103 - Serious issues with BYD Dealership customer service

This is Two Blokes talking electric cars with Trevor Long and Stephen Fennick thanks to NRMA

Insurance and UNIDEN. That's right great to be with you and thanks to NRMA Insurance a help

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he's got R in the in the the title it's got a rear camera as well because there's most accidents

are from behind would you believe unbelievable yeah yeah we see little bingles uh you want to

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here at two blocks talking electric cars. Stephen before we get to callers and you can be part of

the show as well 047657657 send us a text message or a whatsapp thanks to Vodafone 047657657

save it in your phone as the two blocks and send us a text whenever you've got something on your

mind about electric cars if you're an owner of an electric car we'd love to hear from you

we love chatting electric cars with people who've owned them for a while or a few days yeah that's

and the other thing too i love the people who are on the verge of buying looking at one i think

they're their most popular customer customer popular caller yeah absolutely because they

i think they want a bit of validation i think what do you think of this and they want to ask

questions and uh we can help with that and don't be afraid to say the negatives i mean there's a

lot of glowing reports of EVs on the show i get it because a lot of people love their EV cars we

love ours yes but uh if you've had a negative experience share it because your negative experience

can inform others um last episode uh last week there was a lot of calls about dealerships yeah

and to be honest it's inspired many more calls so i've got no doubt some of our calls today we'll

talk about that very topic so we're not here to sugarcoat things folks in fact we're going to

talk tell you about a recall shortly as well but um we also get to drive new cars and we'll get back

into those in the weeks and months ahead but uh at the end of last year uh steven we drove the

kupertaviskan and um this is a touchy subject for me because the first time we saw the kupertaviskan

you were with me we were at the eb show yeah i sat in a while this is nice you know i owned a kuper

born and this is really nice i said like what's it cost he goes oh it's about 65 or 60 and i thought

to myself man i paid 60 something for my bloody born am i tiny little hatchback hatch and this

thing's uh you know small to mid-size issue yeah you feel like oh hang on a minute i got in at the

wrong time let's be honest uh if you're looking at value of vehicles that happens doesn't it that

happens but and you know what people a lot of people love to knock about the depreciation but i don't

care i've got no issues at all in fact i emailed my lease company so just to remind me where am i at

like i'm three years away i think he goes here three years and my balloon's like 15 grand i'm not

i'm not at all so you saw you were already two years ago we say two years into five yeah two years

into five and at the end it's 15 grand if that car's not worth 15 grand i'm like didn't you get

your kuper before me um it's 2020 because i'm two and a half in mind 28 that i uh that i come up okay

yeah yeah i'm in 29 for the key of your nine anyway the kupertavis can't yeah um which you

must you know the brand very well that i you know what i love one word i'll use to describe the car

yeah bold i'll give you another word unique yeah i don't think when you the styling is really bold

it's not like you know you get you sit in other european cars and it's sort of more refined and

and like not not this not this isn't luxurious but sort of luxury but this is got really not

aggressive styling but bold i think is the correct word sort of the this strange but but enticing

center like it's like a bone it's like a yeah you know the skeleton of the car you know in formula

one they've got the thing the halo yeah did you not think that too i didn't think of that no i'm

thinking it's like a formula one car in here but you know i've got in in my born it's a similar

layout and everything but the screen in this is huge yeah big big screen in and there's a little

custom in front of the driver which we love absolutely as well but uh you know the the seat

styling and the the i love the the highlights to sort of the the bronze coloring through the

rounds coppery color is all the way through when i first sat down thinking like this i feel like

this is really good you know the value that this is between 60 and 75 yeah plus on roads we drove

the vz model which would be 75 plus on roads um you know it's aggressive styling on the outside

but it's it's super unique the last little touches the logo lights up on the bonnet um the rear um

led array is really nice the interior design as you mentioned is nice it's really special again the

reason i bought the born is because of the ride and handling this thing is drive drive really

smooth yeah it's really nice and range wise too pretty good but no i agree with you it handles

really well i think it's it's a driver's car i agree with that like it's uh you get you and it goes

zero to 105 and a half 5.5 so it's can can handle itself but uh yeah really a pleasure to drive yeah

look i think that that's one of the things with a brand like you probably never heard of like

cupra you know you're going to volkswagen Toyota or whatever you look at these things this cupra is

so you know part of the volkswagen spanish brand a spanish yeah yes uh so volkswagen group you know

Audi volkswagen and then under that might be scota and say it in spain and then alongside or under

say it was cupra which was their kind of it was like HSV to hold and it was you know their

performance brand but now it's its own brand yeah and so you don't realize this is a tuned car like

in spain this is a premium version of their say it and uh and that's what you're getting is this

you know really well tuned great vibe um the vz about 500 k's range the endurance which is cheaper

about just over 60 grand so the vz is 534 what we drove a dual motor yeah um you know 11 kilowatt

three phase charging and uh yeah i mean it's i found it hard to fault to be honest yeah i'm with you

i think it's a really look if you if you're looking to think if you think it outside the square a

bit and yeah you got your you got your the brands that we talk about a lot uh i think cupra is worthy

of your attention yeah because it's it is it does offer that uniqueness i think i don't you love the

fact that don't you love the fact that you drive a car not many other people that's 100

reason why i bought it yeah so that that's a that's a factor as well but probably the car itself

you're just looking at it you know pound for pound against other cars it really it really

compares well this will lose out on many comparisons say a model y you know it's

going to lose out on luggage comparisons things like that yeah i did yeah the boot

area could be bigger but i would uh yeah 100 but i would argue it's perfectly fine for 97% of

uses not the seats down as the back seats but when you sit in the driver passenger or rear seats

i think it's a better more premium feel than it than it's comfortable too like i'm i was able

like my tall black i was sat in it and plenty of room no no problem at all i think she liked it too

he was very impressed yeah it's not one for joe though it's not joe's next car she's sort of

i think it was a bit too a bit too bold for her yeah maybe yeah she's sort of wants something

a little bit more she needs to be a bit more subdued she's more a kia she's more a kia gal yeah

the the cupra maybe not for her i don't you reckon that this is sort of a not to be sexist

but you reckon this is a man's car designed for a man's car yeah i think so i think that that

angular bold front styling is is designed for the male shopper it is uh it is really nice

insider now i gotta say we both love it i still mate i still love the look of my little ball

it's a you know i'm it i still make your cup yeah can you still buy that i don't think you can buy

them here today because i think they're either waiting to bring out there's this like a secondary

version of it like a vz maybe it's kind of thing i don't know what it's called but it's better and

cheaper than your other that or they no no it's more performance but i i think they also might

have found themselves stuck between a rod and a hard place when when it comes to pricing right

you know because that car needs to be a premium hatchback but then they've got to compete on price

so they've got the taviscon so i don't know the born fits in the Aussie market anymore yeah i think

i think it'll it'll so makes your car even more unique which is which is a plus and a minus right

because you don't want to be so uh so unique that it's um that it's not supported but if as

long as cooper sticks around of course you're good for parts and everything so i look at it this way

there's always gonna be people who love the idea of a rear wheel rear wheel drive hatchback yeah

that's what i bought and so if they're not selling them anymore here fine might'll be might'll be

good to go so you mentioned one thing uh cooper obviously not as common a brand as we've seen

right uh however how is it say someone decides you know i'm gonna pull the trigger i'm gonna buy

the taviscan in terms of servicing dealers like is it easy to i think if you're in a metro area

you're totally fine um there's not it's not plentiful dealers but like the uh the group

which would probably involve volkswagen and scota and everything um they i just took mine for a

service i don't know six months ago and there's a six story new service center down at our time

like it's okay i dropped you off there did you yeah i dropped you off there one time okay take

word for it yeah was jackson dropped me off i thought anyway i did too mate okay trust me you

were picking up your car for some reason and i took you okay it it was uh it was impressive new

facility so i went okay well this is this feels good i like you want that kind of support okay

that's good so i have a look at the cooper taviscan if you're in the market uh for that between 60 to

70 000 dollar mid-size suv uh steven in other less exciting news yeah there's a recall there is yeah

well uh volvo uh has issued a recall for its ex 30 uh recalled and this is a recall not because

there's brake pads or something or something minor this is a serious recall there's a fault

with the battery that could make the vehicle catch fire that's not good uh so until that till

i remedy the situation they're recommending that if you own an ex 30 keep your battery charge level

below 70 percent until that remedy is available there are 2815 examples of the 2024 ex 30 and

here's the thing uh the department of infrastructure recall notice says due to a manufacturing issue

the cell modules installed in the high voltage battery may overheat at high charge levels now

i've got to tell you that doesn't sound like a software fix to me yeah that sounds pretty

complicated so what do you think about what battery replacement i think i think it may well

they very least have to remove the battery and replace the cells inside the battery right so

it's a bit of a job for 2800 vehicles just in australia can you imagine him under the world wide

yeah but you know what it's you know what i'm glad this is a safety issue right so you gotta

you gotta they've gotta come forward with this yeah 100 so if you own an ex 30 2024 model speak

to volvo talk to your dealer and take it in and heed any advice and let us know too if you if

you are affected we'd like to hear from you too for sure yeah keep it under 70 folks because it's

that higher charge levels that the risk occurs two bikes talking electric cars

uh i did it that felt very i missed that it felt very donald trumpy oh it was meant to be

about it was meant to be two bikes talking electric cars we'd love to take your calls we'd

love to hear from you if you've got a question or you want to share your experience with electric

vehicles oh four double seven six five seven six five seven josh is on the line g'day josh

g'day guys how you doing yeah really good mate what's your electric vehicle experience

oh look i uh something a little bit different to everyone else i recently uh rented my first

electric car um i i traveled to melbourne a few times a year and i've always uh done petrol

cars but 6t actually their cheapest car to rent was an electric car so it's like why not give it

a crack yeah right so down in melbourne you went with six then what did you get what did you end up

with uh so by d803 yeah um which was uh as i say was a cracking deal to rent and uh i looked at the

numbers and where i had to travel and it looked like it would do what i needed to do and and it did

so okay so in general a pretty good experience it suited your needs uh so this is the very first

time you've ever driven an ev it is yes and so tell us your experience mate how was it uh look uh

look i guess the first the first thing i'll say is one of the things i thought about like i don't

know if you guys have ever rented cars from melbourne but uh the airport there is horrible

to fill up at the end you actually have to go to the exit to come back in and so when i saw it i was

like oh that that's a great idea um just because i hate having to fill it up and get back in afterwards

but then uh they actually charged us a straight 40 dollar fee to recharge which i no way i could

have done that with fuel costs anyway so i was like mate this actually works out cheaper than anything

so is that the policy where you when you when you hire an electric car do they say you got to bring

it back fully recharge like you would a petrol car fully full tank well they they do they do or you

can just pay them a 40 dollars yeah right okay and they'll just charge it for you which obviously i

could go and probably pay less and charge it at a charger but it's way more to pay fuel so

it's also time remember filling up with petrol is a three-minute exercise at the end of a rental

whereas uh you're fitting in a recharge mate pay the 40 bucks every day of the week i reckon yeah

mate it was awesome when my wife's actually going down to melbourne again in a couple of weeks time

and i've just told her the same thing i was like just get her get an electric car and pay the 40

bucks makes your life so easy right anything anything during how many days did you have it for

mate i had it for three days yep and uh yeah look it was good it was um like i like i've the thought

of having electric cars cross my mind for a long time my wife works for herself from home and uh

like she can charge up at home and she only does 20 k's a day most days so uh it's been on my radar

so i actually wanted to actually try one so that was that was cool um the yeah to say the driving

experience was was in general really good um it definitely hasn't turned me off the concept of getting

electric car i will say at a three that definitely won't be on my list though um and yeah yeah what

you just want something a bit more premium or what what's what no i actually i actually thought it

was i was really impressed with the actual look of the finish inside when i got in like the actual

seats would come feel that sort of stuff but um the car i had had 50 000 k's on it which is really

not that much but it is it is a few and mate the wear and tear was very clear and you can see that

that's where they've obviously spent a few less bucks in the the the material finishes like so the

floor under your pedals were there was holes through the carpet from people's shoes which

in 50 000 k's to me that's just not good enough yes i'd have matt to my own car

but i was like i was pretty surprised about that and and i noticed like most of the touch points

looked pretty worn um and as a for a 50 000 k car i was a little bit disappointed in that way um and

then the other things i sort of noticed is like driving it um i'm a bit of a car guy and things

like that so i noticed like driving sort of things and it was a bit boaty i guess driving along like

it just felt like it was sort of wallowing and sort of thing and now whether that was whether

that is again suspension wearing out which is way too short for that to be happening but maybe it

is you'll find more likely i think in terms of ride and handling we would literally just talk

about the kubernetes gun and i think that it really comes down to the style of driver that you are

josh some some people don't notice that kind of thing whereas it's the first thing i notice is

how how direct does the steering feel how how does it feel through a turn not for

sporty reasons but for you know uh i guess uh stance on the road those kind of things that's

what i noticed so it may be that you do need to drive a fair few vehicles before you end up taking

that plunge like how how close could that plunge possibly be what's in the driveway today uh look

probably within 12 months is where we're at my wife's due for a new car so we've got a couple

suvs she drives a bmw x3 right now like a nothing like a 2014 model one which is a it's a great car

and i've got had a really good experience with it so i would say like yeah the new one of those

would be something i'd definitely consider okay so electric bmw perhaps for for the yeah yeah

like um yeah the site we need suvs just we got kids and we do she does she uses a bit for work

and she needs a bit of space for them doing things so great she's no shortage of electric

so what about what do you got your eye on as well for yourself what what have you been

admiring i drive a holden trailblazer so big suv and and i do a bit of towing here in there so i

will say the one that i the the car that stands out to me the most is not a full electric dancer

that the new denser yeah i knew it i am really interested they are doing a they're doing as

good a job as byd did early on in the marketing because obviously they're a byd kind of premium

brand but you know the way they're pushing that to show the style the the range that it is electric

but not not fully electric i think you know i'm towing and off-road i think they'll do pretty

well i don't think it'll go as well as like the byd shark did in that initial phase but

i think they'll get that they'll cop some some real eyeballs and some sales through people

like you who do have those couple of unique needs now i'm not saying it's lap of the map

territory but i'm saying people that do need to tow and do want this and that that's going to

attract some attention i mean have you seen one in the flesh yet no i haven't i'm pretty keen to

and like to me i look at it go 100k range is everything i need day to day so basically

be able to just run off solar at home and do my driving day to day but yeah i do i do a lot of

like long road trips and yeah to me the hybrid thing does make a lot of sense at the same time

and and the towing ability of it like there's no electric cars that can really do what like

we got a caravan that we use a little bit and stuff like that so but that denser would so yeah it is

it is high up the list of of potentials that and even maybe for her if she uh when we get around

to buying her a new car it could be the car that we look at for her i mean price wise mate the value

on the denser would be immense if you sat there and looked at that new um the new ix3 uh the Neuer

class BMW it's going to be pricey and you compare it then to the denser and you go maybe that's the

best toe in the water for you as an electric vehicle family so mate it's a big journey ahead but

but interesting observations on a byd and you're right a rental car is not a bad place to see the

yeah it is a good place to experience it anyway experience it and also the other comment i'll

i'll tear go on i was going to say the other comment i'd have on the byd is the lane keep assist

was horrible um yeah like um so i've uh driving along the highway the freeways in um in melbourne

like it was hugging the left hand lane really badly and just bouncing like it was just bouncing

off the left hand lane all the time uh black line um which my my dad's got a a new kia picanto gt so

22 000 car and it's amazing so i was like going like a 50 000 car or near about

should be at least as good as that and it wasn't um so yeah i was pretty disappointed in that like

you talk about smarts and things like that i wouldn't i would turn that feature off like

i couldn't use that day today it was horrible yeah well yeah but using using the car i use

using the car i'd use it every single time like it was incredible so yeah but book yourselves for

test drives mate it can't hurt to maybe even i'd even book a byd test driver maybe the c-line seven

yes something something special even the byd shark which is a hybrid that i do the trick

mate take us on the journey with you through the year mate as you as you start to look for

something new uh let us know what you drive and what you like and uh we'll enjoy the journey with

you buddy we'll do thanks boys thanks cheers no worries at all well there you go um yeah i mean

it's a great way to experience a car isn't it to go rental and you're right like six who used there

they i think they did a very early deal with byd to get those cars and i think right maybe so they're

original let's be honest i don't think a lot of people are choosing an electric car for a rental

because it's like i don't even choose an electric car for a rental i'm like i just want the simplicity

of a rental car i've i've i've got an electric car whereas if they're trying to push them out i.e

they're cheaper take them and learn yeah why not yeah absolutely all right two blokes talking

electric cars we'd love to hear from you 0-4-double-7-6-5-7-6-5-7

how is that sonny hatch we're trying to look funky and we're not no we're not we're two old

men who should not move we we really sit still mate i think maybe the overwhelming comment

should be made in the comments by you the viewer for those that are watching not only can't dance

we should start a go fund me for video outros video to go with the stings oh what am i getting

so that we don't have to watch steven and i wow make those moves that's that's the thing

we're dancing it's a unique experience you know you do that's why i don't know how to do it yourself

it's like we're not like a lane level and erin's wedding you'll dance with your wife no no i won't

yeah you will no i won't yeah you will no i won't but i've planned a little something for you at the

show 0-4-double-7-6-5-7-6-5-7 david's on the longer day david good morning gentleman how are you mate

really good uh tell us about your electric vehicle experience or i think we're going to talk about

your buying experience is that correct yeah well i'm a second time caller so um you may remember

me i talked about my tesla i've got a tesla wire um had it for a couple of years obviously um the

caller that um enjoys the free charging whilst out exercising i remember you david man after

my own heart good on you buddy which part of your heart is that training and charging yeah that's

great combination yeah okay i love it and i'm now owner of two um evs well i'm my wife has a

great world motors aura oh that's a cute little car i'm you know what i'll say this straight up

david i thought it looked ridiculous when i first saw it in photos but the more i see it on the road

yeah the less the photos do it justice i think it's a good looking little car it's like a bug-eyed

sprite um that's what drew it drew it forward it's great and it's so different to all the cars

they go all you know all the cars are all these boxy shapes and nothing looks different anymore so

what what bring you to to a to an aura though because they're i would think they don't they're

not highly uh rated in terms of you don't find them a lot in terms of reviews was it something you

you sought out how did you come to that exactly well that's why i wanted to talk to you because

we were looking at the byd dolphin uh specifically because my wife loved the look of it you guys have

talked about it and you you've had the ceo is it the ceo of byd on before yep and a great chat really

really nice guy and the reason why i wanted to talk to you was because of how we ended up buying

the aura was because we went to um byd here in adelaide to look at the dolphin and i can give you

the the biggest scope but long story short we went to three different dealerships and we were

treated absolutely disgusting they did not try to sell me a car once now i wasn't underdressed i

wasn't overdressed i pulled up in my tesla which you know that says oh you know we got some money

well i don't know but do you know what it's you know it says this is this is somebody knows

your real customer yeah that's right we don't need to convince these people of something they know

evs and they're here that's actually like hook line and sinker mate wow we were we were ready to buy

i knew i had all the numbers i was ready to fill the forms in for my leasing with my employer

so we wanted to test drive it so we went to the first dealer um that was near our home uh where

we we left we just moved and literally we walked in and both of the sales people happened to be

crossing their paths at the front door they looked at us like well are you going to take it or are

you going to take it and they were sort of like caught out and they just turned around and said

oh we don't have any dolphins in the country at the moment um which was wrong um this was last year

so this was may last year i know damn well they were everywhere um and they just didn't give us

anything didn't give us a brochure didn't help or anything so we ended up leaving there on the same

day either jumped online and i've checked another dealer and they said hey you can test drive it

i got a booking at 4 30 for test drive um and so we went to that dealer um in Madindi south

australia and um we've walked in there and got the same sort of attitude we were looking we've

walked into the car yard looking for a staff member say we're here for our drive this is probably

about quarter past four obviously they're getting ready to finish for the day but we had our booking

and she's come up to us and she's looked at us and she says just having a look are you like

we'd walked in off the street that was the attitude um and so um we said oh wait no we've

got a test drive and she says no we don't have any bookings and so i'm panicking thinking maybe

i booked the wrong wrong dealership but no she went and checked the computer went oh you do

so another 15 minutes later when they found the keys to the car she um she took us through our

test drive and started to loosen up as we talked and it was clear that we were buyers and and i had

a Tesla we had the money but still not a hundred percent damage was done mate wasn't it it did it

it affected your attitude on the drive didn't it it affected it yeah and you know just to

wind up quickly we went to a third one it was the same day it was a following weekend they were

very busy they had lots of people there we could see one of the dolphins had just come back from a

test drive so we didn't want to get in their way we knew what we were doing but again we found

one of the guys was free and we were looking at the i think it's the the byd shark is it you know

the big truck yeah and we commented oh this is a great one he says oh i'm glad you like it because

that's what i drive but that was it well that was it wow didn't try to sell anything sales

technique nothing so i went online after that and i did what is a similar car price to a dolphin

and that's when the aura popped up and and then my wife goes my wife's old school um sprite club

where their parents when she was a kid and she says oh it looks like a sprite guy it looks like

and so we went down there and it was a 110 different we walked in and they were falling

over us um like a car salesman should i'm here i'll sell you a car bottom line david is that

that cost them a sale you would have 100 experience was more pleasant and more welcoming you would

have put your money down and bought a byd dolphin 100 we were all we want to do is test drive it

because we never driven that car before but we really had them budget yet she knew what colors

you wanted wow all they had to do is sell the sale aftermarket accessories and it was done

let me ask you this then uh you knew what you wanted you wanted to test drive it your test

drive it had you have gotten through the process with the first dealer and the color you wanted

because she was she was sorry about that was two month wait would you have put the money down and

still waited yes yeah yeah i wouldn't even have known about the aura because we that was the car

we were going to get small second car runabout done it's that last you know what they say the last

three feet of the sale is the the person in the store exactly i mean i don't want a second career

but i feel like i could sell cars so well same same yeah do you know i mean like i saw it because

yeah and you guys had the the ceo on and he was such a nice guy and he talked about where they'd

come from and where they were going and b y d is so big in australian we've got all these plans and

he was he came across i wish he sold me the car and i have reached out and i've sent them the story

that i've just told you and it's gone dead in the water now they asked for the name of the dealer

isn't that and i've reached out and said hey have you got any results from that i'm not expecting

anything in return of course i would say that i would say you know what you're never going to

get a response they're not going to say yeah we mucked up there didn't we but it's good i would

like to think that your contact to them is being registered and i'm going to send this podcast

to the ceo i because i think he needs to hear that kind of thing um definitely because it's not

about making david happy uh you're done you've got a new car finished you've lost that business

mate sorry but what they need to do is learn that in a in an era where you have early adopters at

running out we're running out of early adopters and we're starting to hit either second car territory

like david and his wife or just replacement toyota corolla high on day i 30 people that have

had smaller cars that are now eight to ten years old they're looking to buy a new car they're going

to start to ask these questions if they are turned off the idea of an ev by a salesperson which we've

heard yeah or they specifically go looking for an ev and they're turned they're not given the

love that you want at a dealership and i've got to be honest with you and david i maybe maybe you

felt this bit the tesla maybe you've had this in the past with cars but steven and i've both owned

luxury european cars i feel very fortunate to have bought a couple of b&w's in my time

you've owned missatis you know what there is something nice about the way they treat you i

gotta tell you you know what i mean that's why they're the premium brands that they are you know

because of the the way they conduct themselves but the the the issue is that that this is probably

your experience uh i hope i'm wrong is probably not the only time this has happened there'd be

other we've heard from other listeners who have even if they were having a bad day how many people

do they lose on that day david you went to three dealerships so mate yeah i'm i'm grateful that you

shared the story with us mate because hey we've said many times we said at the start of the show

we're not trying to sugarcoat the ev experience here um i think it's important that people know

that i hope ev dealers hear this i hope i hope uh you know the CEOs hear this and uh and mate

the best let's just quickly wrap it up though how's the aura uh kelly loves it she actually

loves it no we just went down to victor harbour for um post new years and i drove it down there so

on the open road the first time i've driven it's a nice little zippy car yes you could tell the

difference between the tesla and that it's a lot lighter but she's it's an ev it goes i mean

this is my wife she loves the traffic lights i'm in front i'm out of here um and it runs well

it's a small range it's not meant for driving to melbourne or sydney of course but yeah you

could do it if you needed to um and it's it's perfect runabout it's a little bit bigger than

the dolphin but she loves it and it looks great and so many people comment on it they just go oh

what a car is that is what we've got in victor harbour um people ask me so it's beautiful so

it's a nice little car and great ball motors is you don't hear a lot about them especially in the

ev market but i don't know whether they're getting more sales but the way they treated us and and how

we got the sale and the quality of this car is um as if any uh listeners are looking for another

option to have a look because it was great well it sounds like you ended up where you're meant to

end up yeah maybe you've got a nice car and it's all you're all happy with maybe it was destiny

good on you david so much thanks for giving me one quick question guys for the future yep because i

want when my tesla runs out i'm probably in the other car i'm going to extend the lease but yep

you haven't had you haven't reviewed the toyota bz 4x yet you're able to chat to someone if anyone's

got it i'd love to hear there if you want it or if you guys get to test drive it i'd love to hear

well if you're listening if you're listening in your own uh the toyota electric car or the suberu

which is the exact same car um under a different badge we'd love to hear from you and uh we'll put

it on our list of uh of cars try and book in for this year david great to hear from you mate love

your word gentlemen thank you thanks so much there you go um yeah i mean that is that's a genuine

story that was alarming hearing that because uh you know here we are you know byd's a you know

new ev company huge company in australia and just taken over apparently tesla as the world's

biggest ev manufacturer and uh it's really surprising to hear that in a you know look

still a relatively new industry isn't it evs are really new in the country that we're hearing this

sort of things happening at the dealership honestly i'm i'm frustrated by it i think they want to sell

cars that they feel how hard is it how hard is it to sell my car is it is it the fact that maybe

byd don't do do these car sales people have commission they must because it wouldn't sound

that way because if you if you're on commission you want to sell cars right and make money so

it must be it must be perhaps this could be that they're not on commission maybe it's a different

model if you've got insight we'd love to hear from you send us a text 0 4 double 7 6 5 7 6 5 7

great to have you company uh no holds barred here folks uh if you've got a story to tell

about your ev buying experience let's just prove here we're not sugarcoating anything when it comes

to ev ownership here or buying um as our previous caller david can attest so let's keep going with

calls john's on the line g'day john g'day john i have a sneaking suspicion and this is unplanned

i've just simply called people in order they've sent us messages john you have a dealership experience

story to show i certainly do um and not just one dealership it's been it's been an interesting

experience across the board but um my uh some of my most recent experiences have been with

with byd which which haven't been great um i was i was kind of expecting a really good experience

actually because it's a brand new dealership but i walked in there and there was staff standing around

there was the car park was jammed with new byd so i had to park next door walked in their big showroom

cars everywhere um sat or chat somebody and then i said okay ready i like to look at this car can i

take it for a drive and they're like oh couldn't possibly do that we're completely booked out today

and i'm looking around and like there's no one else here like and they said oh you can um we might

be able to squeeze you into my anyway so i made an appointment the next day i thought fair enough

they're probably just like sort of qualifying me as a lead to see if i'm a tire kicker or if i'm genuine

i can cop that i'll stop you there though i find it fascinating this booking a test drive thing i get

it that you've only got because you've got to remember all those cars in the car park they're

not all registered you have to register a car of course to make it bookable and stuff like that

to make it drive for a bit you go to a bmw deal i'm saying can i drive a three series they go

down on the road at the moment sit down have a coffee uh we'll come back to you in 20 minutes

when it's back and we'll we'll wash it and then we'll bring it to you do like look it wouldn't

be there'd just be no conversation about it but anyway leaving aside that process you went back

the next day i assume yeah you went back there the next day i got an email saying make sure you

get there 10 minutes early no problems got there 10 minutes early i was a bit concerned because

otherwise pulling into the car park 10 minutes early i could see the salesperson i dealt with

the day before pulling out of the car park with somebody on a test drive i thought all right okay

we'll trust the process so got there 10 minutes early they're like oh yeah he's just with somebody

just hang around so just hanging around there and got to like my 10 30 appointment he's not there

you know five minutes late 10 minutes late and i said to somebody at this point my wife's standing

outside because she's feeling sick from the smell inside the dealership and i said to somebody look

we're just gonna go across the road look at Mercedes tell them to call me when he's back

and like oh no no don't worry we'll get somebody and anyway somebody else just gave me some keys

and let me go to my test drive so really buy yourself on your own buy myself without yeah

and then uh and then i got back and like because i was looking at a range of different cars so

my to take a step back i'm i've got tall kids um i'm over six foot myself so my additional test

is can i sit in the driver's seat yes now can i sit behind my own seated position in the passenger

passenger seat and if i can do that then i know it'll be okay for the kids yep and um so at the

byd they had a couple that did that anyway so i've gone for the test drive said okay that

that worked out okay i'd like to test drive the c-line seven is that possible oh couldn't possibly

do it today we're we're jammed and i'm okay right here so it wasn't disappointing i thought maybe

they would just want to test whether i'd come back but apparently i couldn't test that car either so

i just left but um it was just like i'm thinking one of the things that was sitting in the back

of my head is like if this is how they're treating me when they're trying to win me over and make a

sale what's it going to be like if i need warranty service yes yes wow yeah when yeah so so let me

just ask you though so when when you asked for the c-line seven was it did it seem to be oh yeah

it's just too hard it was too hard for them to do it for you so then no i know it was the same

where we're completely booked out right and interestingly later on i sucked it up and did

do an online booking went back there to see line seven but i noticed that the booking system only

allows it booking on the hour every hour and if you go for a 15 minute test drive surely they can

anyone yeah surely you can squeeze the odd one in all right so have you have you at that point of

your pencil put a line through byd i have it because the c-line seven ticks all my boxes but

i'm still hesitant right what else have you looked at there have you had any better experiences

around the dealerships well some of the Tesla's been pretty good actually um Tesla's been good

Tesla's led the way mate like i used to drive a Tesla the the it was like it was very Mercedes-esque

i'm coming from a Mercedes before that and they were they were there to sell you a car they wanted

the the feeling i had as i had with Mercedes is that i want to sell you one car they want to sell

you your next five cars that was the feeling i had at Tesla as well so where else have you ended up

zika was horrible um they were worse than byd so i went there so i'm going in there wanting to do

my tests sit in the front sit in the back go into the zika dealership all the cars in the in the lot

are locked and i said to somebody i can i sit in the car which one do you want to sit in i'm like

well we'll start with this one and so i'm still yeah so i stood around waiting and it took him a

long time i had to go back and remind him and then eventually he unlocked a car and the car

he unlocked was the one with a flat tire that was parked too close to the wall so i couldn't

actually open the boot it was just giving me bad vibes car itself the size was fine yeah and then

eventually so i eventually got to do that then i wanted to sit in the other one but then he's

sitting down with some customers and the other person sitting with customers so i'm sitting

around waiting and eventually one of them gets up and comes up to me he said oh i just want to

sit in that car he's like okay radio and then it must have all been too hard for him because he went

and sat back down with his other people again and after about 10 minutes i thought screw this i'm

leaving so i left but then in the back and i was looking at other dealerships and in the back of my

mind i'm like i'm never going to come back to zika again i need to sit in this car now so

sucked it up went back there was somebody at reception desk same story oh yeah we'll get

somebody to help you 10 minutes later eventually a car the car was unlocked they didn't know which

car it was um because they're pressing a button looking around turns out it was on the next lot

so i had to climb a brick wall and walk through a spider web but i got to sit in the car just

just to find out that it was not the right size for me anyway um so that was that was not a great

experience at all um going going to yeah sorry no you're going home i want to know where else you

went yeah yeah other other dealerships like Hyundai and Kia i've not had great luck with them actually

having the cars for me to look at um ironically when i was at zika they had a ionic five in the

second hand section but by the time i saw that i'm like i can't stomach going back to the zika

people again it's too hard so i walked away but my local Hyundai dealer never really has any

electric cars in stock so that in in start or in the store whatever it's the last time i went there

yeah but like i've got other dealerships and they've only had one but none of them have had the

the cars that are constantly showing up in my social media with ads and stuff that i don't

seem to i don't know i've never seen an i don't know if i reach this you're the problem are you

wearing a shirt that says are you um are you giving off angry angry vibes okay i don't know maybe

it's me make me trust me shady bald white with beard i don't know but you do you are very tall

do you mention so yeah you might i don't know i'm just hearing maybe you're posing so are you telling

us that you are yet to buy this elusive electric vehicle or where are you at yet to buy i'm getting

very close and i'm down to the model y of the c-line seven and like so you're going to give

a word is still in the running hey they're still in the running the pragmatic side of me says the

c-line seven is effectively 10 grand cheaper than the model y yeah um but i'm just like well i don't

know if i can put up well i've got a question for you right how much like let's use your example

okay so your your choices are a tesla model y which is $10,000 more than a c-line seven

how much is satisfaction worth like he's the peace of mind worth like you mentioned earlier

if i buy that like the even when they're trying to sell me a car it's not a good experience

what's going to happen after they sell me a car whereas tesla sort of a little bit more

very very courteous and really professional and by experience yeah what how big's that number

got to be yeah what's the what's the price of that loyalty you know what's worth paying the extra

money for the tesla or saving the 10 and putting up with byd yeah i'm kind of i'm leaning towards

a tesla um yeah that's amazing because of that yeah and look i don't want to muddy the waters

and i have passed this broad concern on to to steven from byd who we spoke to last year scott

who writes for eftm owns byd at o3 and has had a niggling issue with it like a clinking in the

steering column and mate he's had it back there six times and they still can't fix it and i don't

think it's that that annoys him because you know what things go wrong problems happen but it's just

it's again that like he was told he told me on the weekend at the time of recording he was told

there'd be a loan card no loan card like little things like that have been aside from the fact that

it's annoying he keeps having to take it back it's actually the experience that's that's basically

said to him he's not going to get a byd again so i feel like that 10 grand is a and let's be honest

insurance policy for your piece of the cost of ownership of a tesla i think probably still

is far better because of the way they basically ask you not to service the car they don't want

you to come near the dealership they're like no no don't worry about it i've had services cancelled

so it says you don't need a service mate cancel it trust me a traditional and byd is a traditional

car company okay they're running a traditional dealership model they need services right they're

not tesla's upfront loading um so a traditional model is not going to walk you away from servicing

so i've got to be honest as much as i am not a fan overall i the cars are great you're probably

better off with the tesla right now my friend yeah yeah yeah the other one that i was thinking

about which i haven't really looked into too hard is he's smart but the smart dealerships

mile away but i know that smart was good enough for penelope and she was the busiest test driver

too she did 16 test drive so yeah it says a lot for the brand i'm surprised i haven't seen social

media ads with penelope's endorsement on it but you know i um it's a long way to drive to sit in

the back of it and go oh no don't fit yeah i'm gonna tell you right now i think you'd struggle

yeah okay right yeah i won't bother me see you mentioned before you go you mentioned you got tall

kids so he said to your kids are tall as well yeah yeah yeah genetics are they all basketball or

something what's the story mate well my 11 year old just made the rep basketball team so he's the

tallest in his year at school and how tall is he 11 he's 11 how tall is he i i couldn't tell you

i don't know i've measured him but my kids normally i've got a few kids and they normally

overtake me at age 15 in height wow um and he'll probably get me there you need an open

top trailer mate you need a trailer most people say i've got two kids three kids what are you

you said a few what have you kids have you got yeah i've had people move us um and i still have

i've got seven kids seven kids wow mate you need a bus you know that's why we do zika

007 yeah wow you need the uh but we need what was the bus we drive the bus yeah you need a buzz

wow you might want to find it in the past invest in a tv mate in a streaming service

well there's barely there's a tv in the back of the Tesla so maybe maybe that's what i needed

mate good on you mate awesome to hear from you john really appreciate it and let us know how you

let us know how you we'll do we want to hear from you mate thanks buddy cheers

oh wow okay far out okay well wow he must be a very tall imposing guy a few kids who says that

yeah a few he's got seven it's like it's it's not like he's ashamed he's literally could literally

have a basketball team yeah that's yeah with rotation it's only five years but two on the

he's got to go to good luck to me good luck to you wow well i'm very sorry about your

your woes at the dealership leaving aside the number of kids that is another alarming dealership

story mate it's i think this is something that needs to be addressed like if i if i was the

boss of byd right now i'd be alarmed thinking that my that your customers are being turned away

potential customers being just a waste just just turned away to other brands i'm going to send this

episode to steve i think steven collins my apologies if i'm the wrong the coo of b yd who's

spoken to and also to luke todd who run the ev deal a group which used to be the importers of

b yd because if they run the dealer group maybe they run the dealerships and so yeah you know we've

got to you got to get your ducks on the row here folks oh absolutely if we've said this in our in our

tech world in our tech show about customer service i've said a million times you know

when people come to us when they've got a problem we we get them help you know because we can we get

the contacts or whatever it is and it should never be that way that's the love i say to people

that's the worst thing you want to happen is for me or trevor to step in on your behalf the company

as a company the company should be ashamed of themselves if we've got to get involved yeah

and what i say is you should learn from whatever happened in those instances you should be okay

how do we prevent how do we prevent people from going to the ombudsman well how do we prevent

people from going to trevor and steven with our bad stories yeah you've got to stop the bad stories

you've got to have what we should be hearing is glowing stories about oh i was unbelievable i went

in they said this and they did that let me have the car for half a day and take for the weekend

or whatever we have heard those stories to be fair we have heard those stories in the past

different brands for sure it is really uh it is really sad to hear that uh the like b yd especially

though the growing brand biggest brand in australia is potentially losing sales because of their

dealership experience all right let us know what's happening in your world with evs whether

you own an ev you're in the market for an ev uh or you just want to talk about your experience

with ev dealerships maybe you've had a positive experience a positive and negative at any point

of the experience ownership or purchasing oh four double seven six five seven six five seven

thanks for voting phone send us a text send us a whatsapp we'd love to hear from you steven

we'll do it all again next week i'll be right here

103 - Serious issues with BYD Dealership customer service

About this episode

Holden Trailblazer

Kuper Taviskan

Cupra Born

Formula One

Volkswagen Group

Tesla Model Y

Škoda

recall

Volvo EX30

high voltage battery

safety issue

electric vehicle

Sixt

EV

petrol car

electric car

suspension

Bmw X3

towing capacity

BMW iX3

lane keep assist

Kia Picanto

test drive

BYD C-Line 7

BYD Shark

Aura

BYD Dolphin

Tesla

Toyota Corolla

Toyota bZ4X

BYD

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