I’ve had more negative interactions than positive ones with multiple brokers here. Each could not take no for an answer if, after asking more questions about the deal, I uncovered undisclosed new information that made me walk away (additional transport fees, weird specs, etc).
I messaged one while I was on vacation in Europe and got chewed out because it was outside of business hours in America.
You (brokers) have availed yourselves to customer inquiries by posting your ads, contact information and deals. The nature of your work does not reflect a Monday through Friday 9-5 schedule - especially when you are garnening client streams from a website that is accessible 24/7 7 days a week, including holidays. With that said it is completely up to you when to respond and it is completely up to you if you choose to respond to a Sunday inquiry on a Monday. In fact, it is up to you to not to respond at all if you so choose. This is your business.
However - what you cant do is ridicule people for responding to your solicitations whenever they choose to…people can be in a different time zone, people can be in a rush for a car, people can also be bored out of their fucking mind - you have availed yourself to all of that the moment you posted your contact information on this website and said “Contact me, I am your guy if you want a car.”
On the other hand, from a client’s perspective, if I reach out to a broker and the broker chooses not to respond - I simply move on to a different broker (or handle it myself.) It is such a replaceable service that I cannot understand a person who would take the time to complain about non-responsive brokers. From my own experience, I do not think I have been ever ignored a broker from LH but some extenral brokers have ghosted me or lagged responses at which point I simply moved on…
How was business for these guys if this site never existed? I see some use their resources on Reddit. How much does business from this site really give to these guys? I would think majority of their sale fees. I personally haven’t had a bad experience with anyone although I was in touch with 2 and they were helpful.
I just want to clarify your position. If a real estate agent has their mobile number posted on a Zillow ad, you believe it is appropriate for any customer to call their mobile number any time of day because Zillow is 24/7?
And if that agent is licensed in only one state (ex. MD) and a person calls them at 4am from another state (say CA) to ask them about being a buyer’s agent in CA (where they are not licensed and do not conduct business), that MD agent should not be upset about the call?
First, the examples in this thread (i.e., Aronchi’s fit over text) are vastly different from someone calling at 4 AM. Even with that, a 4 AM call can be a product of someone misjudging time zones (unlikely but so is a 4 AM call scenario.) And going back to Aronchi’s post - it being a weekend does not give the agent/broker a pass to be mad or act bothered wtf lol you’re in sales buddy (people reach out whenever you respond whenever you see fit.)
Second, someone in CA asking an MD broker about shipping a car (even if the title of the thread says “No Out Of State”) is expected enough as an unfortunate externality and like I said the broker has full right to ignore. Breaking news - people can’t always follow simple directions but are generally coming with good intentions. Brokers are not exempt.
My clients call and email me at the oddest times sometimes and more often than not they do not expect an immediate respond or they are not realizing the day/time and are just looking for help. 95% of the time a polite “Hey, sorry I missed your call, it was 7 AM in LA” results in an apology and business goes on as usual.
Lastly - you can always have a business line dedicated to work that you turn off for the times you do not want to be bothered. That is it.
You run a service business. If you don’t want to be contacted on Sundays then simply do not respond.
The entitled stuff is hilarious. It’s paying for a service. I see a lot of brokers who think they deserve their 700 bucks or whatever for 2 messages and saving some money. Talk about entitled.
It’s a fine balance but definitely agree that this is a service business. Definitely hard for the brokers to sift through time wasters, etc.
Even though I’m going in a different direction I did find @IAC_Scott to be super responsive and courteous. He was responding on a Sunday and had good input.
Limited experience so far here but 2/3 brokers I interacted from this site with had great customer focus, with Scott being one of the positive experiences.
I guess it’s like any other service business; you’ll get a variety in quality.
Hey guys, too many opinions, ur gonna piss off @aronchi.
I’m glad I don’t have to normalize bad customer service and rude behavior just to get a lease deal which I have to pay for.
This can be mitigated by doing the figure skating method. Remove the top x reviews and the bottom x reviews. Then take the median (not average) score.
Nobody does it though.
The vast majority of car dealers operate on Sundays. It’s not a stretch to assume brokers do as well. This is a silly thing to get upset about.
Exactly, it’s not that difficult to do an auto-reply “Hi, thanks for your inquiries. Our business hours is this. I’ll reply to you soon. Thanks.” Instead of being rude, called them illiterate and will sue for bad review just because of his own behavior.
Guys, let’s lay off @aronchi. He obviously does work hard to get deals (as do the other brokers), and I personally think he’s leaving money on the table, but at end of his day, it’s his business and he can run it how he wants. He knows what everyone thinks and everyone knows what he thinks and nobody will change their minds.
Dealing with customers can make someone jaded very quickly, we’re the most spoiled country in the world. Anyone who’s had a great deal to pass along in the leads thread knows how challenging it can be to share something nice.
He’s the business owner that every business owner wishes they could be 
Dealing with customers, you mean doing their job? This is pretty basic, brokers provide a service. When you start acting too busy to do your job or are upset someone contacted you in your service job , you must have too much business or money I guess.
Lining up car deals isn’t doing brain surgery. Acting like you’re too good or busy to deal with your customers means your business probably isn’t going to do great long term, which the market will take care of.
Will never do business with folks who respond in such a petulant manner. Who knew treating folks respectfully was part of providing a service.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Most business owners appreciate their customers.
If you guys are too busy to answer inquiries, hire an assistant. $20/hr to answer with canned responses as well as capture the customer info in a CRM.
Far better approach than ghosting or pissing off people with curt 1 word replies.
Love my customers. Many are back for third and 4th go-arounds. They know and trust the process, they value everyone’s time, they’re not chasing a payment, and they are also thankful. Don’t love people who choose not to read the few sentences of english that are posted on this forum w/r/t geography, terms, etc.
I agree that it is their business. They can choose not to respond and select who they do business with. It is completely within their discretion. They may have a bigger fan base or they may lose customers over time. It is their business.
However, I think where some / maybe only a few dealers / brokers cross the line is I see many examples they bully members who provide negative feedback / review. This is harassment and shouldn’t be tolerated.
Yeah well in my world, it doesn’t cost me anything to be nice to people, even those who don’t follow my so-called instructions on a car leasing forum. And I sure as hell would never post a screenshot of me being nasty to them when they’re being courteous to me. That’s just me though.
End scene.