HBL in Tysons Corner, VA
Victor Abdelmalek
Just wanted to hear about any past experiences with this dealership,
good or bad.
I have a story of my own to tell, but I'd like to hear some other
opinions first.
Thanks in advance.
Victor
TANFARM
east coast , I hope my stories are better than your's .
John
HBL vetern
m0ng0
I agree with John 100%...this is the worst dealer to purchase your car
from...in my opinion. They will talk to you, if and only, if you drive onto
the lot with a high-end luxury car. There service department is by far the
worst organization that I've ever seen. I had two repeated issues with my
'99 Boxster, so I spoke with the service manager. He listened to my story (I
was very polite and respectful), yet he begin to insult my intelligence. He
also told me that he would have the regional Porsche Rep. call me, but that
call never came, even after a follow-on discussion with the service
manager...VERY poor organization to support! My bet is on Heishman
(http://www.heishman.com/) ...at least that is where I'm taking my future
business.
Take care,
Wally
"TANFARM" <tan...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20020313112739...@mb-bh.aol.com...
Victor Abdelmalek
Just wanted to say "thanks" to all who replied!
Anyway, I figured I would explain what my experience with HBL was.
About 2 months ago, my sister had an urgent need to buy a new car. Her
1987 Toyota Corolla was on it's last legs so she had to make a purchase
pretty soon. She had her heart set on a CLK convertible so I went to
HBL with her to have a look around. After being ignored for quite some
time (there were more than a few salesmen just sitting at their desks
staring off into space), we finally got a salesman who told us the wait
on the car could be anywhere from 2 days to 2 years depending on what
she wanted.
Well, I had heard lots of great things about the Audi S4, so I convinced
her to take it for a spin. She (and I) fell in love with the car. In
any case, being the types to do a lot of price comparison before buying
anything, we thanked the salesman for his time and told him we would be
in touch.
The following weekend, we visited HBL again with my other sister to get
her opinion on the car. She is a very practical type and vocalized her
opinion that she could not quite see the point in spending 40K on a
sport sedan and I suppose in some way, she must have offended the
salesman when she asked that he give us a few minutes to speak in
private about the car. Anyway, we left again without buying the car.
All that next week, the salesman kept calling my sister about the car
and she told him if he could come down to $39,500 on the car she would
buy it. He was dead-set on $39,900 and neither of the two would budge.
Finally, that following weekend, after getting fed up with the whole
thing, I convinced my sister to just go in and buy the damn car - after
all she loved it, and it was only 400 bucks!
So, we went in, she bought the car and left - it was a pretty uneventful
sale, other than the fact that the salesman made mention of the fact
that my other sister had upset him on our prior visit.
About two weeks later, I bought a 2000 S4 from Winner Audi in Newark,
Deleware.
A couple weeks passed and my sister got a call that her permanent
license plates had come in so she stopped by HBL to pick them up. While
she was there she asked to speak to the sales manager - partly to thank
him, but also to make mention of the fact that although she bought the
car she was pretty disappointed about the fact that the salesmen were so
unwilling to help us the first day we went in to look at cars.
Anyway, the sales manager, Ronnie Marino, came out to speak to my sister
and she asked him if he would prefer to speak in his office, away from
the other customers. He apparantly told me sister that they may as well
go in his office to "get it over with". He also said, "I know you are
just here to blast me, I heard what happened earlier when you were
buying the car". Unclear about what he was referring to, my sister
asked him to elaborate, and he mentioned that my other sister had
apparently been rude to the salesmen and the sales manager said that he
had seen the whole thing.
First of all, I can honestly say that neither of my two sisters was ever
"rude" to the salesman, and I also know for a fact that there is no way
the sales manager ever saw anything he claims to have seen. To make a
long story short, at the end of the conversation, the sales manager told
my sister that she was NOT welcome to ever purchase a vehicle from HBL
again. Furious, my sister asked to get the name of the owner of the
dealership and this Marino guy told her that he WAS one of the owners.
So I was basically trying to find out which of the other dealers in the
Northern VA area you all would recommend because I can honestly say that
neither my sister nor I will EVER take either one of our S4's to HBL for
anything, and no member of my family, or fiends for that matter, will
ever purchase another vehicle from them.
I also wanted to get some opinions on what to do about the situation. I
recommended filing a complaint with Audi of America and possibly the
BBB. Any ideas?
Thanks.
Victor
Andrew Stephenson
vabd...@mitre.org "Victor Abdelmalek" writes:
> Hi,
>
> Just wanted to say "thanks" to all who replied!
>
> Anyway, I figured I would explain what my experience with HBL was.
>
> [story about offensive sales staff at HBL]
When something like that happens, I find it depressing. Chances
are that the salesman who thought your sister was being rude was
not too bright or too full of his own wondrousness or some such.
He no doubt went and told his version of it to the boss, who may
have seen _something_ but from a distance or only in part. And
witnesses can be brainwashed by an explanation that fits whatever
they thought they saw, especially if it's provided quickly. The
corporate culture of HBL may include the idea that Customers Are
The Enemy And Hate Us. I wonder where they might get that idea?
For very similar reasons, I shall in future go a _long_ way to
avoid the Comfort Inn of Monte Vista CO and would advise friends
to be wary of it, thanks to the behaviour of a senior management
type there, who confused me with another customer over the July
4th weekend of 1999 (I think he was going by a report passed to
him verbally by the desk clerk) and aggressively accused me of
much bad behaviour. Nastiest American I ever met, whereas most
have been agreeable. *shrug* I think it was my beard and his
age: in the 1940s when he formed his opinions, Beards == Bad Men.
Once he had that idea in his head, there was no room for updates.
These people exist. I think you are well rid of HBL, if that's
the kind of nerk they keep around the place. In due time they'll
arrange their own punishment.
--
Andrew Stephenson
Elroy the Seedy Impaler
<vabd...@mitre.org> wrote:
>Hi,
>
>Just wanted to say "thanks" to all who replied!
>
>Anyway, I figured I would explain what my experience with HBL was.
>
< snipped encounter with thin-skinned, overly sensitive boobs (not the
good kind either) >
>
>I also wanted to get some opinions on what to do about the situation. I
>recommended filing a complaint with Audi of America and possibly the
>BBB. Any ideas?
I had a bad experience with Cascade in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, too. I
called Audi USA to let them know that one of their dealers was trying
to keep a deposit on a car that didn't exist. Audi USA said that they
could do nothing about it, but that they would record the complaint.
The woman on the phone seemed genuine, but I don't think that they can
do much about it.
I have never taken my vehicle for service to Cascade, and I never
will. The BBB has several complaints against them, one of them mine.
That is all you can really do. I hope you find a good dealership.
Elroy
olc...@home.com
<vabd...@mitre.org> wrote:
Don't worry about it. Nobody who has experienced HBL's customer
service ever buys another car from them anyway.
John Garrison
I've always wanted to have some fun with pompous car salesmen. These
guy's sound like the perfect people to play with. Whereabouts in
Virginia is Tysons Corner? ;-)
Victor Abdelmalek
John Garrison wrote:
>
>
>
> I've always wanted to have some fun with pompous car salesmen. These
> guy's sound like the perfect people to play with. Whereabouts in
> Virginia is Tysons Corner? ;-)
Tyson's is in Northern VA about 15 minutes outside of Washington DC.
Victor