March 5, 2008

An open letter to the less than helpful sales staff at the dealership I've spent most of my day talking in circles to.

I realize I am a woman.  I realize that in your mind this means I do not understand the very manly art of purchasing a truck.  But let me tell you, the truck may be for my husband, but I will be signing the checks.  I will be the one you deal with on the phone.  I am the driving force behind the public relations of this household.
 
When I ask you to give me the final price of the truck we are discussing, and I say, "I want to know what it will cost us out the door,"  I mean OUT.  THE.  DOOR.  I do not want to hear, "Well, the base price is _______, but you have to add the destination charge of _____ to that, and that rebate from the ad was only good until yesterday, so add another ______ to that price, and tax will be 6.25%, so you'll have to figure that in as well."  What I want to hear is, "Mrs.  FarmWife, that truck will cost you X amount of dollars to drive off this lot."   Period.  End of discussion.
 
Do not talk to me like I am a first grader having quantum physics expalined to her by a condescending college professer.  I am a 31 year old grown ass woman (pardon my language).  My father has worked in the auto industry for longer than you've been alive.  I've been dealing with a household budget longer than you've been out of your mother's basement.  I was probably giving birth while you were graduating high school.
 
Tell me what I want to know.  Answer my questions.  My Husband will not talk to you on the phone...and if for some reason he does, you are not going to like it.  Trust me on this.  I am the one you want to deal with.  If he has to get on the phone, chances are, your shot at making a sale are O-V-E-R.
 
And the next time you lose me in the maze of voice mail because you "hit the wrong button" repeatedly, I will hang up & you can kiss your commision good bye.  I don't care if you do have the largest stock of vehicles in the tri-state area.  I don't care if you can undersell your competition by thousands.  You will not be getting my business.
 
Heck, you're not getting it anyway.  The funny, kind, thoughtful man who has answered my every question, called me back repeatedly with new info, hunted down the lowest possible percentage rate for me, and talked to me like I was an intelligent human being (who fully comprehends what a 4.3 L V6 is) will get my business.  The best part is, he would have treated me the same way even if he wasn't friends with my brother-in-law.
 
Thank you.
FarmWife

5 comments:

Brando said...

Amen, Sister!!

Queen Mother said...

you need to send this to the tri-state papers.

I'm sure there are a great many women who feel just the same.

I do. I remember going thru that before we got the white station wagon.

Queen Mother said...

Daddy said to tell you that "when I'm done laughing I'm going to come smack your MOUTH"

Kork said...

Uh-Oh...somebody has a potty mouth today, and you're in TROUBLE!

Ok, seriously Farmie...send that in to the papers for publication...who knows, you might actually get what you want in the future, and you could end up being a paid columnist or something!

Anonymous said...

Dearest Farm Wife,
The bigboys with their little toys forgot that we put on our big girl farm panties (Sorry QM and Daddy)one leg at a time like they do.

Where would some of those bigboys be without our help? In the sandbox I tell ya or off crying in the corner cause they couldn't get their big toy.

I agree with QM and Kork send it in to the paper have them print that puppy!!!

I'd like to know what their wives or girlfriends feel or how they would feel if some other male talked to wife, mother, sister, aunt, or girlfriend like that.