sojah

iTrader: (1)

so i found this to be rather amusing myself, been debating whether or not to share, but hey its friday, i'm at work, ain't got shiz to do .. just kidding but i will try to sum it up and keep it brief since i am at work at all.

background info: i put nitrogen in my stock 17's off my 05 ls430UL back in like June of this past year (09) at lex of silver springs (MD) about two months later i picked up a set of some 19's from a fellow cl'er so i swapped out the wheels and put the stocks in my storage closet since last weekend (first week of Dec). Now mind you these stocks were not in storage for more than 4 months max when i pulled them out to put them back on the car. i have also been doing this sort of thing for the last 8 years and have never had a set of wheels/tires loose this much tire pressure (even the set i had in my old garage for 1.3 years.

When i put the wheels back on the car all 4 were considerably low in tire pressure almost identically low cept for one which was like 2 lbs lower but the other 3 were identically low like 25 lbs of total pressure low. I called the lex dealership back and they claimed that since it was the nitro fill that they shouldn't be low at all and to bring them in and they would refill. so i made an appointment and brought them in. upon arriving i explained my situation 'again' to the service type guy assisting me who tried to tell me that since the 'molecules' hadn't been moving around in the nitro filled stock tires on account of them being in storage that this is why all the nitro escaped or vanished or what have you. when he said molecules the second time this is when i got a little pissed and started going off on my own rant not letting him butt in and told him just to fill them back up with nitro while i waited. he said he would go back and talk to his boss and then came back out and said fine, however they don't offer the nitro service anymore so he would have to bring it next door to the toyota dealership to do it, i said then just do it.

i waited in the lobby for a few minutes before remembering about the new 2010 ls's out now and have been really curious to see one in real life instead of just in a commercial or magazine ad. so i got the attention of a salesman and asked him to show me. after he told me that they only had one and it was being cleaned and he couldn't actually show me he asked why it had to be a 2010 instead of a 2009. well obviously he was trying to push the remaining 09's on their lot but i told him i was just interested in 'looking' at the differences in the 2010's to the 2009 you know all the minor changes and model refreshes right. so he starts telling me that there is really no difference in the 2 cars and after i start mentioning the things that i recalled reading like front bumper, rear bumper, head and taillights, not to mention the sport air suspension package. he tries to tell me that the 09's had the same package and yes the brake lights might be a little different. so after listening to him tell me that its the same car i then said to him i guess your going to tell me that my 05 is the same as the 01-03's then. and would you believe that he said yes they are exactly the same. i then went on to explain all the differences and he wouldn't agree with me on any (between the 01-03 and the 04-06's) (he kept telling me that the only difference was when the changed over the 460 and all the engine and car, really talking to me like i was little kid who didn't know anything about the lex lineup at all), he tried to explain that the 430 was the 430 and that now the 460 is the 460 the year didn't have anything to do with it other than the 430 being 01-06 and now 460 07 on. i was a little pissed and said i just wanted to see the car for myself and concluded that obviously he didn't know the damn differences and he said he couldn't show me the 2010. he also said that there was no difference on the inside at all other than the new nav software disc being loaded... i kept saying well what about all the color combo new choices and i think they even have a two tone leather option now, he said that it was also available on the 07-09's as well.

call me crazy but i believe this lex of silver springs to be full of something, and it wasn't paying customers

DDLexus

dealers used to get away with providing this type of "misinformed" information. But these days, with the internet and Club Lexus, you can't do that crap. I would contact the sales manager and politely explain that you believe his sales people need some education on their products. Especially regarding new models and features.

Slvr surfr

iTrader: (1)

I agree with the fact that the sales people are truly lacking info about the cars they sell. Although there are sales people that do know about what they are selling, a vast number of them don't. I bought my car from Lexus of rockville. Even though the car was used, i expected a level of service and knowledge that i did not get. My sales woman was new to lexus but i would think that there should've been some type of series or model training before you're put on the battle field. Needless to say i still bought they car only because i wanted so badly after i did a lilttle background check of my own and it was just "gorgeous". But if i was a person who didn't do checks and reserches and the sale depended on her actually "selling" me the car, she would've lost that one for sure. She was a very nice person though and very curtious but didn't know to much about the car.

Jabberwock

yep those nitrogen "molecules"..love dat motion

Nitrogen is an inert gas and is an element not a molecule. It is extremely stable, doesn't contain any moisture like air, and relatively large and that's why its good as a fill for car tires. Losing pressure is due to an imperfect seal of the tire to the wheel and has nothing to do with the tire being stored and not moving. All tires leak some gas all the time usually at a very very slow rate. If anything a tire/wheel being stored in stable temps and with no motion or stress would lose pressure more slowly than a wheel/tire mounted and being driven regardless of the gas it was filled with. The shop guy telling you about the nitrogen molecules was talking out his "patoot".


Some sales people are great and really work to be experts at what they sell - however a substantial percentage are slack jawed morons generally too stupid and lazy to do the homework. When I get one of those I just hit the reject button immediately.

AlexusAnja

Some sales people would kill their moms to try to see you something. They really think we're all a bunch of idiots. For your case, even after telling him all the changes and obviously being more educated, he's still BS'ing you.

GRAND_LS 4

iTrader: (2)

Problem i noticed with those in sales is their ability to fill knowledge gaps with information that "sounds good" and make it up as they go along.

Instead of telling you that he doesn't know the difference, he will sway the answer to best suit the outcome he wants.

Have to keep in mind that most of those in sales dont really care what a Lexus is, nor are enthusiasts like most of us here, they just want to sell them, and make the money.

REV-01

iTrader: (13)

yup exactly...

caddyowner

I noticed that some sales people have a certification of "Lexus certified master." The two guys I've talked to that had this certification knew the LS product. The others, not so much. Have you noticed this?

sojah

iTrader: (1)

i didn't know this, but it seems like it should be like this. i will be sure to ask to speak to a lex cert master' the next time i want to ask some 'higher level' questions about one of their cars.

i like what one person said about how salespeople really like to fill in the holes with anything that sounds reasonably good, because don't get me wrong the guy seemed to be an intelligent sales person (and sadly this is prolly all thats required these days to sell a 40-70k car to the masses) just not so knowledgeable about his product when confronted with a slightly educated consumer. but at one point i was slightly unsure of one of the new upgrades and he took that and ran with it talking out the side of his neck for the next 3 minutes straight with all kinds of info that 'sounded good'.. if i hadn't known already that he obviously didn't know anything about what he was speaking i would prolly have been more inclined to believe what this slick talking graceful sounding well groomed man in a nice suit was telling me ...

Lexucan

Yessir, gone are the days when the sales person (for whatever product) was the authority. Nowadays the average consumer (who knows his way around the internet) is vastly more educated when it comes any questions and answers about a particular product's features, etc.
I always Google before I shop. Then I know when some "slick talking graceful sounding well groomed man in a nice suit" is trying to shovel me the bull.

Slvr surfr

iTrader: (1)

Well with all that said, do you guys think that since we the consumers live in the information age the sales people take that into consideration and don't equip themselves with the info because he assumes we know it already? It sounds lazy but maybe its the reality.

CG lover

re the nitrogen fill,, have had a camper in one position for close to a year and the tire pressure never moved 1/4 pound in any of the 6 tires,,

gotta love those car salesman, what other line of employment could they handle with so little product knowledge,, was he really walking upright or knuckles a dragging,,

Derry

caddyowner

It seems that many auto sales managers rate their reps on:

1 - Meeting quota
2 - Closing sales
3 - Meeting quota
4 - Closing sales
5 - Meeting quota
...

10 - Building relationships
11 - Prospecting
12 - Meeting quota
13 - Closing sales
....
20 - Wearing tacky clothes and jewelry
...
50 - Product knowledge.

Lexus may strive for a different model, but deep down inside, they're still car salesmen.

Tee

So true and yet so very sad!

Budhah

Got to figure that many of these sales people deal with Doctors and Lawyers, and who ever heard of either one say " Gee I did not know that, and You are right" Must have rubbed off on the guy you had... As far as buying from the Lady sales person. I find that the most successful women in sales will dress like a lady with nice dresses or pant suits for bad days, or truck sales. Had a friend in newspaper sales in Moriss Ill, and told her to wear dress or skirts for a couple of weeks, instead of jeans or slacks, and her sales increased over 30%. Of course she had nice legs too.