So Saturday morning finally arrives, and we get ourselves up early enough to get fed and get to the dealership at a decent hour. We grudgingly make our trip east to New Braunfels.
Upon arrival, everyone's all smiles again, and I hand off the keys to the Journey to Douchebag Salesman. He takes them off to someone else, and shows us to our temporary transport: a "dealer demo" (you remember, that thing they don't offer anymore? Lies=2) in the form of a Dodge Caliber.
As a sidenote, the Dodge Caliber is what Dodge replaced the Neon with. It's effectively a compact station wagon - no coupe or sedan - and it is Officially Made Of Fail. This car embodies everything that's wrong in Detroit. I hope they all sink.
Anyhoo, despite my request for a Not Econobox, we got in the econobox and headed up to San Marcos for some shopping. We had The Little Girl with us, so we needed to keep entertainment in mind, too. Unfortunately all that came to a grinding halt when, after less than two hours, I get a call from Douchebag Salesman. There's more bad news.
Seems that what the make-ready guys could not do, the detail guys could not do either. The garbage that's stuck to the car is stuck there pretty good, and the detail guys don't feel they can remove it without damaging the finished surface, so they are deferring to the body shop. Of course, I know damn well that no body shops are open on weekends, so I ask DBS (DoucheBag Salesman) when that's gonna be. Monday is the answer, and they'll probably keep it until Tuesday.
Son Of A Bitch.
So we abandon shopping in San Marcos to head back to the dealership. I politely tell DBS that I appreciate them trying to take care of the paint on the car, but that I am becoming increasingly displeased with the way this process is going so far. You see, I forgot to mention something in the earlier post. You remember that check that I dropped off earlier that they were supposed to hold? Well, they ran it two days after I dropped it off, and because the checks draw against an account we keep low, it bounced. We weren't even notified; we saw it on our account. We called the dealership understandably upset, and the most we got out of anyone was, "Oh, sorry about that. Did your bank charge a fee or somethin?"
So, after returning to hash out the next steps of the plan, I headed home in the piece of shit Caliber with the number for the General Manager of the dealership. Monday morning, he got a call from me. I was very polite with him as I explained the situation up to this point. He was noticably distraught, particularly with the fact that I was clearly being lied to by DBS. He said that he would personally oversee the condition of my Journey from here on in, and he would be having a conversation with DBS as soon as he could find him.
So Monday came and went, and Tuesday afternoon I get another call from DBS. He says that the Journey had been worked on, but the General Manager didn't feel it was up to standard, so he sent it back to the body shop for more TLC. It would be ready Wednesday. I was pissed, but I felt better when DBS told me that the General Manager tore him a new one:)
I finally get a call Wednesday, and we once again head to the dealer to hopefully drive our car home. It took me less that 30 seconds to climb onto a back tire, look at the roof, and immediately know that no one is working on the top of the car. Maybe they think I don't care about the roof because I can't see it; who knows. What I do know is that now I was outwardlhy pissed. I told DBS that the car was still not finished, and asked him if anyone ever bothered to check the roof. He was backpedalling and at the same time trying desparately to minimize the situation, which only fueled the ass-chewing that was now my turn to deliver. I asked him straight up if we would even be having this conversation if the car in question was a $90,000 Viper or a $50,000 Challenger SRT. I asked him if this level of quality (which I clearly pointed out to him on the roof of the Journey) would be acceptable on one of those cars. He said no. So I immediately asked why he was trying to pawn off shitty quality on a $20,000 Journey. He then tried to tell me that it didn't matter how much a customer spends.
Indeed.
He told me that he just didn't think he was going to be able to make me happy. I almost lost it on him. I asked if that was his answer at this point. I was done with DBS. Naturally, the General Manager was nowhere to be found, even though I had specifically requested audience with him earlier on the phone, so I wanted the highest guy on the food chain front and center. I got the friggin used car manager. Go figure.
He wanted to see what I was so upset about, so I took him to the car to show him. I explained the situation yet again, and he said that it should be taken care of. He said he'd keep it and make it right. He told me that it just didn't make good business sense not to. I almost felt a little bit better. So out comes DBS, and they wanted me to point out just what was wrong. I got pissed again. I told them that if I was going to have to point out every flaw in the body of the car for them to fix, that they were going to have to pay me a consultation fee. I told them that I wanted the paint to look like the paint on a brand new car, since I was buying a brand new car. I wanted it perfect, and that's what I expected to receive. Keep in mind, they'd already received payment in full; partially from our down payment, and the rest from our financial institution. I really felt like they were doing as little as possible to get by at this point. I also told them that I was totally unsatisfied with the Caliber, so I left Wednesday night in a rather well-equipped Grand Caravan.
As a sidenote, the Dodge Grand Caravan is made of win. This thing is huge inside, very comfortable, rides on air, has more than enough power, and is still small enough outside for even the most mechanically-challenged soccer mom to park in any parking spot. This car represents everything good about Detroit.
I called the General Manager again on Thursday to express my feelings, and before I even got into it, he told me that he was drawing up the paperwork to return my trade-in to me and call the whole thing off. I told him that was not what I wanted, and that furthermore the trade-in was no longer mine. The Journey was mine, and I wanted that. I just wanted what the hell I paid for. He said that, while he hated going through this, that at this point he felt like I was punishing the dealership for what he admitted was giving me horrible service. After all, I had caught DBS lying to me on three different occasions. He said he'd do anything to get the car right at this point, including paying someone else to do it if I wanted that.
I quickly made my move. See, there's a body shop very close to here that has a fantastic reputation because they do amazing work. They've worked on two of my vehicles, and on both occasions the cars came out looking literally brand new.
I told the General Manager to put it in writing that he'd pay for someone else to properly detail the car, and I would come pick it up and never grace the doors of his dealership again. He said that he would (provided that he didn't get hit with some $2,000 invoice, which I told him I wouldn't do). I told him that if my guys found the paint to be damaged beyond repair he'd be taking the car back, otherwise this fiasco was finally going to close. He said he'd have a letter drawn up and ready for me when I arrived that evening.
I dropped off the Caravan, got my letter, and got ready to leave. DBS came out to apologize again, and I told him that, after looking the car over myself, that it looked to me like they may have finally gotten it right. If they had done that in the first place, none of this would have happened, and if I hadn't been lied to, I would have never gotten this irate.
So here goes. Bluebonnet Chrysler-Dodge in New Braunfels, Texas gave me what is hands-down the single worst car buying experience I have ever had. I recommend travelling miles out of your way to any other dealer on Earth before I would even hint at stopping by Bluebonnet. I would not contribute a cup of warm piss were the place on fire. The arrogance that was once so prevalent in Detroit still lives on at some dealers, and this place seems to have gotten the lion's share of that attitude. So to hell with that dealer, and I look forward to being there when they are forced to close up shop to help them know exactly why they have no business. Just as Detroit ceased to listen to the voices of the those who bought the most cars and ignored every principle of customer service, Bluebonnet assumes that it doesn't matter what I think, because plenty of folks are still buying cars. Well, rest assured this, Bluebonnet. I will do everything in my power to prevent you from receiving so much as an inch of business from every single person who will listen to me.
I won't even have to lie to do it.
*********************************
What an experience. I've taken every online, telephone, and snail-mail survey that has approached me about the issue, and I've told each and every one just what it was like. Fortunately, my body shop reported to me that after very careful inspection, the car was fine other than the brand new rock chip just above the windshield (dammit!!!). They recommended factory touch-up paint for the repair as it contained the dealer's proprietary clear-coat already mixed it.
I bought it from the Dodge dealer down the street from my house:)
tweaker
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
I think this must be a Chrysler thing because Northstar Dodge lied to me about a dozen times.
You would think in this economy customer service would be job one.
Unfortunately, your ability to attract DBS and associates is classic "GERARD SYNDROME". Your ability to express yourself....priceless!
Sorry your experience sucked but out of every bad situation comes something good. Not all rants and ravings go unnoticed. Thanks for the read
I'm amazed that DBS didn't have to hobble off to the hospital to have something removed from his nether regions - like a steel-toed boot, or maybe his desk phone.
This deserves as much attention as possible. Link incoming...
My recent truck buying experience
Should have bought the Toyota FJ Cruiser instead.
Don't know if this is systemic among the brand but the only truly bad car experience I had was buying a Dodge product, new from a dealer out West. The car had about 200 miles on it. The dealer told me it was NOT a trade in, and had been used for test drives and occassionally he drove it home. I got a good price due to that, but no where near a much lower "used car" price. The wheels wore badly, too soon, and unevenly. I took the car into a shop run by a friend of the family I trusted. They said "the front end repair wasn't done right". "Front end repair??!". Apparently the whole front end had been rebuilt.
The dealer forgot to mention that his daughter had almost totaled it when "he drove it home", which I heard from two former employees but the dealership denied it, saying I had wrecked it and was lying about it as were the "disgruntled employees". All I know is I didn't wreck it, and as a grad student, I wasn't rich. I ran out of money fighting to get the car replaced or my money back and let them reposses it. A hit on my 20 something year old credit I didn't need but I didn't have the money to fight them.
I loved my old Cuda but I would ride a bicycle before I'd set foot in another of their dealerships, even 20 years later.
I bought several vehicles from a Dodge dealership strictly because I was well treated (I'm not particularly fond of Dodge vehicles one way or the other). When the dealership was closed for being 'slightly too small' for Chrysler's ideal business model, so too was that the end of my Dodge buying- it's a two way street.
Sounds familiar; I'd suspected my local Dodge dealer (Landmark Dodge in Independence, MO) was ripping me off on auto repairs and milking the extended warranty on my 2002 Intrepid for all it was worth. It seemed, once the Intrepid hit the fifty-thousand mile mark, that every time the car went in for an oil change there was something else in dire need of replacement...including a rear main seal on the motor, two oil pan seals and a new water pump (although they then said all it needed was a new water pump gasket...and that was almost as expensive as replacing the water pump itself would have been),
Each time Landmark pulled this, it meant a hundred bucks out of my pocket, five to fifteen hundred bucks out of the insurer handling my extended warranty, and several days in a rental. Part of which bill I usually ended up stuck with for one reason or another, despite rental coverage being part of the warranty.
Landmark's service manager tried to "explain" that once cars hit 50,000-60,000 or so on the odometer that things "just start going wrong" with them. I "explained to him, in turn, that my family has been loyal Chrysler customers for thirty years, and if the current generation of Mopars is only good for fifty or sixty thousand miles before they turn back into pumpkins, then we'll start buying Toyotas.
I finally caught them red-handed two years ago trying to charge me for an unneeded new set of front brakes barely ten thousand miles after they'd replaced them the first time. Firestone now does all my scheduled maintenance and light repairs...and it's funny, my Intrepid hasn't needed any work done on it since I started going to them...
--Wes S.
I have worked in a Chrysler store selling cars for the last eight years. I bet you got the best price on the Journey that you bought when you could have gone to your home town dealer and paid a little more and recieved good service. I always treat my customers well and do what I say I am going to do. If you buy on price that is what you are going to get. When you beat a salesman down during the deal where he makes $100 and then want him to mess with your car for days it's not worth it for most people to put up with. Even if I only make $100 I still take care of my customers but sometimes you can't make them happy. You try to squeaze every drop of profit out of a deal and think that there is endless money to fix everything. Believe me I'm sure that this dealer doesn't ever want to see you again either. Sometimes it's more of a pain to sell someone than it's worth but the consumer thinks that we are lucky enough just to sell a car and make no money. I'm not saying that this is how it happened with you but we get it alot. Mabey people should pay a little more to buy from someone that they feel isgoing to be there for them if something goes wrong.
Anonymous,
I expect some bias; after all, you are a car salesman. Maybe you should have been there. Who knows.
I went to Bluebonnet because they came highly recommended from someone who has, with his wife, bought their last eight vehicles there. They said the service is always right, and the prices are always great.
I did not have to fight for the price. I had to beat up the finance guy a little to get the payment I wanted, but the price of the car changed very little. We compromised.
When you beat a salesman down during the deal where he makes $100 and then want him to mess with your car for days it's not worth it for most people to put up with.Well, I didn't beat him down during the deal, and I could give a damn what he makes on the car. When, in the course of the sale, you tell me that you don't care what the car sells for because you are a volume dealer, you open yourself up to being raped on the deal, anyway. Furthermore, rest assured that I did NOT want them to mess with my car for days. In fact, that is precisely what the problem was.
Did you actually read the post, or just show up with your agenda?
Oh, and I did try my hometown dealer. I'd likely be blogging about a Charger that was well within my price range if the moron had just let me drive it first.
Maybe if he and the rest of the dealership had done their job right the first time, I wouldn't be charging so hard on them. The fact is, he didn't want to tie up resources on a deal that was already done.
tweaker
No I am not bias. I have been in this buisness that I know there are alot of dumd shits that sell cars. That is why I always tell people that if you don't feel right with your salesperson that you should get up and go. It doesn't matter what the deal is. The public normally always wanting to go look somwhere else so they can get a $100 better deal and don't care about the relationship. Chances are you will have to go back to the dealer for service sometimes in the ownership of the vehicle. There are alot of bad salespeople I agree but there are more bad customers. I get lied to every day but yet I am the liar. You might have really had a bad experience. Why didn't you leave the car there until it was fixed and have it delivered to you? That's what I would have done. I know the finance guy and I agree he is a piece of work (if it is the guy I am thinking about).
I'm sorry you had a bad experience. There is no excuse for it. However, sometimes it does happen. I've been selling cars for 25 years. As bad as some of the people in this business are, customers can be worse. Regardless, your word should be your bond and I have tried to live by that. I can tell stories about the treatment I have received from customers that would put your story to shame, but this is not the place. Problems are always going to come up in a business where you try to pay as little as possible and when the dealer is trying to get as much as possible. Things should be put in writing and promises kept. In other words, we should all do the right thing.
Post a Comment