its annoying how assorted vehicle dealerships cant be upfront and honest about pricing. this sort of bullshit sales tactic has been going on since cars first were sold and considering its the 21st century, its high time it stopped.
I stopped at a motorcycle dealership on a whim today to look at bikes. After wandering around and looking at a few i was interested in, not a single one had a
price. eventually one of the salesmen came over and started a conversation. the first thing i asked was why none of the bikes had prices on them. his anti-eloquent reply was 'so people have a reason to talk to the sales reps.' my answer was 'yea they would...if they wanted to buy something.' i wasnt happy with him or his idiotic pricing theories so i walked off.
In a different section of the store another salesman struck up a conversation. he was significantly less annoying than the first so i was generally polite...plus i saw a
bike i was more interested in. he was overly insistent that i take a bike for a 'test drive' while i was even more insistent that, no, im not taking it for a test drive. (for those that dont know, its a typical manipulation technique to get someone overly attached to something by having them test drive/ride it.)
after the typical sales banter of how this bike was the best thing since a jesus christ turd, and the lowest prices imaginable, along with some of the stereotypical manipulative sales banter, etc, etc, i managed to get a price from him. ok...fine...go run to the sekrit backroom and do whatever it is you people do behind the magic curtain to see about making this happen. i suspect the sales manager is back there offering rubdowns, hand jobs, or other assorted sexual stimulation to ensure their sales lackeys are sufficiently motivated to sell something.
he camped out back there for a most definitely excessive period of time...more than would be needed to run any sort of credit check or fill out any paperwork. when he finally did find his way back to the sales floor, goddammit...the first thing he asked me what what kind of payment i could afford. the typical sales-jockey approach to eeking out every penny from their victims. i was clear that i was interested in the actual sales price, not payments. he actually gave me some sort of printout/invoice type of thingy...which im sure is purely for the benefit of propaganda and had no realistic figures. on it was now all kinds of add-ons that increased the price of the bike by almost $4k. shipping...freight...handling...some absurd registration fees...and a few others i cant recall. a problem was one of his sales pitches from earlier was the freight/handling/shipping fees were supposed to be waived...along with some other fees. being a dick never works out in these cases so i played at being a good, stupid, buyer. after the general back-and-forth unpleasantries that seem to be the norm in dealerships, i left, assuring him i'd keep in touch. at this point ill let him think about it over the holiday weekend and depending on him and his back-room-buddy either coming down off the price some, or inviting me back there for the sales manager to offer me a bj or two, i may or may not have a new bike next week. its entirely up to their generosity.
we'll see how badly they want to sell a bike
Edit: forgot to mention...when the salesman went back behind the curtain he brought my drivers license with hin to make sure I couldnt leave. Another sales tactic
