Castle Chevrolet GMC McHenry

Best car-buying experience ever! NOT! So disappointed. On October 14, 2019, we drove 55 miles one way to Gary Lang Kia to buy a Kia Soul. Our purchase experience went smoothly, it all se So disappointed. On October 14, 2019, we drove 55 miles one way to Gary Lang Kia to buy a Kia Soul. Our purchase experience went smoothly, it all seemed to have gone very well. We found the car I wanted – a 2020 Kia Soul S in Yellow - we were able to get the price that was advertised in their ad, and easily qualified for their financing. We were offered a glorified scotch guard product add-on which we were able to decline without much pressure, but once we got to the financing person (Jason Emery), the extended guarantee packages were offered. We kept saying no, and he kept lowering the price of the package until it was just a few dollars extra a month on the monthly loan payment. I kept thinking, “how can he afford to lower the price so much? How are we getting cheated in this deal, that he can lower the price to just a few dollars more per month??” At that moment I could not figure it out, but the thought kept nagging at me. He finally took “no” for an answer, and we moved on to the loan contract. He went through the numbers explaining things quickly and matter of fact. I did not understand one of the amounts, and came to realize later that it distracted me and my husband from the real issue that lurked just a couple of lines down in the same document. It all seemed ok at that moment, and we signed the loan contract. Our salesman took our picture, made it into a video, which I got instantly on my cell phone to share with all my friends… Woohoo! NOT! On our way back home my husband kept thinking something was not right with the numbers on the loan. When we got home, we did the math over and over, and the calculations came out the same: the MSRP for the car had been increased by $763! NO WONDER HE COULD OFFER THE EXTENDED GUARANTEE FOR NEXT TO NOTHING! We drove back 55 miles the next day to talk to the salesman Chris, and Jason the financing agent, salesman had the day off, financing agent was “swamped” with work and would not see us. The person who had offered the scotch guard protection the prior evening did tend to us and relayed our concern to Jason. We were told we would get a call the next day, that indeed there had been an “error” of $763 in the writing of the loan, but that the sales manager (Cody) had to approve the correction in MSRP, and that he was not there either. The next day there was no call, my husband called in the early afternoon, spoke to Jason, who said he had just come in and had not had a chance to review the “error”. He promised a response the next day. No call the next day. On the third day, my husband called again and finally was told by Jason that indeed there had been an “error” made and given that we had a loan with Kia what Jason would do, would be to send a payment to our loan in the amount of the “error” which by our calculations was $763. He said the credit would show up on our next statement. We sent an email to both Jason and the salesman to confirm what Jason promised in the phone call with my husband, we asked for a response to confirm or modify our understanding of the promise made by Jason. We never received an email back. We were left to just wait and see, with no assurances whatsoever. Since I had made the down payment on my credit card, I decided to call my credit card to see if there was something we could do, I asked if given the circumstances I could initiate a dispute of the charges. I was told I could, and so I did. We sent our first loan payment on time, checked the account to see if any other payments were made, but nothing. About 2 weeks after we initiated the credit card dispute, we started getting calls from Jason, and from the dealership’s general manager- Mike, regarding the dispute of the down payment. Now they had the time to call us. Now they were able to overnight a payment to our loan account, which by the way was not for the $763 overcharge, they only sent $600. We were out of town when they called, but we did contact them immediately by email, and told them that as soon as we confirmed the payment had been credited to our loan, that we would cancel the charge dispute. We did all that the following evening. We decided to cut our losses and just settle for the $600 they sent. We immediately informed them that we had canceled the dispute, and it was now up to the dealership’s bank to complete the transaction. We informed them by VM to Jason, and also by email to Mike, Jason, and Chris. That was not enough, we received more angry VMs telling us what we did was illegal, that they were going to suspend our license plates, and demanding that the money be available TODAY! I called my credit card again, I was told the same information, again (that it was in the dealership’s bank’s hands), and we relayed this message to Jason, again. We still received one more call demanding the same thing. I finally called my credit card and asked that they do a conference call with Jason to tell him directly the information we had already relayed. Jason was curt to the credit card agent, listened to the explanation and hung up. I thought that was over, but it wasn’t. Two weeks later, the general manager called again. This time saying they needed to run the disputed charge again. That made no sense to me, since the funds of the original charge were made available to them, running my card again would result in a double charge for the same down payment. Just to make sure, I called my credit card, and indeed, they confirmed my conclusion. I explained to the credit card agent my dilemma and asked that they again do a conference call, this time with the dealer’s general manager to explain once again that the funds were available. Unfortunately, the call went to voice mail, and since the credit card agent needed to speak to him directly, no VM was left. I responded to Mike’s call by email, and again explained that their funds would reach them when their bank complete their process, and I offered to have my credit card conference-call him if he wished. And just in case he was not aware, I informed him of the situation that precipitated our credit card dispute. Again, there was no response to my email. Nonetheless I hoped this ordeal was over. Nope! On December 13th I received another call from Mike stating my credit card had sent a letter denying payment, he also sent an email with a PDF of the letter. Once more, I called my credit card, requested they do a conference call with Mike at the dealership… on and on… It turned out to be a letter from their own bank, telling them they had missed a deadline to get the $2000 from my credit card. They could not even file their own paperwork on time… Not sure when this is going to be over… So, long story longer… BUYER BEWARE. More