Ferrari Central Florida/Orlando Horrendous Customer Treatment

Pretty tough words. What happened?
Randy

 

That is unfortunate. For some reason, many sales people act like we should be catering to them.
Just go somewhere else.

 

I'm in California and you have the same thing here arrogant salepeople. I know 2 local dealerships I could walk in today and nobody would give you the time of day let alone talk to you. Some people think because there selling exclusive products they can be A-holes.

 

Modenachaser...

Sorry to hear about your experiences...very surprising based on my past dealings with FoCF, as mine have always been excellent.

Might I suggest dealing with John Sliman there, or perhaps even Dean (sort of the GM there), if you haven't done so already. John has always been extremely helpful, courteous, and professional to date, and has gone out of his way to answer any questions or concerns. I'd truly have to say that John, Dean, and Doug (in parts) have become "good friends" as a result of past dealings, and I always look forward to stopping in and saying "hi" when in town.

On the other hand, I've never met Foster (?) that I can recall, but then there are several on staff there that I don't really know.

Try contacting them and ask for John, and tell him that I sent you his way...hopefully all will go smoothly in your search. BTW, they have a nice yellow 355, albeit a little on the high side at 100k, but very nice! Wish I were in the market for another one...

 

Didn't someone else here recently have a poor experience with them?

Might have been TMobileGuy. Where's that thread?

RMX

 

The guys at Ferrari of Central NJ have been prefectly fine to me. It might be worth talking to them.

Bud Root at Shelton is also someone I have enjoyed dealing with in the past.

 

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=107183&highlight=Ferrari+Central+Florida

Judging by your other post, the dealership is not the problem, you are. You want to buy an F355 spider with 5k miles in a rare color combo for less than $70k. I agree their $95k asking price is not dead-on but it leaves room for negotiation. But you trying to lowball an authorized Ferrari dealership is a waste of time, authorized dealers will get premiums for their cars.

Fact of the matter is you say you've been going in their for the last few weeks, you complain their inventory is overpriced and then you complain about the way a salesman treated you. If you're really serious about buying an F355, talk to one of the salesman there, I prefer John Slimen and tell him what you are looking for. Tell him the budget you want to stay in, leave him your name and phone # and he will either get back to you with some cars or tell you that he can not help you.

 

Why is this exactly?

RMX

 

There is a peculiar odor about the post.

Steve

 

Better coffee.

 

I just recently bought a 512TR from Ferrari Central Florida and I must say they treated me very well. Please share more details on your experience.

 

Notice how you very rarely hear negative things about cars purchased at authorized dealers, all you hear about are complaints on their attitude or the music they listen to, or the way they looked at you.

However search other non-authorized dealers and you can pull up hundreds of horror stories, authorized dealers are watched by Ferrari closely, they don't have much room to screw up and when it comes down to customers buying a car, they need to be getting a top notch car even if pre-owned unless stated otherwise. . I'm sure you recall the 2002 Maserati Spyder I had when we had lunch in OKC. I purchased that car from Ferrari of Central Florida and I payed a premium on it, I payed roughly 10% more than I would anywhere else. But they took care of me, I remember I had an electrical problem once that wasn't going to be covered under warranty and the dealership offered to pay out of their own pocket when it wasn't their problem. That showed me they might not kiss my ass when I walk into their dealership but when I have actual problems they are there to take care of me.

When it came time to sell the car, I called them and they told me they would get near what I purchased the car for 8,000 miles later and they did! I would see Spyders similair to mine selling for $40-42k and they sold my car for $53k.

People buy from authorized dealers for security, service, and to build a relationship. I will continue to buy from Ferrari of CF and pay a little more because they take care of me.

There are great non authorized dealers out there, but many just prefer to go with authorized. I've experienced it first hand myself, our sister company sells HKS products to the import community, due to being an authorized dealer at times we have minimum advertised pricing to meet, so even though our price is higher than what's on ebay or a competitors website, people continue to purchase from us.

 

I agree with you on the way they treat potential customers. I was in Ferrari of central flordia just last week with my sisters boyfriend. I have no means to purchase a Ferrari at the time he however does. Now although we were just browsing you never know who your dealing with. One salesman asked us to please not sit in any of the cars on the showroom floor, this was after another sales let us both have a seat in a challange 360 and was telling us all kinds of fine details about the car.

You never know who is getting ready to pull out the check book.

 

Ive too have gone into Ferrari dealers and been treated like a street bum too. But to be honest, I kinda expected it.

Years ago when I bought my first Ferrari I was 23 years old...and everyone treated me...well...like a 23 year old..and they usually didn't buy Ferraris. Which was ok.

Something I've learned early on is that salepeople will "qualify" you when you walk in. If you want them to kiss up..wear a suit. You want a challenge, go in jean shorts. Personally...I like the shorts...so I too have to deal with some crap along the way.

 

If I had a Ferrari on consignment at a dealer I would hope they screen people in the dealership as I would not want everyone crawling all over it with the potential for damage or wanting test drives.

Face it, if you look like a slob when you go into any high end store you will be treated as such, I can't understand why anyone would think they should be treated differently because of that remote chance they might be for real, thats life.
The exception would be of course if you were in the Dot com hey days when it was fashionable to look like you shopped at a Thrift Store for clothes, then its a different ballgame.

I don't think you need to walk in wearing a $1000 suit but just look decent, I have never been treated poorly yet at an authorized dealer or high end seller, even if the sales people have some apprehension about you they can tell in a minute or so if you are for real by the questions you ask or your basic knowledge about the cars as most considering an expensive purchase such as a Ferrari will have done some research on them.

 

Yes, you shouldn't judge people on the way they are dressed, but be realistic. That is the world we live in. It doesn't matter if you are in a Ferrari dealership or a Lexus dealership, if you dress like crap, there is an assumed high probability that you do not have the funds to purchase a vehicle.

 

When I was looking for my first 550, I stopped into Ferrari of Washington.
I asked to take a look at a 2000 550 they had on the showroom floor. I was 32 at the time and wearing jean shorts and a tee shirt. Bob, could not have been more helpfull. Regardless of clothing, age, etc. they were top notch.

When I went to replace my first 550, they were the first people I called.

outstanding place.

John

 

can't speak for the specific of your experience but the solution is fairly simple....."take your money elsewhere". there are other sellers out there. good luck to you.

 

The realities of life, and exactly right. Forget about walking through the door - you're sized up the minute they see you driving up. I've seen and heard it firsthand.

 

People that judge you by the way you dress are very short sighted. I see guys at the bus stop in suits and I see guys driving Bentleys with ripped up jeans and a tank top. If the salesman is smart he will talk to you first and see where you are coming from. What you look like should not mean a thing! I learned along time ago never judge a book by it's cover.

Case in point: My sister has a restaurant in Scottsdale that caters to a really high end crowd. One day a guy comes in the door with some wrangler jeans and a cowboy hat. He sits at the bar and orders a drink. My sister thinking this guy is some jackoff from a ranch doesn't give him the time of day. She usually goes around talking to all of her customers and knows most by name.
Well this guy keeps coming back day after day for a mid-afternoon drink so my sister being curious decides to finally talk to this guy. Well low and behold she finds out this guy is one of the heirs to Wal-Mart. He is one of Sam Waltons kids. This guy isn't a millionaire he's a billionaire. Now he has befriended my sister and she has been invited to different social events he has. Since then she has changed her snobby way of judging people.

 

At least you got this treatment from a Ferrari dealer... I got it from 2 different places: a Pontiac dealer and a Toyota dealer (2 completely separate times -- this wasn't during the same timeframe).

At the Pontiac dealer, I was looking for a Grand Am (not even anything expensive) -- I was 22 or 23 at the time... the salesman, Ernie (I actually remember his name!), must have sized me up pretty quickly (I was wearing jeans and t-shirt, and came with my girlfriend). He wouldn't actually even talk to me until he got a photocopy of my license, and filled out a form with a bunch of my information.

Next, he wouldn't let me test drive anything... he said that he had 1 Grand Am available, but someone put a deposit on it already.... but if I want, I could also put a deposit on it in case the original sale fell through.

I was like "Huh??" and just told him I was done -- have a nice day.

A couple days later, I got a phone message on my home phone from Ernie. He was all apologetic saying, "I'm very sorry about this past weekend, please come back in and I can help you look for something."

I'm not sure what happened there -- maybe he ran a credit report or something, but I guess he found out that I was gainfully employed and could afford a car....


At the Toyota dealer, I was about 27 years old looking at SUVs. I think this was the same thing were I was sized up the moment I walked in (with my wife). He was very short with me. I asked about seeing and testing a couple of the vehicles and was denied each time. He did answer some questions about pricing. In the end, he said to come back later when I know what I want to buy.

The only "excuse" I can give him was that the Toyota SUVs were doing really well then and I'm sure he only wanted to deal with "sure things" with regard to buyers.

===========

My brother had an experience at Honda. We (my brother, my wife and I) went to a dealership -- he was looking specifically for a Passport. Anyway, the salesperson came by and asked him what he was looking for -- he said a Passport. She then quickly brought him over to a Civic and said something to the affect that the Civic is what he really wanted. He told her that no, he wanted a Passport. She kept pushing it and eventually said, why don't you think about it and I'll be right back.

She walked away, and another salesman happened to come by and ask if we needed help. We told him that we were wanted a Passport, but that the other woman kept pushing us to a Civic. He basically said, "Come with me" and showed us a Passport.

As we looked at it, the other salesperson saw us with this other guy and sort of glared at him and at us. The "new" salesperson said, "Don't worry about her."

My brother liked the Passport, and said that he wanted it. It was then that the lady came back and told the guy that we were with her. He told her that she left us and that he was now our salesperson.

She left in a huff. I smiled.

 

Yea of course it is..but it happens. Will I change the way I dress?..no. I will still wear shorts and a Tshirt..

btw - here is a quick story of how I tried to make a good impression that didnt even work

When the Dodge Viper GTS came out in 1996, I was interested in getting one. I heard they were few and far between to get. So I called around here in Phoenix to see who had some GTS for sale. (Found one on McDowell Blvd and one on Bell Rd...for those that know AZ)

I dressed up this time. Not a suit..but almost. AND even drove to the dealers in my F355 I had at the time. I went to dealer #1..parked in front. Made sure they saw the 355. Got out and started asking about the GTS they had. Guess what? They treated me like crap..curt answers to my questions...aloof..wouldn't allow a test drive. total jerks. Dealer #2 was the total opposite. Got a test drive..even took the sales guy for a ride in the 355.
So go figure...

 

As much as I would like to think that exotic car dealerships shouldn’t judge based on appearances, alas, that’s the reality of the world, as previous posters have suggested. I’m 22 and my roommate and I enjoy going to dealerships here in San Diego, but most of our experiences resulted in salespeople giving us the cold shoulder altogether. Most of them don’t even greet us, let alone ask us if we’d like to be helped. I don’t expect a salesperson to treat me the same as a 40-something in a suit, but c’mon, a simple “hello” goes a long way. I don’t see why it’s so difficult, compared to most retail stores. If you’ve ever worked retail these days, you are expected to greet every customer who walks in. You don’t have to walk up to them, shake their hand and wipe their shoes—you could just look over and say hi as they walk in. And it’s not as if there are 50 people in the dealership at once either—most exotics salespeople I see are picking their nose in the corner of the office.

I think it’s a bit of a double-edged sword here. Some car salespeople think they’re too important to bother with “customers” who are too young or too poorly dressed or whatever the case. However, there are also people who demand that salespeople need to bend over backwards to help them. Just because you have 100k or more to spend on a car doesn’t excuse you from the realities of the world. Exotics customers: if you want to be treated nicely, guaranteed, then dress nicely. If you want to dress down, understand that you’re making it harder on yourself (unless you want that). Exotics dealers/salespeople: You don’t have to give every 20-year old red carpet treatment, but c’mon, you can at be courteous to everyone and at least ****ing say “hi.”

But yeah. Some people are just jerks.

 

I had the same impression with this Foster guy, what a jack ***. after speaking with him I don't think I'd ever step foot in Ferrari CF unless someone called me with an apology. They guy had the nerve to all but call me an idiot for asking about service records saying the car only had 4k miles on it. That may be so but it is 11 years old. Am I insane to think that an 11yr old car should have had a few oil changes along the way?? This guy has got to go. I'm starting to wonder if all these bad experiences at Ferrari CF can be chalked up to this Foster guy?????????? He was worse than Domani!!

Ben