So, I take my car to Flow BMW (the one that's on Peters Creek Pkwy, in Winston-Salem) to have my tire looked at. Sitting in the lounge, reading my book. A pleasant looking fellow comes out.
- Hi, I'm the general manager, please come with me.
I'm a little apprehensive but follow anyway. Racking my brain, trying to figure out what I did wrong. I don't have a chip in my car or anything, everything is stock... Walk into his office. Dimly lit, there's another dour-looking dude sitting in the corner. He's not smiling, kind of gives me a menacing stare.
- Have a seat.
Ookay then. I sit down.
- Is your alias c-o-o-n-t-i-e on bimmerfest?
I go, "HUH?"
- ARE YOU COONTIE?
I stammer, "Uh.. no." (OK, I wasn't gonna crack on the first question! Once the cattleprods were to come out, maybe then but surely not immediately. Plus, I think I'd be less flabbergasted if he had said, "We have a new M3 we don't need, it's your to keep.")
- Well, we have a reason to believe you are.
Then, he takes out a manila folder and (looking at it upside-down), it's full of my bimmerfest print-outs, certain passages highlighted. He takes a page out.
- It says here you once referred to buying a car at our dealership as "like being sodomized with a broomstick."
I squirm a little and go, "So, you have your own little Gestapo research unit, is that it?"
The sullen-looking dude in the corner (at this point they got the whole good cop/bad cop production thing going on here) says, "We don't like it when people maliciously slander our dealership."
I kinda stammer.. "Well, it wasn't slander, really, I just told people the truth. I didn't like being treated like an idiot by your saleswoman, it just wasn't a pleasant experience. Especially that when I offered $1k over ED invoice to your sales lady over there, she laughed in my face and said she's worked for 15 years and never did ED and no way would I get a 3yr lease for less than $700/month. I then went to Ricki in NY @ DiFeo and leased my car in 10 mins! For the price I wanted! AND! She didn't laugh in my face! So, how about that?!"
The good cop says, "So, you like Dunkin Donuts?"
I go, "what?!"
He says (taking another post from the folder) - right here, you said, "There's a Dunkin Donuts across the street, you can wait there during service."
I'm like, "Ok. SO?" (trying to see if these two really, REALLY hate Dunkin Donuts for some reason. They didn't look like it though.)
(cue in the bad cop)
- Well, when you go buy a donut that costs $3.50, do you offer them three dollars?!
I go, "A car is not a donut, first of all. Second of all, if you're so concerned about good image, why not just offer people fair prices, instead of putting on a whole dog & pony show?"
He says, "Because buying a car is like buying a horse. People have been doing it for centuries. It's called, 'NEGOTIATION.'"
I'm like, "Well, why would you waste my time in the name of this 'negotiation' instead of just selling it for a fair price and be done with it?"
Anyway, this "Waiting for Godot"-like back & forth theater continues for a little bit. Then the bad cop says, "OK, if you hate us so much, you can't come here any longer" or some such thing. I took my book and left, basically.
___
Thinking about it for a bit, I'm sure they were gunning for me for a while. I'm stunned that a dealership would have this Stasi-like group of people, trying to flush out whoever's posting bad reviews about them.
What do you guys think? Incredible, eh?
[Note from Moderator: The owner of the dealership, Mr. Don Flow, first replies to the OP in post #835.]
- Hi, I'm the general manager, please come with me.
I'm a little apprehensive but follow anyway. Racking my brain, trying to figure out what I did wrong. I don't have a chip in my car or anything, everything is stock... Walk into his office. Dimly lit, there's another dour-looking dude sitting in the corner. He's not smiling, kind of gives me a menacing stare.
- Have a seat.
Ookay then. I sit down.
- Is your alias c-o-o-n-t-i-e on bimmerfest?
I go, "HUH?"
- ARE YOU COONTIE?
I stammer, "Uh.. no." (OK, I wasn't gonna crack on the first question! Once the cattleprods were to come out, maybe then but surely not immediately. Plus, I think I'd be less flabbergasted if he had said, "We have a new M3 we don't need, it's your to keep.")
- Well, we have a reason to believe you are.
Then, he takes out a manila folder and (looking at it upside-down), it's full of my bimmerfest print-outs, certain passages highlighted. He takes a page out.
- It says here you once referred to buying a car at our dealership as "like being sodomized with a broomstick."
I squirm a little and go, "So, you have your own little Gestapo research unit, is that it?"
The sullen-looking dude in the corner (at this point they got the whole good cop/bad cop production thing going on here) says, "We don't like it when people maliciously slander our dealership."
I kinda stammer.. "Well, it wasn't slander, really, I just told people the truth. I didn't like being treated like an idiot by your saleswoman, it just wasn't a pleasant experience. Especially that when I offered $1k over ED invoice to your sales lady over there, she laughed in my face and said she's worked for 15 years and never did ED and no way would I get a 3yr lease for less than $700/month. I then went to Ricki in NY @ DiFeo and leased my car in 10 mins! For the price I wanted! AND! She didn't laugh in my face! So, how about that?!"
The good cop says, "So, you like Dunkin Donuts?"
I go, "what?!"
He says (taking another post from the folder) - right here, you said, "There's a Dunkin Donuts across the street, you can wait there during service."
I'm like, "Ok. SO?" (trying to see if these two really, REALLY hate Dunkin Donuts for some reason. They didn't look like it though.)
(cue in the bad cop)
- Well, when you go buy a donut that costs $3.50, do you offer them three dollars?!
I go, "A car is not a donut, first of all. Second of all, if you're so concerned about good image, why not just offer people fair prices, instead of putting on a whole dog & pony show?"
He says, "Because buying a car is like buying a horse. People have been doing it for centuries. It's called, 'NEGOTIATION.'"
I'm like, "Well, why would you waste my time in the name of this 'negotiation' instead of just selling it for a fair price and be done with it?"
Anyway, this "Waiting for Godot"-like back & forth theater continues for a little bit. Then the bad cop says, "OK, if you hate us so much, you can't come here any longer" or some such thing. I took my book and left, basically.
___
Thinking about it for a bit, I'm sure they were gunning for me for a while. I'm stunned that a dealership would have this Stasi-like group of people, trying to flush out whoever's posting bad reviews about them.
What do you guys think? Incredible, eh?
[Note from Moderator: The owner of the dealership, Mr. Don Flow, first replies to the OP in post #835.]