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bad sales experience (Barrier Saab)
Posted by Glenn Wallace (more from Glenn Wallace) on Thu, 18 Nov 1999 08:55:24
[whoever filters or moderates this list, please post this as I think it
is important to see both positive and negative Saab buying experiences.]
I've been working with Barrier Saab trying to buy a Cirrus White MY2000
9-5 SE wagon for a few days. Baby #2 is due any day now, and I thought
it would be nice to have a bigger car for the new larger family.
I told them the deal I wanted on the new car and trade; they said they
could only do $2000 less on the trade than I wanted. I called them back
a couple of times and even went down there and said 'look, I'll write
you a check if you can do the deal for this price'. They don't have a
big used car lot, so they were trying to shop my car around wholesalers
(95 900SE V6, 31,000 miles). Anyway, they said it was the best they
could do and I thought, oh well, maybe they're right about the trade.
So I called Carter Saab (a long way from where I live) and told them the
deal I wanted and after some checking they called back and said 'no
problem, if your car is as nice as you say it is'.
I even then called Barrier back (not wanting to deal with Seattle bridge
traffic to go to Carter Saab) and said 'they say they'll do the deal if
they OK the car'. Barrier said 'oh, they're just yanking your chain,
they won't buy it for that price, did you talk to a sales mgr etc we can
do it for [$1000 more than previous offer]'. So I said 'well I'm going
down there, and if they are serious I will sign'. It was still worth an
hour's drive to save the final $1000.
So up until now this is a pretty normal car buying experience - I wasn't
really trying to play the dealers off against each other, I really
wanted to buy it from Barrier, seeing as I use their service dept and
they are located near where I live and work. Saab's shrinking of the
number of dealers has really given them a captive market on Seattle's
eastside though....
So I get down to Carter Saab and they looked at the car and said 'no
problem, this car's condition speaks for itself'
I didn't even sign an order, they said they'd try and get the white car
from Barrier or locate another one for me. Deal done.
So I'm driving home, about 20 minutes later (6:30pm!) I get a call on my
cell phone from Barrier. 'Uh, a 'dealer' in uhhh California wants your
car, so we can meet your price.' I said 'too bad, I already did the deal
at Carter, and I gave you guys plenty of opportunity to sell me a car'.
The fact that Carter didn't even haggle tells me my deal wasn't all that
stellar. So then the guy from Barrier says 'well, no problem, just let
us know if you want the car'. That sounded a pretty fair way to leave
it, I gave them plenty of chances, they were either too little or too
late. I said 'well, thanks for finally coming up with the right offer,
but I'm not going to cancel my order my Carter, and BTW they said they
would try and get that white one from your lot if you'll release it'.
This is when the weirdness starts. 'Oh yeah, they just called about
that' [gee, I wonder if their call to me was related].
'We can't release that car to Carter because we promised it to the
dealer in Spokane' [Interesting as I'd spoken to Spokane earlier in the
day to see what cars they had and they said they had not even seen a
MY2000 9-5 nor had any orders for any. In fact they didn't even know the
SE was V6 only for 2000.]
Then I said 'but if I buy the car from you, then what about the person
in Spokane?' - he said 'oh we can break the order from them if we are
selling the car to you here, but not if Carter wants it. Would you like
to come down and buy it?'.
Draw your own conclusions about the veracity of their statements.
Basically, we'll take whatever color combo we can get from Carter, and I
doubt I'll ever walk into a Barrier showroom again. This is not the kind
of Saab buying experience my wife and I had hoped for.
I think the amount of people in Bellevue who can afford to buy a car at
whatever price the *dealer* wants has spoiled Barrier. I can't afford to
burn that kind of money.
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