An incompetent salesman rant

[yellowboy]

I went for my first test drive today of a 2019 Ram. I found the most incompetent salesman I ever met (they get worse every time I shop). I wasn't expecting much, and I got less. I asked him questions I knew the answer to just to test him. His answers -" I'll check on that, not sure , I'll get back to you, I think so etc." He could not work any of the screen controls, but told me he worked there a year. He wrote nothing down except my name and phone number. I asked about the cost of the document fee - $ 598.00 he said "I think that's state law" (yeah I'm THAT stupid). When he opened a door so I could look at a back seat the bed divider/extender was laying there. He says I think that is the underseat storage bin ! No wonder we think most sales people are idiots ! Why is it these guys can sit around all day and not know what I can get off here, other forums and the Ram site ? AT LEAST I GOT MY TEST DRIVE. Won't be buying there !

 

[wwalljr]

I had a bad experience locally with salesman...compounded by sales MGR. They just don’t know much. Nor do they even understand basic math. Drove 100 miles to next dealership and bought there.

 

[Lonestar21]

Same has happened to me. In the past 2-3 years I have or have helped family members with car purchases which I go and ask questions during test drives etc.. I do a short smart research and get to know the basics which allows me to ask them questions regarding the car and I have yet to have a single sales person young or old to have answers for me. Even basic questions that I’m unsure of the answers but they lack the knowledge. It’s like they don’t do any research whatsoever of what they are selling it’s a joke. Some even give the hint that they don’t care you have to be asking questions instead of them selling the product to you with unlimited information about the car.

 

[Jackham]

Years ago I bought my first new car. A 1978 1/2 RX7, car number 25 in the USA. My salesman was Hugh Roberts and he was exceptional. He knew every bolt on that car and always remembered me. Problem is that was the high point in car salesmen for me, thought the fellow I bought my F150 from in 2011 was pretty good.

I guess it is against the law for these guys when they have nothing to do to look up the forums on their products and read the automagazines so they know their competition. I just don't understand dealer owners and their hiring practices.

 

[SpeedyV]

Years ago I bought my first new car. A 1978 1/2 RX7, car number 25 in the USA. My salesman was Hugh Roberts and he was exceptional. He knew every bolt on that car and always remembered me. Problem is that was the high point in car salesmen for me, thought the fellow I bought my F150 from in 2011 was pretty good.

I guess it is against the law for these guys when they have nothing to do to look up the forums on their products and read the automagazines so they know their competition. I just don't understand dealer owners and their hiring practices.

I’ve had the thought that working as a car salesman could be fun once I reach semi-retirement. Why? Because I’m passionate about automobiles and enjoy teaching others about new features/products. I’ve had to set the bar low when visiting dealerships as a customer, as my enthusiasm and knowledge about a vehicle is rarely matched by the salesman...and that’s a shame. In the immortal words of the Bobs (from Office Space), “What is it that you...do here?”

 

[19RamLimited]

Most are not sales men anymore. They are the equivalent of a waiter at a restaurant. They are there to help you look at the vehicle, pull it up, get the papers filled out and signed. Fill it up with gas. Basically you have to do all the research ahead of time. Honestly if you are going to a dealer for answers about a vehicle that's just about the worst thing you can do.

With all the tools and information available to me online, I only go to the dealer that has the unit I want. If that dealer is not able to meet my fair offer or at least have a good explanation as to why not I move on to the next that has the unit I want.

These sales people are high turnover and one week are selling fords next week selling Ram, then next week will be selling Hondas. I typically dont even want the sales man on the test drive I want time to myself so I can look at it go over the controls and absorb what I cant from looking online.

 

[naz]

I was in the market to buy my wife a new Lincoln town car. they sent out a kid of 19 years ( asked how old he was } new nothing about the car asked about tires no clue motor size told him to open the hood to see the motor didn't know how.

 

[Patsy1099]

Well I don’t want to get to far off topic but while I totally agree with the decline in customer service (everywhere), we are collectively to blame IMO. It’s part of the fallout of the internet revolution. It has given us Amazon, China imports, etc. Good news is prices go down but so does quality and service in many places. But we get it cheap and get it in 2 days! We also now go into dealerships armed with all sorts of cost information and basically tell them how much (little) we want their profit to be. Then we cut their throat for a guy down the road that charges a couple hundred $$ less. So we’ve change the business/profit models. Things are cheaper but mom/pops are out of business and quality and customer service suffers. Just my two cents. Off my soapbox.

 

[RenoRam]

I believe that is why we have choices for dealerships and salespeople. Dont like one, go to the next.

 

[AlJ]

My most memorable buying experienced involved the purchased of a 2009 Charger R/T from a local dealer. While I was completing the paperwork to purchase the vehicle, the Sales "Kid" was sitting in the vehicle reading the Owner's Manual, so he could provide me with an introduction to the vehicle features. The vehicle had been transferred from another Dealer. The "Kid" was in awe of the vehicle and everything that it could do. He was sitting in the driver's seat explaining the features, when I asked him if he would like to drive it. He looks at me and says "Could I?" I said NO, now get out of it and I drove off. I felt bad afterwards, because he was young and trying......but I got over it.

 

[geotex1]

Trust me, it is not just auto sales either. I have watched my company's sales team go from professionals who knew the ins and outs of my products just as well as my junior engineers and it made them adept at selling value to customers and building customers for their career, and now we have a bunch of folks that are practically order takers and they cannot even do that right!

 

[R1nZX]

Frustrating, but I'll take a salesman who admits he doesn't know the answer over a salesman who just makes things up.

 

[mjamesgt]

Frustrating, but I'll take a salesman who admits he doesn't know the answer over a salesman who just makes things up.

This!!! I hate when sales people just tell you what you want to hear. I generally try to test the salesman with an incorrect statement to see if they will correct me. That's how I know if I can trust them.

 

[Runagun]

I never buy where I test drive. As I also never negotiate In person. Too many fish in the sea. If you won't give me what I want. They're be someone that does. Where people fail here is that first, it's persistent that pays off. Plus I travel for deals. Oh and that little thing called luck. . I was lucky getting a 68k limited for 53k+ TTYL.

 

[Wakesnowb]

I have had some very bad sales guys also however I do get one every now and then that knows their stuff. I love how they have you walking in circles around the parking lot because they do not know where the vehicles they are looking for are located. I think there is always one "truck guy" in sales that you will sometimes get transferred over to when the regular sales guy figures out I know he is full of b.s.:

Dealer 1: RAM - Young man had a good personality but did not know much. Walked around the lot for an hour before he sent me to the "truck guy" who was much more knowledgeable
Dealer 2: Ford - Salesman was not great, may have been stoned and not super knowledgeable
Dealer 3: GM - Guy was, for lack of better term, not very competent. Asked to see a Sierra SLT and he shows me a Silverado LT. Test drove it and left fairly quickly.
Dealer 4: RAM - Walked into showroom and nobody wanted to help us. Couple people milling around could not be bothered. One person finally started helping us and proved incompetent and disinterested. Another customer distracted him away from us and so we walked around the lot on our own then left.
Dealer 5: RAM - Nice guy but complete, for lack of better term, idiot. Did not know beans from rice. He did know that "some Oakland quarterback just bought a Trackhawk" lol (I assume Derrick Carr who did not care much about scrutinizing the details). He did not know prices, colors, nothing.
Dealer 6: RAM - Dealt purely over the phone with fairly competent person. Although I still knew more about the vehicles, he was willing to work with me on the price and paid attention to our needs until it got figured out and deal done.

In my area you have a lot of people buying vehicles in general so I think the sales come somewhat easy for them. I also think many of the newer sales people know that this job is just temporary and therefore do not dive into the research. They are flat out not "car guys/gals". Frustrating experience when someone is shelling out this kind of money. It is like calling for customer support and being connected to some call center internationally to someone not listening to you and just following a script and making you repeat everything twenty times and not give any help...but that's another topic.

 

[foolsh1]

What? My salesman knew everything about the truck! He drove it for many days, on his Playstation 4!
Honestly my Salesman was hungover on a Saturday afternoon? He was useless!

 

[yellowboy]

It seems like a job that attracts people who can't get a real one or can't hold one for too long. Pathetic when you think that this can be a once in a life purchase for some people. Funny thing, when I was there Tuesday, before I left I asked him for a brochure on the truck ( I already have the online version). He hands me a tattered copy of "2019 Ram 1500 Hands on Participant Reference Guide". It's what THE SALESMEN are supposed to read up on to sell !! I have it and am quoting page 2 - " continue building your product knowledge of the all new Ram 1500 and take that knowledge and adapt it to the needs and wants of prospects in order to deliver effective and convincing interactions on the showroom floor". On the last page it tells them how they can get a lapel pin IF they become a Ram "expert" . It looks like he used it as a coffee cup coaster !!

 

[geotex1]

It seems like a job that attracts people who can't get a real one or can't hold one for too long. Pathetic when you think that this can be a once in a life purchase for some people. Funny thing, when I was there Tuesday, before I left I asked him for a brochure on the truck ( I already have the online version). He hands me a tattered copy of "2019 Ram 1500 Hands on Participant Reference Guide". It's what THE SALESMEN are supposed to read up on to sell !! I have it and am quoting page 2 - " continue building your product knowledge of the all new Ram 1500 and take that knowledge and adapt it to the needs and wants of prospects in order to deliver effective and convincing interactions on the showroom floor". On the last page it tells them how they can get a lapel pin IF they become a Ram "expert" . It looks like he used it as a coffee cup coaster !!

I can relate! My division writes the product manuals for our salesman training. Clearly printed on every page is the "Confidential - Internal Use Only" and not to mention the first page everyone must read and sign off acknowledgment. I cannot tell you how many times customer issues get raised to my final technical level and they provide me photocopies from these manuals!

 

[Rammit]

I went for my first test drive today of a 2019 Ram. I found the most incompetent salesman I ever met (they get worse every time I shop). I wasn't expecting much, and I got less. I asked him questions I knew the answer to just to test him. His answers -" I check on that, not sure , I'll get back to you, I think so etc." He could not work any of the screen controls, but told me he worked there a year. He wrote nothing down except my name and phone number. I asked about the cost of the document fee - $ 598.00 he said "I think that's state law" (yeah I'm THAT stupid). When he opened a door so I could look at a back seat the bed divider/extender was laying there. He says I think that is the underseat storage bin ! No wonder we think most sales people are idiots ! Why is it these guys can sit around all day and not know what I can get off here, other forums and the Ram site ? AT LEAST I GOT MY TEST DRIVE. Won't be buying there !

I’m always shocked that most of them don’t know their products at all. For someone counting on sales for their pay, I would think they would want to be an expert on what they are selling.

 

[Birdphoto19]

This is the beauty of capaitalism. Give your business to someone who deserved it.

I visited in dealership regarding a used truck and they told me they could not find it on the lot. It turns out there was a few TSBs that need to be fixed and they were not showing it. I had to drill down to get this answer after driving 90 minutes to the dealer. I called ahead and they said to come take a look. I will never give them my business and I will warn everyone to avoid that dealership.

My Ram dealer (Lebanon Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram in Lebanon, OH) was awesome. They knew the trucks inside and out. Easy to work with and very accommodating to my request. Love that dealership. I will take my wife back to them in a couple of years when she’s ready to get a new car/SUV.