Projo Cars Blog

If there is any merit to the legal motion against Bill Heard Enterprises seeking penalties of more than $50 million for deceptive marketing and alleged signature forgery, it is hard to feel sorry for Columbus, Georgia-based Bill "Mr. Big Volume" Heard.

Auto dealerships are infamous for hard sales practices and indifferent service and many consumers have told me how miserable their experience was in buying this or that car.

The dealers, meanwhile, make a song and dance about how their success depends on treating the customer well, how one sale will lead to another.

Many dealers hold to that philosophy which is true for any type of business involving sales. Trust is crucial in any relationship, personal or professional.

But all too often, it seems that essential ingredient is lost on some dealers in the pursuit of sales and in the maxing out of profits.

I remember a hideous experience I had in Dallas when I moved there in the late 1980s and bought a car and a house. Frankly, buying the house was a breeze compared to the psychological spins I went through buying the car.

The most brilliant tactic was to call me late in the negotiations when a payment plan had been all but settled and to say that there was a setback in the financing. The dealer, it seemed, just could not make it work at the level we had discussed and could I come in to discuss the situation.

I came in full of trepidation expecting an additional $20 or so more on my monthly payment, which I could barely afford. After fiddling around with his calculator and sighing and rolling his eyes, the dealer turned to me shaking his head sadly and informed me that the deal could only work with an additional monthly payment of five or six dollars.

I was so relieved that I practically slumped to the ground in a pool of my own urine to kiss his feet. Only later did I realize that I was thanking him for removing an additional $300 to $360 from my pocket over five years for no apparent reason other than the fandango he played on his calculator.

Brilliant! But it left a bad taste in my mouth that lasts to this day.

Sadly, I recently bought a used car from a local dealer which shall remain nameless and although the deal went through fine and I love the car, the follow-up service was abysmal.

The dealership said it would register it for me, but it took call after call to get it done. Making calls that are not answered or not returned in a timely manner is humiliating and infuriating and it has left an equally bad taste in my mouth.

It does not seem to me that hard to make the connection between providing good service and being successful in business. This is particularly true in the auto business where consumers are parting with very large sums of money and making big financial commitments. They are understandably wary.

Good dealers get it.

But dealers that are focused on marketing, on just getting the deal done, on "big volume," end up with unhappy customers and potential consumer complaints, legal liabilities and, in Bill Heard's case, bankruptcy.

- Peter C.T. Elsworth

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