I was wondering the same thing. I do know when we go south at a lot of the places you do not pay in advance, the cashiers just look at you crazy when you try to prepay. The usual response is "Mam if you do not put your gas in your car first how are we supposed to know how much you want?"
SoMD businesses offended by money?
- Thread starter cheezgrits
- Start date
I was wondering the same thing. I do know when we go south at a lot of the places you do not pay in advance, the cashiers just look at you crazy when you try to prepay. The usual response is "Mam if you do not put your gas in your car first how are we supposed to know how much you want?"
Most "contractors" (and that includes, plumbers, electricians, HVAC) have their business fail is because they are simply poor business people, they can't both manage, do sales (quotes) and the work.
That's to say, they are good at what they do, but they can't run the business.
Part of the problem is economics, part is finding good help.
While I understand, as a customer I don't like being left hanging.
cheezgrits
Thought pirate
I don't want to name names because I don't want to start an avalanche of responses about how I hate SoMD, and I don't want to influence someone else's experience. The car dealer in question was friendly, but simply wouldn't call us back or try to find a vehicle somewhere else. The VA dealer didn't have the exact vehicle we wanted, but located one nearby, went to get it and had it ready to purchase within about 2 hours.
The Sea Doo incident involved a local "powersports" local dealer. Went in there 3 times, wanted to purchase there because they are directly across the street from our neighborhood. (somewhere close to Rt 5 and 235). First time, went in, dude sitting and working on computer, never got up, never acknowledged us, we had to initiate conversation. Said he didn't really know that much about the specifics of the model we were looking for. (why are you on the sales floor?) Came back later, talked to the owner, explained all this, he said he wanted to work with us, etc. Made the arrangements, called to commit and schedule a pick up, he never called back. We went to shop, same employee before knew nothing about it, mechanic was in there bad mouthing his boss, the owner. I asked if the owner had a cell phone, since he was out. They said yeah. I waited, hoping they would get the hint to cal him and talk to him about his customers that were there to spend $20,000. They sat there. I said, well, do we have his cell phone number? Mechanic said "yeah, but you ain't getting it!" That was the straw. Talked to owner the next day and explained this whole thing to him.
The car dealership, I can understand sort of, they are small and can't match the inventory and subsequent prices of the large dealerships in VA.
The "powesports" dealer, that was just screwed up business. Coleman in Woodbridge answered our call that day, return all calls within about 5 minutes, didn't have the model we wanted on the floor, found them in Michigan, immediately dispatched a driver to go get them and offered to loan us 2 units from the showroom to have something to ride while we waited for ours.
THAT is customer service. Businesses that are serious about business and ones that set up shop to play business owner and hire their cousins, friends, etc.
So there's the story, let the bashing begin. But no, I do love living in this area, I'm not going to move to VA since I like doing business there, I'll just simply take my business where people want it and work for it.
The Sea Doo incident involved a local "powersports" local dealer. Went in there 3 times, wanted to purchase there because they are directly across the street from our neighborhood. (somewhere close to Rt 5 and 235). First time, went in, dude sitting and working on computer, never got up, never acknowledged us, we had to initiate conversation. Said he didn't really know that much about the specifics of the model we were looking for. (why are you on the sales floor?) Came back later, talked to the owner, explained all this, he said he wanted to work with us, etc. Made the arrangements, called to commit and schedule a pick up, he never called back. We went to shop, same employee before knew nothing about it, mechanic was in there bad mouthing his boss, the owner. I asked if the owner had a cell phone, since he was out. They said yeah. I waited, hoping they would get the hint to cal him and talk to him about his customers that were there to spend $20,000. They sat there. I said, well, do we have his cell phone number? Mechanic said "yeah, but you ain't getting it!" That was the straw. Talked to owner the next day and explained this whole thing to him.
The car dealership, I can understand sort of, they are small and can't match the inventory and subsequent prices of the large dealerships in VA.
The "powesports" dealer, that was just screwed up business. Coleman in Woodbridge answered our call that day, return all calls within about 5 minutes, didn't have the model we wanted on the floor, found them in Michigan, immediately dispatched a driver to go get them and offered to loan us 2 units from the showroom to have something to ride while we waited for ours.
THAT is customer service. Businesses that are serious about business and ones that set up shop to play business owner and hire their cousins, friends, etc.
So there's the story, let the bashing begin. But no, I do love living in this area, I'm not going to move to VA since I like doing business there, I'll just simply take my business where people want it and work for it.
He held my license while I pumped
That is amazing. There is bad and then there is really bad.
but you are a GURL ... what do you want with a Crew Cab Pickup .
.... I am guessing he was trying to sell you an SUV
what a moron ....
Being from here I have a handful of businesses, some locally owned, that I will never give my money to again. I agree with not posting names for the same reasons you mentioned but just like every ware else in the country there are good businesses and bad ones. 11 years ago I wanted duel exhaust and slightly louder mufflers installed on my truck so I went to one of the locally owned garages that did that kind of work. The owner told me to order the mufflers myself which I did then he tried to charge me for them. The exhaust tips were chrome and when I got the truck back it looked like a bad boob job because one was pointing up and the other was pointing down. When I took the truck back to straighten them out the owner was mad and short with me. I also found out too late that he installed cheep chrome tips because they started rusting after 6 months and after 3 years the pipes rusted out and were hanging on by a thread. When I got everything replaced by another garage they laughed at the workmanship and asked if I did it myself. They replaced everything with stainless for almost half the cost and it lasted and looked good for another 6 years until I sold the truck. The company that did the original work will never see another dime from me and while I won't give out there name to bash them they will never get any word of mouth advertising from me or my family either.
SoMDGirl42
Well-Known Member
That was his point. My point, I am a single mother who hauls her trash to the dump every week and I'm sick of relying on anyone with a pick up to haul something I can do my damn self!
Then he couldn't understand why it needed to be a crew cab. I explained I have a 7 year old that needed the leg room. She's 7. She doesn't need leg room. Well sir, she is 4 ft 91/2 inches tall at 7. For safety reasons, she rides in the back seat. Her knees touch the back of the seat in my Explorer now with the seat pushed up. I'd say in 5 years when she's 12, we're looking at her being taller than me at 5'6". Doctors say she'll be at least 6 ft at 18. She needs leg room.
Well why do you need a 4x4? Well sir, I lived in Maine for 4 years and I'm confident to drive in the snow, but I'm not stupid. A regular pick up without 4x4 isn't going anywhere on these roads when we get 1/12 inches of snow because we don't know how to keep them plowed.
now you gonna sell me that truck or not???
BTW, when I went in the next day to have my remote start installed, he thought my 7 year old was 12. Ha. Told you I needed the leg room jerk.
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JosephIV
New Member
The service industry in SOMD has sucked for as long as I've been here. I went to look at trucks at Leonardtown Ford. Had money at the ready. I talked to a fairly nice girl who did not know model options and such. I sat down with her, then someone else came by to explain options / packages. Then a third person came around. I was given keys to two trucks. I sat in them. I told them that I wanted a truck like they had on the lot but in a different color. They said that they could pull from other dealer's inventory, no problems. We talked price, I told them I was going to look around at other lots and gave them my contact info. They said that I should have a call that day or early the next. I never heard from them. They missed the sale on a fairly pricey truck.