Ferrari of Central Florida

So I am on vacation for 2 weeks with the wife and kid , doing the whole Disney experience with him , when I decide to swing by Ferrari to see if they have spark plugs in stock and of course to see the inventory on hand . Walking in , we are greeted by a girl at the front counter who is so quietly spoken . I could barely hear her . I ask her where the parts department is and she explains that the 1 guy in parts is out to lunch and should be back in a few minutes . She lets us know that they have lounge area where we could sit and wait until he gets back . We walk over to the lounge , passing by every employee in the building . Not a "hi" , a head nod , a smile from anyone . While sitting in the lounge area , we are sitting next to 2 sales guys who continue to walk and talk back and forth about videos they are watching . A lady comes from the back offices , which the door happens to be a few feet from the lounge , and get something off of one of the desks . One of the sales guys right there asks her for a cigarette loudly while she is walking back to the back offices..........and still no greeting . My son (6 years old) tells me he wants to go look at the cars . My wife stays in the lounge while we walk around . As we walk around , my son is very well behaved and knows not to touch or act up . Good thing he's good because they have all the cars so closely parked together . He then wants to take a picture next to the LaFerrari , which I have to get for him . 10 more minutes go by as we walk around and we walk back over to the lounge and my wife says she hasn't heard anything and nobody has said a thing to her . All of us get up and go back to the front desk area where the girl says Norman Keller hasn't returned yet . My son then asks if he can buy one of the 458 GT2 toys . He runs and gets it and we pay for it with the girl up front .

They whole thing costs about 30 minutes of my life and $50.00 but I can promise you one thing.....if this place was the last dealership on earth , I would sell the car and buy a Prius before ever owning another Ferrari . Keep in mind that there were at least 10 employees there and we were in shorts but that should not be the reason to not be acknowledged by anyone at any time . I thought about having my son cross over the line and go sit on the bumper of the LaFerrari for the picture but I didn't want to take a chance of something happening.....so this is the picture I took just to show I was there .

Moral of the story is that they could have lost out on a sale that day because they have no idea who I am or what i'm worth . I was not a tire kicker or just wanting to walk in and take a bunch of pictures and leave . I actually had a reason for being there . Lucky for me , I have other dealerships and parts providers closer to me now that i'm home and will never have to deal with that place again .

I would really like to thank the girl at the front desk for taking care of us and being very helpful . She might as well have been the only employee there .

RANT OVER !!!

Thanks for listening !
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VERY RUDE PLACE
DON T BUY FROM THERE


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Same treatment her in Edison ....a big turn off

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The sales guys at the dealership near DC were clowns the one time I went in to meet with the services adviser. No hi, how are you, etc. Instead just hanging around and joking loudly with one another. It's like they think they are "too cool" because they sell Ferraris. Still need to realize they are nothing more than cars salesmen (not that there is anything wrong with being a car salesman, just don't like you are too cool for everyone else because you happen to sell a particular brand of cars).

 

What dealership name in Orlando?

 

I know I probably shouldn't waste my time but when I get treatment like this , I go above and beyond to expose these problems .

I got his card but never saw or talked to him .
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I can see why you were frustrated, but do you think everyone just thought you were being taken care of due to the fact you were sitting in the lounge?


You asked for the parts manager and he wasn't in yet. So you wait.....in the lounge.

I'm sure if he was there at the time it would've been different.

If you had asked for a salesman I'm sure the girl up front would have gladly handed you off to someone.


Not saying hello isn't nice, but most people suck so what do you expect? (ferrari dealership or not)

On a positive note your son got a pic with the LaF and his toy.

 

Disagree. I've been in for service at Ferrari of Seattle and sat in the lounge. Always someone will stop and ask if I've been helped or need anything. If I wander out on the floor someone will come up, introduce themselves, and start talking cars. Ferrari dealerships, like any other, are staffed and managed by people, and those people reflect the values of the owners (dealership).

 

Not surprised. The one in San Francisco was the same. I think Jimmy Hoffa might be seated in a corner somewhere. Ferrari of Charlotte was a nice experience. Had a good experience with the sales staff.

 

It all depends on the dealership...

 

Your experience is not unique the the Ferrari dealership you visited. One of the reasons I no longer own a Ferrari is the snooty, at times rude treatment I received from Ferrari of Quebec.

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I just recently sold my Tacoma TRD PRO and am in the process of getting a new Honda Accord . Me and the family drove up to the Honda dealership , went inside and were asked to sit at a table (Honda's lounge area) and wait for a sales person . While sitting there , we were asked by a dozen people if we needed anything and if we had been helped . I would ask you to walk into any dealership and just sit down and see how long it takes to be noticed or helped . Ferrari dealer or not....30 minutes to sit and wait for a mystery parts guy and nobody say anything except for the soft spoken girl at the front counter that no other employee can see is a bit crazy . If anyone has been there , they can tell you that nobody can see the girl in front behind the cars and clothes and they definitely can't hear her speaking so no way others noticed us get there .

My rant is not about having to wait for the 1 lonely parts guy but about the fact that a-holes in this dealership walk around with snobby attitudes because they sell a certain brand . Imagine what that dealership could do with some good customer service and better management ???

 

I was at a cars and coffee once hosted by a local ish dealer. The sales guy present were a bunch of young dudes, who during the whole time spent talking to two very trashy looking gold diggers that asked to ride in a Ferrari or lambo. The sales guy ended up taking them both (one guy in one car) for a joy ride (pretty much auto cross) in the new Maserati SUV in the parking lots.

Tells you a lot about most of them, the brand is a bragging right / ego booster for them.


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Ferrari of New England and Ferrari of Long Island...amazing experience and very friendly staff. Test drove my first 430 at Long Island Ferrari..Chris(SalesGuy) was uber friendly and so was his manager. Though I dint end up buying from them, Chris called me after a few weeks to check on my purchase..now, thats a personal touch!!

FNE - Sean(service) is a Rockstar!! Michelle is a sweetheart [emoji1360][emoji1360]


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They probably just thought you were being helped and were rude in not being more friendly.

FYI, I dealt with their service department when I bought my F430. They had old maintenance records I was trying to maintain. The car had been serviced elsewhere for the last few years and I was buying private party so they had nothing to gain. Still they looked up the records, faxed them over, called to make sure I got them and discussed the car with me. Very helpful.

I also had a decent experience with Wilsonville Ferrari here in PDX. I had the car delivered there and they let me hang out while the car was being unloaded, everyone talked to me and they had nothing to gain. The manager gave me his card and said to email him and he'd get me in their system but then never did. Their service department also never got back to me so it went downhill from there and i found another certified shop to do the maintenance but they were friendly!

 

Not sure how you experienced this. Honestly before I owned my car I went in dressed like a bum. I went in and was treated very nicely. Much better than any dealership in the state. They do leave you alone to shop and I like this, They have so many people that come in and take pics and look around that just don't want to be bothered. It's unfortunate you received this treatment. Ive never seen this. One thing for sure the girl at the front desk is hidden. Hopefully when they get the new building this will change.

 

Looking for spark plugs... same here recently. Called FoW they wanted $42 each. Yikes! Got them on Amazon for $13 each. Needed some screws (bolts) and FoW said $7.20 each. Yikes again! Called Algar and $1.75 each. I tried to support a local dealer...
But both places are nice when there in person.

 

I don't get this...if you had a question for a salesman why not just say "excuse me I have a question."
Why all the entitled hate?

I was in Ferrari of Tampa one Saturday, on Saturdays they always bring in a free lunch for everyone hanging around. We were all munching on food and joking around per our usual, sales guys, mechanics, sales manager, and customers. There was a guy walking around looking at cars, and I was talking with him about cars too, munching food, etc. Nice guy.
He walks out to go to his car, then turns around and comes back in to rant at everyone, "you people are ridiculous, I have tons of money and can buy any car here, not one of you salesguys came up to me, now I will never buy a car from you, blah blah blah!"
Everyone stood there stunned, mouths open with food hanging out. When he left everyone was baffled, "what was his deal? We thought he was enjoying looking at the cars and could have some food too. Why didn't he just say 'hey guys can I ask about this car over here?'"
Guy was from Michigan by the way (he told me when looking at the cars). Would never have bought a car from them, just his ego couldn't handle not being sucked up to.

These dealerships are in vacationland and get people walking through with their kids all day long...I mean all damn day long. I have stood there and watched this over and over. In the space of an hour or two they have a dozen people admiring the cars and leave. This is Florida...people are at the Parks in Orlando and the dad says let's go check out some Ferraris...the dealerships are almost like little museums for the tourists. This isn't Philly, or other locations predominantly catering to locals.
The saleguys get used to it, they let people wander around and take pictures. They are being nice by not bothering people...they are available immediately if you need them.

(I have no connection to either dealership other than being a customer who has been very well treated for years.)

 

My rule of thumb is the Golden Rule.

I almost never just "swing by" a dealership. I call first, whether it's to look at a car, buy a trinket in the boutique, or on the spur of the moment and just 10 min away. Even in the tourist capitals of the world Newport Beach, NYC, and Las Vegas (where they used to charge an admission fee!), we are always met at the door, welcomed with a bottle of water and offered esspressi, and treated like visiting royalty.

In return, I usually I stop on the way and pick up a coffee cake or Danish for the staff.

 

I lived in Orlando for more than 17 years. I have been to this dealership a number of times. It is as welcoming as a TB ward!! And it is all ego. His assessment of the self-important staff is spot on.

If I still lived in Orlando, I would flatbed my Ferrari over to Tampa before I let these clowns lay hands on it. Their ever so welcoming customer oriented behavior just makes one believe that a visit to the service bays is an invitation to a Viking pillage of the credit card.

Theory that has always seemed to hold at any level of auto dealership: If the showroom crew is too uppity to talk to you, then the service crew is inclined to defraud you. Related forms on non-customer oriented culture within the dealership.

Really glad I am not dependent on these cretins.

 

Free money, no competition=bad.
There is a reason why lamborghini and and Mclren sales are growing.

 

Maybe you didn't understand the rant or maybe you should have the Tampa guys give these guys a lesson or two in customer relations . I am not entitled to anything but I would guess good customer service could go a long way . Since nobody knew I had walked in or knew why I was there , why not come ask ? I was not there for sales so I would not be asking for a sales rep . Who in their right mind would walk into a dealership and go straight to the "lounge" and sit down and do nothing else ? If we had walked in and started looking around and taking pictures , I could understand the point of employees leaving us alone . We spent 20 minutes just sitting and waiting in the "lounge" with some pony-tailed guy , about 5 feet from us , watching videos and asking for cigarettes and we were never asked anything about what or why we were there waiting . It takes us having to get up to go find out that the parts guy is still not back from some 2 hour lunch break .

Like I said , lucky for me that I live in El Paso , Tx and have plenty of other dealers and shops close to me .

I only did because were out and about and had an extra 4 hours to kill before making our flight back home .

Good to know i'm not the only one who had been to this place and experienced the same things .

 

I have to say that, over here in the UK, I have visited several dealerships and, in the end,bought cars.
My experience has always been very positive.
It does, however, take staff training.In my business I have 50+ members of staff and they are trained to acknowledge and interact with any member of the public who is on our premises.
There is a tendency , without training, that people will ignore others and it drives me nuts!!

 

I have to say I'm surprised to hear of your experience. In the 9 years or so I have been in Orlando, I have never got that sort of reception at Ferrari of CF. In fact, quite the opposite.

OK, so maybe every salesman in the place doesn't rush out to greet me, but every time I'm there whoever is around says hello, asks if I need anything, water, soda, heck one time Onofrio Sr. made me an espresso.

Not questioning your word, just saying that it is counter to my experience there over the years.

 

FoCF have always been very friendly to me at both their dealership and their display stand at the annual Celebration Festival of Exotic Cars.

I like that dealer a lot and am looking forward to seeing their new location at Millenia soon. Sorry to hear about your experience.

I can see why dealerships don't approach everyone that comes through the door as they get a lot of people that can't afford most of their inventory and just want to look (such as myself). I'm thankful they are open to the public and don't make the place appointment only, which they could probably do if they really wanted. Or charge admission.

Ferrari of San Diego have always been nice to me as well when I stop by their showroom. Both cool dealers with nice inventory...