My complaint in particuliar is to the extreme Lack of Professionalism, vulgarness and hostility/violent temperment demonstrated by the Used car sales manager Alvin Beaty.
This was in response to a used sports car that I was willing to buy as a 'fun' car since I have cash wanting to burn a hole in my pocket. Posted sales hours on their website are till 6pm M-F. I first made an appointment with the salesman for a demo slighly after 6, due to my work schedule, I arrived and no one except the porters were there. I then coordinated a second time the next day for a demo after 6 with the salesman through the sales manager.
I arrived and was greeted by the salesman who was ready for the demo. I stated that we should demo then drop him off, so I could demo with my parent in order to get their input and tap their knowledge on the used vehicle. The salesman insisted that I just go ahead and go on the demo with my parent even after I stated that he should ride first, so that he could tell me about the car. I went on the demo with my parent and informed the salesman of my route, intent, time frame and purpose concerning the demo, and asked if it was okay. He agreed. Demo done.
I returned the car and He Offered me the chance to take the car overnight and leave my vehicle locked in their lot. My mother asked if it could be the next night in order to allow our mechanic to inspect the car that next morning. He said okay. I went ahead and gave the needed information for the next night, and heard the salesman state to his manager that "I" had asked to borrow the car overnight. Which is untrue, but I went with it to keep the salesman in the green with his boss and to get the car so the mechanic could see it first thing in the morning.
The sales manager relunctanly agreed but also stated that their own mechanics check the cars, and he asked for the mechanics name. He's a professional mechanic but I stated that he was a "shade tree" mechanic, in order to prevent any dealer "courtesy calls" being made. The sales manager also offered extended warrantys since I was interested in purchasing one due to fact that this is a used car. I asked what type and I got the song-n-dance of how they would sell only a 3rd-party warranty but that I could go through the manufacturer for a warranty. Having already done research on this particular car, car type, manufacturer, etc., I already had 3rd-party qoutes and knew that the manufacturer would not offer a warranty due to the age of the car.
The next day I showed up actually earlier then expected to pick up the car for the overnight demo and recieved a bitter "growl" in the so-called greeting from the sales manager. Took the car, had a friend with the same kind of car check it out so that I could get an owners input on that car. Drove it and purchased enough fuel to return it to where it was when I got it.
The next day, the mechanic spent several hours going over all the major components of the car and gave me a list of the most important problems, costs and problem scenarios, recommendations and 'comps' on this car. I already had comps from my bank on this exact car and what the value on it was and what they would cover, same from the insurance people. I also pulled the CarFax report on this car and had the True Market Value sheet, Resale sheet and comp sheet for the car. It was a prior lease car and had passed from auction to auction beginning around Aug '05 before it was finally bought by the dealer; and required $2500 in parts and labor to make the car completely safe. The mechanic said it was all fixable and okay for now, but would be a dangerous car for driving if those key areas weren't replaced, ie tires, brakes, rotors, etc. And would cause more damage to the car when they failed.
The salesman had already qouted me a price of 329/month which only came out to about 1K more then the car value. So, knowing all this information, I was advised to lowball offer and work up to what the car was worth, but not pay anymore due to the cost of the needed repairs and only what the bank/ins would cover.
I went in the box with my father this time as backup against dealers wear-down tactic. The salesman made the initial sticker offer, no deal, he brought back the next offer from the 'desk' (sales manager). I informed him of the information I had, values, problems, costs, etc, and lowballed to start. I was actually surprised the salesman took it to the sales manager so quickly, I figured he would try harder then that to have a deal his boss would take.
I could hear and see the sales manager laugh, I wasn't surprised at that, I expected it. The salesman came back and we started talking, that's when I saw the sales manager Alvin Beaty come screaming from his office in the back about how he had never had such a low offer. He proceeded to talk about how they had to wait for me and that my initial offer was really an insult. I told him that same info I had on the car and he said I could leave. Fine, I have a good vehicle, still under manufact warranty and paid for, it's desrecitionary income for me anyway. As we were leaving, Alvin came screaming from the back again, cussing and moving extremely aggressively toward my father (a senior citizen). Alvin got right in my father's face yelling and cussing, my father held his own.
While they did that, I stepped around and asked the porter to retrieve my vehicle from their back lot. I did this to avoid any false claims of liability for being in the back lot unattended. I remained professional and asked Alvin to let his porter go get my vehicle, and he yelled that he didn't want me back there, which I didn't want to be anyway due to any claims that could be made, and I returned fire of how I was in agreement. Alvin stormed off to his office cussing and yelling, and who knows what else; and me and my father waited for the porter to bring my ride. I said thanks to him, left and went to the * and * dealer to spend the money. I forgot to mention that all this occured while there were OTHER salesman and CUSTOMERS in the office.
With that said, I refuse to EVER purchase a vehicle from Mitchell Buick-Pontiac-GMC, or any Mitchell affilited dealer. I do not hold the salesman responsible for what happened. I do hold the sales manager, Alvin Beaty, and the dealership responsible for Alvin's actions. NEVER before have I seen such a lack of customer respect, lack of professionalism and utter vulgarity come from someone in that level of responsibility. He showed complete disregard toward other salesman and customers in his efforts to puff-out his ego and chest to yell at a senior citizen. He showed hostility and violent tendencies toward my father. I had not seen ANYONE act that way since I returned from Iraq mid-December, even then, it was only the insurgents and criminals we captured who acted the way Alvin Beaty did. I'm sure he does this to other customers as well.
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