I am not one to make salnderous remarks or bring anyone else down. I am myself an agent with a very major airline and very much love mu job abd the company that I work for. I know that Customer service is a tough business to be in. We try our best to help everyone that we can as best that we can and things get very stressfull at times. At any rate my issue is a bit different as it deals with having to purchase a car instead of an airline ticket or lost baggage.
Recently My wife and I were looking for a new SUV nothing fancy just a used blaser in the 15,000 - 20,000 asking price range with a 1,500 - 2,500 down payment. SHOPPED AND SHOPPED for two weeks (I have bad credit) though I could not get approved for a loan at many of the dealerships that i went to without a co-signer I understood that financing would be hard to find.
The team Dealership Guaranteed that we would be financed for the loan on the car that we had finally found. They sold it to us for 14,000 not an excellent offer but a decent one. We accepted with a 1,500 down payment and went into the finance office.
My downpayment check was approved by the bank and the check approval company and we signed the contract. 20% interest seemed a bit high but we took the deal because we realized that this was without a co-signer and a low downpayment with my bad credit.
We were advised by the finance officer that refinancing after a year or so would be no problem if we had made all of our payments on time.
We set into the realization that we would have to pay a bit extra but actually not out of our budget of 450 per month.
The dealership assured us that they would find a lender for our loan as it was late at night and all the banks were closed and then told us to bring the vehicle back to the dealership in the morning to have it detailed as thier detail crew had already gone home. (HMMMMMMM) then I asked about a couple of new keys (The key the vehicle came with was a litle hardwarestore key) the dealership said that they would make them for us at cost. (More about that later), then I asked about the standard key fobs for the standard keyless entry system for the vehicle and got the same answer (we will sell them to you at cost if we can not find any extra ones) when asked if it was indeed a GM certified Used Vehicle we were told that all used gm used vehicles sold at the dealership were GM Certified Used Vehicles and i was presented with the inspection checklist. Ok i was satisfied. Surely I was getting treated honestly.
The vehicle was a 2001 Chevrolet Blazer 4x4 Pewter in color with leather and all the trimmings just as we had ben looking for. We drove it off the lot reminding the salesman that we needed a full tank of gas (that is what they do when you buy a new car right) the salesman sent us to the gas station and filled our tank and then proceded to fill his own as well. (hmmmmmmmmmmmmm). Wel came back the next morning to have the vehicle detailed (it was a bit muddy as I had tested out its 4X4 capibilities after all it was my new car and they did tell me that they would detail it in the morning for me)
As I waited I thought that Id call the insurance company and verify that the vehicle was insured, have my keys cut wich they charged me 14.00 (I was only charged 14.00 for the keys after having a nice chat with the sales manager about the fact that they wanted to charge me for looking up the key code something about the fax costing 25.00 and 25.00 for each key) for and was informed that they did not have any extra keyfobs for the vehicle and that I could get them at cost.
In the meantime I waited for my car to be detailed and talked to the finance manager and was told that everything was in order and that everything would be fine. I waited 3 hours for the vehicle to be detailed. (Not a very good job was done).
The next day the sales man called me and asked if I could bring some paperwork by for the bank (Paystub and a couple of bills proving residency) I did so and asked again if everything was fine and was again assured that there were no problems. I drove the vehicle for another four days. Then I got the call after driving the car for a full week telling me that I would have to return it or come up with another 1,000 in cash for the down payment.
I returned to the dealership rather upset and simply was only wanting my downpayment back and a refund for the keys that I purchased. I was mistreated from the second that I walked in the door like I had stolen the car. They wanted it back. I was extremly upset.
The finance manager that assured me on several occasions that everything would be fine said to me "Mr MacDonough I don't understand why you are so upset" I just said that i wanted my downpayment check back and that I wanted a refund for my keys that I purchased. He said that he needed to find a manager and I waited. As I waited was engaged in a conversation with some other customers and I stated what I was going through with this particular dealership and that I recomended that they shop elsewhere. The Dealership manager promptly came up to me and said "I would appreciate it if you wouldn't talk to my customers" (Wasn't I a customer? Didnt they want to sell me a 14,000 car?) I hoped so.
I told him what my frustration was and that I ws very upset. He basically said that he would give me a refund by taking it off of what I owed the dealership (what I owed???) I didn't think I owed them anything. They were going to charge me for the milage that I put on the car while I owned it and they were going to charge me for a detail fee (Which they stated they would provide for me).
I promptly realized that I would have to take other avenues of approach to this matter and left the keys on thier counter and stated that I hoped that all the other people that were at the dealership at that time would take thier business elsewhere as I would as well.
I don't think I was being irational nor irate or even uncooth as some would say. A car is a major purchase at least the other dealerships told me that they could not sell me a car.
At least they told me that they could not approve me for a loan under the terms that I had. Hut TEAM PONTIAC BUICK GMC guarantied that they would finance me. Then assured me that everything was fine. My wife and I saw that Blazer from across the lot and just knew that it was the car. We drove it extensively and we fell in love with it and they (TEAM PONTIAC BUICK GMC) sold it to us. It was the car that we had been surching for. I feel so wronged. Maybee I did miss something in the contract maybee I was wrong maybee I did make a mistake but why would they let me drive the vehicle for a week and then tell me that they need the vehicle back after I was approved and paid the required deposit!? I just wish that my car purchasing expierience was a bit better. I will never recomend TEAM PONTIAC BUICK GMC to anyone or recomend that they purchase a vehicle from TEAM PONTIAC BUICK GMC they he bad business practices and if they did it to me I wasnt the first nor will I be the last.
Thank you for listening.
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