We were in on Dec. 19th, and spoke with Eric, the gentleman who occupies the front right office at the Palatine location. He appeared genuinely upset about our situation and the dealership's handling of the situation, which we found ourselves in after a series of errors, none of which were our fault. This is how it started: I purchased a Land Rover Freelander on
Dec. 6th. We spent about 3 1/2 hours at the dealership that night, working with Don to get the right loan for the vehicle. Our credit stinks, but we're young professionals who are actively repairing our scores (in fact, I work at a Bank, and deal with loans all day, so I understand the loan process moreso than most customers off the street). Don kept asking "what payment can you make?" and we told him 300, but since I really liked the
Freelander, I'd go to 340/mo. Finally, he said "we've got it!" and we signed the paperwork— 12995 purchase price, 15.9% interest for the extended warranty, $390/mo. I relented and agreed, and my wife and I signed
the paperwork. We were satisfied at that point.
Tuesday, Dec. 18th my wife received a phone call on her cell from an unknown number. As we have just gotten new phone numbers, and are constantly inundated with calls for the folks who formerly owned the phone number, she asked me to answer and ask them to stop calling. When I
answered, it was Don, and I asked "what's up?" to which he said "we've got something new on your deal, some better numbers, could save you some money, can you come in?" I said sure, but since it was about 8:15pm and we live over 30 minutes away, I said we'd come in after work Wednesday night, less than 24 hours later. He said "we'll see you then." So I am sitting at my desk, in my bank branch, with a customer, and someone walks in and asks to speak to me. I assumed he was a customer, asked him to wait a second until I was done with the customer at my desk, and I'd be right with him. He said actually he was here for "that, " and pointed to my new car in the parking lot. I didn't understand at first, and
then he said "I am here to repossess you vehicle." I had only had it for 3 weeks, and had just spoken to Don 12 hours earlier, so I was floored. I immediately called the dealership in Palatine, spoke with Joe, who said
"there's nothing I can do— the GM ordered the repossession, and he won't call it off." At this point, I unleased a series of swears and cusses on
Joe. "How could this be happening?" I kept asking, but got no response beyond this: "the bank pulled your loan, and won't do financing for you on that vehicle. We've been calling and calling you, and since you didn't
return our calls, we thought you were stealing it." I said "But I spoke with Don last night and had an appointment to come in this evening, less than 6 hours from now, what the f*k?" He said "If you're going to take that tone I dont have to speak to you." And he hung up on me.
We were in on Dec. 19th, and spoke with Eric, the gentleman who occupies the front right office at the Palatine location. He appeared genuinely upset about our situation and the dealership's handling of the situation, which we found ourselves in after a series of errors, none of which were our fault. This is how it started: We arrived that evening at the dealership and spoke to Joe first. I don't normally speak down about
people, but he must be the most unprofessional person I have ever met in finance. His shirt was slobby and stained, his office had wrappers and chocolates and files shrewn about everywhere, and his attitude was
appalling. When we arrived, he said "what do you want to do?" and I said "get my sunglasses back" because I had left them in the glove box. He said "we'll get those, but do you want the car back? We can sign you to new loan docs, same everything, but your payment will be $40/month higher." I said "well then, if I could've signed new papers today as I had agreed to do and
kept the car, why was it repossessed, at my work, in front of my customers and co-workers, for $40/month?" He again said they had tried calling and since they hadn't heard, ordered the repo. "But you had heard from me. I am
not signing anything, keep the car, I will never work with your dealership again." Joe smugly said fine, I'll take you to the car, and he did, after about 5 minutes of standing in one spot at the counter in a blatant manuver to piss me off even more. He was laughing and joking about me pacing around the lobby with some other folks over there. He tried to shoo us out the
door, but I demanded to speak to someone with more authority. He reluctantly agreed, bringing me to Eric.
We spoke with Eric, the gentleman who occupies the front right office at the Palatine location. He appeared genuinely upset about our situation and the dealership's handling of the situation, which we found ourselves in
after a series of errors, none of which were our fault. Eric said he just started at that location, and wasn't sure how the deal had gone down from the beginning, but he did get the file and review it. He then attempted to
sell me another car. But that's not the point. The point is the unprofessional manner in which we were treated. My face is still stinging and I'm sure my blood pressure
is through the roof. If you don't understand why we will never work with your dealership again after reading this, my belief that your company is heading towards ruin is completely founded. If you do understand why we will never work with your dealership after reading this— it's a start, and maybe you'll sell enough beaters to low income borrowers to not go out of business. Your apparent way of doing business is nothing to be proud of. Though I do commend your effort in getting us back in the door, from a sales perspective.
Disgruntledjd
Barrington, Illinois
U.S.A.
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