehicle. My wife and I would like to order a 2015 F150 EcoBoost as soon as the order banks are open.

So today I sent an email to my local Ford dealer asking if they could tell me when orders will be accepted. The reply I received was a very short single sentence stating that they will contact me when ordering information is available.

I replied and said that we are not sure if we want to order the XLT or the Lariat. I asked two questions 1. Do you have a 2014 XLT and Lariat that we can see? 2. Can we stop by this Friday morning to look at the trucks? The reply I received was another very short single sentence stating that the dealership is closed this Friday and the salesman will be off for the weekend.

I was expecting an answer that showed a little more interest in selling a truck. Something like, "Yes, we have the XLT and Lariat and we would be happy to show you the trucks. I'm sorry, but we are closed this Friday. Can we schedule another time to show you the vehicles". I feel like the only information I received is a report on the salesman's days off.

What is your opinion of the responses from the dealership? Am I overreacting or do you think they could show more interest?

I think your feelings get hurt a little too easily. You have already indicated you won't be buying any of the vehicles in stock. They told you they would contact you with the information as to when the new vehicle can be ordered. They also told you that you couldn't look at vehicles on Friday, since they will be closed. As for scheduling an appointment, the salespeople are most likely on commission. If a salesperson set up an appointment to show you vehicles you aren't going to buy, they would be foregoing an opportunity to actually make a sale and a commission. If you chose not to show for that appointment, there is no penalty to you, but that salesperson would have waited around to show vehicles to a person who wasn't going to buy those vehicles and then didn't even show up. They would have basically sat around doing nothing, which neither they, nor their employer would appreciate. I am sure they wouldn't have any problem showing you vehicles, should you visit the dealership, but to expect them to set time aside for a guaranteed non-sale is over-reaching. On top of that, you are an X-plan purchaser, meaning the dealership will make a bare minimum amount of income from the sale. Quite frankly, the time versus reward equation is not very favorable to the salespeople and the dealer in those transactions.

Yeah if you had said you were considering the 2014 as an option I believe the response would have been different.

Person to person contact almost always works better than and email. With an email, new info comes up which just leads to further emails. On a phone call, you can take care of all the questions at once. Call them, get a saleman.

Bill

I contacted several Ford Dealers in SE NC and NE SC in my search for a 2013 ECO ( DEC 2013 ). I received a lot of interest and even some pretty good offers via e-mail. If one had responded as yours did I think I would not have been happy with them either. Ford dealers here seem to work very hard to get / keep their 5 star rating.