Lust4Lexus

So, I went to get a tube of Shin-Etsu grease from my local Honda dealer. This is the grease that is used to silence the rubber seals in our cars. It has a honda part number of 087989013. Many of us in the LS forum have issues with squeaky windows.

Last night I found the grease on my local dealers parts website. A single price was listed. $14.37. I drove there ready to buy this insanely high priced silicone grease. (It is supposedly worth the money however)

I get to the desk, and they bring me the "part". I joke and say "I sure hope it works given the price of what is essentially vaseline". He says, "yeah- 28 bucks!" I politely tell him that it is listed as 14.37 on the parts website. He explains that it is the online price. Okay, I understand the concept if online vs. in-store pricing. On the website, there is only one price listed, which is very misleading, and there was no way I was paying 28 dollars plus tax for this tube of grease.

The parts guy was very cavalier about it with a take or leave it attitude. He would not extend the price as a courtesy to me even. We are not talking about an engine or transmission assembly here folks. It is the little gestures that make good customer service. This guy had no clue....

So, I leave and proceed to call the other Honda dealership "close by" and find out that they have the grease for $16.00.( total drive time of 40 min though) I return to the counter and cordially explain that there competitor has it for $16.00 and ask if they would be willing to price match. No dice. He was rude and arrogant. The guy at the counter acted as if he went and asked the parts manager to match, but I don't think he really did. He returned to the counter literally 3 seconds later with as a simple "he wont do it". I said fine, I will go to your competitor for the part, as well as my next car. All this for measly tube of grease! Seriously!

Walking back to my car, ticked off, I walk into the sales area, where all the big wigs are, I speak to the receptionist to find out whom I need to speak with to complain about the total lack of customer service. It's the principle of it all guys. The receptionist sends me to the service manager, and I explained to her how the parts dept. was shameful. She agreed, and left me in her office, came back 5 min later, only to say that the parts manager would not match the other dealer, and proceeds to explain online vs. in store pricing. I explained to HER, that she should have both prices listed on the website, (like Sewell) to avoid potential issues like this. Still, I thought she would have been so embarrassed by her dept's service, that she would have at the VERY least, given me the online price.... but she was actually pretty useless. SHAMELESS. I gave her a polite earful, and explained what poor business decisions are being made here under her nose. Save 16 dollars to lose 35k basically. I left her office.

I went BACK to the receptionist, to ask for the address to write a formal complaint on how on all fronts the dealership sucked. She agreed 100% with me and was astounded at the outcome with the meeting with the service manager. She paged the General manager and he came out after being briefed by the receptionist. He whisked me into his office and I explained to him what had transpired, and he was SHOCKED and embarrassed, and rightfully so. He called the parts manager in, and we had a three way conversation. (This is the same guy that told the service manager to tell me to basically "fly a kite" 5 min ago. He now comes out with a whole new attitude, trying to rectify the situation. Acting all innocent......I played along.

Anyway, I explain to them the pettiness and the arrogance of the parts dept. and how I have given them 10's of thousands of dollars over the years, and how the parts dept just left such a horrible taste in my mouth on how thy could not do the right thing on even a tube of grease. The general manager apologizes profusely, as I elude to him how we live in cyber world and everything is word of mouth, and that they were very stupid ( not in those words, obviously) to be so arrogant with a customer. He agreed whole heartedly. He tells the parts manager to "go get this gentleman's grease". He gives it to me as a gift, which is what I would have done myself had I been in his shoes. Now the parts manager comes back and thanks me for bringing this experience to his attention....

Somebody needs to stand up to the "stealerships" damnit... Thanks for reading!

kikcaffine

iTrader: (3)

I like it!

rominl

iTrader: (4)

great story! yes, sometimes we spend more time, but we get things done right

RaceSC300

I see nothing wrong with what they did. As a parts person I see it from the other side. Our dealership lost $45,000 in the last 6 months because of discounts (the max we give counter customers is 10%). You were asking for a 50% discount. Everyone thinks a dealership is making 500% profit on everything they sell. Well, that isn't the matter. We have to pay for the part, pay to ship it to the dealership, pay someone to receive it and pay someone to serve you. And you say you spent $35,000 there. That's nice. So did everyone else who has ever bought a car from any dealership. I am not sure what makes you any more special than anyone else?

Everyone walks into a dealership looking for a discount, no matter what they are buying. Yet, they wouldn't walk into HMV, Walmart, Target etc and ask for a discount when there is no sale on. I have people ask me for a discount on two wiper inserts, that is $12! Do you ask for a discount of the $11 popcorn you buy at the movie theater? If you can't afford $12 you shouldn't be driving a car.

But you are right, dealerships are evil blah blah blah. carry on.

Lust4Lexus

I May not have persued the subject had the parts Dept not been so arrogant. It is not what you say, it is how you say it. Unfortunately, lots of us forget diplomacy. I don't really think I was being unreasonable. I don't think the dealer is an evil empire. But my Lexus dealer always does the right thing. Honda had no clue. 45k lost in discounts does not seem like a loss....... It sounds like the cost of doing business.

If I take a client out for dinner to discuss a proposal, do I go dutch with him? No. Do I take the money spent on dinner and itemize it and deduct it from our business deal? Maybe, if I want to make an @ss of myself and loose the account. ( I know this has nothing to do with car dealerships, but you get the basic idea) It takes money to make money...

The dealer should have 2 prices listed on the website as to not confuse the buyer. RaceSC300, how do you feel about that? I was not asking for a discount when I walked in there, I walked in there with a price that was listed on THEIR website, with no indication that the price would be DOUBLE once I made the purchase. Their system is flawed and the need to be more responsible if they are going to have a sucessful parts department.

caddyowner

I believe the correct term for their pricing practice is BOHICA.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

to me it's not so much about price, but attitude

PhantomZX

He was asking for the website advertised price, not for a discount. Shame on that parts department for trying to squeeze possibly 1000% more profit out of "uneducated" walk-in customers.

Your dealership losing $45k is a totally separate matter and I see no relation between that and anything the OP had to say.

Big Mack

iTrader: (1)

So, please clarify for us - how can the same exact dealer afford to sell the tube of lube (sounds so bad, but it is what it is) for half the retail price if it's online? Drop shipping? I can appreciate the built in cost of a brick and mortar, but if it's tacking on 100% of the cost to parts that are $15, something is wrong. Either they're buying one tube at a time or are just extremely inefficient when placing or receiving orders. Either way, you're defending something that didn't happen here. The dealership should have a price listed as online and a price listed as in store. They could, in some states, put themselves in a position to get sued for false advertising if they don't have a disclaimer about this, too, because more and more customers are getting info from the interwebs first, then going into a store to buy. One thing OP could have done is call ahead to confirm, but if the dealership wants to drive business into the actual store as opposed to simply doing business online, it is their responsibility to clarify the pricing.

And I think your question of "what makes you any more special than anyone else?" is just a bit rude - much like the arrogant parts person at the dealership. Why is he special? Because he's there and he's a customer. You treat customers right, they come back. If you're concerned about losing $45K in 6 months on discounts, what if you lose 100% of your sales due to the attitude of the guy behind the counter? Is that better?

Many areas of car sales rely on a give and take relationship with a customer. Do you pay full retail when you walk into a car dealership, or do you try and get the best price and financing you can? Do you expect them to take your good credit into account when arranging that financing, or do you expect to pay top dollar to whomever they choose because you didn't buy every single car in your life from them? I mean, they're treating you better because you've paid other people, not them. Why not require that you get only one level of financing or pricing treatment if you've never purchased there before or own a different brand of car? Like it or not, car sales and dealerships are service oriented businesses. Those with better service last. Those without either don't last or clean house and try again.

I do agree with you that if you're not able to buy the parts necessary for the car that are less than $20, you probably need to ride your bike, but that's another story.

OP never said the dealership was evil, but they do bear the responsibility of sharing accurate pricing at the very least, even if their customer service sucked.

And to the OP - sometimes you just gotta rattle the chain until the big ones come down from the top of the tree! I've been in similar situations and done the same. Done it for the good things, too, though, so don't forget that part. My general rule about customer service - if you're going to complain about the bad, you need to be sure to praise the exemplary.

Big Mack

Koma

iTrader: (3)

Shipping costs are not always the price to ship the product to you. Many companies will buffer their shipping/handling costs to make more profit.

Example:
Part X is listed at $10 online. Shipping is $5.75. What it costs them to ship could be less than 5.75 maybe $2.50. The extra $2.25 is extra profit.

So maybe the online price is to entice people to look a their dealership first because of low price but they may charge extra on shipping to make up the lost profit.

Lust4Lexus

Big Mack,

Very well said. It is obvious you understand my point. And yes, I can afford a 2800 dollar tube of lube, but does that mean I should be taken advantage of and buy it? Of course not. Just because one has the money, doesn't mean they should have it stolen from them just because they have more to spare.

I bought my LS CPO and I am far from rich. I think alot of us here are the second owners of our Lexus. I hear the constant murmer of "if you can afford an LS, you can afford bla bla bla". That's bogus. I bought my LS not because I have 7 figure bank account; I bought it because I am an educated consumer, and realize that the CPO lexus is the best car money can buy for my hard earned money.

If I was of the camp that wanted to show off, I could have bought a used Benz and could have looked a whole lot cooler, but more stupid to those that matter if you know what I mean. You can tell those that buy cars outside of their means. I am not one of them. My Lexus was cheaper than a new fully loaded Camry. You tell me[I[/I] which one you would rather buy given the choice.

I am person that works long hours to afford my general lifestyle. I don't like it when people assume that because I drive a Lexus, I must be some snob that is frivelous (sp) with my money.

And by the way, you are also absolutely right about praising the exemplary. I do it all the time. My service advisor at Lexus is one such person that deserves such praise.

Alucard

I loved: "go get this gentleman's grease"

Working as a waiter years ago I learned that you can still give people bad news without being an a-hole about it. And working in retail I learned that (within reason) a company should honor an incorrect/misleading price tag.

Lust4Lexus

Alucard,
+10000000
Maybe because I too was a waiter I am the way I am. Maybe it's true that they say that everyone should have a job like that at one point to learn how to deal with people.

Lust4Lexus

BOHICA? Okay- just wikipedia'd it. Yes exactly.

Big Mack

iTrader: (1)

Did you think I was inferring you should get your $ stolen? Far from it. I was simply stating that anyone who drives any car shouldn't be overly concerned about any small expenses like a tube o' lube or anything like that since it's part of normal maintenance. If you're having to sweat the small parts, you probably shouldn't own/drive a car was the only point, not specific to you. M

Maybe you meant the parts guy at the dealer shouldn't have made an assumption that because you drive a Lex you shouldn't be concerned about the price of a tube o' lube? If so, I completely agree. I bought mines because I knew it wasn't going to need a ton of maintenance every other week, would provide a nice quality ride that I enjoy (as opposed to the harshness of most BMW's, for example), and wouldn't break my bank, either. So far, so good.

It's kind of like home ownership. It doesn't matter if you buy a 1000 sq ft 2 BR/1BA or a 2500 sq ft 4 BR/3BA - if you are so stretched to afford the house itself that you cannot afford the inevitable maintenance or little crap that goes wrong, you need to reassess your financial situation (again, not you specifically, just in general).

And thanks, I was trying to convey my point about the rest because it seemed like it was much more adversarial than a customer service experience should ever be.

Good call. I try to give credit/blame when it's due. It's important to me to do so, and I'm sure you and I aren't the only ones.

Big Mack