Quote:
Originally Posted by sholloway
Eric, You should have identified yourself!! I just thought you were some schmoe. I would have rolled out a bit more of the red carpet. I'm looking forward to inviting you to some of our local glides. Get me your email address and I'll make sure you're well informed. Give us a call whenever you need us. Good luck with the move.
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I purposely didn't, Scott. Just as Karl pointed out, I wanted to be a "cold call" to gauge the personality of the dealership, as best as possible, and how that dealership dealt with The Man On the Street.
For everyone else, it was Scott with whom I spoke on the phone, and there's something else he did that REALLY impressed me.
I told him I was buying an i2 here (and I didn't use my name, though I did tell him "here" was Phoenix) on Saturday, and was moving to Duluth in 2 weeks...
And Scott DID NOT EVEN TRY to talk me out of making my purchase so close to moving cross country. Instead, he answered my questions concerning warranty issues because of the move.
Scott - I don't think there's any dealer, of anything, that when presented with a perfect sales opportunity like that who would have kept their mouth shut. You did - which shows me you respect your customers, completely. You could very, very easily, in answering my question have said: "You know, to ensure you have 100% coverage with your warranty, if you can, you might want to just wait until you get here... and I'll match the price you would have paid at your local dealer, there."
As I said, you're NOT taking that route shows not only a respect for your customers, and the general public, but a certain class that's all too frequently lost when retailers, etc., deal with the public.
In February, our TV died, though it was only 4 years old, we chose to replace it with a DLP flat panel, rather than fix it - and that decision was based on Panasonic's action, actually. It was the second time in four years the color generator chip had just burned out. The first time, two years ago, Panasonic simply didn't respond to requests of warranty service. This time, they responded... but with: "The warranty on that item expired 61 days ago..." So... as far as we were concerned, Panasonic could take a flying leap. We went out to a semi-national electronics retailer - Fry's Electronics - and the customer service was... ummm... lacking. The salespeople, who work on partial commission, were simply standing around a podium, waiting for someone to come to them, rather than working the floor - and when someone came to them, they were pointed to the "sale of the day" item. We did buy from them - but without the help of a salesperson. We took the item number up to the cashier; she generated paperwork for the item, rang it up from the paperwork, and created a pick list. No commission for anyone.
I digress... but the point is it's almost gotten to the point where shoppers don't expect to be assisted with their purchases, or the assistance they might require after making a big-ticket purchase.
You're good, Scott.