Well, I wanted to post the following thought about Cutter Motors and Jon Shafer
earlier this week, but work kept me from finding the time. Now I see the thread
below, and think damn, there is going to be no way to avoid the politics of this
debate. A lot of people out there are not very happy with Jon and Cutter right now,
and many will probably slam and flame me for raising another point of view from
theirs, but I'm just giving my honest impressions. I'd like to say that I too think
that Jon could have handled this better, and as someone offering a product, should
not have taken a confrontational stance with his own potential customers. His
attitude gave me pause enough to consider different options in regards to my 2000
order, but in the end my great experience so far outweighs this petty feuding.

First of all, I'm 29 and follow the typical Gap dress code, when I walk onto a dealer
lot I'm not flashing cash with my wardrobe. Even before telling anyone at Cutter
that I was interested in ordering a car I was consistently greeted and asked if I
needed any help. When it came time to order they let me take several test drives
to decide on a model and were enthusiastic when I chose the cheaper 1.8T.
Jon wasn't in that day but Bob Bilotta helped me out with my order. He didn't yet
have a 2000 order sheet but wrote down ever option I specified (which surprised me
about Brian's story where he said Bob was clueless. Well, he had already correctly
ordered my 2k model, so I don't know what the problem was). Within a day or so
Jon had researched the options and called me back with an offer. It was not the
lowest offer I'd heard of on a 1.8T, but Jon explained to me all the factors
involved. I decided It was a better investment to take their offer rather than the
lowest bottom dollar from some dealer who would never want to see me again, or
give me proper service.

Just this last weekend I drove up to meet Jon in person for the first time. He is a
genuinely friendly person, and a true car enthusiast. He took me for a tour of all
the showrooms, even took me down to the garage to show me his car. We sat in
his office for over an hour just chatting about car things in general, nothing related
to my particular order. To help ease my wait he let me take out a 1.8TQMS for 20
minutes just to give me an A4 fix. He didn't have to do any of these things, he
already had my deposit and my order was placed. Even if it wasn't his idea of fun to
entertain me, it still shows that they understand CUSTOMER SERVICE. Jon has
made it clear that he is always available to answer questions, whether about my A4
order or even about my girlfriend's 323i (which we didn't even purchase there).

Sorry about the length of this, I just wanted the other side of the coin shown. I
have no stake in posting this, and am probably about to endure a rain of flames.
I am including my email in this post (unusual for me) just so you can see that I
don't work at Cutter, or have any professional affiliation with them. Matt, Steve or
Jason Teller can all tell you that my IP matches my email domain.

Just another A4 enthusiast,

Jason H
2000 ebony/onyx 1.8TQMS

Jon spends a lot of time on the www.bimmer.org 528/540 forum, and some folks there think he's keen and some dislike him. If someone cares about this, you can do a little research there.

My experience has been, unless you live in a smallish town or metro area and don't have a choice of servicing garages, you'll never see the salesperson again unless you make a concerted effort. It's the service advisors that make or break your ownership experience, and that should almost be your main concern when buying an Audi.

My first impression of Cutter was of their professional service people. The very first time I went
there I went straight to the service/parts people to find out about a BMW part, never even went
in the showroom until later. It was their service people that made it worth paying the higher $
over invoice there.

But to be fair, since you visit bimmer.org you'll know that Jon is always keeping up with his
customers. He's constantly posting to Kris L about the 328 he leased months ago.

Jason,

I am very glad to hear that you had a good experience when purchasing your A4.

Brian

I've heard they are really good. I go down to Coronado once a year or so, I'll check them out next time.

If you ever do stop by Miramar, see Alex Sovran. He has been very helpful.

Feel free to e-mail me. Maybe we can compare cars once we both have them. :)

Brian

I deleted it after a phone call with Jon. There were some misunderstandings that I think we have cleared up now. Nobody likes to get bashed without the opportunity to respond, and dealers can be easy targets sometimes. At the same time, two wrongs don't make a right. Jon will probably not respond to those things on the forum in the future.

Everything should be copacetic now. Peace!

Jason

I don't know Jon personally, but I have been talking to him via email, AOL Instant Messager, and the bimmer.org formus for a few months now. I think he is a great guy, and I have really enjoyed talking to him. I never bought a car from him, and won't anytime in the forseealbe future (not because i don't like him, rather it is becasue I live over 5600 miles away from him and Cutter) Jon hasn't made a penny profit from me, yet he still takes his time to talk to me on the boards and on the instant messager. I feel like I have made a new friend, and I think all this bashing is nonsense.

Take a few minutes to talk to him and you all might change your mind.

Just helping out a fellow 323i driver :)

if I were him.