Dumb

DanHolohan

I leased a new Ford Escape last week. While I was waiting to see a salesman, I sat on their couch and noticed this magazine on the table in front of me. It sang the praises of cars other than Ford. I wondered why they would do such a dumb thing in their own house.

JohnNY

Sometimes I catch an employee...

....on the job wearing a shirt with the logo and phone number from a plumbing company they used to work for.



"What're you stupid?" is my usual retort.

DanHolohan

How about

restaurants that don't supply pens to the waiters? The waiters grab pens from other restaurants they visit and hand those to you as you're signing the check. Hmm, this place looks interesting. How about we go there next time instead of here?



Dumb.

Zman

I had a sales rep...

I had a rep that changed supply houses. When you called and asked for him at his old job  they would give you his phone number at his new job rather than introduce you to your new rep. Crazy stuff!

bill nye_3

How 'bout

You get put on hold, and they are playing the local radio station advertising the competition.

R Mannino

That's All You Got Fellas

I've walked out of a store because the checkout line was too long.



Sometime's I don't even make it inside because of the capacity of the parking lot or lack thereof.

MikeL_2

bottled water

What about the plumbing wholesaler & fixture / faucet showroom with a bottled water cooler; why don't they have one ( or all ) of the water treatment systems they sell on display, dispensing freshly treated water.......................

bill_105

About dumb

I'm confused. Now back to our fearless leaders original post. Let me see if I have this right.

1) Guy walks into Ford dealer.

2) Gut sits and reads some auto enthusiast periodicals praising vehicles other than Fords

3) Guy meets with salesman.

4) Guy drives off lot with new Ford product.

5) Car dealer goes to bank.

Believe you me I'm no stranger to the word dumb

Man that word covers plenty of ground.

Hope this helps:)

DanHolohan

Ha!

Got me there, Bill. This was my 10th Ford in a row. I walked in there already sold and knew exactly what I wanted. But as I sat on there on the couch with Marianne and looked at that magazine, I wondered how others who were not already sold would react, and then I wondered why they didn't have magazines that were interesting but not related to cars on display instead. Why take a chance on losing a potential customer when you don't have to do that?



Speaking of Marianne, she's looking for a new car as well. She has her eye on a Volkswagen. We visited a dealer the other day and I tried to listed to the salesman but there was real loud rock music playing on the showroom floor. My ears aren't what they used to be and I sat there wondering why they would do this to themselves when they didn't have to.



Just saying.

JohnNY

Maybe Marianne wants one of these:

You never know.

DanHolohan

Nah,

she's tough enough already. 

Sal Santamaura

Loud rock playing...

...is because the brand's preponderant customer demographic seems to like that experience.  We older folks who had Volkswagen products in our younger years, as well as those who read Consumer Reports reliability records, know better and don't buy them. :-)

DanHolohan

Which is the last thing I'm about to say to The Lovely Marianne

40 years and counting. Like to keep it that way.

Sal Santamaura

With a two year advantage...

...over my 38 (in August), I'll defer to that judgement.  Nonetheless, in your position, I'd leave a copy of the April Consumer Reports issue on the coffee table.  Open to the reliability records page that include Volkswagen.  :-)

knotgrumpy

Close call...

Dan - you almost made an error more tragic than putting a Car & Driver in a Ford dealer's showroom. 



On a thread titled, "Dumb" no less!

heatpro02920

When I first started out on my own

I had a van that I bought from a friend of mine, {also in the trade}, I heated and scraped his name and number off of it the best I could {this is before goo gone mind you}, but dust would stick to the old vinyl glue and make his advertisement as plain as day... Luckily I only had that truck for a few months before I felt comfortable enough to buy my first new one... I inturn sold it to another new comer to the field and he had my name and my our other friends on it for years.. {he never even peeled my stickers, lol, free advertisement...



And I don't know Dan, John may be onto something, I bought my wife a 4 door rubicon last year, and she LOVES it... I admit at first you see the price tag, and think to yourself $47K for a jeep, they're nuts!!! I remember when they were $6500, but then you look around and test drive the other options and end up back at the jeep dealership...



And Dan good luck with the new cars... I am a GM man myself, but Ford makes a decent product, my 7.3 is still on the road and I sold it with 205K miles on it...

DanHolohan

Great story!

Love the part about the glue.



As for The Lovely Marianne, I think I'll just smile and keep my mouth shut. ;-)

Jean-David Beyer

keep my mouth shut. ;-)

There is a quote, attributed to Calvin Coolidge, that goes: "I never got in trouble over something I didn't say."

Gordy

Sometimes you have to think like water

"Don't fight the current, go with the flow"





A controlled drift is much more desirable than useless paddling.





Works just like hydronics in respect to proper piping practice, and circulator sizing.

Jean-David Beyer

"Don't fight the current, go with the flow"

Yes, but even a dead fish can go with the flow...

bill_105

Geez, Let me guess!

When you two aren't doing heating...You're writers for a fortune cookie company?:)

Jean-David Beyer

When you two aren't doing heating...

I had something to do with the heating system in my house, but I do not really do heating. In the spirit of Schroeder in the Peanuts comic strip when someone said what a great (toy) piano player he was, he said Beethoven is twice the artist I am.



In that vein, Gordy is twice the heating expert I am.

Gordy

Dumb

I would say most people 80% when they shop for a vehicle already know make, model, color, and options. At least I do.



The only hurdle is finding the dealership with that vehicle, and the best price.



I would never depend on a salesperson to sway me into a vehicle when I don't even know what I want. To me a salesperson is there to do the test drive, and the paper work in closing the deal.



There is plenty of research media to help one decide on a vehicle before you hit the lot.





So to me it was not to dumb to have literature for or against the very make they sell because in the end most people already know what they want when they hit the lot as does Marianne.

Gordy

No Bill

I do not.