Some qualifications for JD Byrider and CNAC employees must be:
Proven ability to lie, stall, cheat, steal, overcharge, insult, deceive, demean, degrade, abuse, fleece, pilfer, and swipe.
I was sucked in by one of their TV marketing campaigns, "Good to Go" it was called. Go where? When I was qualified on the phone I was asked how much money I had to put down."300.00" I said. They scheduled the appointment. We'll get back to the down-payment in a minute.
My "Salesman" Harley, was all too happy to help me find a car. Trouble was, however, that he had his wife and kids in the showroom, and made my wife and I wait while they ordered McDonald's and ate lunch. (Something we would've liked to have done) After three or four hours, we had found a car, filled out the appropriate paperwork, and we sitting down to talk about the figures. Now Five hours had gone by. (I asked how much the car was several times, but he refused to answer)
Now for the close. Harley came to me with the contract, and invoice and all the other stuff. A 95 Jeep Cherokee with 119,000 miles on it... Are you ready for this? $8195.00! This car was not worth $800.00! Being a salesman myself, I knew that everything was negotiable, so I thought that I would be able to cut a deal, and this was just where we were starting. Nope. When I questioned the price of the car, Harley exclaimed, "It's an SUV!" "So?" I said. I'd seen commercials for NEW pickup trucks and slightly used SUV's for less than that, nevermind this one was nearly a decade old with 119,000 miles on it.
I continued to protest, and when my wife attempted to ask a question, Harley insulted her by saying, "You've obviously never tried to buy a car before have you?" How dare he? Then, as I started ask about getting a better deal on the car, he picked up my credit report and waved it in my face, and said something to the effect that with credit like mine, I should be happy with the deal they were giving me. Yeah, great deal. 21%interest, and my $300.00 down payment? Try $1000.00. There was a deferred down-payment of $700.00 to be paid in two installments within 4 weeks. Things got progressivly worse from there.
I hope I'm not the only one who thinks that even people with bad credit should be treated with dignity and respect. I was mailed a survey about my buying experience with JD Byrider, and I was brutally honest. Several days later, Harley, had the audacity to call me at my home, and yell and scream at me and told me that he was so embarrassed that everyone in the store had seen what I'd written about him. Tough.
On to the repair department. While driving at highway one day my car just quit. All the warning lights came on and I was able to pull over to the side of the road. It started again a short time later. Several days later, the same thing happened. This is my only vehicle so I needed repair. I took it back to the Morse Rd. Location where they took it in. I was never called and told the status of my vehicle. I kept calling the repair department, and after a day and a half they had done NOTHING. I needed it to go to the job where I earn the money to pay the 21% interest on it, so I picked it up and made an appointment to bring it back after my sale was over. This time, they had it for 4 days. They told me they couldn't find anything wrong with it. "Well, I'm not making this up." I said. "Come and pick it up." the female voice on the other end of the phone said. "You didn't do anything to it, and I need a reliable vehicle to get to work in." She got short with me. "If you want to go to work, come and pick up your car, it's done"
Done. "How could it be done?" I asked. "Well, if we can't find anything wrong with it, then it's done."
To hell with them, I thought. I went and picked up the car.
Later that night my wife and I go to the grocery store. We load all our stuff in the back of the car, get in, turn the key.
Nothing. It was cranking but wouldn't start. There we were, groceries in the car, and a concert to go to. The vehicle that they'd "fixed" by not doing anything with was broken down for the third time, and to boot, the very same day I'd picked it up from them.
I called Byrider service, 5 minutes before they closed... Service manager Shawn, answered. "This is Jason, you're not gonna believe this." I turned the key and put my cellphone up near the windshield so he could hear the car NOT STARTING. He gave me the number of the towing company, and we had to call a friend to come and get us and our groceries. If I had to depend on JD Byrider to get me to work, I'd never work! Besides the fact that they don't provide "loaner" vehicles.
Fast forward 2 days. Still no idea what's going on with the car, because they never call when they promise. I call them and he's out test-driving it. Hours go by. Finally, I call shortly before they close. Manager, "Hey man, we still can't find anything wrong with it, I'm gonna take it to a dealer, but we can't do it until Monday." Great. They've now had it a total of 12 days, and can't find anything wrong!
Payment Due... CNAC calls, my loan "manager" Jonna McDonald on the other end, "Hey Jason how are you?" Sarcastically I said, "I'd be a lot better if I had my car." "Didn't I tell you to come pick it up?" It's amazing how quickly the tone of her voice changed to BITCH. Now I'm pissed, "Yeah! And I broke down that very same night and now you've had it for almost two weeks total!" Like that was going to make any difference to CNAC!"You still have to pay your car payment." I was unaware of the fact that people everywhere were paying for things that didn't work, or they didn't have the use of. Jonna set me straight. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?
Fast forward to Monday evening. I call them, "What's going on with my car?" The female on the other end, "Oh it's at a dealer." "I know that, what's the story?" I said. "Oh we haven't heard anything from them, Shawn called and they were supposed to call back but we didn't hear from them." Oh ok, no problem, I don't need it anyway... It's only CHRISTMAS, and my family's only TWO HOURS away. Starting to get angry now I replied, "I want to know TONIGHT what the deal is with my car!" She said she'd call me back that evening. She did not.
Tuesday, Dec 23,8am. Phone rings, "Hello?" I said. Happy female voice on the other end, "Hey Jason, it's so-and-so from Byrider Service, how are you?" "That depends, what is going on with my car?" I said. She says, "The dealer looked at it and said the 'sensor crank' water pump and 't-start' are bad, (I have no idea what those things are) and it's going to be $486.00 to fix it." I laughed. Sometimes all you can do is laugh. I felt like Clark Griswold in "Vacation" where he got ripped off by two grease monkeys in the desert for four bald tires and a tow. Somehow I responded, "You've got to be kidding me. Don't you think that you guys could've figured those things out at YOUR shop when you had it the last 3 times?" She quickly recovered, "Well, we could fix it here and it would be cheaper." I'll bet.
So now it's going to cost me God knows how much to fix at JD Byrider with God only knows what parts, and God only knows how long it's going to take. I'm totally convinced that they are going to do just enough work to get the vehicle past the 18month/18,000mile "warranty" on the car.
I wish there was a way I could sue them. I wish that the OHIO lemon law protected consumers from places like this. I wish that each and every JD Byrider employee who has treated a customer like an annoyance instead of a blessing could be prosecuted, or persecuted in the very same manner as they have treated other people. Let's all file a class-action suit against Byrider. If nothing else, for humiliating people's human decency, waging a crude sort of "class-warfare" against people with bad credit and taking advantage of people's need for reliable transportation. And a bit of advice: never, and I mean NEVER buy a car from someone named after a motorcycle, or a city.
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