Big "thank you" to the Dallas Dealership

[bill_mr74]

It takes a lot to actually make me mad enough to write something bad about someone, but I would like to share an event that just happened to me that leaves me wondering, where did customer service go?
The other day I took my car into Weatherford Texas Discount Tire to get new tires on my smart… 23thousand miles on this set and the back right tire was showing some wear on the inside… After dismounting all the tires it was discovered that I had a bent rim, the main reason for the excessive wear… Like some retard I tried to straiten the rim, as anyone with any brains can tell you, that was a bad idea, I broke the rim…Having no spare I was stuck, 45 miles from home, in a town where I know no one, and Discount Tire WILL NOT put a tire back on (for my safety)… No problem right? Call the Dallas SMART Car dealer and get a rim from them right? WRONG!

I called the Dallas dealer, talked to man in the parts department…

I told him I needed a rear rim for a SMART car, and asked if they had one…

He wanted my VIN number off the car, so he could look up the rim…

hmmmm ok… Maybe he’s new… I give him the VIN…

He cant find it in the system…

Not really a surprise, it’s a 450 not a 451... I told him he wouldn’t be able to look up my VIN and why… I told him to just ask someone if they had any, surely they would keep a couple rims on hand in case someone messed up one, seeing as how the cars don’t have spares, I told him I had broke mine and was stranded…

He told me that he had no way to look up parts for “those gray area cars“…

Keep in mind that this guy is the one that will be selling you parts if you ever need any… I told him I only needed a rim, not anything that would need to be looked up, just a rim, they are the same on the 450s as they are on the 451s…

He told me to hold on, and put me on hold, when he came back he told me that they don‘t have rims for a 450, at all…

I said, ok then sell me a rim for a 451...

He said fine but I would have to buy all 4 of them if I wanted alloy, they don’t sell just one rim… If I wanted the steel rim they would sell me 1 of them, but whatever I decided I would have to order it, they don’t keep any rims in stock, plus it would be 3 to 4 week before it came in…

I was floored… How do you sell a car that doesn’t have a spare and not keep at least one rim on hand? I asked him as much…

He informed me, 'That’s what happens when you buy a “gray area car”…

I told him that I finally understood and thanked him for his time…


I had planed a trip to MN at the beginning of April, before leaving on it I looked up all the SMART Car dealers between here and there, just in case I ran into a problem on the way, that way I would have someone to call and help me out… I still had all the numbers in my car… I started calling… I discovered that all the dealers, except Dallas, carry rims and tires on hand, and everyone of them was willing to sell me just one alloy rim, plus they were willing to over night it to me… I was amazed… I called Dallas back…

Getting transferred to voice mail I left just a name and number… 4 hours later I get a call back… I tell the guy that calls that I need a rim for a SMART Car…

He asks me if its to replace one I messed up or just as a back up…

I of course did what any red blooded American would do… I lied… I told him I just wanted one to have just in case…

He said no problem… He could have one in a few days…

Hmmmm… Now that’s a change from a 3 to 4 weeks… I asked him if I had to buy all 4 or could I just have 1... That got the wheels turning in his head….

He told me to hold on just moment and put me on hold… When he came back he told me he didn’t know how that worked he wasn’t the normal SMART Car sales man, he was just filling in beacuse the regular guy had gone to lunch (at 3:00 in the after noon), when the regular guy got back from lunch he would make sure he called me…

I told him it was no big deal, I had already called a few other SMART Car dealers and they all kept them on hand and I could buy ‘just one’ from them… I offered a small piece of advice, that it might be a good idea for them to keep something as simple as a rim on hand, just incase of emergencies, it would be great customer service that if someone blew a tire and bent a rim, then they would have a rim to get them rolling again, instead of having to have the car towed and left over night at some shop until they could get one ordered…

He said all the 451s came with 2 years road side assistance so its not a problem…

Now, how did he know I didn’t drive a 451? Maybe the question about buying only 1 rim gave it away… I wanted to tell him road side assistance wont fix a rim on the side of the road, but they will tow the car in to a shop and let it sit until a new rim can be delivered… But I didn’t, he evidently knows more than I do, after all, I’m the brain child that broke his own rim in the first place… I did ask him if he was familiar with the SMART Car of America forum…

He said he was…

I said thanks and we hung up…

10 min later… My phone rings… Some lady introduces herself and tells me she works at the Dallas dealership… She said she had great news… One of her customers had ordered a rim but wouldn’t be able to pick it up for a couple weeks, she had called him and asked if she could sell his rim to me and order him another and have it over night delivery… He said that would be fine so she was calling me to see if I wanted it…

Holy cow! Now all of a sudden they had one! Now they could get a rim over night! Now they could sell me 1 rim! And she found all this out and even called the customer in only 10 min! The regular guy had trned into a woman! Now that’s an act of god…

I told her thanks for the effort, but I don’t think I will be doing business with them, seeing as how they cant get anything for a 450 “gray area car” anyway… I would be doing them a favor though and helping them to get all the free time they needed to figure everything out… I would be sending everyone I talked to about SMART cars (and trust me the numbers are unbelievable) to any other SMART Car dealer except the Dallas dealer…

No thanks needed guys, its my pleasure… Like you said… “That’s what I get when I buy a ‘grey area car’.”

I find it kind of depressing that the US SMART dealers cant look up parts for the 450s… Some of the older readers will remember the old AMC cars, notably the Jeep… When GM bought out AMC, you could still go to a GM dealer and order parts for the original AMC Jeeps, or really any AMC for that matter… So why is it that the SMART dealer cant look up and order parts for the 450s? I have a felling its not so much a case of cant as it is a case of, don’t want to… It would take some work to be able to do, but it is entirely doable… A SMART is a SMART… Period… Owning a SMART is like joining a family, it shouldn’t matter which SMART make or model that you own, the fact is, you own a SMART Car… Not many in the US can say that… Maybe I’m wrong in my thinking that owning a SMART is like joining a brotherhood or sisterhood, everyone looking out for one another… I know that when I was going to take my trip to MN I was invited to come by the SMART dealership there and enjoy the company of new, unknown friends, kind of a 'come meet the family'… To bad the Dallas dealer doesn’t feel the same way…

[RLove]

So, one person was no help. One person tried to help, but since you thought the real parts guy's three o'clock lunch was wrong, you wouldn't talk to him, (a late lunch by someone who staffs a parts counter frequented by people on their lunch breaks probably is a good thing). And, the lady went out of her way to locate wheel for you. Okay, there were a few problems, but it sounds like two out of three tried to help you...but, maybe your attitude got in the way at that point.

Being an unsupported gray market car, why don't you have an extra rim? What would you have done if this had happened long before there were Smart dealerships? It sounds like there is some culpability on both sides of this to me.

I've heard nothing but praise for this dealership, and I am familiar with many of those that work there. I won't hesitate to do business with them nor should anyone else.

[bill_mr74]

Kudos to you on you keeping on doing business with them seeing as you have no real choice… You don’t have your car yet so you have to deal with them…

Getting lied to by the first guy, (not just that he was no help) and pawned off by the second guy (figured out I had called earlier and didn’t want to contradict the first guy), and then a third lady gets involved and magically comes up with a rim (4 hours after the fact)… To many inconsistencies… They had a rim sitting there in the shop that they could sell me, you will never convince me that all the other dealers I called had some on hand and Dallas didn’t… The parts man was more than willing to help me until he found out I had a 450, them things changed, his attitude went south long before mine did…

I’ll recap the first conversation, I shortened it last night when I wrote all that…

I call and get transferred to parts…

Man: “Parts department.”

Me: “Yes sir, I need to get a rim for a SMART Car.”

Man: “No problem. Which one?”

Me: “The right rear. I’m sitting at Discount Tire in Weatherford and I messed up mine.”

Man: “Oh no… You bent it?”

Me: “No worse. I bent it first, then like a dumb ass I tried to straiten it, and broke it instead.
Needless to say with no spare I’m stuck.”

Man: “Naw we got um. Let me get your VIN.”

Me: “OK VIN is ***********.”

Man “Hmmm… Its not finding it, what car is it?”

Me: “A SMART Car.”

Man: “Yea I know, but which one?”

Me: “Oh sorry, 05 SMART 450.”

Man: “OK Hold on.”

ON HOLD…

Man: “Sir we can’t look up parts for those “Gray area cars.”

Me: “OK, but I just need a rim..”

Man: “We cant get rims for the “gray cars.”

Me: “OK then let me buy one for the new 08s”

Man: “*Grunt* Hold on.”

ON HOLD…

Man: “OK Hears the deal. We cant sell you just one alloy wheel you have to buy all four, and we have to order them.”

Me: “All four? I only need one.”

Man: “Well that’s what I was just told, if you only need one we can sell you one of the steel
rims.”

Me: “OK I guess I got to have something so that will work, I’ll see if I can get a ride over there and pick it up.”

Man: “Oh sorry, we don’t keep these on hand either, you want me to order it and call you when
it comes in?”

Me: “Wow, um, ok, what will that be, like tomorrow afternoon? I guess they will let me keep my car here over night, I’ll have to check.”

Man: “No Sir. Its will be more like 3 to 4 weeks.”

Me: “Are you serious? What do they have to do, ship them from over seas? Doesn’t one of the
other dealers have one that you can pull from and get it over night?”

Man: “No, it doesn’t work like that.”

Me: “I’m stuck away from home, no way to get home, I’m pretty sure they’re not gona let me keep my car here for 3 to 4 weeks, so I’m going to have to get it towed home with no wheel because they wont put one back on this rim… I don’t know what to do… There’s nothing you can do to get me a rim quicker?”

Man: “Nope, that what you get when you buy a “GRAY MARKET CAR”.

Me: “Oh, wow, I understand now. That’s how it is?”

Man: “Yes sir.”

Me: “Hmm ok. Well thank you for your time, I guess I just have to figure something out.”

Man: “Yep, well good luck with that.”

WE HANG UP…

My second conversation consisted of the fact I had called some other dealers and they had them on hand, was he sure they didn’t have one stuck in a corner somewhere that they could sell me? He assured me that the only rims they had were for “their” customer cars and for some orphan cars they were gona change out. I told him found that a little hard to believe. He told me I might could look on line and find some that someone had changed out, but in either case I would still have to have it shipped to me and he could order it and have it in a few days, “maybe” over night. I told him I would get online and check the ‘Smart car of America’ forum, but I wouldn’t be looking for rims I would be posting about the outstanding customer service I received. He said he understand. 10 min later a lady calls and found a rim I could come get now. From Weatherford to Dallas at about 3:30 in the afternoon? I don’t think I can make it before they close, even if I did have a ride, seeing as how ’I’ messed up the ride I did have…

Now as to why “I” didn’t keep a spare rim on hand, my car is an 05, I’ve had my car for a while… When I bought my car I was led to believe that Mercedes was not going to be importing these cars to the US, and the only way to get one was how I did and at the time Mercedes had no interest in bring these cars to the US, but I was told that I would be able to get all my parts from the dealer I bought if from and asked about tires and wheels, they assured me they had all that on hand in a shop “down the road”… Now, strangely enough the dealership is no where to be found…

NO ONE keeps spare parts for a new car on hand at their house when there is a dealership close by that keeps some parts on hand and the car comes with a warranty… (little did I know how untrue that was)

The Dallas dealership suffers from the same problem that many other retail areas suffer from… “If you didn’t by it from us we don’t want to help you, go to the guy you bought it from. Guess you should have bought it here.”

Now as for hearing nothing but praise for the dealership… Your not able to say that anymore because now you’ve heard something different… I don’t expect anyone that has order their cars from them to stop doing business there, after all they will support the cars they sell… But I will not be telling anyone to do business with them… I will be sending them to Oklahoma…(I think you have to be a resident of the state you buy the car in so I don’t think I will really send them on a wasted trip to Oklahoma)… I not happy with being treated like some second class citizen because I drive a Mercedes version SMART. So much for "part of the family"...

[bumblebee]

Originally Posted by bill_mr74

NO ONE keeps spare parts for a new car on hand at their house when there is a dealership close by that keeps some parts on hand and the car comes with a warranty… (little did I know how untrue that was)

If I was buying a 2005 Grey Market Smart I would've bought at least an extra set of wheels just in case stuff like this. You got one of the first imported ones in the state with basically iffy support from where you bought it from. That alone would've got me to do research on replacement parts so that I can get it fix should it break down. As for SMART dealerships not supporting grey areas I don't blame them for that. It's just like any other grey market stuff you buy. If you buy a grey market lens for your camera, you are taking a chance that if it breaks down you're not going to be able to get it serviced or repair in the US. Basically, you're out of luck.

[bill_mr74]

When I bought this car the dealer had a store front, a website, and a complete parking lot full of cars, each with a window sticker… At the time I didn’t know what a “gray market car” even was, and at no time was it ever referred to as such… What normal person would question it, when the man tells you it comes with a 3 year 36 thousand mile warranty? When I asked about spare tires he told me not to worry about it, they had a complete parts house and had set up a service deal with the local Dodge house, if I needed local service like oil changes and things, and Mercedes would handle the rest since they built it… Drove it down to Dodge on my test ride to check out the claim and was told servicing it wouldn’t be a problem, in fact they were working on being able to carry the car when it “officially” released to the US in a few years… Little did I know that the only service they would provide was oil changes… At the time they acted like they were going to become a dealer and handle any and all of my needs… Many people said many things that have all fallen short, and I’m sure I’m not the only one this has happened to… But we are being penalized because things changed, its not our fault that Mercedes throws a wrench in the works by selling the SMART line off to Mitsubishi… Which only happened recently… If things would have happened like they should have, Daimler Chrysler would have started importing the cars to select dealers and there wouldn’t even be an issue about 450s and 451s…

Its not the fact that the dealer couldn’t help me, it’s the fact they could but decided not to, it wasn’t until I told them I would be giving them some ‘not good’ publicity that they decided the could spare a spare after all…

Bottom line is that they have spare rims on hand, but wouldn’t sell me one of the on hand ones because my car is a 450. They would order one for me because money is money after all… The nice thing to do would have been to say, “Yep we have a rim and we can over night to you.”

THAT IS WHAT EVERY DEALER I TALKED TO TOLD ME THEY WOULD DO!
EXCEPT DALLAS!

[bumblebee]

Originally Posted by bill_mr74

When I bought this car the dealer had a store front, a website, and a complete parking lot full of cars, each with a window sticker… At the time I didn’t know what a “gray market car” even was, and at no time was it ever referred to as such… What normal person would question it, when the man tells you it comes with a 3 year 36 thousand mile warranty? When I asked about spare tires he told me not to worry about it, they had a complete parts house and had set up a service deal with the local Dodge house, if I needed local service like oil changes and things, and Mercedes would handle the rest since they built it… Drove it down to Dodge on my test ride to check out the claim and was told servicing it wouldn’t be a problem, in fact they were working on being able to carry the car when it “officially” released to the US in a few years… Little did I know that the only service they would provide was oil changes… At the time they acted like they were going to become a dealer and handle any and all of my needs… Many people said many things that have all fallen short, and I’m sure I’m not the only one this has happened to… But we are being penalized because things changed, its not our fault that Mercedes throws a wrench in the works by selling the SMART line off to Mitsubishi… Which only happened recently… If things would have happened like they should have, Daimler Chrysler would have started importing the cars to select dealers and there wouldn’t even be an issue about 450s and 451s…

Its not the fact that the dealer couldn’t help me, it’s the fact they could but decided not to, it wasn’t until I told them I would be giving them some ‘not good’ publicity that they decided the could spare a spare after all…

Bottom line is that they have spare rims on hand, but wouldn’t sell me one of the on hand ones because my car is a 450. They would order one for me because money is money after all… The nice thing to do would have been to say, “Yep we have a rim and we can over night to you.”

THAT IS WHAT EVERY DEALER I TALKED TO TOLD ME THEY WOULD DO!
EXCEPT DALLAS!

I am not saying that the dealer was right or wrong. I am pointing out that even back then if you do some research on the web (which I've done countless times) you'll find that all the smart cars coming over to the states are imported and converted to meet US emission standards so you can legally drive the car in the states. If it was me it would've have immediately pull a red flag as they are the only dealer selling the smart and that they have no association with smart corporate whatsoever. (And if this is the dealer I think you are talking about in Weatherford, they have not disappear completely. I've heard they've move in the general vicinity of smart center of dallas) Anyhoo,that's why I've waited until I finally heard the news smart formally selling their cars in the states this year. Also, Mercedes did not dump the smart brand to Mitsubishi recently. They stop using their Mecerdes engine and started using the Mitsubishi engine and that's about the only investment Mitsubishi has invested in the smart. Lastly, smartusa and smart centers across the US are really not liable to sell parts, accessories, or services for smart cars in the US before 2008. It's probably a judgement call from each smart center and some are probably trying to play it by the book.

[mini me]

Mr. Bill:

Really sorry to hear about your experience. Not sure why a dealership would balk at selling you a rim for your 450 when it uses the same rim as a 451 (grey market car or not). Not good business. You will find that many on this forum do consider you part of the SMART family.

[bill_mr74]

Thank you Mini me.... I'm happy that someone finally understands...

[bill_mr74]

Originally Posted by mini me

Mr. Bill:

Really sorry to hear about your experience. Not sure why a dealership would balk at selling you a rim for your 450 when it uses the same rim as a 451 (grey market car or not). Not good business.

Thank you, someone finally understands... gray market car or not, dallas was the only one that gave me a hard time about the rim...

[SmartJJ]

I agree. You would think any dealership would be in business to make sales and therefore make money. Not sure why they would care who wanted a product or why (assuming it isn't an illegal usage).