On Wednesday, March 19 I went to Kia of Lewisville to buy a car because they were advertising $3000 guaranteed for your trade in and $99 per month. I met with Josh Nelson and started the process. Of course, I didn't qualify for the advertised special. After a very long, uncomfortable process of trying to negotiate a used car price, where the payment kept inching up, (at one point I told him I felt like I was on Deal or No Deal and I was negotiating with the evil banker) we finally agreed on a payment of 311.97 on a 2005 Pontiac Grand Am. I was very uncomfortable with these negotiations because this is not at all what I thought I was going to get when I went there and I have never bought a car by myself before. We test drove the car and Josh told me that he took this car in on trade himself and that it only had one owner and was well taken care of. (Carfax shows this car as spending most of its life in California as a rental car and had been sold at auction as a fleet vehicle on 2-21-08).
Now off to Nick Balik in Finance. First off, I told him I didn't appreciate his use of scare tactics to get me to buy an astronomically over-priced warranty. I signed many papers, some of which I don't believe were completely filled out. He had them folded certain ways so I didn't see what was on it and just said sign here, sign here all in a big hurry. I left there without one single piece of paper. (I now understand this is not legal.) Nick told me that the bank would mail a copy of the documents to me within 3 days. I didn't know who the bank was, what my interest rate was or exactly what I was paying for this car. When we finished signing, Nick told me that the bank would call and I was to tell them the Pontiac had leather seats, a moon roof, etc. "Whatever they say is on the car, just say yes." (I now understand this would be bank fraud.)
I left the dealership with my new Pontiac. I drove it to work the next day (Thursday) but when I got home that night, I could not get the car into reverse or park. I only had neutral and drive. (I drove it less than 15 miles.) I called Nick and he said to bring it back in and I could either have it fixed or I could get another car. I called on Friday and Josh said the mechanics didn't have a chance to look at it and I told him that I didn't want that car anymore that it was a bad omen. I went to the dealership on Monday to get another car and after waiting for an hour for someone to help me, they finally told me they couldn't find my paperwork.By now I am feeling very frustrated and I feel like something is very wrong with my paperwork and this dealership. I decided at this point I do not want to do business with them and I wanted my trade in back.
I brought my son to the dealership with me on Tuesday and we told them I wanted my trade in back and what occurred after that was horrible. They would not give me a copy of the paperwork (even though we asked many times), they told me they could not divulge the name of the financing bank, they said I had a binding contract and I could not get my trade in back. They treated us horrible, especially Nick. My son told them what they are doing is illegal and fraudulent and kept asking for the next higher up person. We finally talked to Russell Porter, who we felt like was 2nd in command. He finally agreed, somewhat, that they were wrong, but they didn't know where my trade in was and he had to talk to the General Manager before he could do anything. Of course, he was not there and wasn't answering his cell phone.
I talked to Russell many times on Wednesday, and he just kept telling me "I am working on it." I told him the only thing he should be working on is finding my car. He promised he would call me at 10:00 on Thursday to give me his exact answer. The only call I got on Thursday was Wells Fargo bank to tell me they have funded the loan. Now it is a binding contract I cannot get out of on a broken car that I don't even have. They kept stalling until they could get a bank to fund it and make the contract binding. There are several things on the loan application that are not true and Wells Fargo told me that Nick gave them my income and credit score and with my good credit, I qualified for one of their best loan programs. They wouldn't tell me what Nick told them, but in truth, I have horrible credit! Wells Fargo should have never funded this loan.
These are the most dishonest, unscrupulous, trained to take advantage group of people I have ever met. I feel mistreated, raped and scammed. This dealership needs to be closed before they hurt more people. There are many postings on the internet of other people being treated the same as I was at this dealership and a very common thread is that you leave there with no paperwork and then the deception begins. This is just wrong to be treated this way.
As of 3/30/08 I still have no car, no trade-in; just a car payment on a car that is junk.
Cindy
Dallas, Texas
U.S.A.
0 comments