Upon finally leaving Bankston Chevy of North Richland Hills, TX I felt defeated, drained and terribly upset. I spoke with the fleet manager (to whom I was originally referred), the used car manager and the general manager. I felt that my request for reliable transportation was portrayed to be unreasonable and not the problem of the staff and the dealership. I'll be honest in stating that I know that GM is having a hard timethis is part of the reason why my husband and I chose to purchase a GM vehicle for the first time. We wanted to help, we thought that the ratings on a Chevy Malibu were fantastic and we thought they could help us into a reliable car and we could help them by buying a car. I dealt with Michael West, fleet manager (who I was referred to), Laurel Hoff (Sales Consultant), the Used Car manager and the General Manager. This is what happened:
I was referred to this dealership and specific person based on good personal experience from a friend of mine. Upon going into the dealership, we had not searched current inventory because we assumed they would have ample inventory to take care of us and the experience was more important to us than anything since we have had terribly negative experiences in the past. Originally, everything looked god on my credit. Enough for the dealership to allow me to drive off the lot for almost a week with a 2009 Chevy Malibu LT2. Having a bad feeling and worried that the financial aspect was not put into place, I did let Laurel know that I was uncomfortable accepting the car temporarily. I did not want to get excited and used to a great car and then have to downgrade. I was called almost a week after taking the new car home and told that I do not qualify for the new car. I had to bring it back, get my trade-in vehicle back and wait to see what the dealership would come up with.
A few days later, they called telling me about a 2008 Malibu LS that they would have to transfer from another dealership. I was not given any information about the vehicle, so I asked the mileage (37,000.. Which seemed a little high for a 2008). I spoke with my husband and gave permission for the car to be brought over for us to look at.
Although the dealership was willing to go above and beyond offering me value for my trade-in (which I was not told about until the offer was no longer in effect), I found that I was expected to understand that the car I was buying needed repairs and that despite the GM warranty, they were not willing to make sure the car was in excellent condition when selling the car. I was told that because of my mediocre credit and despite the fact that I was putting 5000 down, they would not replace the tired for new tires and would not balance them. Given the used Malibu for a test drive overnight, I immediately experienced a loud low noise that was constant and very apparent after going above 40mph. The noise was so apparent that once I got home, I ran a vehicle history report and found that the car was once used as a rental vehicle (I wanted to be sure this was not a lemon deal and it did not seem to be) and I called the dealership to let them know I'd come in for them to look at it. Expecting that the dealership would promptly take care of this and knowing I was a 24 hour window before the sale was complete, I took it to them to have tires replaced and balanced. Expecting no problems. Mike tried excessively to convince me that the used car I was buying was better than my trade-in and tried to have me agree that I would bring back the car in two weeks (once the warranty was in effect). I was told that if anything happened to the car, they would come bring me a temp vehicle and take care of the current one. Since I was spending $16,000 on the vehicle price and putting so much down, I didn't feel I should have to settle for a vehicle with issues. I told them that it was not acceptable for me to be buying a used car for that price and have issues with it less than 24 hours and to have the dealership say that I had to wait 2 weeks for repair. I insisted they have someone look at it (I finally had to ask Mike how much it would cost for me to have someone look at it. He kept saying they would have to stick the repair cost onto my sticker price..). I was told the dealership did not have another vehicle in my price range and that due to my credit, they would not replace the tires or even balance them and even if brought back once the warranty was in effect, the tires and balance were outside the warranty parameters. Not to mention, I was constantly told they were making no money off of this deal but had shown no proof of this. Based on this information I was left to assume that if someone came in with perfect credit, they would replace the tires no problem and not argue. I was expected to take a damaged vehicle off the lot and have repairs done immediately after leaving! This situation was TERRIBLY stressful and I ended up in tears in the Used Sales Managers Office because despite being very reasonable and rational, the manager was angry because they (apparently) had already gone above and beyond (in their opinion) to help me. Even though I had not been explained in what way they were helping me in excess. No figures were on paper or anything.
From my perspective, I was being taken advantage of. With no explanation, this left me even more upset when the manager threatened that even though they had given me above value for my car (which I wasn't aware of until that moment), they were NOW giving me a less value for my car and the deal was off. I was very gentle, but persisted in asking for the GM. And at this point had been in tears. The GM explained that it would probably be better to get me into a new car and had the sales staff work with me. Unfortunately, after leaving the GM's office, there were more problems left and right... My paycheck stubs were now unacceptable and my husband's paycheck stubs were unacceptable. Feeling defeated, I requested that we go back to the original deal in which I take the car that needed repairs and was told there was the same issue with my paycheck stubs. If this was the case, why wasn't I told this when Mike talked to the bank originally? I was told the bank approved everything for that sale.
I ended up leaving, finally feeling as though they were really putting an attempt in to get rid of me. I'm sure GM is hurting with the economic crisis, but why am I supposed to pay for that when I am attempting to help them by buying a car from them? I needed a reliable car. And that is ALL I really needed... Even though I was approved for a loan, they were unwilling to give me a reliable car. I felt like unless I had perfect credit or an unending credit limit, I would not be treated fairly. I wanted to file a formal complaint against the dealership. I felt terribly unfairly treated.
I am an avid referral type of person and could have referred tons of business their waynot only that, I work for prominent families in Southlake, TXwho would happily have gone to paid CASH for new vehicles like the new Camaro or Corvette and several mothers that would buy fully loaded suburbans or minivans. I feel the dealership really made a mistake here and am very disappointed in the actions they chose to take with me.
Btrflybeetle
Bedford, Texas
U.S.A.
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