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the art of salesmanship
we trundled off to Thornbury this afternoon to look at a car - a black Subaru Forester, although that's not important right now.
it was at a car sales lot, and the chap came out, went to fetch the keys, came back, unlocked it and started the engine.
first thing I asked was "is it a UK model or an import?", to which his response was "they're all imports, madam - they come from Japan". I'm surprised he didn't pat me on the head, really. This exchange was repeated three or four times, until I said "could you please answer my question - is it a UK model or a grey import?". To which he replied "it's grey". Then he switched off the engine, removed the keys, locked the car and walked away!
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perlmonger and I looked at each other in some bewilderment for a few moments, then perlmonger followed the chap to the office and told the guy that he was rather impolite, at which point he stood on the doorstep and informed us that he was polite to people if they were polite to him. I told him that we was looking for a black Forester, and he said he wouldn't sell us a car. And we responded - fairly predictably - that we wouldn't want to buy one from him. And he called me "darling", which really didn't help. Neither did it help when I asked him not to. He then referred to me as perlmonger's colleague - when I pointed out I was his wife, he said "well, I havent seen your wedding certificate".
I said that I was quite surprised he ever sold anything to anyone, and told him I hadn't been impolite (which I hadn't, but I was veering towards Very Polite by this stage), but that he came across as extremely patronising. He informed me that he owned the car and the garage, and that he did very nicely thank you. Things didn't look as though they were going to improve, really, so we departed to the Subaru dealer in Bristol*, and found several other nice Foresters to look at.
perlmonger and I truly weren't rude at all - but we *did* want to know the provenance of the vehicle, and he simply wouldn't tell us. We're no strangers to grey import vehicles - we own two now, and actually turned up in one, had he bothered to look.
a very strange experience, really. He's Thornbury Car Centre, by the way - you might wish to make a note so you can avoid them.
*I'd been in there last weekend, and the guy recognised me, greeted me by name, and was helpfulness itself - now that's the way to do it. And we're test driving one tomorrow :)
it was at a car sales lot, and the chap came out, went to fetch the keys, came back, unlocked it and started the engine.
first thing I asked was "is it a UK model or an import?", to which his response was "they're all imports, madam - they come from Japan". I'm surprised he didn't pat me on the head, really. This exchange was repeated three or four times, until I said "could you please answer my question - is it a UK model or a grey import?". To which he replied "it's grey". Then he switched off the engine, removed the keys, locked the car and walked away!
perlmonger and I looked at each other in some bewilderment for a few moments, then perlmonger followed the chap to the office and told the guy that he was rather impolite, at which point he stood on the doorstep and informed us that he was polite to people if they were polite to him. I told him that we was looking for a black Forester, and he said he wouldn't sell us a car. And we responded - fairly predictably - that we wouldn't want to buy one from him. And he called me "darling", which really didn't help. Neither did it help when I asked him not to. He then referred to me as perlmonger's colleague - when I pointed out I was his wife, he said "well, I havent seen your wedding certificate".I said that I was quite surprised he ever sold anything to anyone, and told him I hadn't been impolite (which I hadn't, but I was veering towards Very Polite by this stage), but that he came across as extremely patronising. He informed me that he owned the car and the garage, and that he did very nicely thank you. Things didn't look as though they were going to improve, really, so we departed to the Subaru dealer in Bristol*, and found several other nice Foresters to look at.
perlmonger and I truly weren't rude at all - but we *did* want to know the provenance of the vehicle, and he simply wouldn't tell us. We're no strangers to grey import vehicles - we own two now, and actually turned up in one, had he bothered to look.a very strange experience, really. He's Thornbury Car Centre, by the way - you might wish to make a note so you can avoid them.
*I'd been in there last weekend, and the guy recognised me, greeted me by name, and was helpfulness itself - now that's the way to do it. And we're test driving one tomorrow :)
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