The worst experience as a consumer I have ever had. - Caroline2016
I have never encountered such unprofessional employees in any sales process in my entire life. When I say that, I am speaking in entireties, not just in the purchase of an automobile.
I live two hours away from this dealership, so I negotiated the sales price of the car I was interested in, and an estimate for my trade. When the numbers were agreeable, I asked my salesperson, "JJ", to verify with F&I that they could either match the rate I had from my outside lender, or allow me to use outside financing. I submitted the credit app and it was several hours before it was processed, because they had to, "restart some computers". He assured me that there would be no problem either financing through them at a competitive rate or allowing me to use my third party credit union. I make the drive. I asked that any paperwork that can be completed beforehand be done and to have the car detailed for delivery.
I get there at 4:45 and he comes out and says that he had to take the car back to the wash real quick since they close at 5. What? I have purchased cars after 5 at other dealers and the car was always detailed appropriately. Car was not cleaned and no paperwork was done. I sit down in his office and he says they can finance at twice the interest rate of my lender with substantial money down. Nope. No one at this dealership had any clue as to what was going on or what my deal looked like.
I walk over to F&I and the man never stood up, never shook my hand, was on the phone when I walked in, and never introduced himself. Gets off the phone and says, "yeah, I have never heard of this lender so we cannot allow delivery of this car until we get paid. You can come get the car after we get paid and do the paperwork today." I said that I cleared this up before making the drive and his reply was, "I don't even have your deal, I have no idea what your deal is. I am the finance manager and I never cleared anything." I let him know that I had used the same lender at Mercedes of Birmingham and Land Rover of Birmingham, which is a Sonic dealership and nation wide. He did not care. He offered no solution and was not even polite. I told him that I wanted the blank check and paperwork back. He handed it to me without saying a word.
He then follows me to the pre-owned building, still without saying a word. He goes in to talk to the pre-owned sales manager, Ralph. As I looked for JJ and asked for my keys, all that the sales manager, Ralph, could do was look at me. He never introduced himself, never asked how we could find a solution, and did not have the courtesy to even speak to me as I was leaving the dealership in my Audi. The only other thing that was said to me was by JJ, "Well, I did my part.".
What kind of business operates in this way? Not that you should be treated differently when purchasing a luxury vehicle, but you expect friendliness and decency at a minimum. I have purchased Hyundai, Toyota, Mazda, BMW, Mercedes, and Audi brands and across all price levels have had superior service every time. There is no shortage of Lexus dealerships within a few hours drive of Huntsville. I do not see how a business that treats people in this way can remain competitive. I would suggest that ownership of this dealer takes feedback seriously, because it takes a lot of satisfied customers to make up for one negative experience. You should be ashamed at your employee's lack of professionalism, manners, and abilities.
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