Ok. I lost my 2005 Cheverolet Colorado in an accident last month. My insurance company had settled up, so I was in the market for a replacement truck. I live in a small town with a few dealerships. They didn't have anything that caught my eye. I decided to try "Mr. Big Volume USA" Bill Heard Cheverolet in Columbus, GA on 6-10-05.
I was looking for a used truck when I got to the car lot. My father and I browsed the inventory they had. I found a 2001 Dodge Dakota and a 2002 Mazda B3000. The Mazda had a busted windshield, so that narrowed it down to the Dakota. A salesman approached us, Richard Preddy. I asked him for the price on the Dakota truck. He stated that I needed to go in and fill out a guest sheet and have my credit run, just to get a price on the truck! I then told him that I already had financing secured with eloan.com, and I didn't think a credit check was necessary.
So, we went in and filled out a guest sheet and awaited the price of the Dakota. I had done research on the values of all the "midsize" trucks on the used market. I knew the truck was worth about $11,000. After Richard Preddy went and talked to the used car manager, Josh, for about 45 minutes, he stated the price was $12,900, slashed from the original asking price of $15,900. I told both those jerks "you are f*ckin' nutz" and we headed for other dealerships in Columbus.
Well, on that guest sheet I filled out, I filled in my cell phone number. Big mistake. About 5 minutes after leaving the car lot, Josh (used car manager) calls and states that the salesman (Richard Preddy) had been incorrect and if I really wanted the Dakota, the price was $6995. I knew this was too good to be true. I talked it over with my father and phoned Josh back at the Bill Heard dealerhip to make sure I heard him correctly. He said and I quote, "We are going to sell the Dakota to you for $6995 if you buy it today".
So, I returned to the dealership and asked Richard Preddy for the keys so we could take it for a test drive. He told us to go hang out by the truck, and he'll get them for us. About 30 mins later he comes out and says the price of the Dakota is now $12,900 again, and that there has been some mistake. I go straight to Josh (used car manager) and ask him what is going on. He told us that he thought we were looking at a 1998 Dodge Durango and he was going to sell that to me for $6995. Nobody, and I mean nobody, was looking at that shot-out Durango. How could he confuse two different vehicles when one is an SUV and the other is a truck? Needless to say, I flipped Josh and Richard Preddy off and spent my money elsewhere.
I have never heard of a "bait and switch" attempt to a customer over the phone that had left the lot in disgust. I cannot believe I fell for it.
And to make matters worse, they ran my credit anyway! Wtf?!?! I ran a credit report a week later, and it showed me. I wasn't going to finance with them no matter what!
Bill Heard sucks all across the nation.
Drew
Thomaston, Georgia
U.S.A.
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