Shop at this dealership at your own risk!!!
This dealership's salespeople, sales managers, and finance people do not give a flying F about customers, only their own pockets. I have included a copy of the letter I sent to them so you can see all of the details. You can also see about the investigation the Office of the Attorney General of Florida is conducting into this company of dealerships at www.myfloridalegal.com and type in Bill Heard Chevrolet.
If, for some reason, after reading this, you still wish to do business with them, KEEP A CLOSE EYE on their finance people when you go to sign the contract. After the sales manager and I agreed on X no of months @ X no of $'s, the finance guy, Griff, tried to slip in a contract for me to sign @ $32 more per month.
Griff is a very shady character!
Following is the letter i sent to management at the dealership:
December 29
Bill Heard Chevrolet
2002 North Frontage Road
Plant City, Florida 33563
Dear Sir or Madam:
I attempted to resolve this issue with two members of your staff, Zack Collins and David "Griff", over the past couple of weeks and have not received a satisfactory response from either of them. I have gone online to the Office of the Attorney General of Florida and I know that your company has entered into a Assurance of Voluntary Compliance with the State of Florida and you have agreed to resolve any consumer complaint within 45 days.
I have tried to resolve this issue through your employees, but their attitude is that it is my problem and I have to deal with it. I am sorry, but that is entirely unacceptable! I have already filed a complaint with the State Attorney and now I am informing you of the complaint as follows:
My husband Ronald Cash and I purchased a 2008 Chevrolet Silverado from your dealership on Saturday, December 15. At that time, we informed David "Griff" that we wished to get financing through our credit union Tampa Bay Federal Credit Union. Mr. Griff said he understood because we could get a better interest rate and cheaper GAP insurance from our credit union. At no time did he say or do anything to indicate this would be a problem.
Griff had my husband and I sign what he called a "dummy contract" in order to protect the dealership in case we did not obtain financing on our own. He told us at the time he had no intention of submitting the contract to any other financial institution, he would wait to hear from us about financing through our credit union.
On Monday, Dec. 17 I spoke to Griff and told him my husband and I would visit our credit union after work to apply for the loan. (by the way, this was the only time I was able to contact Griff, until I spoke to him yesterday, he would never return my or my husband's calls.) We completed the paperwork but had to return on Tuesday to find out if the loan was approved because there was no one at work in their underwriting department to give the final approval for the loan.
On Tuesday, Dec 18, we returned to our credit union after work and signed the final contract for the loan and the loan rep fax a lien receipt to attention Zack Collins at your dealership. I was sure the loan was finalized and a done deal.
On Wednesday, Dec. 26 I received a letter from Eastern Financial Florida Credit Union affirming my loan for the truck through them. My first payment of $628.22 was due on 1/14/08, blah, blah, blah. Imagine my surprise!
On Thursday, Dec. 27, I called your dealership and left a message for Griff to ask him about this letter and I called again and spoke to Zack Collins. Mr. Collins told me he would look into the matter and call me back.
On Friday, Dec. 28, Mr. Griff called me and we spoke about the letter from this other credit union. He informed me it was a done deal, he could not do anything to change it. The only solution he offered me is to refinance the loan through my bank.
This is very deceptive practice on the part of your dealership:
1) When Griff had us sign the contract, he said it did not mean anything and that he would not submit it to any financial institution. He told us it was only to cover the dealership in case we never sought financing from our credit union.
2) He never informed us that he would put through the contract if we did not get our own financing within 72 hours. I certainly would have taken more time, although I was at work, to talk to him and let him know what was going on at my bank. I did not know I was so time constricted. The loan was finalized through my bank and they faxed your dealership the lien receipt by 4:30pm on Dec. 18th, which was within the 72 hours time limit Mr. Griff says he informed us of, but I never heard of until I spoke to him on Dec. 28th.
3) He did not inform us that he was submitting the contract to Eastern Financial Florida Credit Union.
4) He did not inform us that Eastern Financial Florida Credit Union had issued a loan for our vehicle. I did know this until Dec. 26, when I received the letter from them, dated Dec. 19th, after our bank faxed you a lien receipt on Dec. 18th.
5) He did not inform us that he never (as he claims, even though the loan rep at our credit union has confirmation that the lien receipt was faxed to your dealership on Dec. 18th) received anything from our credit union.
6) By obtaining a loan in our name from Eastern Financial Florida Credit Union and ignoring communications from our credit union he has:
A. Made it impossible for us to obtain GAP insurance from our credit union at a reduced rate.
B. If we refinance the loan through our credit union, it will have to be a higher interest rate because it is no longer considered a new car loan.
As resolution, I would like to see your dealership return any funds you may have received from Eastern Financial Florida Credit Union, do whatever necessary to cancel any loans obtained in our name, and follow up with the lien receipt and any other paperwork you may have to complete with our bank, Tampa Bay Federal Credit Union, so we can have the original loan with the lower interest rate and GAP insurance we applied for.
Thank you in advance for your attention to the matter.
Sincerely,
Donna S. XXXX
Donna
Zephyrhills, Florida
U.S.A.
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