Recently I heard an ad on the radio which stated... Do you have a job? Do you have $199? Do you have negative equity in your trade. Then come to Fredericksburg Kia because we'll put you in a new Kia and payoff your trade no matter how much you owe. Needless to say in my current situation I was skeptical that anyone could help me. I am about $5000 upside-down on my trade and had a bankruptcy in 2002 and just finished a nasty divorce so my credit situation is DISMAL. On the positive side I have a good paying job (Make over 60K per year) and have been at the same job for 2 1/2 years and in the same line of work for 4 years. And I had the $199 down. And then some. Reluctantly I went on-line and filled out the credit application just to see. The next day I called Fredericksburg Kia and spoke with the Internet Sales Manager, Sandy. She was very professional and said she had recieved my information and was looking at it before I called. I told her... I know my situation is "ROUGH" but can you help me. She asked me what car I was interested in purchasing... How much I could put down and what range I wanted my monthly payment to be. I told her I like the Specta-5 Hatchback and could put down more than the $199 but I wanted to get by with the least amount down... We settled on $500. We also settled on a payment range between $300 and $350 per month. She said she would get back with me and did in about an hour.in about an hour she called me and said she got an approval for the purchase of an 06 Spectra-5 with $500 down at an interest rate of 17.9%. The payment would be $470 per month. I then told her I did not feel comfortable with a payment that high and said thanks for your time. At this time I discussed the deal with my mother and she wanted to know if she co-signed for me would it make enough difference to get the payment down to $350. I called Sandy back and told her about my mom co-signing and asked if it would make enough difference to bring the payment down to the level we previously discussed. Of course she said it depended upon her credit. I put my mother on the phone and she gave Sandy her information and Sandy said she would call back after she ran her credit. Well unlike mine, my mother's credit is great. Within 60 seconds Sandy was calling me back saying all you have to do is come pick a car... We have one in black and one in silver. I asked her what the rate would be and she said no higher than 7%. I told her I live 50 miles from Fredericksburg. Are you sure this is a done deal... I mean you haven't even seen my trade and you offered my $2500 for it... Which is what I was offered at other dealers but what happens if you only want to give me $1000.. I am not making up the difference. She assured me it would be all worked out. I loaded up my 4 year old son and my mom and off the Fredericksburg we went. Upon arrival I met with Sandy and the general manager and they passed me on to a salesman to show me the cars. Well here comes the old bait and switch. We had made a deal on a Spectra-5 Hatchback yet the salesman was very persistently trying to get me to test drive an Optima (Sedan). They were offeing a higher dealer cash back option and according to him it would make a big difference in my payment and make it easier to get the deal done. I told him I would look at it but I really wanted the Specta-5 and I already had a deal made on the Spectra. After driving both I settled on the Spectra-5. Now is the time to sign the deal I thought... Well he comes over with the car dealers typical piece of paper with the deal numbers and it was not anything like what we had agreed upon. They gave me $2300 for my trade and wanted $2500 down with a payment of $390 per month and an interest rate of 12.99%. I said what happened to $500 down and 7% and the $350 payment. Well of course I must have mis-understood Sandy... And the five telephone conversations we had where I could hear her on the other end talking with the finance manager working out my deal... Besides she's not in finance she couldn't have quoated me a rate of 7% she's just the Internet sales manager she has nothing to do with finance. I said could I please speak to the finance manager then. Withing a few minutes this pre-historic b*h with an attitude comes walking over and I asked her what happened to the deal I made with your employee, Sandy? Well she hadn't had time to look over the deal so she is completly in the dark and let her have a minute to look at the paperwork. This then became an interrogation about my bad credit history... And an attack on my character talking down to me like a child who is being scolded by his mother. I told her wait a minute... You had all this information before you made the deal... Now things from 5 years ago that were covered in my bankruptcy are an issue... I didn't come all the way down here if you couldn't do what you said you would do. She became very condisending and basically told me to take it or leave it. The whole time she was denying the presence of the deal I made with Sandy and how I must have mis-understood I was looking at a pink post-it note on my credit report that had the entire deal I was refering to written out... $500 down...$2500 Trade... And 7% interest rate and a payment of around $350. Upon having to physically show her this paper she ubruptly pushed them all together and said this conversation is over and got up and stormed off... While she was leaving she said in a loud enough voice that I could hear her from 20 feet away "Your just a piece of S*t who doesn't pay his bills". I yelled back to her "No you and your dealership are just full of S*t". At this time the Manager came over and wanted to know what in the world was going on... I told him she called me a piece of s*t... Once again I must have mis-understood her. I left and have since purchased a car elsewhere. If you have credit problems Do Not Do Business with these SCUMBAGS... Because in their eyes people who have credit problems are "a Piece of S*t"...
Kevin
Alexandria, Virginia
U.S.A.
0 comments