From: greis@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Gayla Ann Greis)
Subject: Re: Dealer to avoid (revisited)
Keywords: dealer/service
Organization: Computing Services Division, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 14:24:27 GMT

In article <c4MF02m21d4301@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com> dld80@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (Donald Dusza) writes:
>ask EVERYONE out there (lurkers too) to mail your pick lists so I can post a 
>list of dealers to go to and to avoid.  I welcome responses from all over the 

>                                         Don Dusza

Folks, think about how stupid this sounds. I now work for a dealer that I
said that I would never do business with. For some reason, once I became
educated in what was really going on, and what other places were like,
I realized its not all that bad. One thing that you need to keep in mind
is that the people working there are just that - PEOPLE. And you can get
good and bad people as well, even in the same place. In fact, even if it
wasn't fixed right the first time (You know your car much better than the
mechanic who sees you only when something goes wrong, why didn't YOU fix
it?) isn't it more important that there is an effort to make it right
for you?

I work for the dealership that does over 60% of all VW business in Wisconsin.
In June, we were the #2 volume leader in the Nation - loosing by only 1 car.
We make a considerable number of sales to people who come from all over,
up from IL, and down from the UP (relatively speaking). These people drive
for hours to deal with us. Why? We give great deals, go out of our way to
be nice, and get the job done. Sure, plenty of people get mad at us too,
mainly because when you deal in that kind of volume a 1% dissatisfaction
from 10,000 customers is a lot more than a 10% dissatisfaction among 100
customers.  (BTW: I work for Ernie von Schledorn in Menomonee Falls, WI)

Customer contact, follow-ups, free rental cars when your car is in for
service all add to what makes a dealership special. Some people believe
that TO's to managers are evil, but when 4 or 5 people remember who you
are, rather than just 1 person who may or may not remember you it's to
your advantage as well as ours. We know you.

Anyways, to make a short story long -- Give it up. Sure there are some
shitty dealers out there, but will a "black list" compiled by emotional
responses and with a limited distribution really be worth the time and or
effort worth responding? If you *REALLY* have it up your rear to do this,
then be objective, call VW customer relations and find out the SSI customer
satisfaction scores, and poll *ALL* service customers coming out of *EVERY*
dealer to get a reputable information base (usually in a forum like this,
only the dissatisfied ones speak up). Once this is all done, get someone
to verify your information by testing your hypothesis, and then have it
published in order to reach a substantial corner of the buying market...
(Ala Consumer Reports, which BTW is often misled as well...) If after
you've spent that much time and money to get petty revenge for your pent
up anger, hey! more power to you, because what this world really needs is
more impulsive, angry, irrational and revengeful people. Who knows? You
might even close down a dealer! It's worth it if you even talk one service
customer into letting their car fall apart, rather than taking it back to
that grubby, nasty dealer who dis'ed you so bad. You'll feel better in
the morning.

Tschus!
Newsgroups: rec.autos.vw