I bought a car off Devin Eckels at Great Lakes Auto Sales, in Parma, OH back in October. It was advertised on EBay.
I contacted him through the ebay ad and I decided to buy it because he said it was in fantastic shape, it drove perfect and there were no problems with it. I sent him a deposit (outside of EBay) and flew up there to close the deal.
When I checked it out, I saw the car had scratches all over it, the leather was damaged, the front tire was low on air and there was a noticable CLUNK in the front end. Under the hood, I saw the power steering hose is leaking so I bought it to Devins attention. Supposedly, they hadn't noticed ANY of those issues before.
He said, "lets go ahead and close the deal and when you get back to home, get it fixed, fax me the receipt for the PS hose and I'll send you a check." I bought the car with the defects noticed but I made sure he wrote that he would reimburse me for the PS hose on the Bill of Sales.
On the trip home, I filled up the front tire only to find that the tire continually leaked down over several days. The car also kept telling me to "SERVICE STABILITY SYSTEM" as well.
I had the repair to the PS hose done as soon as I got home and faxed him the receipt. He claims he didnt get it. So i faxed it again. Then he said his boss Wally needed to write the check but that he wouldnt be in for a couple of days. Days go by and I call again and he says a check was sent out. It never arrives.
So I ask that another check be sent out OVERNIGHT with tracking so it cant get lost again. He says Wally needs to find out what happened to the first check before he sends another one - basically its just a stall technique to try and wear you down.
Several weeks of this are going by and I realize that I'm probably getting the run around. He finally said he would send another check so I requested it be sent OVERNIGHT with tracking and I even offered to PAY FOR IT so he would have NO EXCUSES not to do it. So when he says he sent the next check REGULAR MAIL I knew I was screwed. He claimed his boss sent it that way and he had no hand in the manner the check was mailed. Sure enough, the check never showed up.
I was getting really irritated so I searched "Devin Eckels" and "Great Lakes Auto Sales" on the web and found numerous reports of the same type of sales practices from this man and this used car lot. I went ballistic. I called him and threatened that I was going to do everything in my power to shut his business down - ie., report what he did to me on the web, contact the attorney general, the licensing agencies in OH etc., so that maybe he'll learn not to screw people the way he does.
Mind you, he is a very personable salesman and can look you right in the eye and make you feel confident that he will not lie to you and that he'll do what he says. But after the check is handed over, its a different story - one story after another in fact.
It had been 7 weeks now since I faxed the receipt to him - 7 weeks later I had received nothing but stall tactics. After my threat to contact the attorney general he FINALLY sent a check. I was lucky - I had it in writing that he would pay for the repair. I feel that if I didn't have that, I would not have been paid.
Everyone who has been screwed by this company should contact the attorney generals off in Ohio and report their bad deals and the lies that he has told them. Contact the licensing division and maybe they will pull his license. Contact ebay and have them pull his auctions.
For the past 6 months since buying the car, I have had to replace both front hubs (there were bad and making the car shake), the brakes and rotors (also shaking), the tire rim was leaky because the chrome was flaking off under the bead, the Intermediate Steering Shaft was bad (thats the front end clunk I heard), I found the rear passenger window would not raise or lower because the regulator was broken (there was a piece of wood inside the door panel that was being used to prop the window up. Without it, the window would fall down), and the back seat would FLOOD everytime it rained (the inner door liner allowed water to run into the interior) and the front strut bearings need replacement.
If you buy from him (and I don't know why anyone would), be aware that you may be buying into a money pit. Have the vehicle thoroughly inspected prior to purchase. Don't get burned. Don't trust him. He told me the extended warranty that I was getting covered everything. When I pointed out that the warranty SPECIFICALLY EXCLUDED cars with the Northstar engine - which mine had - he said "naw, they cover it. We just have to pay an additional premium for it." I knew he was full of BULL then but like an idiot, I bought anyways! I doubt he even submitted the warranty papers as I never received ANYTHING from the warranty company.
Be careful!!
0 comments