Big plush showroom with no wee side door for parts dept. Receptionist at main reception desk referred me to another reception desk manned by two ladies one of whom asked me what I wanted and then went to fetch somebody from parts.
Receptionist came back and told me he was out but wouldn't be long.
I sat and waited, read all the brochures on the desk and then started to look round the cars in the showroom.
I find it really wierd buying parts from main dealers nowadays. A few years ago, each dealer whould have a dedicated stores counter, sometimes a hole in the wall, sometimes with its own entrance, but invariably where a chap in a brown smock would have access to computer catalogues, or in the old days, microfiche and paper books.
Now, you almost always have to go to the main reception desk. They then send for someone out of the back, while you stand about like a pudding for 10 minutes. When someone looking as equally bemused as you finally arrives out of the depths of the offices, you then have to describe the parts you require while they scribble them down and scuttle off for prices. Anything complicated turns into a very long winded job.
Stand by for an anecdote.
For many years, I used a local Vauxhall dealer which had an excellent parts counter run by an oldish chap, clad in aforementioned brown smock, who was the most helpful bloke I have ever encountered in the motor trade. A few years ago, I needed a dealer only part for my father's old 1997 Astra F, so I thought I would call in.
Anyway, it turned out they had moved to shiny new premises out of town, and the stores counter was no more - it was all dealt with through the main reception. When the the spotty stores lad finally arrived and I told him what I wanted the parts for, he looked at me like I had two heads - I may as well have been asking for a starting handle for a Light Six.
