Truman,
"Meanwhile, Flanagan has been on a rampage, thus far, bashing
brokers and financial planners, alike, with savage abandon."
Yeah, I especially liked the one where some guy called in looking for help with funds, and mentioned his brother-in-law was a broker, and Flanagan responded, "And you let this guy in your house?" Flanagan makes Brinker look like the broker's advocate!
How about a Brinker-like show devoted to buying cars? Man, I've spent this weekend shopping for cars and these dealers make even the sleeziest brokers look like saints. I'm in the process of buying a new car for my girlfriend, she wants an Infiniti I30. I've done all my homework, figured out the dealer cost is $26,300. There is one Infiniti dealership in New Orleans, their best price was $29,300. Thinking I could bluff them into a better deal, I told the salesman we'd go to the Infiniti dealer in Baton Rouge (about an hour's drive) to try to get a better deal. Much to my amazement, the guy didn't even flinch or try to negotiate more, just said, "well, see what you can do..." So we went to Baton Rouge, told the guy we're from N.O. and wanted to buy the car for $28,000--we're still giving them a $1,700 profit, which isn't so bad, considering they had a full lot of the cars available, and we were the only customers in the showroom, so its not like people are beating their doors down to buy the damn things. So, the guy goes to his mgr, and comes back and says, "If you were from around here, we'd sell you the car for $28,000, but our dealership has a great relationship with the New Orleans Infiniti dealer, so we don't want to create any ill-will between us and them by undercutting them...the best we can do is $29,300, unless you can somehow register the car with a Baton Rouge address, then we'd be glad to sell you the car for $28,000." I couldn't believe it. The only thing I could think of is, "Isn't this some sort of anti-trust violation? Isn't this cozy relationship btwn the 2 dealers a form of price fixing?" I then tried to talk her into buying something else--I certainly don't want to subsidize their price fixing tactics--but of course, the girlfriend has her heart set on the Infiniti, so I guess there's nothing else I can do. It still pisses me off though.
Maybe I'm in the wrong business--just how ballistic would Brinker/Flanagan, etc. go if when you called a new broker and told him you wanted to switch your account over to save a few bucks and get better service, the broker responded, "No, I couldn't do that. If you were a new investor, I'd be glad to take your account, but I'd never want to undercut another broker at another firm just to get your business." The SEC and anti-trust attorneys would have a field day with that.
Gary |
