Poor Customer Service & dangerous dealer
My wife & I recently made a decision to change our towcar. The current vehicle is a 2007 Nissan Pathfinder Aventura, which has been a sound & reliable towcar, however the autobox is getting a bit notchy & the mileage creeping up.
We had seen a new model Jeep Grand Cherokee (2014) at a well known car superstore type dealership. We had used this place to replace our smaller day to day car late last year & the salesman & the service was brilliant. This second experience couldn't have
been worse. From the off the salesman came across as a wide tie wearing son of Clarkson & I truly feel my wife & I did not fit his image of who should drive off in that Jeep. We were honest with him that we needed to know numbers & that I would not even test
drive the vehicle until we knew it was within budget - he came back with an astronomical figure & got very aereated during the subsequent discussions, he knew nothing about towing limits & was practically pushing us towards buying a Vauxhall/BMW/Audi as they
all had "loads of power, can pull anything", without considering kerbweights, tow limts, noseweight loading etc. At one point he even insisted that towing with a vehicle weighing less than the caravan would be fine & not cause problems!
He ended with "What made you think you could afford this Jeep?" before storming off to moan to his manager
.
Soon after we left, and headed down the M6 to the same dealer group who have a dedicated Fiat/Chrysler/Jeep dealership. Couldn't be much different, the figures with a PCP suited us, the other guy refused to even let us see a PCP figure stating their routine
finance was unbeatable..........
So we've ended up with a dealer registered "new" 2014 Grand Cherokee with delivery miles, heading our way at the end of August. This salesman admitted he knew nothing of towing requirements & that I was speaking gobbledygook to him, but took the time to
sit at one of the computers to ensure that the Jeep matched (it did but I had not been able to check noseweight capacity) to ensure he was selling what we needed.
The difference 15 miles & a different person made was amazing, but the first salesperson lacked customer skills and wanted a sale, presumably he'd not hit his quota for June; he wanted us to sign for anything that day to suit him. He even suggested buying
a small eco-car then renting a towcar when we needed it. I asked about the typical weekend away at short notice, would I get a car (no, he replied), and would any rental company be happy with me towing to South of France etc (No, he answered). He made no attempt
to match vehicles, merely suggested we drove to another one of the groups Jeep dealerships in Scotland if we really wanted to track down a seond hand Jeep.
I can't say do not use this dealer chain, as we've had two great experiences versus one really negative & my wife & I got the vehicle we wanted at the price we wanted due to a functioning & pleasant salesperson.
I'm not posting dealer name, but the first place was located in Leyland, Lancashire, the second in Ashton in Makerfield, Lancashire.