I guess this is going to be a short blog...more less a rant.
Last November, I purchased a brand new motorcycle from a Honda Dealership in Las Vegas. I ended up paying wayyy too much for the bike as I realized after the fact. Rather infuriated when I found out how much dealers in other states were selling them for...I went back and talked to the dealer and showed them what other people have paid for the same bike.
The dealers response was "guys like to lie about what they spent on their toys so it doesnt look like they paid too much." That torked me off right there. I cant believe a dealer would say this. He even went to say he went below his MSRP for my sale...big whoop. I paid 18k for a bike, but after taxes and all the other junk tossed in...it ended up being over 22k for the bike. I just went to a dealer here in MN, they sell the bike starting at 16k. 16k!
I went back to the dealer a few months ago and asked if they would do a price match on parts and the parts guy said he would 'otherwise, if we dont match it, we lose a sale.' I was interested in buying a new CB from Hondadirectline.com for the bike. They sell it for 600 bucks. The dealer sells it for 800 bucks. I also wanted a CB antenna, but at the moment, I dont remember the price. I brought the print outs to the dealer...talked to the same guy and he brought it to his boss. He came back with their price written in red ink. They couldnt match the price. The lowest they could go is 660 bucks for the CB and I believe for the antenna, they wanted 50 bucks more than what HDL wants. He then said that the manager said he cant get it for cheaper and that HDL must be buying refurbished units and selling them as new.
Uh, no.
HDL is just that good of a company. Now, I dont know how they get their products for such a cheap price...but I can get a CB made by Honda, specifically for my bike...the exact same new product in original packaging and all, for 200 dollars less than a Honda dealer. They are a Honda dealer in Ohio and Florida and also have a few warehouses on the side where they house all their merchandise they sell online....I think this enables them to get a much better deal on prices for Honda-made product.
I cant believe that the dealer would resort to name calling and company bashing of other companies out there that can do a better job of purchasing product than they can.
Last month, I went in a week before we had to leave because I had a 200 dollar gift card that I had to spend there at that dealership...I again asked if they could match prices and they said they could depending on what it was. Now, this was a completly different person than who I talked to before. This guy went on to say that their prices were higher because of shipping. Uh, your CB's cost 200 bucks to ship to you? Shipping is NO excuse for a higher cost.
Now that I am in Minnesota, I am going to a different Honda dealer to have my bike worked on as far as maintenance and all that mumbo jumbo. Before I left Vegas, I talked to this dealer here in MN and asked him if he would honor my warranty I purchased when I bought the bike. He said no.
When I bought the bike, I ended up getting an additional 3 year warranty for the bike which covers oil changes, fluid changes, scheduled maintanence...etc. This is a...I guess third party warrant to put it best. It is good, as Ive had some warranty work done already on the bike and Ive been taken care of...but the new dealer doesnt want to work with them because he has been dinked over by the same kind of companies in the past. Now...after some prodding by myself, he said he would be willing to look at my warranty paper work and see what he thinks and he might change his mind and let me squeak in...that would be great. However, if he doesnt, then I will have to pay for any warranty work and then get reimbursed from the company and I simply dont have the money for the warranty work. If he does decide to go with the warranty, then he will need to fax in a request and wait for a reply and I dont like the idea of having my bike out of my hands for that long. This is just plain silly. I can't believe Honda lets its dealers sell warranties that other Honda dealers can choose not to honor.
I guess it just shows, if you treat your customers right, you will see them again and very likely gain more business. If you dont treat them right, you will lose them as well as other potential customers.