As one of the millions of hurting Americans who are either unemployed or receiving minimum pay, I feel it is my responsibility and civic duty to make all Americans aware of companies to be avoided. I ask for your help to get the word out. I am elderly and on disablity pay and these customers are the primary targets of dealerships like Stonebriar Chevrolet. I think Stonebriar used those facts to their advantage.
On June 29, this company kept me at their dealership for five hours until they wore me down. They knew that I had lost part of my disability pay and had to trade my new car, a 2010 Chevrolet Malibu LT, VIN# 1G1ZD5EB4AF197734, in on a used car Chevrolet Cobalt LT, VIN# 1G1AT58H997268724, to reduce my payments. They first lied to me on the telephone just to get me into their dealership. Once there, they increased the price by $1,500, but little by little they got within $300 which they asked me to pay. I paid the $300 out of my much needed cash reserve I had for groceries and my required medication just to get the car and get home because I was tired. The company also tried to jip me out of the 12 month, 12,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty. The salesman told me the car was 'Certified' and had the warranty. But, after the deal was verbally agreed upon, the internet used car manager and the used car manager (2 different managers) told me the car was not 'Certified' and had no warranty. They said at the price they sold it to me, that they couldn't afford to give me the warranty.
I also asked the used car manager if it had a clean 'Carfax' report and if it had any body damage and he said the 'Carfax' was clean and it had no damage. After signing the papers, I found the bumper on the rear was dented. I failed to catch it on my quick inspection.
I am not sure whether the following claim is true, but I deeply believe it to be true. When my daughter and I drove over late the evening before, June 28, to look at the car, it was raining so my daughter stayed in the car. When I jumped back into my car, I told my daughter that it had leather and new tires. After buying the car the next day, I drove off and the car seemed to noisey and rough. When I got home, and as I was checking the tire pressure, I noticed the tires weren't new.
The next two days, June 30 and July 1, I spent sending messages to the dealer reporting the dented bumper, the old tires, the noisey and rough ride, the car almost stalling at low speeds, numerous spots of paint missing, and the gas mileage not being close to their and GM's claims. I told them the car seemed to have been badly mistreated. The company has a 72 hour, 150 mile window in which to allow you to return the car.in the messages that I sent them, I told them that I preferred to return the car and I asked them to reply. They purposely didn't reply and let the windows expire. And, then they replied and said the windows had expired and there was nothing they could do for me. That was very shrewd of them.
From Tuesday, July 6 and Friday, July 9, I begged them to help me with the car to correct all the problems, which now includes a bad oil leak from the engine and a high pitched rattling noise. Their only response was that they couldn't help me. It became the giant business against the small, unimportant customer.
On Monday, July 12 and Tuesday, July13, Stonebriar made an offer that they knew I could not accept. First, they offered to give my car back if I would find new financing and pay $1000 in TT&L and they would take their car back for what I had paid for it. I told them that I didn't have a $1,000 and that I had paid taxes on that money already. Then they offered to take their car back and give me back the $2,500 that they gave me for my trade (which turned out to be a ripoff) plus $320 that I had paid for T&L. I told them that I would have to shell out another $700 for taxes and I didn't have a way to get around to find another car anyway. They offered to give me a rental car until Friday and an additional $665 to pay taxes. I was having to go through all the headaches and trouble while they sat back fat, dumb and happy.
I made an offer to them that I would keep the piece of junk they sold me if I could get money to buy good tires and correct the paint problems on the exterior. Since they were willing to give me back my $320 for T&L, $665 for taxes on another vehicle, and they were going to pay for a rentall car, I said that I would settle for $1,200. I also asked them to stand behind the 12 month, 12,000 mile warranty to insure the other problems were corrected. They agreed with the idea. But, as usual they backed out again.
On Friday, July 16, at 2 PM CST, I met with Phil Mack and Glen Pirtle of Stonebriar Chevrolet to discuss a settlement between Stonebriar and myself. It amounted to Stonebriar wanting me to release them from any responsibility and putting all responsibility on the shoulders of General Motors and myself. I would be required to take my vehicle to OTHER dealers and sit in the waiting room until the problems were corrected and insure that all problems were corrected. General Motors would then pick up the tab for all repairs. If the problems were found to be from abuse by the prior drivers, then the repairs would be taken out of my pocket.
This seems very unfair to me since the problems existed at the time that they sold me the vehicle. Their inspection was either poorly done or not done at all. I pointed out many of the problems within their 72 hour, 150 mile constaints for reporting problems. Stonebriar purposely did not respond to me and now they want to blame me. They told me that I should have physically brought the car back. I wouldn't do that until they responded to me because I was afraid of causing a scene if I just showed up. I even put in one message for them to respond ASAP and they still ignored it. The management at Stonebriar leaves a lot to be desired. I was a manager with Mobil Oil (now ExxonMobil) for over 20 years and I know that management must respond to customer complaints immediatey. I am also afraid that additional problems from prior drivers might show up later.
I had a bad feeling the day of the sale that I was going to have problems with your internet and sales managers if the car was not right. They lied to me about the price. They finally got the price within three hundred dollars of what they had promised and I finally had to drain my bank account to get the car (That's how bad I needed it and how tired I was after 5 hours) of bickering.
The salesman was honest and said the car was 'Certified' and had an additional 12 month, 12,000 mile warranrty. The internet manager came out and I asked him were it stated the car was warranted. He said the car had no warranty and asked who told me it was 'Certified' and had a warranty. I told him the salesman told me. He hit the ceiling and got mad at the salesman. He and the salesman went into the office area and he came back and said the car had no warranty. I looked at him and asked, "Are you going back on your word?" He said they couldn't afford to give me a warranty because of the price they sold the car to me. I said that I wanted the warranty as promised. He finally came back and told me it had a warranty. When I was ready to see the finance officer, I asked the salesman where the warranty information was. He told me the finance officer would handle it. When I sat down with the finance officer, I ask him if he had the warranty information. He thumbed through the papers and looked at me and said that I had no warranty. He asked me if the sales people told me that it was warranted. I told him yes. He picked up the phone and called someone and asked them to bring over the warranty papers. A few minutes later, the saleswman brought in the certification check list. That is when I really knew I was in deep trouble. I had been lied to over and over and almost tricked out of my warranty. I kept asking about the warranty because I had lost faith in the sales people.
I now wish I had never gone to Stonebriar Chevrolet. They stole my 2010 Chevrolet Malibu with 2LT and only 4,000 miles and will make a giant profit at my expense. They then sold me a 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt with 2LT that turns out to be a piece of junk, not because it is a General Motors car, but because it was apparently mistreated by the previous drivers. Since it was in such bad condition, Stonebriar probably stole it and made a good profit when they sold it to me.
Stonebriar figures if they can force me to keep it and take $1200, they won't have to find another sucker to sell it to. My parents did not raise a fool and a liar. I know when I have been taken and this is the only time in my long lifetime that it has happened to me.in my old age, I guess I have become more trusting and more gullible.
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