Grava Chrysler Ram Jeep Dodge

Grava Chrysler Ram Jeep Dodge responded

Good morning Mr. Russo. I saw your recent review and I will certainly stop the emails and phone calls for you. If I may ask, why post a scathing review rather than simply tell us that you're not interested? Had you answered a single email or phone call with "Thank you, I'm no longer interested" we would have gladly followed up with someone who is. Is there more to the story that I'm unaware of? Did something bad happen? Thank you for your time. -Bobby Harris eCommerce Director Grava Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram 781-218-1322 (Direct Line)

Grava Chrysler Ram Jeep Dodge responded

Hi again. I understand where you're coming from. We're not trying to harass anyone. We're simply trying to follow-up. I apologize if it was too much for you. I just would have preferred a simple call or email back rather than the review. -Bobby

Grava Chrysler Ram Jeep Dodge responded

Hi Shaniqa, My name is Bobby Harris, I am the Customer Service Manager here at Grava. I saw the review you posted and wanted to ask you about your experience. You tagged Al Firicano saying that he was not honest with you. Can you tell me what happened when you were here? I look forward to hearing from you. -Bobby

Grava Chrysler Ram Jeep Dodge responded

Hi Shawna and Paul, Thank you for walking me through this. While waiting for your reply, although it WAS quick, I spoke to Al to ask what happened from his perspective He had told me that he offered you a test drive the first time you came in and also offered to put a hold on the incoming vehicle with a deposit, as is standard policy. Both of which were declined at that time. Under Massachusetts Law, Dealers cannot hold a car and prevent anyone else from buying it without money in-house and a Purchase & Sales Agreement written complete with the vehicle's VIN and customer signatures. If for some reason he's mistaken and you're telling me you were never offered the opportunity to put down a deposit and you never asked about it yourselves, I'm sorry that happened. I don't know why you wouldn't be asked, as it's MUCH easier to take a deposit and sell a vehicle to a happy customer when it arrives than it is to explain to the owners that we got a 1 Star review online from someone who DIDN'T buy from us. The vehicle DID arrive last night but it was late and it wasn't stocked in or entered into our system until this morning. I have the shipping slip right in front of me. The truck driver merely dropped them off in one of our satellite lots. It's not as if it's sitting outside our front door for everyone to see. Al said he got your message, checked to see if it had arrived, and called you back to set a time for you to come in. Al also let me know that he had contacted you afterward and let you know that he was able to locate the exact vehicle elsewhere AND he let you know where it was located. If you were unhappy with us, you could have gone to the other dealership. None of this sounds like the actions of a person who doesn't care. Someone who doesn't care simply wouldn't call, not return your call and certainly not bother to find the car for you. He gets no commission if you don't buy a car from him. That's how he makes his living. Keeping customers happy and selling them cars... You were both here. You met Al in person. Was there something that gave the impression that he's less than competent or that he doesn't care about his customers? Did your experience with him go badly? Or could this simply have been a misunderstanding about the deposit and REALLY bad timing that the Pacifica was sold today? I understand it will sound like I'm just defending my guy, but I've known Al for 6 years now and I've never worked with someone in car sales with as much integrity and customer service. This isn't me blowing smoke - if I could have 10 guys like Al, I would!! I know that he cares about his customers and wants everyone he meets to buy a car from him. Sometimes that can't happen and we all accept that, but I don't believe any of this happened on purpose. I'm truly sorry this didn't work out. Al is also very sorry that it happened the way it did. Not because he lost a sale, but because it's simply not how HE does business. If you change your mind and would like to get the Pacifica Al was able to locate, please let one of us know and we'll get it worked out. I COMPLETELY understand that you're upset and if you don't want to, I get that. But please keep in mind that everything isn't always as clear as it seems on the surface. Sometimes, if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a goose or a swan or something and I completely missed that when I looked at it quickly :) Thank you for your time and for responding. I really appreciate it. -Bobby

Grava Chrysler Ram Jeep Dodge responded

Hi Paul, You're completely right!! And I understand that you have that sour taste. But I DID use 6 years of history and experience with Al and weighed it against what happened this one time with you to decide which is the norm here. My choices are to believe one of the following: A) Al made a mistake and didn't ask for a deposit. This cost you the vehicle, but it was a mistake and not malicious to cause all of this to happen. B) Al lied right to you and had no intention of ever calling you for anything ever. And that this is how he typically does business and that he doesn't care if he sells you a car. I DID choose option A. I believe Al to be a good guy. I'm sorry you had to wait that day. I am sorry the battery in the car we had was dead. We obviously didn't get into these things before now or I would have addressed them previously. You chose option B. You decided based on your only experience with Al that he is a liar and that this is how Grava always does business. You've seemingly left no chance for the possibility that this could simply be an error in not asking you to leave a deposit which would have had you leaving in a new car right about now instead of what we're doing here. He didn't bring you down here with your family and THEN tell you the car was sold. He didn't ignore your call. He DID try and make it right. This was a mistake. We tried to correct the mistake a few ways. I understand that you won't change your mind or the way you feel. I apologize that this didn't go better all the way around. Thank you so much for your time and willingness to communicate about this. -Bobby

Shaniqa responded

Hi Bobby: we contacted Grava almost 2 weeks ago re a Pacifica on your site. Al called and told me that the car was en route but that we could come down and look at another to see if we liked it. We did, and told him we wanted the en route unit. He told us it'd be about a week and he'd call as soon as it arrived. He didn't call, so we called yesterday. He returned the call this morning and said the vehicle just arrived last night and asked if we wanted to come down today. We said yes. We scheduled to come in at 4:00--and he call at about 3:20 and said that someone else bought the car. We were upset: we've been waiting for that particular car. He told us that if we wanted it that bad, we should have placed a deposit on the car--but we didn't know that was the process; otherwise we would have done that. All in all, it's clear that Al and Grava don't really care about prospective customers. The impression here is that there are plenty of prospective buyers out there; no need to invest any energy with any single buyer, nor should Grava feel any obligation to actually allow a customer who has been waiting for a specific car to actually buy that car. It's perhaps not dishonest--but it's certainly poor service. More importantly, we've realized that "I'll call you when it comes in" doesn't really mean anything if it comes from Grava. To us that sounded like, "your car is on its way"--but to you it really was just meaningless words. I hope this all makes sense. Thanks for the response. Shawna and Paul

Shaniqa responded

Bobby, Thanks for the note. He did offer us a test drive; we did decline--for two reason; we'd been waiting for him to finish up with another customer for about 40 minutes and our two children just didn't have any pre in them (the folks inside the showroom can likely attest to this; our son, I'm sure, made a lasting impression). Second, the vehicle on the lot had a dead battery. In any event, we didn't really need to drive it (as I told Al, a friend has one and we felt confident in the choice of a Pacifica). Al did not offer us the opportunity to place a deposit--an offer that we definitely would have accepted (after all, I think you can tell that we were committed to that specific vehicle; the last thing we wanted was for it to be sold from beneath us). This is, at this point, obviously a "he said, she said" issue--but I don't know that it really matters all that much at this point; the situation really can't be undone. And we will look elsewhere for the vehicle we want--but I don't think we are interested in working with Grava on it--first, because this situation has left a sour taste in our mouths. And second, because in thinking about the situation you've used your experiences with Al as evidence, rather than the real experience of a customer, who obviously wanted a specific car, and would have done whatever was asked of them to secure that car. There's really no rational logic that supports the notion that a committed customer turned down the opportunity to place a deposit on, and hold, the car they were wanting and were willing to wait for. Paul

Grava Chrysler Ram Jeep Dodge responded

Hi Jayjay7. Thank you for your input. I'm sorry this whole process wasn't easier for you. My name is Bobby Harris. I am the Customer Service Manager for Grava. I would like to find out more about your situation and find out how anyone gets to the point of being "told off with a bunch of profanities and unacceptable language" I understand you had an issue with your new car and brought it here right before the weekend. I'm not clear on whether it was an after hours drop off or someone was here when you arrived. The car was looked at on Monday and I'm told you were offered a Rental Vehicle at no cost to you, which you declined. The vehicle needed a part ordered that was on national back-order through Chrysler. We were able to locate the part at another dealer. During the time your vehicle was in our service department I am told you got into arguments when speaking with several people at the dealership until you ultimately got in touch with Ralph Grava and had your issue with him. At some point during all this you decided to take your vehicle and bring it to Kelly. Do I have that right? Is there something I missed? How does it get to that point? Please let me know. Thank you for your time,. -Bobby Harris 781-218-1322 (Direct)