I was in the market for a boat. I called to speak with a sales rep at Criswell Powersports in Germantown, MD. I let them know that I was an hour and half away in another state. I expressed I had a vehicle to trade in, and the sales person went over the numbers with me. Unfortunately, he didnt have the NADA book with him but told me to look at it online. I told him the trade in was $41,000, private party was $46,000, and retail was $52,000. He said Id get between trade in and private party.
My personal experience with Criswell Power Sports was the most horrendous experience that a buyer could go through. I will preface this to say that if you are looking for a good selection of power sport equipment and vehicles that they have a great selection and an impeccable showroom. I offer this information only as my personal experience, Im sure there have been some satisfied customers, however, my dealing with Criswell PowerSports was less than satisfactory, to say the least.
I expressed that I didnt want to waste my time and we were an hour and half away. He assured me he would make this work, and would give me a phenomenal deal on the boat. We went to pick up my car and my wife drove down in an SUV. We got to Criswell, and they offered $39,000 for the car, way below what he had previously agreed to.
After multiple correspondences via phone and fax, the sales guy and I came to an agreement of $46,000 for the trade in and the boat out the door including tags, title, and tax for $41,000. Long story short, on the day we called to seal the deal, the sales guy wasnt there so we spoke to the finance manager and I confirmed with him that we would come in and we were still OK on the deal with $41,000 out the door for the boat including tax, title, and tag and $46,000 for the trade. He confirmed and we asked for all paperwork and boat to be ready by the time we got there.
So now we loaded up 3 kids under the age of 4, drove the two cars another hour and a half down, only to wait forever with 3 young kids getting increasingly impatient. When the paperwork was finally completed, the finance manager wasnt even the one to go over it with us. We then noticed they were charging $41,000 not out the door, but $41,000 for the price of the boat plus tax, title, and tag. So basically, another $2,500 more than we agreed on.
We stated to the finance manager that he was basically saying that they lied to us and he said yes they did. I had to ask him again, So you are basically telling me you guys lied to us He abrubtly said yes with anger.
Not only did they waste our time, not only were they rude and unprofessional, but after expressing this wasnt the agreed upon deal, the finance manager comes in and says thats the deal and that is the way it is. We expressed that this wasnt what we had agreed upon, and he stated thats what was told to him and what was discussed with the Sales Manager and Sales Man and we should bring it up with them.
We asked to speak to the GM, and he was in a meeting apparently. I then asked to use the phone to call my attorney and they would not let me use the phone. Consequently, the finance manager, as unprofessional as he is, goes on the intercom and calls the GM explicitly saying to come immediately as I was calling my attorney.
Needless to say, the GM comes, starts yelling at us with our three kids present and says he has the right to refuse to deal with us and for us to leave.
On our way out, the sales person came out with us and apologized. I told him, he knew that it was wrong. He expressed, that it was his day off and they called him to come in. When he got there, they told him, that they changed it to $41,000 plus tax, title, and tags instead of $41,000 out the door including tax, title, and tags. He said he told him that wasnt the deal that we agreed upon and he asked them if they told us. They said no, but that was how it was going to be. It would have been nice of them to let us know that after agreeing to a price and terms multiple times that day, they changed it on our way down before we wasted 6 hours of our time, not to mention a large amount of money in gas with the price of gas these days.
I was astonished that such a business could treat a potential client the way they did and was astonished that people this disrespectful would be working at such an establishment. Not only did they waste our time by making us drive 2 cars a total of 6 hours, but throughout the whole process, they outright lied to us thinking once we were in, we would just take the deal.
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