Shopping for large ticket items is an infrequent, complex decision that is not taken lightly.  I happen to be one of those people who must research before choosing to purchase an expensive product that I will rely on daily for a long time, such as a mobile phone or car.

I explore options by going online, reading reviews and asking friends for advice. While buying a car for many is fun (the ultimate status symbol), for me it’s a chore because I get easily bewildered by quality, power, style and other options, let alone the brand’s reputation.

Recently, after narrowing down my choices to five possible car brands, I went on an expedition with a trusted companion - my son. We drove to various dealerships and I again realized that I had a plethora of factors to evaluate: aesthetics such as design and color, the dealerships’ reputation for service, the price-to-value formula, the muscle behind the car, and one final unexpected element - the people selling them.

This field visit helped me narrow my options. I realised it was time downsize as I sadly no longer needed to drive drive a big car, or drive as much as I used to. My kids have grown up and I no longer need to drive them, their friends and their equipment from one place to another all day long. But funnily enough, I discovered that, now, it is no longer the size or the car’s efficiency that matters.

But a lot of the evaluation was going on the people selling cars. I leaned towards one car brand because the salesman was simply genuine, helpful, and proactive, while another car brand that I had initially favoured was no longer on my list  - again, because of the salesperson.

This is how that has happened.

It was when I went for a second visit, this time with my daughter and her friend. We went to different showrooms and test drove three cars before arriving at the brand I was most interested in. The plush luxury interior of the showroom and its sheer size was remarked upon by my daughter. But when I asked for a test drive, that’s when things started going wrong. The salesperson took my ID and driving license and made me sign a form (so far this is standard), but the process took too long, and I wasn’t given my documents back until after I returned the car - unlike the other dealerships who just copied them and returned them to me. Then, when he saw that the two young ladies where joining me in the car, he seemed surprised and somewhat alarmed. I said “of course they are coming with me” (none of the previous dealerships had batted an eye over this). But the clincher was when all three of us got into the car and he said, just as I was shutting the door, “you have 10 minutes.”

Making a potential luxury brand client feel like a criminal is not a good strategy. Calling the customer on the phone while they are driving to ensure the car is returned on time (while the client is trying to navigate the terrain around the dealership, which has shifted due to construction work) is plain bad manners. And when the car was finally returned, the saleperson’s “We were worried about you” felt much more like “we were worried about the car”.

I have now made my choice of car, and the human factor, an understanding salesperson, was a big part of the decision. I am happy to report that the dealership which made me feel like a suspect rather than a consumer was nowhere close to getting my money. And the lesson here is if a brand realises how important people are in the equation, they would invest more in hiring and motivating their staff to do a better job in dealing with clients than on flashy showrooms or ad campaigns.

I looked up the other brand’s ratings (the one with the unfriendly salesperson) on my company’s website, servicehero.com, which independently collects feedback on more than 300 brands, and found other consumers had voiced their dissatisfaction with this brand. So my insulting experience was not an isolated incident, but a common occurrence, it seems.

Any opinions expressed here are the author’s own.

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