Brandon Carter

dwayne67 responded

The following was sent to Sue Folsom with no reply. Again disappointed: Good afternoon Ms. Folsom First of all, I would like to thank you for inviting me to give a detailed written documentation of my experience of purchasing a vehicle at Criswell Dodge, in Woodstock VA on 12/26/2025. Several days before arriving at the dealership around 9:00 Am on 12/26/25 I researched the dealership and saw (2) 2025 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo’s. One was silver and the other was white in color. They both had within a few dollars the exact MSRP however the dealer’s price per each was considerably different. (They said due to incentives, however it was basically the fact the silver one had been sitting on the lot longer.) The silver unit was around 33K while the white was 38K, like I said both very similar MSRP. So, upon arrival on 12/26/2025 we were met by salesman Brandon Carter and I told him I was looking at the two vehicles and stated I would like to get the white one at the silver price and he stated that was not going to happen, so I said OKAY let’s look at the silver unit. He got the keys to both, my assumption thinking he was going to sell the higher price unit. Before we got out the door I told him he may as well put the white units’ keys back if not for sale at the 33K price. I was trading in a 2017 Dodge Durango in what I considered very good shape with a Bluebook value of around 9K, I still owed 3.5K so I was hoping to have around 5.5K available. They allowed only 7K then less than the payoff, first disappointment. After everything was added up the final bill was around $ 35K. I hesitated and then they became insistent that I wasn’t leaving until I purchased a vehicle and wanted to know what it would take. They offered another $ 500.00 in trade so reluctantly I accepted. Now let’s talk about the financing. I explained to them that I wanted to finance through a local bank and wanted to put 19K down payment. I needed to remove all my personal belongings from the Durango, there was a two-way radio system that took several hours to install in a professional manner. I wanted the following week to remove everything, go to the bank and transfer the money. Their response was If I wanted the vehicle at the price finally agreed upon, everything had to happen at that moment, transfer all of my belongings and write what would have been a bad check, I had a check along willing to pay a small deposit to hold the vehicle for the week. We are now three hours into this and I’m getting tired and just want to leave. We ended up financing the entire 35K at around 7.5 % at a bank that had a branch in my hometown of Broadway. Thankfully, before too much was done, I was able to go to the bank that following Monday, make the down payment and refinance the balance at around 5.5%. Now let’s talk about final signing of paperwork. Again, they had a plan that I wasn’t leaving without the vehicle. Apparently, they share two finance officers between themselves and the Crisswell Ford dealership next door. Their officer was tied up so they transferred everything next door for me to sign. I had to drive through both parking lots, no problem, however Brandon made sure he was with us, just to be sure we didn’t leave. Finally, everything is signed, now I had to transfer everything from one vehicle to the other. My wife and I are tired, hungry and exhausted. I just threw everything in boxes and bags that were hard to come by for some reason and left, it’s now after 1:00 in the afternoon, yes four hours later. A few days afterwards I had some questions and texted Brandon, answers were vague if even at all. It took forever to be sure the payoff of the Durango had been finished so no further withdrawals from my account. I received an experience survey from Carfax regarding my experience with Criswell and my reply to the questions is what probably brought us to this point. I was able to go back and get a new inspection sticker (they didn’t update the one the day I purchased it) and met the service manager with whom I was pleased with in just the short time I met him. That is the only reason I said I would go back. Had there only been a few minor issues, I would have let things go, however in all my years of purchasing vehicles, I was never so disappointed in the sales department. I could probably go into some further minute details, but I think by now you can get a feel for my experience. I don’t know how other customers have rated this dealership but hope this will help improve things in the future. Again, thank you, Dwayne Runion 294 Gap Place Broadway, VA 22815 Now, in reading the above, I will let Criswell make the decision as to what they feel would be best to make it right. Best scenario:, Bring this one back and swap it dollar for dollar for New 2025 White Jeep Cherokee Laredo , but we all know that will never happen.

dwayne67 responded

I received a recent phone call wanting to make things right, unfortunately we are way beyond that point. I have free scheduled maintenance under the 2-year warranty program that came with the vehicle and beyond that it's questionable if I will ever be back. I have done some further "Reviews" research and apparently other people have been very dissatisfied with the sales staff.