For the past week or so, I've been doing more research about cars and their features and prices, etc. So being the tech geek that I am, I went online to edmunds.com to get some price quotes from local dealerships. When the Lexus of Rockville didn't reply to me, coupled with a terrible experience when I did show up at the dealership, I sent an e-mail blasting them and their service. This is the response I received from the internet sales manager trying to explain why they were the only dealership not to respond to my quote request.
Good Afternoon Stephen,
I apologize for the way you were greeted/treated when you were here Saturday. The only thing that I can say is, as being the Internet Sales Manager myself I never recieved an e-mail from previous to this one? So please so not think that I did not contact you intentionally. So agian I cannot speak for anybody else here but, I can Speak for myself.
-Kevin
Kevin J. Keller Internet Sales Manager Lexus of Rockville
After being informed by my high priest Teen, I just had to investigate further. Apparently, Scientologists believe that aliens which are ruled by Xenu, possess every human. I had to do further research and this is what I found on Wikipedia.com:
"In Scientology doctrine, Xenu is a galactic ruler who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of people to Earth, stacked them around volcanoes, and blew them up with hydrogen bombs. Their souls then clustered together and stuck to the bodies of the living, and continue to cause people problems today. These events are known to Scientologists as "Incident II," and the traumatic memories associated with them as The Wall of Fire or the R6 implant. The story of Xenu is part of a much wider range of Scientology beliefs in extraterrestrial civilizations and alien interventions in Earthly events, collectively described by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology."
For a little bit of background, I feel like I need a new toy. So lately, I've been doing some car shopping. Particularly, I've been looking at the Acura RL, the Infiniti M35, and the Lexus GS300. This past Friday, I went to the Infiniti dealership and testdrove the new M35 awd. It's a sweet ride, with a lot of interior space, and a lot of fancy gadgets. There's just a few things that I don't think I can get over though. For instance, I can't help that it looks like a slightly bigger G35 sedan. Some may like it, but I don't. I don't like the tail lights for the M either. And the interior was the part that killed it for me. In the front, the steering wheel was very busy with a lot of buttons and junk. The dashboard was also very top heavy. The GPS screen and all associated buttons for all the fancy features were all on top. But once you got below the vents there was nothing there except the CD slot and a few preset buttons. It looked oddly empty on the bottom. The wood trim looked cheap too. It wasn't twinkly like other cars. Instead, it had a dull plastic look. I know it might be pretty nit picky, but if I'm going to be spending some serious cash, I want it right.
On Saturday, I went with Lindot to the Lexus of Rockville dealership to try and test drive a GS300. After waiting more than 45 minutes for a salesperson to come help, someone finally came to help me. Then they had "trouble locating the key to the car." What BS. I saw a Lexus employee drive back to the lot in a GS while they were allegedly looking for the missing key. Then, when I tried to be courteous and let them know that I was leaving, they didn't even offer me a friggin' business card. That pissed me off. And this isn't the first time I had issues with a dealership on Rockville Pike. Herson's Honda on the Pike tried to rip me off on the Civic Si back in 2000. I'll never forget they told me, they'd sell me the car for $18,900 no negotiation. The MSRP was $17,500. Such bullshit. I can't put up with that. So my spiteful side has been thinking of ways to stick it to them and one way or another tell them that they lost my business. Here are a few ideas:
The Englishman "Excuse me sir, but I think I will take my business elsewhere. Thank you"
The Spiteful Go back all dressed up and lead them on and then change my mind and walk out on them The Jerk Go back to the dealership and tell them that they're a bunch of a-holes and they lost my business and anyone else I know in the market for a Lexus
The Blow Smoke in Your Face Go next door and buy a Mercedes and then drive back to the Lexus lot and wave at the salespeople.
The Kick in the Nuts Pull out a wad of hundreds and give it to Lindot and say within earshot, "I told you they wouldn't help us, I guess you won the bet."
