Dealer difficulty
 

About a week after the price increases were announced I went to talk to Rick Conti about ordering a C7 Z51. He said he wasn't taking any orders at the time because it could be until July before delivery. A week later I called him to ask again about ordering and he said he was taking orders and to send him an email specifying options, colors, etc. and he would get back to me that day. After no contact I called the next day and left a message. After a day or two passed with no return call I called and spoke to Rick and he said he was very busy and that there was no hurry in getting an order in at that point and he would get back to me. Before people start telling me what a great buying experience they had buying from Rick all I'm asking is what would you do given these circumstances?

Yes, Rick has a good rep, but I would start contacting the other forum dealers.

Sounds like he ran out of allocations after advertising his "special"...

You did everything in an orderly, business-like manner.

He failed you.

Perhaps he would yet do right for you.

Why push it?

There are many good forum dealerships.

An old saw applies. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

After my personal experience starting January 15Th and ending yesterday with the delivery of my C7, I would say there is a lot we don't know about this whole process. I mean from GM, the dealership, BG and the salesman's personality and his experience selling Corvettes. My communication broke down at the very end of the process because he said latter that is best friend since he was 2 was rediagnoced with cancer. WOW. You never know I guess. I am glad it's over. The car is perfect and all that I was hoping for.

Pretty much the same experience I had with Rick as well, several months ago, I went elsewhere. :cheers:

He never returned my calls or emails--which no biggie. I went elsewhere as well, there are GREAT forum dealers here.

Reach out to TommyJR at MacMulkin, Dave at Kerbeck or Mike at Criswell.

Rick has been busy, I'm sure. I ordered a Z51 from Rick. He had me an order number in two days. I wound up cancelling the order in about two weeks (none of Rick's fault), and Rick was understanding and businesslike about it. He just said to call back when I was ready.
Rick has always seemed like a standup type of guy who can get things done. I would give him another try, but if you get faster service elsewhere, I'm sure Rick would understand. Hey, it's your money.:thumbs:

My experiences with Les Stanford have been 100% positive.

Ordered Z51 Coupe on 2/12, they Emailed me today that it has been built and included my VIN.

I checked the GM tracker and it is already enroute to the dealer.

I am protected against the price increase.

When GM employee pricing (which I qualify for) was announced, they advised that they would honor GM pricing on my order.

I STRONGLY recommend Les Stanford Chevrolet and my salesman James Fillmore; Cell 313-608-8547, Office 313-724-1416.

They have a lot of Corvette allocations including Z-51's.

Good Luck............................Art:thum bs:

Call Amoni at Kerbeck, I am very pleased with the service. They have tracking web site to keep you up to date with your build.
Eric

Can I add to this with my experience today! I had a meeting with my local Chevy dealer today at 3 PM to pay for my C7 being factory delivered on 3/31. The sales rep had left for a meeting, the inventory manager also was gone - the only 2 people I had met previously. The finance manager was finally found but not even briefed or up-to-date that I had a meeting today to pay for my new car. I felt upset as we sat down, and the papers were presented to me dated over 1 week ago. I started to change dates manually, and when we came to the price sheet, it was $2,000 higher than what I had ordered and signed for. So what I discovered was that the dealer was charging me the new increased price for the C7. It's like getting a proposal you sign, and then without a phone call or letter stating that the price has increased you get slammed with a higher price to pay! I was ready to walk out at that time. But after sitting there for 30 minutes the dealership finally came down to what they should have presented at the beginning. Now we also agreed to change all the forms to show the correct date. So after over 1 1/2 hour we got close to when I could pay for the new car. This is my first experience buying a US made car from a major Chevy dealer in town. Is this normal - do they want to screw all their customers like this? I was upset as I left and most likely will not buy from them ever again. Hope the car will be ok when I pick it up at the end of the month. I do not want another bad experience at the museum.

There are good dealers, bad dealers, and a whole lot in-between. Doesn't matter what name is displayed on the building.

Were you discussing a custom order that would be drop shipped to your local dealer? I don't think Rick likes doing drop ships.

I had a conversation with Rick a month ago when I was getting ready to select a forum dealer to order from. I am in AZ so the car will be drop shipped. The impression I got was that he did not want the business due to the drop shipping. I ended up going with Criswell. Drop shipping was no problem for them.

I have a current order with Rick he's been upfront, honest and currently delivering!

I too would get delayed responses but the guy seems very busy. I would get replies at odd hours and day of the week. I guess it made more sense for me personally to be persistent with my order placement with someone whom could fill it, then the lip service I was getting by my local dealer. Sure there maybe better salespersons but Rick does appear to get it done, will be driving Z51 8-9 weeks start to finish.

I wouldn't want to be in sales for this reason, never enough time can't please everyone.....just saying. We all want to feel our order is the most important after all were spending a bit of money.

Not looking to debate on who's better etc, just my two cents

Good guy or not, if he doesn't want / need your money take it else where.
I don't know him personally and I've read good and bad about him. Then again I've read good and bad about quite a few forum dealers.

What bothers me is some of these dealers, forum sponsors or not are
"too busy" with existing customers and feel as the new customers will just wait.

What they don't understand is these customers that go else where could one day want a 2017 C7 when the market isn't so strong and dealers are begging for sales. Those customers they blew off / pissed off now have loyalty to the "new" dealer they purchased from and it turns into a return customer. Not to count the referral business.

It happens when there's too much business and they don't want to hire someone to help them out.

Heck, my salesman at my small local Chevy dealership has a assistant that he pays for out of his commissions so that he can take care of his customers better!

Was your order placed in they system before 3/2? I'm assuming it was. You should not be getting charged the new MSRP. I would call the GM of the dealership and / or GM and express your concern.

Unfortunately a lot of these Chevy dealerships are so used to shoving $20k cars out the door that their customer service skills are lacking / non-existent.

Really? "HE FAILED YOU"? That's a bit dramatic.

As someone who knows Rick, and bought my 2012 Grand Sport Vert from him, he is a great guy and will do right by the OP.

If he is not responding immediately, I would say its proportional to the success of the Stingray. I would keep in mind you are not ordering a large fry at McDonalds. Be Resonably patient...and maybe a little less dramatic.

I will not pay for the car until I see it, and inspect it. Then I will do the deal and drive it home.

It is ironic that given the demand for the C7 right now we have Corvette dealers that do not have time to call every potential customer back, but in 2 years we will have potential C7 customers that will not have time to call every Corvette salesperson and their uncle back.

Busy Salesman
 

the salesman are in business to give you service! There is no such thing as too busy. if they cannot return calls or e-mails then they should be selling hot dogs not corvettes. if they worked for me they would be out the door. they are being paid to do one thing "sell cars/service customers" the owners spend alot of money advertising and paying salaries to be successful. right now the corvettes are selling and the salesmen become independent. i have been dealing with the same dealership for years and even now they are not too busy to give me good service. if the salesman is too busy, go someplace else that will appreciate your business. remember this is only a car.:flag: