I hate buying a car. I hate that they mystify the process in order to soak you for more money. It’s ridiculous! It’s the one part of car shopping that really needs to have some kind of serious reform. Somehow, car manufacturers feel giving the prospective customer any kind of information is akin to giving up state secrets.
Today I was doing some research and I found that Mazda has a live chat feature to provide people with information. (NOT!)
What follows is an actual transcript of the live chat that I was fortunate to copy before the window was closed down from the other end. It’s twice now this week I’ve had a pointless dialog with someone who pretends they are in the field of customer service.
All I wanted to find out was the actual date that the 08 model year finished, when 09 models could be expected to arrive and how long it would take from the time I ordered a vehicle from a dealer to the time the vehicle made it to my grubby hands.
You can’t make this stuff up!
| 14:33:26 | System | Welcome philip ... |
| 14:33:26 | System | Connecting to server. Please wait... |
| 14:33:26 | System | Connected to Mazdachat.mazdausa.com |
| 14:33:31 | System | Keith has joined this session! |
| 14:33:31 | System | Connected with Keith |
| 14:33:41 | Keith | Thank you for connecting with Mazda’s Personal Shopping Assistant. My name is Keith, how may I help you? |
| 14:33:47 | You | When will the 09 models be in showrooms? |
| 14:34:36 | Keith | There are some arriving now. Which vehicle are you referring to? |
| 14:35:11 | You | the Mazda 3 5 door, I was just curious when the model year actually ended and when orders could be taken for 09 models |
| 14:35:48 | Keith | They are not out yet |
| 14:37:15 | You | Yes, I understand but when does the model year end and when can orders could be placed for 09 models |
| 14:37:18 | Keith | There is no a release date at this time |
| 14:37:18 | Keith | Is there anything else I can help you with? |
| 14:37:58 | Keith | you can place a order now for the 2009 and there is no set end date for a model year. |
| 14:38:03 | You | What is the normal turnaround time to a dealer in the Northeast from order to actual delivery date if you are not purchasing a vehicle from dealer stock |
| 14:39:20 | Keith | For that information you will need to contact your local dealer. |
| 14:39:53 | You | Well, you've actually managed not to answer a single question I put to you! Amazing! |
| 14:40:23 | You | What's the purpose of live chat if you can't provide information? |
| 14:41:04 | Keith | Sir I can explain more clearly if I could call you would that be okay? |
| 14:41:25 | You | I don't need to get a call, I just need direct answers to direct questions. |
| 14:42:16 | You | I fail to understand how a business, especially one that deals in items that would be considered big ticket items, has a need to mystify the whole buying experience. |
| 14:42:45 | You | I asked you when the model year ends and the date that Mazda factories will be delivering the new models to dealers. |
| 14:42:53 | You | You couldn't answer that. |
| 14:42:53 | Keith | I regret that I can not give you an exact date when a vehicle will arrive to your local dealer. Dealer are independent business and set their order directly |
| 14:43:19 | You | I asked you what normal delivery time to dealers is and you couldn't answer that either. |
| 14:44:06 | You | It's interesting is all, the paradigm for car shopping really needs to change. |
| 14:44:17 | Keith | Phillip instead of trying to type this out I can give you a better understanding via phone of the process may I call |
| 14:44:52 | You | Either that or you guys should seriously think about going to work for the Department of Homeland Security or the CIA. |
| 14:45:23 | Keith | I apologies for any inconvenience. I am ending that chat have a great day. |
| 14:45:36 | You | Unless of course your operations are so slipshod you honestly don't have delivery information of future models which makes absolutely no sense. |
There were one or two more short notes from Keith, of course he still managed to not give me an idea what delivery times are (is it six weeks? Seven weeks? I guess we’ll never know... it’s a mystery). I know the manufacturers retool their production lines when the new models roll out, it’s not like the workers don’t know it. It’s not even like the dealers don’t know it. It’s just the public who doesn’t know it because they don’t want to have to mark down an ’08 model for a potential buyer even if the ’09 is set to arrive the following week.
Such a small bit of information... astounding!
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