any aftermarket sales stories?
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URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=126624
Printed Date: May 14, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Topic: any aftermarket sales stories?
Posted By: Mike M2
Subject: any aftermarket sales stories?
Date Posted: March 19, 2011 at 8:56 AM
Man, some of these aftermarket salespeople are really not all there. I have aton of stories about some of the dumb stuff they have done, anybody else?
I had one last year, added a factory look alike cruise control to a Tacoma. It is the type you remove the airbag and it mounts right to the steering wheel. I finished the install and delivered the car, left. I got a call an hour later, the aftermarkey girl was screaming "you put the controls in upside down!!!". Ugh, i told her to turn the steering wheel...
A girl just a few weeks ago told me to go to the customers house and install a DVD player. I did, and the guy quickly told me it isn't correct. He bought headrest DVD's, not an overhead. I rechecked my order form, she messed up. We ended up adding the headrests and leaving the overhead in to cover the new hole in the headliner. This mistake cost her 700 bucks.
I can't tell you how many times a aftermarket girl has called me to tell me she can't get the key to turn in the switch and that i must have done something wrong. I can think of at least twice i had to drive to the dealership only to turn the sterring wheel a little to get the key to move.
On that note, i even had one that couldn't get the E brake off because she didn't know you have to lift up on it while you push the button in.
I'll think of more later... ------------- Mike M2
Tech Manager
CS Dealer Services
Replies:
Posted By: t&t tech
Date Posted: March 19, 2011 at 4:12 PM
I've had that one with the key not wanting to turn experience beacuse of the steering lock, lol,
I've even had someone tell me since we did the alarm she keeps getting shocked from the car, well, needless to say i was speechless for a few seconds until i realized she was serious and wanted us to fix her problem.
I've got alot but i just discovered this thread, so i'll rethink and post back with more. ------------- COMMIT YOUR WAY TO JEHOVAH AND HE WILL ACT IN YOUR BEHALF.
PSALMS 37:5
Posted By: howie ll
Date Posted: March 20, 2011 at 6:06 PM
Sales people = morons, don't even start me off.
Wrong product (often).
Alarm South East London morning, alarm South West London, afternoon, I protest and they point out that they are only 13 miles apart I reply that this is London, allow 4 hours to do the 13 miles.
Told many years ago to put a stereo, 4 speakers and an auto aerial in the (only) Alfa behind the showroom...you know where this one's going.
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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.
Posted By: t&t tech
Date Posted: March 20, 2011 at 8:37 PM
The thing with sales people is that they don't understand the nature of this field and for some reason this particular field of work has every preconceived notion from all different angles that sometimes the absurdness of the persons really baffles you, no joke.
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COMMIT YOUR WAY TO JEHOVAH AND HE WILL ACT IN YOUR BEHALF.
PSALMS 37:5
Posted By: howie ll
Date Posted: March 21, 2011 at 1:48 AM
And let's not forget the customer classic_ "the alarm has flattened my battery".
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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.
Posted By: t&t tech
Date Posted: March 21, 2011 at 5:16 PM
Ahhhhhhhhh yes howard, i've heard that so many times in my few years, i can just imagine the amount of times you've heard it. I've actually started to charge now when they come back with that story, really, and they pay too, when they could have taken my advice for free, i tell them it's either we temporarily disconnect the alarm and they can monitor the vehicle's battery over the period, or they can take my opinion that it isn't the alarm causing their problems for free, 99% of the time they would pay to have it disconnected and then pay again to have it reconnected.
Oh well, what can i say, it's all in the job, i guess. ------------- COMMIT YOUR WAY TO JEHOVAH AND HE WILL ACT IN YOUR BEHALF.
PSALMS 37:5
Posted By: howie ll
Date Posted: March 21, 2011 at 5:22 PM
To the point where I once benched a Toad Cat 1 alarm (Avital Maxx clone) after the customer insisted I remove it. I then sent him a solicitor's (lawyer's)letter with the perfectly normal results (current draw etc.)so I didn't have to return his money, he had no legal grounds for making me remove it, promising court action etc. In fact come October November with the seasonal drop in temperature I will guarantee that every call-out blaming the alarm, immobiliser, etc is a bloody flat battery.
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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.
Posted By: Mike M2
Date Posted: March 23, 2011 at 8:46 PM
Recently i had a new Tundra for a remote start. Works fine for 4 months, no problems. One day the guy comes into the dealership and says "i can't start the truck using the key. I gotta remote start it first and takeover with the key to go anywhere". The immobilizer light would still flash even when he used the key. Service says "we gotta get that aftermarket RS out and install a Toyota RS, that'll fix it". My first word to them was "ok, your gonna take out the part that works to fix the part that doesn't, huh?"
I pulled the RS, even charged them an hour which they were very unhappy about. The tech called me later and told me they had to replace the amplifier coil around the key cylinder. Hope the guy likes the Toyota RS.... ------------- Mike M2
Tech Manager
CS Dealer Services
Posted By: t&t tech
Date Posted: March 23, 2011 at 9:32 PM
Gotta love these idiots. Seriously.
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COMMIT YOUR WAY TO JEHOVAH AND HE WILL ACT IN YOUR BEHALF.
PSALMS 37:5
Posted By: howie ll
Date Posted: March 24, 2011 at 2:27 AM
Got to give you some background here, back in 1980 BMW UK decided that everything was going to be installed in-house at it's dealerships.
When the E46 came out, I'm installing a Blackjax, no one knows a tach point but I notice a thin black wire at the OBD (data socket), I ring the local dealership, "Is it the tach wire, it measures correctly?"
"No it's all data bring the car in (at £120 = $180 per hour)and we will find it for you".
Well I didn't and it was.
Mid 90s same dealership, the sales dept. is sending new cars to us to install auto-changers and head units, we were taking about 35 minutes per install (2 of us per job), their works were taking about 4 hours and charging accordingly.
About 98, the first X5, big audio/video job, 3-4 days, disconnected the battery, dashboard like a Christmas tree when finished, they charged us $75 to walk out to the car, place seat covers in it and plug into the diagnostics to clear the lights.
Since then on ALL late cars we almost never disconnect the battery, we run trickle chargers whilst working on them.
I hated fighting the dealerships rather than working with them.
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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.
Posted By: Mike M2
Date Posted: March 26, 2011 at 5:16 PM
Hey i have one aftermarket girl that i have delt with for an easy 13 years. She loves to sell upgrade alarms, easy install and a good money maker for most. The other day we were outside and i armed one in a Camry, she jumped to say "that beep sure is loud! How come it is beeping so loud? We gotta do something about it.". Now, she has sold at least 5000 of these and is sure demonstrate all of them to the customer. Every one of the 5000 has beeped the exact same as this one for the last 13 years, yet somehow this one is different i guess. She is getting old, maybe senile? ------------- Mike M2
Tech Manager
CS Dealer Services
Posted By: howie ll
Date Posted: March 26, 2011 at 6:17 PM
Did she go to the doc to have the wax removed from her ears?
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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.
Posted By: the12volt
Date Posted: March 26, 2011 at 6:36 PM
.oO( Hangover? ) -------------  the12volt • Support the12volt.com
Posted By: howie ll
Date Posted: March 26, 2011 at 7:07 PM
Reminds me in a way of the customer who insisted the range on his unit was too great!
What's worse, it was a dealer fit in a Mazda, nothing to do with me.
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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.
Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: March 26, 2011 at 9:51 PM
I am beginning to feel like a real idiot. I am now a Salesperson.
Posted By: howie ll
Date Posted: March 27, 2011 at 3:05 AM
I gleaned this from your FB site. Does this mean no more alligator wrestling and more time for food sampling?
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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.
Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: March 27, 2011 at 4:34 AM
A lot of changes took place Howie. My old schedule was 10 to 3 Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. As long as I got my repairs done and was there between those hours, I was good. New Schedule is, If we are open, I am there. The occasional day off is usually spent installing tracking devices. I have not cooked at work in a really long time. The Big Green Egg just sits there.
Posted By: howie ll
Date Posted: March 27, 2011 at 4:49 AM
Our last repairman saw the way the future was unfolding and quit about 7 years ago to learn wiring and signalling repairs on the London Underground, after 6 months training he works nights and is on £100,000 ($150,000) a year with overtime.
Our latest trackers are 3" x 3" x 1/2" with a separate GPS antenna, they work via analogue or CAN data. They initialise in about 20secs.
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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.
Posted By: quadforce david
Date Posted: March 27, 2011 at 7:18 AM
i am an idiot wrote:
A lot of changes took place Howie. My old schedule was 10 to 3 Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. As long as I got my repairs done and was there between those hours, I was good. New Schedule is, If we are open, I am there. The occasional day off is usually spent installing tracking devices. I have not cooked at work in a really long time. The Big Green Egg just sits there.
Your location shows Louisiana, what store do you work for? Your store may do business with the company I work for. I too sometimes feel like I'm missing out on what goes on in the bay. I still do a lot of install work to stay sharp, so as to not be "an idiot" when someone asks me questions about a specific vehicle.
I think the best stories almost always include the phrase "I took it to the dealer and they said it was the alarm". Then you ask, "did they do anything to the car?". And the customer responds, "they saw the transmitter on the key and then said that was the problem". "Their technician took the car into the garage area and disconnected my alarm and now the problem is still there". They look at you with that lost expression and say, "what do I do now?" ------------- Tech from 85 - 02 for two large companies in Dallas TX | Sales from 02 - 09 |Distributor sales from 09 - present.
Typically the best installers are salesmen and the best salesmen were installers.
Posted By: howie ll
Date Posted: March 27, 2011 at 7:30 AM
Over here when someone says the RAC/AA (= AAA) looked at it and says....I just roll my eyes and laugh.
By the way David, it's Mr.Idiot to you.
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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.
Posted By: t&t tech
Date Posted: March 27, 2011 at 12:44 PM
Our sales girl has been with the company for about eight years now and has sold so many vipers with the carjacking feature where it shuts off the vehicle after 90 seconds (not recommended by dei, but not practical either where i live), and after this long, she calls me in to ask, " a customer says he has a diesel vehicle and he wants to know if the vrs will be compatible", LOL, i should have said no, diesel vehicles don't have an ignition. ------------- COMMIT YOUR WAY TO JEHOVAH AND HE WILL ACT IN YOUR BEHALF.
PSALMS 37:5
Posted By: quadforce david
Date Posted: March 27, 2011 at 8:25 PM
howie ll wrote:
Over here when someone says the RAC/AA (= AAA) looked at it and says....I just roll my eyes and laugh.
By the way David, it's Mr.Idiot to you.
I can see I'm going to get along well with you.
Thanks for the heads up. ------------- Tech from 85 - 02 for two large companies in Dallas TX | Sales from 02 - 09 |Distributor sales from 09 - present.
Typically the best installers are salesmen and the best salesmen were installers.
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