Nine11

It's a 996, not exactly a hard to find car to buy...move on and go somewhere that will appreciate your time and business.

Jamie140

Very strange.

I've test driven numerous cars there over the years. Bought one. Never been run around like you. Always been given the keys and told to have fun.

I'm amazed they would treat you with such disrespect. Vote with your feet and move on.

JimV8

This place is brutal on exposing poor service. That is however the reality of the internet world and anyone dealing with the public best get used to it. In this particular case it probably wasn't the salesperson lies as much as the attitude of management. The saleguy is trying to make a commission and well, he's a car salesman.

bluedog111

They took the car out of the show room for a test drive. The owner drove the car first. He offered to let me drive it but I declined. I didn't have a lot of experience with manual trannies at the time. After, I started to negotiate the deal and they didn't want to have another shop give the car a ppi. I am sure if I wanted the car at their price, they would have met my demands. They sold the car that day to somebody else.
Recently, I was in the market for a used luxury SUV. After dealing with all the shennadigans that every used car deal pulls, I got feed up. I picked up a new Merc GL350 with little hassle.
I think all used dealers have their methods, you have to figure them out and play their game. Better luck next time.

Crazy Canuck

Weird.

Pfaff let me drive a 996 cab, a 996TT and a new 997 back in 2004. I was 31 at the time.

mpower1226

This very similar incident happened to me at MB Toronto. I was asked to wait by the lounge and someone should help me shortly. I've ended up waiting for Min only to be told to wait more. While I see bunch of sales rep chatting around doing nothing.

I got so fed up, i walked up to one of the rep and ask for their sales manager. When he came, I told him to educate his team, gave him my business card and left without even looking back.

Manager called me that day and apologized, came to my home with demo I was interested in. test drove and bought it on the spot.

Christien

Just by discussing a previous similar car, with any degree of knowledge, "pre-qualifies" someone, in my mind - you've had one before, sold it, and now realize the error of your ways. And yes, generally late-50s aren't joy riders - they have better things to do. In fact, every time we do a clientele analysis, we find that it's almost exclusively 50-65 year old men buying our high-end inventory. I think there's been only one or two exceptions to that. And most that come in from that demographic don't want to test drive, until negotiations are complete and they've decided for sure.

Telling you one thing and doing another and thereby wasting your time is unquestionably ****-poor customer service.

PM coming.

Nine11

I was told once (by the sales manager) that he did not want to put any KM on the vehicle when I asked for a test drive. I guess I didn't fit the bill for a buyer of a V70R. To this day, Volvo can kiss my ***.

swbatte

That's rediculous. I think if that's the calibre of their service before you buy something, what would it be like after they have your money?
I might be tempted to give them a deposit of a grand, but pending an accepted offer? That's crazy. In other words they have a contract for you to buy a car, then you drive it, decide it's not for you and then what?

NITEALB

Many moons ago i was interested in a c6 z06. i actually bought 2 of them in a year and for differing reasons will never buy one again. but back to the story, i went to applewood chev to test drive the vette. i showed up in my bentley conti gt and asked the receptionist who i could speak to regarding a test drive. a gentleman showed up and asked what car i was interested in and i indicated that i wanted to drive the z06. "You want to drive the KING of sports cars, eh?" he proclaimed and he passed me onto their corvette specialist. i had a feeling at this point that this wan't going to be a good experience but went along with it. anyways, the salesguy first said that nobody test drives a corvette expecially a Zeee oHHHH six. i told him that that i had owned several other sports cars before and that grand touring motors had let me test drive the aformentioned bentley, thats why i bought it..... but no! apparently the type of buyer for this kind of vette wanted no km's on the odo and test drives were forbidden. i told him that i was leaving and would try another dealer at which point he told me a TWENTY PERCENT deposit would swing a test drive.......

atr911

I can see this being a difficult situation for any car dealer, especially the used guys. Think about all the yahoos that think they can stroll in and test drive a sports car. In my opinion, as mentioned, it all boils down to the sales guy ability to 'pre-qualify' a buyer.

I drove a 997 when it first came out in 2005 when I was 24. The sales guy at Pfaff probably knew I wasn't in a position to buy then but recognized a Porscheaphile and we went out for a spin. Kinda like the kid in the Porsche commercial who asks for the business cars, I think a good sales guy recognizes the chance to gain a customer in the long term.

I wouldn't mind adding to the equation that, right or wrong, the car wasn't exactly sitting on the lot waiting for you. If they took it out of the show room they'd have had to invest in moving all the cars and probably re-detailing the car when you were done so I can kinda see their point. Nonetheless, they've lost a potential customer because they didn't gauge your intentions properly.

Regardless of their policy, this guy NEVER should have given you the impression that you could 'come down for an appointment' and I'm assuming they implied that you could test drive the car. That's unacceptable if you ask me and I've have gone up one side and down the other of both the sales guy and manager. I suppose it depends on if it was a true miscommunication or you were intentionally mislead.

Wanna buy an even nicer 997? Mine's for sale and I'll let you test drive it for $50

porsche0nut

I had a similar style situation except from Rogers on Saturday. My blackberry had crapped out finally and I decided it was time to give the iPhone a try. Went to the Eaton Centre, Apple store was out of stock, Rogers store was also out of stock and suggested I try the Rogers booth upstairs. So I go upstairs and ask the guy:

me: "do you have the iPhone 4 in stock?"
Rogers: "are you a new or existing customer?"
me: "existing but I no longer am under a contract"
Rogers: "sorry we are out of stock"
me: "what if I'm a new customer"?
Rogers: "well we have stock for new customers"
me: "you're kidding right?"

Anyway, I went on a small rant, asked for the manager, who gave me the same BS. I finally said to him "listen, there's always a way, and I'm going to get this phone today, so you can either help me out and make a sale, or watch me walk into the Bell store over there". He replied "I guess I can make an exception since you're here in person".

Maybe I'm the sucker because I still gave them my business... but I really didn't want to go through the hassle of a new phone number/new provider/etc... and in the end I got what I wanted.

PS: The iphone4 is incredible... already forgotten about my blackberry.

jumper5836

hmm I've bought 2 Porsche's in the past without a test drive. To me what's the point, I'd pretty much prefer inspecting the car and service records before even turning on the car.

I quite honestly don't believe in PPI as well. I'd prefer to do the inspection partly myself and then have it up on a lift with my mechanic and go through it with him myself.

One Porsche I bought and did get a test drive in that was fine, ended up later being a real problem car. I had the PPI done which they caught that the brake pads and rotors needed to be replaced. I didn't need to do rotors for 80k km and pads lasted 6 months before the sensor light came on. They write that up but yet fail to find 8 bad engine coils and a drive shaft that was on it's last leg.

spcamno

I really think its the sales person himself because I have bought an used MB from them few years back and I actually saw the car on the web negotiated a deal over the phone and sales guy bring the vehicle over my office (he is desperate) along with the paper work and I bought it after test drove it.

I wish all car dealership treat potential customer like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRbzJ0L1Zn8

Torontoworker

My wife's bosses son-in-law and daughter just bought a used Cayman from Pfaff and has had the same great experiance. He tested different cars and the last one (without the salesman) with his spouse taking turns driving it - he bought.

I've never been asked for money or to sign an offer for any car I've bought used or new. My car was parked indoors behind 25 others and it took 30 minutes and two other employees to get it outside for me to drive - this after me showing up without calling ahead. He moved it, never asked for my keys although he did photocopy my licence. I took it for a test drive without him and when I came back a few days later to bring the car to Pfaff for a ppi, he didn't even want my car keys to my caddie I left behind nor had I given him an offer. Maybe I have an honest face?