Sad Experience at Ferrari Las Vegas

Don't expect too much Rob

 

Ooh, nice. Any pics?

 

Probably wasn't aware of the store policy for appointment...honest mistake.
Same for photos, I assume if they had informed upon entry, they would comply.

Car dealers can be a little full of themselves sometimes.
I own an excavation company and spend most of my time in attire that would not permit me to enter
certain establishments.

I always was annoyed at being eyeballed by an empty suit salesman who probably was driving a Nissan or similar.

At the Mercedes dealership I met a salesman who just treated me like a customer.

I purchased 7 cars from him over the years.

Mike

 

Dealerships are very different around the globe. I've been to a few US places, and it seem to be a bit more "stiff" than here in Europe. I have never worn a suit to my dealer on a regular day. Dress shirt and a jacket perhaps depending on where I've been prior, but mostly a polo short, sweater or just t-shirt. Parties and events are of course different, but I don't dress up for going to my dealer. The "uniform" for the regular sales staff at my dealer is white dress shirt and black pants, suit and tie is optional. Only a few there such as the GM and CEO etc. wears a suit on a regular basis. It's about the cars and passion for motorsport, not clothes.

 

you can't run a company with this wishy washy position, please..

I didn't call him a brat , I have no idea nor do I believe you thought I called him a brat , why did you insert brat? or snowflake?

but coming on this forum where there is tons and tons of info , then to trash a dealership bc of inconveniences , please , that's spoiled in my book .

just calling a spade a spade my friend...

 

I have a bad tendency to have worn shirts, free race shirt and my old running shoes on. I drove my Lamborghini to a Mercedes dealership to buy my dad a car, the nice younger door greeter/new salesman offered me water and a nice conversation. He called a the salesman he was trailing and I let him know I was there to buy a S560, his reply was I need to provide my drivers license and fill out a credit application. I replied I don’t need to drive it and I’ll be writing a check. He refused to help until I gave him what he wanted.

The young doorman seemed to enjoy the show and asked me randomly, how do you like your Lamborghini? I said it was fun but I prefer the Ferrari.

Salesman now seemed interested. But I asked the young man if he can help and he did. I was in and out in an hour and wrote a check for the car and the young man followed me to my parents house in my dads new S560.

My entire outfit was worth about $10 and the salesman assumed I couldn’t afford the car. I tell all my salespeople at work everyone you meet is the most important person. You never know who you run into.

 

I do not believe. Whole cloth.

 

Weeding out tire kickers from real buyers goes with the territory of being a car dealer and you also can't judge a client just by how they dress.

This customer would have been unaware of what happened inside the dealership with the police and, if an appointment was required or if the dealership didn't want photos taken of cars then putting up a sign surely wasn't all that hard to do.

There is absolutely a lot of brand snobbery and pretentiousness surrounding the Ferrari name in general - no question about that - I've experienced it myself on more than one occasion - so to say there was no element of that going on is very hard to believe, although I will say most of the snobbery and pretentiousness I've experienced has come from actual owners of theses cars rather than the vendors themselves.

 

Speaking of snobbery just read the opening lines in OP's post. It's basically a "Do you know who I am?" tirade. He even had to sneak in a line implying how nice his house is.

"Successful business (even by Fchat standards)" is a nice way of saying "this person is probably richer than most people on FChat so pay attention"

 

I can see both sides.

One thing that might have made a lot of difference is - when your brother walked in, did the sales guy spend some time talking to him or did he just open the door and went back to his desk? Every time i walked into a Ferrari dealership, they always approached me to ask me if i needed help or not. Good for them and for me. So if he just walked back to his desk without finding that out, he is being unprofessional. OTOH, if your brother was asked and he said he is just looking then that automatically puts him into the cold category.


The photo thing is a hit or miss. Many dealers dont care if the car is on the showroom floor. Some do. So it's always best to ask first. Which goes back to my first question - if the sales guy knew your brother was looking to purchase, then he would have started a dialogue etc.

In any case, even at the most friendly dealers, there will always be people to avoid so dont let that be the end of the Ferrari story for him. I say browse online, try to find that Pista and then get in touch with the sales people.

 

Holy cow! How is this not more well known on this website?! No wonder that dealership locked the doors and make everything appointment only. In addition to COVID you have to deal with crazy people. Horrible for all staff involved in that incident.

 

I read it more as him qualifying he wasn't a tire kicker more than anything else.

I think to make a conclusion on what went down on the day without being there to see it is hard to do but lets say the dude was poorly dressed or didn't act appropriately - is that really any excuse for a salesman not to do the very job he is being paid to do? Regardless of what happened with Police a few days earlier is neither here nor there. The same applies to having signage to point out the basic ground rules.

Looks to me like this sales-guy was having a bad hair day and didn't want to do his job unless the Queen of England had made an appointment for the purpose of indulging his pay check.

Frankly this sales-guy should get out of the industry if he isn't prepared to go through the motions. He must be costing his boss a fortune.

 

I always shop naked, then the state of clothes doesn’t enter the equation.
Unfortunately I am then derided for other reasons.

 

Dang only in Vegas


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Why would anyone actually live in Las Vegas? That's the first question I have (and I say this as a former semi-professional card counter who has spent a lot of time in Vegas myself).

I think also when the sales person says "No, we don't allow appointments on the same day" why didn't your twin respect that and do like the rest of us and drive home, and then call to make an appointment for a later date? Just strikes me as the ol' "I'm rich, therefore you are going to bend to my will" routine. Not cool.

All that aside, don't feel too bad. When I wanted to buy my first Ferrari, I wasn't even able to get a return phone call from the dealership. haha. I had to call them several times before they even acknowledged that I existed. It took a couple of in person visits and hanging out and talking before the sales people and I warmed up to each other. Once they started to understand that I was a Ferrari lover - and not just some rich ****** - then they started to explain the process of getting the car I wanted and how things around a Ferrari dealership work. Keep in mind, everyone buying Ferraris is rich, so being rich doesn't differentiate you all that much from the next guy. Sure, if you are shopping for a used Honda, then being super wealthy might impress people, but around Ferrari circles, let's face it, there aren't a lot of poor people shopping for $300K cars.

A lot just depends on the individual dealership too. Usually most dealerships are pretty welcoming. Out here in CA, I've walked into Ferrari dealerships, unshaven, T-shirt and camo cargo shorts and they have still treated me like I was Royalty. I've also walked into McLaren dealerships dressed nice and been totally ignored. So I think it sort of just depends on the day, the people and who is busy or whatever. Last time I walked into a Ferrari dealership in So Cal, nobody even bothered to say hello. I had to walk over to one of the offices and poke my head in and ask for help. Was it the end of the world? Nope.

My advice to your twin there is to just take a deep breath and relax a bit; don't use it as an excuse to start WWIII w/ Ferrari because that won't end well. Just call up and make an appointment, then get back on track either with the LV dealership or perhaps any of the other Ferrari dealerships around the country. Doing business with Ferrari is a lot more about personal relationships than most other dealerships. For example, I often have our Ferrari sale guy over to the house for dinner and/or coffee and we hang out, etc. He's more of a friend than a business associate. I've also stayed at his place when my cars were being serviced and/or he'll crash at our place when he's in Monterey for car week. We all go out to dinner and have a good time. I still couldn't get a Pista allocation, but we are great friends nevertheless haha

My advice would be to go to the dealership to make friends first and to buy a car 2nd. Not the other way around. If a friend says no pictures and/or you need an appointment.. hey, man, no problem - let's make that happen; after all, we are all friends here.

Good luck!

Ray

 

Same here. Some among the staff at my dealer is a bit more nose-up and proud than others, but generally people are nice and relaxed. My dealer is a place that is heavily involved with motorsports, so it's a place that attracts a lot of enthusiasts. They have the largest Challenge team in Europe, they pay for young drivers in both endurance racing and 24 Hours of Le Mans. Jean Alesis' 1995 F1 racer resides outside the first floor offices and there are GT3, GTE and Challenge cars everywhere in the storage area. It's a vibrant place owned by and run by enthusiasts. There is very little snobbery and all cars for sale on the showroom floor are unlocked and allowed to enter. On occasion there is a car that is just an exhibit and thus locked, and rarely they have a car they ask not to photograph for various reasons. They had an SP2 in the spring the owner had asked not to be photographed as he wanted his first view to be "live", not online. But other than that, it's very relaxed. When I have encountered snobbery, it has mostly been from other clients or their tag-alongs. I've actually had a friend of a client ask me why I was hanging around wasting the dealerships time asking questions. One of the receptionists overheard this and told him that he was not welcome if he could not behave properly towards actual customers. I think that is one of my worst experiences, but when I see snobbery it is mostly between clients. There is a big game of "mine is bigger than yours" going on in the exotic car world, and some have a very specific idea about how an exotic car owner should act and look,

 

That's not a joke. I did the same. When my car was in for service - and I wanted to a picture of it - I asked the service manager if it was okay to take a photo of *my own car* in their service bay. They said yes, thanks for asking and it's okay as long as you don't show any other customer license plates.

So yeah, always be polite and respectful.

Ray

 

I didn't know you had a Pista? When did all this happen?

Ray

 

Same in Miami you can go dress as you wish.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

This mimics my experience when I bought my first Ferrari. Sales guy wouldn’t give me the time of day- wouldn’t even sit down to discuss ordering a car let alone buying the available one off the showroom floor. So I went elsewhere and bought the car. Took it tot he dealer to have something checked out on it ( there was nothing wrong) just wanted to make sure the sales guy knew he lost a sale.

The manager asked why they lost my business I told him and have been treated with respect ever since. Even got a Pista allocation out of it. They treat me great and I’m happy to refer family and friends there.

To the OP- relax, take a deep breath abs give them another chance. If you do end up buying the car,, share your experience with the sales guy or manager.
Good luck.

 

He owned it foe about 5 minutes. Beautiful spec.

 

I recently visited Ferrari of Central Florida when I was down in Orlando on a business trip. I arrived without an appointment, wandered around the store freely and had a couple of good conversations with their sales people. No pressure or bad attitudes. Just a good time. It was more like visiting a museum and the sales people acted like curators: very knowledgeable and friendly. Before I left, the guy I was talking to took me through their service department to show me some special cars they had just received.

I didn't try and take any pictures but I'm guessing they would have been fine with it. I'd buy a car from their place.

Disclaimer: I showed the first guy who talked to me a picture of my 360 so maybe that's why they were so permissive.

 

I’m not sure where you all live, and/or why you have such negative experiences...but I have wandered through many high-end car dealerships in Florida and North Carolina over 18+ years, killing time and just admiring various cars and brands, always always dressed like a chucklehead (sport shirt, shorts, old worn boat shoes) and honestly about 95%+ of the time someone asks if I “need help...just grab one of us if you need something...can I get you a water?”
Always.

 

Yeah they are cool in Florida! Test drove a lusso Im flip flops in Miami, the cullinan at the next door dealership. Wouldn’t see that in Cali


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Very much agree. I think both parties dealt with it wrong. The rep should have been courteous and more professional taking the high road, and the potential client should have realized that he was venturing into something he did not fully grasp. As well as they could have posted signs, it would have been equally thoughtful to ask prior to taking the picture as he had never set foot in a Ferrari dealership. Both parties seems to have had a chip on their shoulder and an over-inflated sense of entitlement - at least that is what I gather from what the OP have said. I do stand by my statement that it would not be a lot to ask, to at ones own account come to the conclusion that it might be wise to call ahead in these covid times.