Freeway Chevrolet

Freeway Chevrolet responded

5/20/2013 To whom it may concern, This customer had 2 vehicles that he was attempting to trade in as part of a purchase of a 2010 Chevrolet Traverse in May of 2010. He had a substantial amount of negative equity and he wasn’t planning to put any money down. He was also very specific about the rate he expected. Mr. O’Dell came into purchase on 5/20/2010. His loan was approved but he had to provide some stipulations to the bank such as proof of income. He then decided to bring us a check and we received the check from him on 6/18/2010 and I still have a copy of his check for proof. I am not sure where he gets 3 months from but I am sure people will see a pattern of his false statements. At this point if it was not going to be a deal, Mr. O’Dell could have brought our vehicle back regardless of the miles and we would have given him back his two vehicles. Mr. O’Dell states that we had sold his trade-in vehicles before his deal was complete but that was definitely not the case. The 2004 Tracker that he traded in was not a vehicle we would consider selling to a customer and we sold it at a wholesale auction a month after his deal was completed and the 2008 Tahoe was in stock for 69 days before we sold it. So this is another one of many false statements this customer is utilizing to make Freeway look bad. We offer ALL of our customers the first oil change for free and every oil change after that is half price for life as long as the customer owns the vehicle. This is a Freeway only program that we offer as a courtesy and benefit to our customers. This has been a huge and very popular program since we put it in place. On the back of the card that details the program, it also states that Freeway can cancel or adjust the program at ANY time with or without reason. Mr. O’Dell purchased his vehicle on May 20, 2010. His vehicle had 24 miles at the time of delivery. We never saw him in service until Sept. 2011 when his vehicle had 10,683 miles on it. He had a small warranty issue and he took advantage of his first free oil change here at Freeway. Everything went smooth and we never got any complaints from him. The VERY NEXT time we see Mr. O’Dell was last week on May 13, 2013 and he had 18,579 miles on it and he had another warranty issue and asked for another oil change and a tire rotation. My service advisor Craig let him know the diagnosis of the vehicle and let him know that the repairs were covered other than the oil change and tire rotation but let him know that the oil change was half price. Craig stated to me that the customer became upset and mentioned legal action. He says the free oil changes just stopped… They did not just stop; he gets what every other Freeway customer gets. One free oil change and half price after that. I had Mr. Greg Black in my office going over some dealership business, upon leaving my office he ran into Mr. O’Dell whom he did not know. He asked Mr. O’Dell if he could help him, Mr. O’Dell raised his voice and barged past him stating, “No, I need to talk to him!” and he barges in my office as he is pointing at me. I say “How are you? He says, “Not very good since you are breaking your word to me!” I say have a seat, which he disregards and stands at the corner of my desk. At this point he starts going over the experience he had 3 years ago. He goes into detail, as he does above in his complaint about how much we screwed up and he stated that during the recession he considered us fortunate that he kept the deal together, etc. He never once introduced himself or sat down and talked to me in a civil manner. I figured out who he was because of the conversation I had with the service people earlier. I did not interrupt him, but when he was done talking about how horrible Freeway was 3 years ago during his sale, I said I apologize for the experience again, and I explained to him that we offer financing as a convenience to our customers and that sometimes it does not go through as planned. I also told him that his was an unfortunate experience that is not a normal occurrence. I remained calm the whole time and never once did I raise my voice. He proceeded to tell me that I promised him lifetime oil changes and maintenance. I explained to him that I did not remember him or the conversation from 3 years ago nor did I have anything in writing, but if he would provide it to me I would CERTAINLY honor it. I never ONCE said I WOULD NOT honor this agreement. He took a deep breath and placed his hands on my desk like he was trying to maintain his composure and through gritted teeth he stated “I definitely DO NOT have anything in writing with me.” I stated then “That is not a problem, we are going to fix your car and you can bring it back with you when you pick the car up or you can fax it to me.” He then takes another deep breath and says what is your fax number? I give him my card and showed him that my fax number and all other contact info is on the card. Another deep breath by him and He then states that he cannot believe that I will not honor our agreement. I told him that I am NOT saying that, but I would LIKE to see it in WRITING as it is highly unusual for me to offer something like that and in our business we keep records of everything. I started asking him if he is confused about the program that we offer our customers as he obviously does not come in very often and maybe he is confused because the oil change he got 2 years prior was free.. He snapped and said I know all about that program but mine is different. I then stated- “Well, like I said if you can show me in writing I will honor it, but if not you can utilize the program that all of our other customers use. He takes another deep breath and insists that he should not have to… I tell him that again.. This is where we are at and I do not appreciate the way he is acting in my office and that the conversation is over for now and I will look forward to his fax. He stands there staring at me; at this point he is making me very uncomfortable. I tell him that he needs to leave my office and we will resolve it when he picks up the vehicle. He hesitates to leave and I ask him if I will need to call the police to oversee this situation as I felt very uncomfortable with his behavior and I told him had he come in and acted civil then we would not be in this situation. He then proceeded to call Chevrolet and complained to them that we refused to fix his vehicle which was 100% false. We were in the process of repairing his vehicle and were waiting on parts as he was complaining to Chevrolet. We went ahead and fixed his vehicle to the best of our ability and made sure it was washed and ready for pick-up before he arrived. We politely decline to do business with Mr. O’Dell in the future and wish him the best of luck. For the record, we did not charge him one cent for the latest repair, and we treated him courteously when he picked up his vehicle. Michael Cook