So two Sundays ago, we went down to a local Vauxhall dealer so as I could show Lucy the Astra and find out what sort of deals where available. Its worth pointing out that I’m a big fan of British manufacturing, and in the absence of mass market British car companies these days, I would settle for the fact that a car was built in Blighty. Vauxhall (Opel / GM) are under a lot of commercial pressure in Europe, and the plant in Elsmere Port is under threat of closure, so all the more reason to look at the Vauxhall (in my head anyway)
So in we walked, 11:15 on a Sunday morning and the dealership was surprisingly busy, not to worry, I’ll show Lucy and Daisy round some of the Astra Hatchbacks on display and wait for someone to become free. After 10 minutes of trying to attract the attention of a member of staff, I walked up to a desk where a suited chap sat shuffling papers. He continued shuffling his papers for a good 30 seconds while I stood there, before looking up and saying “yes?” as though I was some naughty school boy. I was a bit disappointed at his lack of enthusiasm, but asked if they had any of the Astra Estates, to which he replied no, and then (after I gave him a look of surprise) he pointed at the door and said “there might be one round the back.”
I wondered over to the door to see if there was one “round the back” more than a little hacked off by this guy’s approach. Having failed to find one, I came back inside as I still wanted to have a chat with someone to see what deals where available and to find out if there was another local dealership which had an estate model we could take a look at. We were completely ignored for 15 minutes, before I finally gave up and left.
I drove a mile along the road to the Mini dealership where we were all welcomed and treated courteously and with respect. After much umming and ahhing we bought a Mini Countryman, not a car that I was particularly fond of, but it ticks all the boxes from economy, servicing, insurance etc.
I was still in a state of disbelief as to how badly we had been treated by Vauxhall, that I emailed the Dealership and Vauxhall UK to let them know about my experience so they could make sure it doesn’t happen again.
On Monday afternoon I had a phone call from the Manager of the dealership, who was very apologetic.
However, the response I received from Vauxhall UK was… pathetic. “Thank you for your email regarding the service you received at ***, whilst Vauxhall does not run dealerships your comments have been noted.”
Whilst Vauxhall does not run any dealerships??? Frankly I don’t care that you don’t run the dealerships, but by god you have a vested interest in ensuring they do a good job. My heart sank, because regardless of how efficient Elsmere Port becomes, or how good the cars are that they produce, this approach to customer service from Vauxhall will surely seal their fate
EricT
