Unprofessional salesman

[Gliderman8]

One thing about the internet, when a car is a dog we find out about it pretty quick. Used to be you'd bring in a car with a problem and the service manager would say, "Never heard of that one before." Now widespread problems are spread all over the internet and it can be very satisfying handing the service guy a forum printout with 30 other folks complaining about the same problem.

I called the salesman at the Kia dealer yesterday and told him "I was not interested in purchasing that car", then I told him what I had found on the net regard the 1.2 million cars that were recalled. He told me he knew nothing about it. I suggested he find another profession

 

[Alfred E. Neuman]

Do a quick search of Mercedes 272 intake manifolds, 272 balance shaft gears, 276/278 timing chain rattle, 156 cam wear..... not pretty.

 

[JPSmit]

I called the salesman at the Kia dealer yesterday and told him "I was not interested in purchasing that car", then I told him what I had found on the net regard the 1.2 million cars that were recalled. He told me he knew nothing about it. I suggested he find another profession

I will say that while Used Car Salesmen are one of the least trusted of professions (clergy are also in the bottom 10 BTW :0 ) people just don't know things anymore. they get paid poorly for complicated products and they get fired if they are in the bottom 10% of sales monthly. It is just a whole different world. (or maybe not that different) I do have a few trusted car salesmen - but I had to look. Similarly, yesterday, I was talking on the phone with an airline rep about long long long overdue compensation. Got a "there, there" answer and when the call was done SWMBO gently admonished me for not giving him "a piece of my mind." well, why? He is at the bottom of the totem pole for a budget airline that got to where it was by not providing service beyond a cheap flight - yelling at him might make me feel better but it wouldn't change anything. I experience this frequently in diner type restaurants or lower end stores where I get bad service but if I say something the person might get fired (probably will) these are people that are so close to the edge already that I genuinely don't want to make it worse.

So, due diligence! (and, you pay peanuts, you get monkeys)

back under my rock...

 

[waltesefalcon]

When I worked at the import garage we never lied about a car to sell it because like Doc said return customers were just too important. My former boss once guessed that he had owned every MGB within 70 miles at least once, some multiple times.

I am watching Dexter on Netflix and last night I watched an episode with a used car salesman who is a polished liar and even when Dexter was calling him out on his lies he just shifted into another lie. Dexter was pretty impressed by his ability to lie.

 

[Gliderman8]

I will say that while Used Car Salesmen are one of the least trusted of professions (clergy are also in the bottom 10 BTW :0 ) people just don't know things anymore. they get paid poorly for complicated products and they get fired if they are in the bottom 10% of sales monthly. It is just a whole different world. (or maybe not that different) I do have a few trusted car salesmen - but I had to look. Similarly, yesterday, I was talking on the phone with an airline rep about long long long overdue compensation. Got a "there, there" answer and when the call was done SWMBO gently admonished me for not giving him "a piece of my mind." well, why? He is at the bottom of the totem pole for a budget airline that got to where it was by not providing service beyond a cheap flight - yelling at him might make me feel better but it wouldn't change anything. I experience this frequently in diner type restaurants or lower end stores where I get bad service but if I say something the person might get fired (probably will) these are people that are so close to the edge already that I genuinely don't want to make it worse.

So, due diligence! (and, you pay peanuts, you get monkeys)

back under my rock...

I absolutely agree with you JP BUT in this case I firmly believe that the guy attempting to sell me the car did so with complete knowledge of the engine problem... He knew it, he definitely knew it despite what he told me.

 

[Gliderman8]

Do a quick search of Mercedes 272 intake manifolds, 272 balance shaft gears, 276/278 timing chain rattle, 156 cam wear..... not pretty.

I'm sure every company has its problems but to me the worth of a company is not the problems, but rather how they address and fix them. In the case of Kia, they denied many, many owners trying to get Kia to honor the 10 yr./100,000 mile warranty by blaming the consumer when they knew the engine problem was due to a manufacturing fault.

 

[mikephillips]

Used to work with a lady who had a used Saturn who was treated like that by the dealer service department. Told me the car had to have oil added every night when she got home from work as she left a smoke cloud behind her. In 40k mile she'd had the plugs and wires replaced a dozen times and a $5k brake job it really didn't need. When she told me I had her get on the phone with them while I listened and told her what to say. Told her to ask for a compression test to see why it was going through so much oil. Service told her there was no such thing for modern cars, that it was something they stopped doing decades before. Then proceeded to tell her it needed, plugs and wires. I did get her to go to another service area who diagnosed a failed piston ad another that had bad rings. At that point told her to request the name of the district manager and a phone number. Unfortunately she wouldn't do that, not wanting to cause trouble. She ended up paying for a new engine which fixed the issues, but I believe that with the dealer receipts and the fact they ran her around she could have gotten Saturn to pay part or all of the repairs due to the obvious bad faith shown.

 

[DrEntropy]

Mitsy moved to Miami from western PA for a while in early '78 in her '67 MGB. I'd put new brakes on it, serviced it for the journey. She called a couple months after the move, from a quickie-lube 'n service shop where she went in to get her oil changed. The car was on a lift, they had pulled the wire wheels off and the service writer came to her and told her if she didn't spend $300 on her brakes, the car could kill her in short order... I asked her to locate the manager and put him on the blower, told him the brakes had been completely renewed just months before and in no uncertain terms he'd better get the wheels on the B and have it on its feet now, or I'd have a Deputy Sheriff and "News-6-up-your-a**" on his pitch within an hour. Had him give the 'phone back to the girl, got a running narrative as they complied. Sometimes ya just gotta bark.

 

[Gliderman8]

One individual who filed a report with the NHSTA stated that she had to take out a loan for the $6,000 replacement engine while at the same time making car payments.

 

[DrEntropy]

DAAYYAM!! I think $6K for a Saturn engine R&R is usury to begin with. Car wasn't worth that much!

 

[Gliderman8]

DAAYYAM!! I think $6K for a Saturn engine R&R is usury to begin with. Car wasn't worth that much!

What's even worse is that the engines Kia used to replace the blown engines were REBUILT engines and many of them failed as well...

This from the class action lawsuit:
3. The only remedy for the Defect is replacing the engine with another defective Theta II engine. Though the Defect is covered by Defendants’ written 10-year, 100,000 mile powertrain warranties, Defendants routinely deny warranty coverage to engines consumed by the Defect by blaming the engine-killing oil sludge on inadequate maintenance or the use of aftermarket oil filters.

 

[pdplot]

My last salesman was just the opposite. On the test ride, we pulled into a parking lot to turn around and he told us his life story - not a happy one. His wife was a teacher and apparently the main breadwinner. He had had several jobs before this one and this seemed like his last chance. I felt so sorry for him that I leased my car from him rather than a rival dealer who tried to switch me into an SUV. A week later I called the dealership. "He's no longer working here. Can anyone else help you?"

 

[JPSmit]

My last salesman was just the opposite. On the test ride, we pulled into a parking lot to turn around and he told us his life story - not a happy one. His wife was a teacher and apparently the main breadwinner. He had had several jobs before this one and this seemed like his last chance. I felt so sorry for him that I leased my car from him rather than a rival dealer who tried to switch me into an SUV. A week later I called the dealership. "He's no longer working here. Can anyone else help you?"

I will say that I have no time whatsoever for salesman sob stories.

 

[NutmegCT]

Interesting that this very informative thread started with a car engine that quit immediately after starting, and salesman said "they all do that". I think at that moment most potential buyers would walk away.

I'd doubt that many used car sales people would say "The engine might have quit for the same reasons previous engines failed." Like real estate agents, they tend to tout the good points while not mentioning the bad.

Did the engine actually quit because of the same problem referred to in the previous years' recall?

Just sayin' ... caveat emptor.

 

[Gliderman8]

Did the engine actually quit because of the same problem referred to in the previous years' recall?

Just sayin' ... caveat emptor.

Tom, the engine in the 2015 model that I started did not quit; I shut it down upon hearing a loud “metal-to-metal” sound when it started. Although the 2015 engine was not included in the recall it’s the SAME ENGINE.
To use nautical terms, the salesman was full of ship :rolleye:

 

[NutmegCT]

Thanks Elliot. I completely mis-understood your original post. I once looked at an MGA which had a similar "symptom" - cranked it up and heard/felt a loud knocking/banging sound. Knocking like hitting the block with a hammer. I shut it down immediately. Seller said "it may need some work".

Nothing a lot of money and many hours online can't fix. Turned out the bearings were shot.

Thanks.
Tom M.

 

[pdplot]

I have a feeling my salesman will wind up doing charitable work in Africa or some other poor needy place. He came from a wealthy local family and had worked for a short time on Wall Street before trying to sell cars. Had also done volunteer work with a charity down South or so he said. If so, he was much too altruistic for Wall Street and selling cars - even Subarus.

 

[Gliderman8]

Could it be that he was “playing” you to gain your sympathy and trust?

 

[pdplot]

If he was, he did a great job. But overall, he knew very little about the cars, was generally inept in everything he did and was at complete loose ends from start to finish. He even tried to get me into a golf group but he got the course wrong. A total f-up. If he was a good con man, he'd still be working there - but he was fired a week after he made a sale - me.

 

[NutmegCT]

" If he was a good con man, he'd still be working there"

hmmmmm