4 years ago
Stephen Flemal made my buying experience.
Stephen Flemal made my buying experience.
TLDR; When it is busy, you need to seek out a sales person as they might not respond to you based on your profile. Stephen is a great representation of what Walser staff should strive for, and provided me with confidence in my first new-vehicle purchase.
As someone in the arts, I tend to not have the suit and tie look that could be associated with buying a new car. I understand the ease of profiling me as someone who would be there to "joyride"... that would be wrong. I am a person who researches and investigates for months as to not waste another person's time. I came in to the dealership on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so needless to say it was busy. Knowing the CX5 was the vehicle for me, after months of looking at a variety of cars online, it was time to test drive one. I walk in, as you would expect salespeople and customers everywhere, and initially I appreciated the lack of pounce associated a potential sale. I stroll around the various makes on the show floor, without a single person acknowledging me. Again I get it, busy. Receptionist ignored me with work, eyes down--thats fine. I make it to the CX5 on the showroom floor and precede to walk around it a couple times. I sit in the drivers seat and skim the material in the glove box and not one person has talked with me. I put it back, and precede to press all the buttons inside (as any good customer of a dealership should do), still no one. I get it. I'm sitting in the car, who could see me? I then get into the back seat, make sure my larger frame fits comfortably. I slide over to the passenger side and exit the vehicle. I get into the front passenger seat and give that a try, still no assistance from anyone--at this point I'm feeling the repeated "I don't want to deal with that" glances from the staff. I get out and, you know, shut a car door inside of a building, so obviously people looked in my direction. Another five minutes goes by, as I am opening and closing the rear hatch, folding up and down the rear seats, with multiple doors of the vehicle open. I get around to the driver side and am messing seat so it folds down completely, when Stephen walks with a casual greeting of "How's it going?"
I respond with "Well, I would really like to talk with someone." (I guess that is why this post is so long....).
Stephen responds with "No one has talked with you!?!? Let me finish up what I'm doing and I will be over in two minutes."
Two minutes later I am talking with someone!
Soooo after 25-30 minutes of not having any help from anyone, I am glad Stephen was the person I got to work with. This is where all the negativity I have with Walser Mazda ends. As mentioned before I know the ins and outs of this vehicle as I have been reviewing it for over 6 months. Stephen doesn't skip a beat and knew all answers to all questions I had. We got in one and went for a test drive. As conversations unfold it becomes evident that I know this is the car I want, I am at a time where buying a new car makes sense, and it is Stephen who gave me confidence with the potential of the Mazda brand and the Walser employee training program. The car was sold before I entered the dealership... I left it to how I was treated as a customer to decide where I would buy. Walser, You are lucky to have an employee like Stephen Flemal, as you would not have this sale if I had to wait any longer to be acknowledged.
Stephen not only went the extra mile in getting me the vehicle I wanted, but made the transaction of that new vehicle incredibly fluid and easy to do away from the dealership. This allowed me to walk in, sign some papers and drive away in under an hour. I can't express how grateful I am to have worked with Stephen, He truly made my buying experience. I made him a thank you card that I wanted to share with you.
Sorry for my rambling but I hope this review addresses the issue of stereotypes associated with new-car buyers. The 9-5 is dying and so is the look associated with it--be ready for younger buyers in jeans and hats.