Reason for Visit: Sales
I recommend this dealer: No
My Review of Crystal Lake Honda:
I was looking for cars on 11/22/05 and came into Crystal Lake Honda and spoke with the sales representative name Jim. I wanted a silver Honda civic coupe 2006. They said they could easily locate one for me within a week, in fact they already had 3 cars in mind that they could do a dealership trade on. They told me I had to sign tentative loan papers so that they could make the inter-dealership trade. I told them I wanted to pay in cash, but they required that I sign these loan papers anyway telling me that the papers were tentative and would all have to be re-completed when I actually took the car home. On the papers, there was no VIN number since they at that time did not have the car. I waited a week. Jim called me at the end of the week and said that they did a 4-state area search and could not find a silver one. He asked if I would settle for a gray. I told him no, since I wanted a silver one. He also said that since there was definitely not one in IL, he would have to take a whole day to drive one back from another state. That would mean that my "new car" would already have 200-300 miles on it. I told him that even on the tentative paperwork, it said that the new car would only have approximately 12 miles. He acted very upset with me, like he did not know this, and that of course that could not be the case because he would have to drive one from another state. I asked about shipping the car but he said that if he shipped he would have to charge me extra.
I did not appreciate being pressured into accepting a car of a different color (gray) or one that would already have so many miles on it. Furthermore, they did not actually have a car yet, and it was more than a week.
Afterwards, I took the initiative to call around to other Honda dealerships in the area. Turns out there was one brand new silver Honda Civic coupe 2006 in a neighboring Honda dealership within 1.5 hours driving distance. The next day, I called Jim back and told him so he could make an interdealership deal. He said he would call that dealership. 5 minutes later he called me back saything that he had contacted them, but that they had already sold the car. I thought it was strange that they had sold the car in one night, so I called that dealership. They had not sold the car. That was a lie. I was so disappointed that Jim and Crystal Lake Honda would lie and say there was no car available to pressure me into purchasing a car that was not to my liking. I decided to buy the car at the neighboring dealership. Afterwards, I called Jim and told him that I was no longer interested in buying a car from Crystal Lake (one that they still did not have) and asked them to shred any tentative paperwork. Jim asked me to fax him a statement so that he could shred my paperwork which I did.
Two months later, I receive a Past Due Loan Notice stating I was overdue on a loan and that they would put me under collection if I didn't pay soon. Since I do not have any loans, I knew this must be a mistake. Turns out Crystal Lake Honda had written a false VIN number on my tentative paperwork and sent it in to received the loan money.
I contacted the Loan Servicing Department and spoke with the supervisor of Loan Servicing Department.
Over a conference call, Crystal Lake Honda confirmed that they never sold me a car. Crystal Lake promised to send the whole loan amount back within 2 days express. Then my credit delinquency record was cleared.
I am very happy my case got resolved without too much inconvenience. But I don't think it’s fair for other customers to go through the same grief that I and many others have had to endure. Plus, good business cannot be based on lies and pressure.
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