*Warning Utah Honda Buyers! Stockton-to-Malone Honda Does Bait & Switch
*Famous Basketball Duo Gives New Meaning to Pick and Roll
* Promised Great Price on Honda, Drove 650 Miles with Pregnant Wife, Upon Arrival Upped Price By $1,200, and Denied They Offered the Deal!
* Dealership Claims No Bait & Switch. "It's Only Bait and Switch If Someone Buys the Car!"
* 2/27 Stockton-To-Malone Honda Has Unsatisfactory Better Business Bureau Rating
- (http://www.saltlakecity. BBB.org/report.html? Compid=98101378)
I am an engineering graduate student at Brigham Young University, married with a child on the way. I was recently hired by a large high technology company and am preparing to enter my new job. As part of that, I wanted to buy a new car. We have always like Hondas.
Last week my wife and I were on a mini-vacation in Los Angeles visiting relatives. We decided to look for Hondas there. We negotiated a deal with Honda of Santa Monica for a 2001 Accord LX Sedan (automatic) for $16,950 contingent upon a little more shopping around. They told me the price would be good for only the next couple of days.
In comparison shopping I called Stockton-to-Malone Honda in Sandy, UT. I thought it would be prudent to do so in order to save on taxes and fees. I first spoke with a salesman named Dan Despain and told him of the California quote with an exact description of the car and asked him if he could match it. He told me he would match any advertised price. I reaffirmed the California price and exact car description with him on four occasions just to make sure and each time he told me we had a deal. We then set up a time to consummate the deal. The time was the next day.
That evening my wife and I left LA and drove 650 miles — all night — to make the scheduled appointment.
When we arrived at Stockton-to Malone, Dan the salesman said he was too busy to meet with us and passed us on to another salesman. I showed the salesman the contract from the LA dealer showing the $16,950 price and recounted my conversation with Dan the salesman. He took the contract to the sales manager Drew. After reviewing the contract, Drew said he couldn't believe the price on the contract and said he would give me the car for $18,140 — a $1,190 difference in price.
I told him we had a verbal deal, that Dan promised me on the phone he would match my California contract and that I had driven all night from California to buy the car based on his promises. He reaffirmed that I was out of luck and the best he could do was the higher price.
I waited around to talk with Dan. After many pages at the dealership and no Dan, so we left.
Having felt I was taken advantage of, I wondered if my experience was an isolated case. At home, I went to the Utah Better Business Bureau website and discovered that the dealership had a unsatisfactory BBB rating "company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to unanswered complaint (s)." My understanding is that in order to get an unsatisfactory rating, the company has to be pretty bad.
The next morning I called Dan and Dan denied that he ever set a fixed price and said he didn't know the value of the car and it all was a mistake. I asked if he didn't know the value of the car why did he quote me a price? He then again denied that we agreed to a price. I told Dan I was going to report him to the BBB and he said "don't threaten me!"
I then asked to talk with his general manager. A few minutes later Brian Crane, Stockton-to-Malone general manager called me and said they were sticking by their higher price and there was nothing I could do about it. He then said he was going to fire Dan the salesman and repeated this many times over. I asked him how that was going to help me. I then mentioned their unsatisfactory BBB rating and Crain told me it was a mistake that people were probably getting their dealership confused with the dealership next door with Karl Malone's name on it. He then hung up on me.
Frustrated, I talked with my wife's uncle who is in the radio business in Salt Lake City. He loves to do consumer advocacy.
The next day he told me he called the dealership and spoke at first with Crane and then with Gregg Miller, the executive in charge of the dealership and the son of Larry Miller, the owner of the Utah Jazz. He said he was not able to make any headway. When he accused Crane of a bait and switch Crane allegedly told him that it would only be bait and switch if the car was actually purchased. Crane then allegedly hung up on him after belittling his station, claiming that I was a liar and that he had hundreds of people lined up to buy his cars.
He then called Gregg Miller who allegedly told him if he was going to do a report on the radio to be sure to say his name correctly — that all publicity was good publicity. Greg Miller asked him to send an email explaining the circumstances and he would look into it but not offer too much hope.
Greg Miller then replied to the email and we spoke on three different occasions — all to no avail. To Miller's credit he was civil on the phone and apologized for everything that happened. He offered me $190 off of their demanded price. Nevertheless, he said, as a last resort, he had to believe his salesperson's version of the story over mine. And that was it.
I find this whole situation sickening especially in light of the company's mission statement cited on their website (http://www.stocktontomalonehonda.com):
"Our mission is to continuously exceed the expectations of our customers, employees, and our community.
Our goal is to be the benchmark for excellence in every aspect of our business. We will strive to deliver perfect service through uncompromising commitment to continuous improvement.
Our promise is to create an environment of mutual trust and respect; to promote growth and personal freedom; to foster and renew teamwork and employee involvement; and to demand the highest ethical standard from ourselves and others.
We believe people are our most important resource and the foundation of our success."
What a joke.
I find it disheartening that people come to the Stockton-to Malone dealership under the auspices of their admiration for the respected athletes whose name it bears only to encounter such a negative experience. It is sad when the transitory and temporal value of money is more important than the eternal value of integrity and one's word as their bond. I don't know of anyone who has, on their death bed, said they wished they were taking more money with them. So be it.
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