Car Dealers

Took our Ford Edge to the Ford garage the other day for a service. We have a maintenance plan with them so every few months we get the oil changed and they check brakes etc. Whereas this garage was super friendly when we signed the two leases we have nearly two years ago, they are quite ignorant these days. I really dislike this about American customer service - it seems like it is becoming the standard. Once they have your money, they can´t care less about you. Don´t get me wrong, I find car dealers in all countries to be quite a pain, but at least they are nice before taking your money here. LOL

I booked the car in on Thursday and the guy on the phone said if I came in around 9am Friday morning they would have many technicians available and it wouldn´t take long, just over an hour. So at 8.55 I walked in and handed over my keys. The same lousy guy as last time asked me if I was going to come back later or if I was going to wait. Decided to wait since they seem to be a little quicker if you don´t bugger off. I also asked to speak to someone about buying the car. Lousy guy tells me he will let me know when Jim is free.
Hour later I walk up to lousy guy´s desk and he asks me if I have found Jim. Hrm."No, how can I do that if I don´t know who he is?" I realise I´ll probably wait forever for the car now, Americans don´t like sarcasm and if you are too direct. Hey ho. I get to sit down with Jim and tells him I want to buy the Edge when the lease runs out, $23K plus tax. Is it cheaper if I pay cash? What is the interest at the moment? Jim is not really interested. I get annoyed after 10 minutes and give him one of my best American smiles saying "I´ll think about it". Hell no. Had he been clever or a good sales man, he would have offered me a new lease, to buy a new car or had he just been friendly he would have looked he up in the system and taken out some paper work. Nada.  23k!!! Someone is making too much money!! I don´t ever, ever want to hear about the roaring car business again.

And the car? Well, After 2 hours I tell lousy guy I have to leave. He says they have very few technicians in that day, some other guy jumped the queue blah blah. The usual bullshit but so annoying. He reckons it is going to take another 2 hours at least. Yawn. Can't wait for the usual survey they send you after each visit.