Maserati dealers - heaven help us

[sionie1]

Up until recently I'd always thought the main dealers I'd dealt with had a good handle on customer service and the rest. After this mornings visit I'm not too sure, but worse still was the the overall attitude in the dealers as I sat there observing ( This is a shared dealership with Lambo). Firstly no loan car, one service advisor had given it away this morning and not told anyone, even though whilst he did it I was in the dealer and had signed the loan paperwork. 2nd chance loan car was delivered with 'WARNING DO NOT DRIVE- BRAKE PADS' ( not a Maserati, a 5 series BMW) so I nicely gave them the keys back. Then a 2 hour wait as I waited for a car to be collected from Enterprise - which is a CLA Mercedes ( not bad, not amazing but no warning lights so we have progress). So I arrived at 0915 and left at 1230......

What I did find interesting was all the service team had Lamborghini branded clothing, no-one had any Maserati branded tops at all other than a fleece on one of the salemen.
The Lambo dealership is having building work and has a result the Maserati showroom was thick with dust, the really fine stuff that gets everywhere, so all the cars have a fine covering, and so do I now I've got home, and the Maserati side is in need of a lick of paint and some TLC.

Then there's the way they operate. 1 salesman, at least one handover, 1 test drive ( which came from someone bringing their car in for tyres, along with a partner who said 'oooo I like that' at a Levante) and a sale/order that comes from that to a customer who already supports the brand. Then a walk in, want's to see a GT on the forecourt, priced at £86k. I'm sorry sir no we can't open it for you to sit in, would you like to wait at least an hour ( in our lovely dusty showroom) whilst the salesman does a handover says the friendly receptionist? No? Really - you can have a coffee while you wait?( but not a fancy nice coffee) No? Ok perhaps you can phone and book an appointment? No? Ok bye then.... I wanted to jump up and do the sale myself ! Now I understand that you can't have salesmen kicking about the place doing nothing, but I can't get my head around why only a 'salesman' can open the car for someone to look in. That doesn't make any sense at all, open the car from inside the showroom if it's a security issue, and for what it's worth, I'd have had the walk in down as a sale, everything about him and everything he said and did had ' Please sell to me, I want to buy' written over him.

I think Matt commented a while ago about the lack of dealers and the strength of the dealer network and support, and at the time I thought he was a little out, but following today I really can see why people give Maserati a miss - a lovely line up of cars but sorry you can't buy one, and that's when you can find a dealer without having to travel miles. This isn't the 1st time at this particular dealer that the whole courtesy vehicle arrangement as descended into farce BTW.

 

[Doohickey]

Agree - the Maserati dealer in Bradford is in the same building as BMW and Lotus and very much appears a BMW dealership from the outside. You have to walk through a sea of BMWs to reach the Maserati sales area and it doesn't give the impression of being somewhere you would want to buy a £200k car. They previously shared a showroom with Ferrari and next to Aston but were evicted when the split happen. Ferrari are having a new showroom built but the salesman said there's no intention to move Maserati back to Leeds when this is complete which shows what JCT think about the brand. I suppose I should be thankful that the only dealer in the north east is only a few miles from me rather than over 100 if I lived in Newcastle for example.

All the service people have BMW branded gear on to the extent that I wasn't sure I was talking to the right person when I took my car in. They did sort the problem and were very helpful but not the best impression.

 

[P R]

Yes I know the Bradford dealer.. They wont move back in with Ferrari as they (Ferrari) are now a seperate entity from the other Stellantis brands

 

[LiamP]

I know the dealer you are referring to @sionie1. I was there last week. To be honest I have found them to be super helpful and well organised..until the Lambo building work commenced. I think it has knocked the whole place sideways. The service on sales and servicing side has always, until now, been spot on. Only had cause to use a courtesy car once, got an Audi A6 so no issue there. My last visit wasn't great. They said it would only take 2 hours so agreed I would take my laptop and decided to wait. It took 4hrs. Coffee was only available black until they went and got some milk mid morning. It did smell of chaos. As I have had no previous issues willing to give them a break, but will see.... I have experienced some classic car sales blunders in my time. The best was at VW. "Can I test drive a Touraeg?" " No, sir, we don't have one available because we don't sell many..." one of my favourites....

 

[MaserMike]

The MD in Nottingham which has Ferrari & Maserati wasn’t much better sorting a few warranty issues out on my Levante… made to feel like an inconvenience as I phoned for progress updates and even booking it in, plus asking to fix some additional bits under warrant later on... Also the courtesy cars I was given was either a Mini One or Fiat 500-Abarth…. No other choices, jumping from a large SUV and having to transfer luggage etc.

One of the reasons why I ditched the Levante and ultimately my other 2x Maseratis recently…. Unfortunately Maserati don’t look after their customers and have closed down many dealerships in the UK. My local Audi dealership on the other hand have bent over backwards for us, yes different cars but for premium prices + cars I expect premium service, not substandard

 

[sionie1]

I know the dealer you are referring to @sionie1. I was there last week. To be honest I have found them to be super helpful and well organised..until the Lambo building work commenced. I think it has knocked the whole place sideways. The service on sales and servicing side has always, until now, been spot on. Only had cause to use a courtesy car once, got an Audi A6 so no issue there. My last visit wasn't great. They said it would only take 2 hours so agreed I would take my laptop and decided to wait. It took 4hrs. Coffee was only available black until they went and got some milk mid morning. It did smell of chaos. As I have had no previous issues willing to give them a break, but will see.... I have experienced some classic car sales blunders in my time. The best was at VW. "Can I test drive a Touraeg?" " No, sir, we don't have one available because we don't sell many..." one of my favourites....

I've used them since they opened, and it's got worse over time. The technicians are great, very friendly and I met the dealer principle last time I was there. ( I was locked out at 0845 because the reception team hadn't started.......) who was good but then you'd expect that. As a last addition on my observations, someone phoned having purchased a GT ( but not from them) wanting to find out about the build sheet. Instead of either trying to help or direct the person to Maserati UK the trainee was told to phone him back and say ' We can't help, you didn't get the car from us'. That's not customer service for Maserati UK and the brand. If I was that person I certainly wouldn't be taking my car there for servicing ( which is where they can make money!). The best answer for great customer service would be to try, or simply say here are Maserati UK's contact details, you'll need to provide a VIN and proof you own the car. It's only training that's required here, on Customer Excellence.
I agree it's not marque specific, I've complained previously to Skoda UK after my dad and I spent 45 mins trying to get attention in a local dealer. In fairness Skoda UK dealt with it really well, and we got a significant ( and I mean significant) discount on a Superb and years ago a dealer on the Wirral actually asked me if I could afford the car, which was a SLK, after I drove onto the forecourt in a car worth more. I guess the point is if you're operating on reduced dealership network, the ones left really do need to be on the ball, 100% of the time.

 

[sionie1]

The MD in Nottingham which has Ferrari & Maserati wasn’t much better sorting a few warranty issues out on my Levante… made to feel like an inconvenience as I phoned for progress updates and even booking it in, plus asking to fix some additional bits under warrant later on... Also the courtesy cars I was given was either a Mini One or Fiat 500-Abarth…. No other choices, jumping from a large SUV and having to transfer luggage etc.

One of the reasons why I ditched the Levante and ultimately my other 2x Maseratis recently…. Unfortunately Maserati don’t look after their customers and have closed down many dealerships in the UK. My local Audi dealership on the other hand have bent over backwards for us, yes different cars but for premium prices + cars I expect premium service, not substandard

I agree. I certainly makes you reconsider the brand.

 

[ratbag]

Jaguar are no better. Went into my local dealer Jardines in Tonbridge with a view to buying a new F-Type. Parked the GT right outside the main showroom door, they could hardly miss a huge silver gleaming GT parked (literally) on their doorstep. And if there is a customer type who is going to trade up to an F-Type its a Maserati GT owner. Totally ignored when I went in. Lots of staff all busy, and wierdly no eye contact from anyone. Had a good look round an F-TYpe in the showroom, (locked) Took TEN minutes to find someone to unlock the car) who then walked away ("sorry busy with a customer") Clearly I was unimportant. So I left and bought the F-Type from another (great) dealer.

 

[LiamP]

I've used them since they opened, and it's got worse over time. The technicians are great, very friendly and I met the dealer principle last time I was there. ( I was locked out at 0845 because the reception team hadn't started.......) who was good but then you'd expect that. As a last addition on my observations, someone phoned having purchased a GT ( but not from them) wanting to find out about the build sheet. Instead of either trying to help or direct the person to Maserati UK the trainee was told to phone him back and say ' We can't help, you didn't get the car from us'. That's not customer service for Maserati UK and the brand. If I was that person I certainly wouldn't be taking my car there for servicing ( which is where they can make money!). The best answer for great customer service would be to try, or simply say here are Maserati UK's contact details, you'll need to provide a VIN and proof you own the car. It's only training that's required here, on Customer Excellence.
I agree it's not marque specific, I've complained previously to Skoda UK after my dad and I spent 45 mins trying to get attention in a local dealer. In fairness Skoda UK dealt with it really well, and we got a significant ( and I mean significant) discount on a Superb and years ago a dealer on the Wirral actually asked me if I could afford the car, which was a SLK, after I drove onto the forecourt in a car worth more. I guess the point is if you're operating on reduced dealership network, the ones left really do need to be on the ball, 100% of the time.

Must admit sales performance at most dealers I have ever visited has not been what I would expect from any of my staff. Maybe its the industry ‍♂️.

 

[LiamP]

Jaguar are no better. Went into my local dealer Jardines in Tonbridge with a view to buying a new F-Type. Parked the GT right outside the main showroom door, they could hardly miss a huge silver gleaming GT parked (literally) on their doorstep. And if there is a customer type who is going to trade up to an F-Type its a Maserati GT owner. Totally ignored when I went in. Lots of staff all busy, and wierdly no eye contact from anyone. Had a good look round an F-TYpe in the showroom, (locked) Took TEN minutes to find someone to unlock the car) who then walked away ("sorry busy with a customer") Clearly I was unimportant. So I left and bought the F-Type from another (great) dealer.

Don’t get me started on Jaguar. They lost me as a customer forever when I returned to a dealer with the same fault for the 5th time, to be given their vauxhall corsa parts van as the courtesy car!!!!

 

[Gooner]

I think car buying is moving online like many other expensive goods have.

You can book your F-Type test drive online at jaguar.co.uk, then afterwards order exactly the config you want from the website. We like to think its about personal service, building a relationship etc. but it just isn’t any more. Definitely not for the younger generation who staff car dealers. They assume if you are serious you have already done everything online. Our local JLR garage is so bad on every level that I stopped going there as soon as my wife’s Evoque service plan was finished. Our local Ford garage told my daughter after she test drove the Mustang EV (nearly £40k) that the only next step was to order it online, they wouldn’t actually take an order in the dealer. Volvo don’t even call it buying a car now, it’s a subscription.

Watches went the same way a while ago, expensive clothes and trainers as well.

Much as I enjoyed the old days, I’ve accepted that the world has moved on and by going to a dealer and expecting to chat to a like minded sales person, I’m actually just making life harder for myself.

(Just one reason I’m sticking with a 20 year old Spyder )

 

[sionie1]

Contrast the Maserati experience with Mercedes Birmingham, night and day. Although I will say Mercedes Ellesmere Port didn't cover themselves in glory. Birmingham Mercedes - a welcome at the door, a coffee and real attention to detail for customer satisfaction. Our little girl ordered a hot chocolate and when it arrived, with another hostess, she said ' I've made it warm and not hot because it's for the little girl'. The little un' felt a million dollars and all grown up, we felt welcomed, valued, thought these are the kind of business we want to deal with and bought a car....... Hang on..... that was a dear hot chocolate.............

 

[Ryandoc]

Have used JCT Leeds for the last 6 years. Next service will be with Marios.

Exhaust valve playing up, asked them how much to replace the SOV, not cheap sir. Told them it need sorting at the service. We’ve fixed it sir it’s working. Drove out the showroom wasn’t working. Local garage fixed it for about £150

Gearbox fault I had, number numerous calls and emails. I was even telling them what to look at and try. Car into garage. Numerous calls, yes we’re speaking to Maserati in Italy ( horse sh1t).
Car is fixed sir. Drove it out the garage and still the same. Marios fixed it with a few hours labour and was like a new car.

**** useless

I don’t actually understand how a garage / dealership wouldn’t want it’s mechies to actually be sh1t hot and build up an amazing reputation it’s mind boggling. If I was the manager I’d be expecting my team to be the best their is.

 

[c4sman]

The above posts are a sad reality (certainly of Maserati) and I can’t understand why they’re investing millions/billions into building their new range of cars (MC20, GT and whatever is next) but shrinking their dealer and service network. Set up for failure and penalise loyal customers doesn’t seem a good plan. Had an amazing first class experience buying my GT from Marenello last year, but suspect that’s the exception and not sure how long it will persist. Big shame.

 

[Andyk]

Maserati have a big issue with the dealer network….or lack of it….The service you got when they were part of Ferrari was head and shoulders above where they are now. I wouldn’t even know where my nearest Maserati dealer is now that Dick Lovett no longer are main dealers for them. Have to say though that I have nothing but praise for the Dick Lovett network as no matter what dealership I have visited you get great treatment from Mini to Aston Martin.

 

[MikeyMaser]

The only reason to take your Maserati to a dealer is for the stamp in the service book. That's what I'll be doing. For anything else, off to Marios or similar.

 

[sionie1]

The above posts are a sad reality (certainly of Maserati) and I can’t understand why they’re investing millions/billions into building their new range of cars (MC20, GT and whatever is next) but shrinking their dealer and service network. Set up for failure and penalise loyal customers doesn’t seem a good plan. Had an amazing first class experience buying my GT from Marenello last year, but suspect that’s the exception and not sure how long it will persist. Big shame.

Yes, I should say we purchased from Maranello and had a good experience, although even here, the person whose car it was previously had traded up into a Ferrari and took ages to send paperwork in, and because he was a Ferrari customer they wouldn't chase him. It took 5 months.....

 

[conaero]

Dick Lovett we are/are really good. They have/had Alan in charge of the workshop and he is/was a top bloke. Down to earth, super helpfully and not ‘stuffy’

Anyone know if he’s still there?

 

[Phil H]

Dick Lovett we are/are really good. They have/had Alan in charge of the workshop and he is/was a top bloke. Down to earth, super helpfully and not ‘stuffy’

Anyone know if he’s still there?

He was there in January, and I'm sure he still is.

 

[StuartW]

Graypaul Nottingham have shared the site with Ferrari for many years but now there is a glass wall running down the middle, I don't know what the set up is behind the scenes in the workshop & parts department.
I would imagine that Maserati will be in their own premises in the near future, it seems that the red side of the dealership no longer wish to have them there