134 Michigan Jeep Dealers

Non-Local Buyers Beware - Colton A.

The only reason I am giving Riverside Iron Mountain 1 star is due to the extent their corporation owner Matt went to in order to assist in getting literally anyone to call me back after 3 weeks of attempting to buy a vehicle. Here's more detail: I had inquired about a vehicle on their lot via CarGurus the evening of June 30th, 2019. The following day I received a generic response from Cameron, a sales associate from that location stating he would be able to help me with info on the vehicle and to contact him with questions. I responded with a request for a CarFax, and to speak about pricing. The next day Cameron responded, but with no CarFax. We emailed back and forth, eventually getting a link from him to the CarFax. Turned out to be the AutoCheck they had linked on their website. I ended up getting it through a friend. The following day, both myself and my partner had called him to ask about pricing and discuss making a deal. After getting no response, we tried the General Manager, Wayne. We spoke with him once regarding a warranty placed on the vehicle by the dealership, and details on servicing the vehicle needed in order to correct an issue with the brakes. Wayne informed us he would call back later that day with details on the warranty, as he did not know them. One week later on Saturday morning, Cameron called me asking if I was still interested in the vehicle. A bit shocked, I replied that I was, but I was waiting on Wayne to get back to me with details on the vehicle. He said Wayne was in the office that day, and he would go speak with him now and call me back. Nothing. By July 11th, we had not gotten any updates on if the vehicle was ready, or the details on the warranty. My partner had sent in his own inquiry via CarGurus in hopes of getting somewhere with another salesperson. Katie sent him the same email Cameron had sent me, and predictably never heard back from her. We then got in touch with yet another sales associate, Peter, but this time over the phone. He, too, did not know the details of the warranty, but did say the vehicle was out of the shop and "ready to go", but would need to speak with Wayne regarding the warranty prior to discussing making a deal. Again, we never heard back. By this point, we had missed 1 opportunity to go up and take delivery of the vehicle due to the lack of any sort of communication. The following week we reached out to Wayne asking for an update and to talk about pricing. He told us that the vehicle was not ready, as the brake issue was yet to be resolved. He said he would get back to us, of course, and even less surprising that we never heard back until I reached out to him again later in the week. I told him that i was able to fly up from Minnesota on Saturday if we could secure financing by Friday afternoon. He asked for my personal information, lien-holder information, and said he would start getting everything together to write up a purchase agreement. Never heard anything back. Cameron and i had spoke over the phone to which I told him I was waiting on Wayne to get back to me. I asked him about pricing, but he said that he will need to talk to Wayne about working out any negotiations. By the end of the following week (week 3), I was at my wits end trying to get anywhere with anyone at this dealership. I went online and found the main dealer in Escanaba, and called over to speak to someone regarding the poor experience I had been having. The receptionist transferred me to Matt, one of the owners of the Riverside Auto Group. He asked me to explain everything that had happened, asked for names of the employees both myself and my partner had spoken with, and asked if I was still interested in the car. He was extremely helpful and respectful of me, and thanked me for giving him the opportunity to remedy the situation. I, too, was beyond thankful that he took the time to make this right. He called over to the Iron Mountain location immediately after speaking with me to ask what was going on. Within 2 minutes I got a call from Wayne, who told me that the car had sold already and said he though either he or Cameron had called to let me know. Obviously neither of them did, or I wouldn't have wasted so much time. Finally, today (over 1 week after my conversation with Wayne) Cameron sent an email asking me to call him so he could help find me another vehicle since the one I inquired about sold. Even still, I do not know the reason why I was treated so poorly. I feel that if there was another party interested in the vehicle that I should have been given the courtesy of a phone call or email explaining that. I was not even given one chance at this vehicle, and I found out after the fact the car was gone. I hope this explanation will prevent anyone else from having to endure this sort of inexcusable treatment from Riverside Iron Mountain in the future.