Dealer/manufacturer knowledge
From time to time the lack of product knowledge by dealers/manufacturers comes to light. I recall an incident some years ago when I was invited to a pre show of new models at my local dealer. On this occasion there was also a sales executive from the manufacturer.
After looking around the display (including the latest model of a caravan we presently had), my wife stated to the rep., that it was a pity the designers had seen fit to change the opening direction of the end bathroom door. He then proceeded to deny that
any changes had taken place to the internals of the new 'vans to that of previous years. When we informed him he was wrong as we had a two year old of the same model he had on show. The , by then almost argument situation, came to a head when the rep.,approached
us half an hour later to apologise to us and that he had been wrong and in fact the door design had been changed to now open the opposite direction to our caravan. He had to eat humble pie to say the least.
Comments
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Good on him for owning up and apologising, many wouldn’t have bothered.
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Wether these staff are temporary or not they should know about what they are selling.If they have too ask a collegue about something then fine but to be adament about something and then be wrong is not good PR.We dont expect everybody to know everything
but we do expect a certain level of competance.On the aspect of "design" i sometimes wonder if the designers have ever set foot in a caravan
peter.
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The people who always turn out to know most about a vehicle, caravan, etc are the enthusiast users. I recall a test drive I took in a Freelander where the salesperson commented on my good knowlege, and I asked him how long he had been selling them The answer
that two weeks earlier he had been selling beds was worse than I expected!0 -
It would appear that some dealers employ temporary additional staff to work at the various exhibitions alongside their regular staff. These people may or may not have up to date knowledge of the caravans that they are selling.
Write your comments here...Not so on this occasion was he a temp .The chap who I am referring to was an executive from the sales staff up doing a purge with dealer sales staff on their private pre shows as was common at that time.
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I had a car salesman who didn't have the answers to some of my questions and argued that it couldn't be done. I wanted to lock the doors without the dogs setting off the alarm, and leave the tailgate up. Also the angle of the headrest was really uncomfortable
for my bad neck. He nearly lost the sale telling me it's a safety feature! I solved the problem by turning the headrest round! He also promised me a test tow drive but then discovered none of the demonstrators had a tow bar! Now I am being bombarded by
the customer satisfaction surveys because I haven't filled one in!Its fair enough if they don't know the answer and go off to find it but it seems the customer is seldom right these days!
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Over the years I have quite often driven a coach and horses through some of the comments made by dealers when at their annual shows of new models. You would be amazed at some of the things they tell you when you ask them a question on some of the most basic
things....Some don't have a clue what they are talking about.0
