Salesman Attitudes?

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web-dude

Original Poster:

15 posts

274 months

Friday 22nd February 2002
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Hi folks

I was wondering how you have found the Lotus Salesman attitudes when buying your car?

I initially thought that the one here was okay, a little pushy as to be expected, but recently his tone when disucssing options on the phone has gone right downhill. Really abrupt on the phone etc. trying to get me to take a pre specced car. I always felt that he thought i couldnt afford the car ( I did arrive at the showroom in Focus mind you :-)

These kind of things really piss me off....and make me want to say forget it. I have in the past. But there is not another garage for about 200 miles!

Cheers

Webdude.

aovcerb

100 posts

277 months

Friday 22nd February 2002
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Write to Lotus and tell them, takes 5 minutes to explain the situation then go 200 miles buy the Elise you want, go back to the garage and give the saleman the finger.
Had a similar experience recently I took a friend to look at a BMW, I drove her there in my old Landrover Disco and the salesman looked down his nose at me, took us out in this beamer with triptronic gears etc, wound it up and turned to me and said I bet you have never been in something this powerful !
Tonight we pick the car up from him, in my TVR Cerbera, cannot wait to his his face !!!

web-dude

Original Poster:

15 posts

274 months

Friday 22nd February 2002
quotequote all
Hehe! Excellent. Be sure to post a pic of his face here! :-)

My brother had the same experience with a BMW garage.

I'll try not to let it put my off buying the Lotus. But I get really wound up ( probably too much so ) over incidents like this.

Cheers

Webdude.

marki

15,763 posts

277 months

Friday 22nd February 2002
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Its been my expieriece that most car salesmen are tossers , they sit around waitting for a punter and when he turns up they treat him like scum just because hes not turning up in a Bently wearing an Armarni suit ,a pre speced car is the easy way for him to go as its coming anyway and he will not have to do extra paper work , this subject really pisses me off the good ones are few and far between

timh

89 posts

282 months

Friday 22nd February 2002
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when buying our Elise, we went to all the local(within 60 miles ) dealers to look at the car, all but one were complete tossers, Peter Smith might as well have called me a pauper because i ONLY had £ 23k to spend on an Elise, he then showed me an S2 which had just arrived and said "but of course this is out of your price range", the fact was I only WANTED to spend £ 23k on a car that would only be a weekend car,Storm said I could sit in a car but could only test drive one if I put a deposit down!, In the end I was totally put of the Lotus Marque, I then went to Nick Whales in Birmingham, completely different attitude, In the end I saw the car I wanted in Olympic car of Exeter, over 200 miles away and like Nick whale, Olympic could not have been more helpful, they even offered to deliver the car to my door to save me coming back down to Exeter to collect it, Good dealers are out there and it's a great feeling going into the ones that treated you like dirt and giving them the finger !!

CJN

230 posts

280 months

Tuesday 26th February 2002
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I don't know about salemen's attitudes but the Lotus service staff at JCT600 in Leeds have been superb. Whenever I have a little niggle I either get it sorted on the telephone or drop in unannounced at JCT. I am asked to grab a coffee, read the latest car mags & watch the widescreen tv whilst my baby is quickly whisked into the garage for immediate attention. This has has happened on more than a couple of occasions.
I didn't buy the car brand new & I didn't buy it from them.
If you are an owner you are treated very well.

I suppose they get a fair few test pilots round so would have to be careful when letting any Tom, Dick or Harry have a spin.

j37

329 posts

272 months

Saturday 2nd March 2002
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FWIW, I can't praise Lotus Ribble Valley (Mike Hill in sales, Albert in service) too highly.
Both have gone beyond the call of duty for me and are nice people to boot.

J37

LoserKid

1,676 posts

271 months

Tuesday 9th April 2002
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Has to be said that although there are some arrogant tossers that work in Lotus Dealers (as far as sales go as I don't own one yet) that there are also some really top people with plenty of time and advice.

My personal experience in good dealers (i don't like to throw mud) is either Daniel at Kings Lotus in Warwick or if you don't want official try Paul Matty Sportscars as a quick pop in there at 2:30pm made me 2 hours late - and I was'nt even in the market to buy at the time!

Oh and remember I live near Junction 5 of the M40 so Kings certainly isn't my local dealer...

JonRB

76,114 posts

279 months

Wednesday 10th April 2002
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quote:
the salesman looked down his nose at me, took us out in this beamer with triptronic gears etc, wound it up and turned to me and said I bet you have never been in something this powerful !
Tonight we pick the car up from him, in my TVR Cerbera, cannot wait to his his face !!!
So come on, aovcerb, did you, and what was his reaction? I must confess I'd have been tempted to reply something along the lines of "oh, really? Do you want to bet on that? £50 ok with you?".

XPLOD

53 posts

273 months

Wednesday 10th April 2002
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I bought my S1 Elise from Haydon Cars, Salisbury. They are no longer franchised dealers, which is a shame, because I found their service to be second to none. My car came back washed and hoovered after the 1000 mile oil change service. I was always offered test drives in the latest models, e.g. Sport160, Exige etc... Always a friendly welcome, coffee etc...

I bought my S2 from Portfield SportsCars in Chichester. I found their sales staff to be excellent. Automatically assumed that the missus and I would want a test drive (Missus very impressed, unlike plonker of an Audi salesman when driving the TT). My concerns however, lie with their workshops. When I picked the car up, it had squeaking seats, loose window winders, directional tyres fitted back to front, horn inoperative and the bloody useless alcantara trim on drivers door crinkling up. They replaced this trim under warranty. Sadly, instead of fixing it to the door with the three screws, they used a two inch strip of industrial velcro! Yes. Velcro! Needless to say, I will be visiting them in the near future, again!

billb

3,198 posts

272 months

Thursday 11th April 2002
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dont even get me started about lotus salesmen - never ever met such appalling service - edmunsons of ipswich - would'nt buy a mars bar off them in future let alone a car. disgusting for 26k

>> Edited by billb on Thursday 11th April 17:24

markqelise

258 posts

271 months

Sunday 14th April 2002
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I can vouch for Nick Whales in Brum - Now on my second Elise and soon to have a Noble on the way.

Felix1

12 posts

276 months

Sunday 21st April 2002
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More thean happy with Cos and co at Haydon's even though they are not franchised now which gives them a lot more freedom.

They take more interest which IMO means more care when doing the job properly unlike others e.g whose name begines with the initial after G!

Pierre Possum

2 posts

271 months

Monday 22nd April 2002
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Those of you who have made an approach to Adrian Blyth re. TVR's will be familiar with his friendly, approachable, consultative manner coupled to an extensive product knowledge - he now extends this amiable approach to Elise buyers - I note he currently has Elise, 111S models and a hairy 160 due in!

If you don't want to be SOLD a car then get down there!!