Kelley Lakeland Used Truck Store

BUYER BEWARE. SELLING BRANDED TITLED VEHICLES. I will never deal with this dealership or Russel Larkey, or Russel Hernandez ever again. My wife purchased an f150 SELLING BRANDED TITLED VEHICLES. I will never deal with this dealership or Russel Larkey, or Russel Hernandez ever again. My wife purchased an f150 from them and three weeks after we purchased it in the title process the title was deemed “not actual mileage”. This is considered a brand on the title and devalues the vehicle significantly. We contacted Russel L and he said they have never heard of such a thing happening like this and reassured us they would look into it and get it fixed. I never received a call from them for a week so I called again. Russel L said they were still looking into it and he said he would call me the following day and he promised he would call. So after not receiving a call for another week I called again and he told me he has been so busy and forgot to call me back again but the manager Russel Hernandez was involved in it and he was going to make things right and get the title fixed. After almost two months of calling them and getting nowhere I went back down there in person and demanded to speak to the manager. When speaking to Russel Hernandez he told us he was just now notified about the situation. (Mind you this was months after I originally called, so Russel larkey lied when he told us he has someone looking into it.) Russel told us he’s not worried about the situation and he will contact carfax and he would take the vehicle back in on trade but the trade amount was 10,000 less than what we paid which was 5,000 less than what we still owed. We were NOT upside down on this loan, the only reason we were upside down was from the title brand and the fact that the dealer was lowballing us. He said he would buy it back from us too but it was still going to put us upside down on it since the value he was offering us caused me to have to pay the dealer 5,000 dollars to clear out the loan. This was cash out of my pocket for their mistake. He kept saying he would get it resolved if he bought it back from us but wasn’t considered about getting it fixed for us while it’s still in our possession. So we are in a position where we are having to pay for their mistake. He also informed us he had this issue with two other vehicles before but apparently lied about this when we first confronted them about it because I was told that this has never happened from Russel L. All they wanted to do was sell us another vehicle and lowball us on the vehicle we just bought from them. I contacted a lawyer and the lawyer said I would end up spending more in lawyer fees than what I could gain from the dealership. We tried trading the vehicle in at all the major dealers in Lakeland and they all wanted to offer us half of what the vehicle was worth because of the brand. We spent months with Carfax and the state of Florida trying to fix it and we got nowhere because it happened when the vehicle was in the hands of the dealership. Finally when they bought it back and me paying the 5,000 to get the loan paid off they were so rude in the office. Russel Hernandez would not even look at us or apologize for the mistakes. They would not give me a receipt for the wholesale purchase so I had to take pictures of it all on my phone of the paperwork. Of course I was worried because all they have done was lie to us. After selling it and waiting 6 weeks for the refund and checking in every couple weeks they never even started the refund process for the extended warranty. Russel Larkey told me several times that it was being handled and clearly he was just telling me what I wanted to hear. After the seventh week I called and spoke to the finance manager and she told me she called Russel L and he said “I am not involved in any of that” which was also a lie because he was part of the entire situation. He was the one who told my wife where to sign on the wholesale paperwork and showing they still owed us 1400 dollars for the warranty. They made a fool of us having to call and check every week thinking something was being done when More

Kelley's lakeland are xxx holes, they are not there to help they are there to rip you off , bought one truck blow up in 8 days . Sold me another that was way over priced . Never should have bought it. help they are there to rip you off , bought one truck blow up in 8 days . Sold me another that was way over priced . Never should have bought it. More

I’ve spent 4 months looking for a specific truck, stopped in and seen Russell who not only walked me around 2 that he had at the Lakeland store. He led me to Bartow where I found the exact one I was looking in and seen Russell who not only walked me around 2 that he had at the Lakeland store. He led me to Bartow where I found the exact one I was looking for. Walked me through the entire process even though I was doing a few add ons. After all the vehicles I’ve bought over the years, my experience with Russell and Kelley was stress free and very smooth More

Very nice staff. Worked quickly to get our deal done. Vehicles are very clean. Inside the dealership is very clean as well as the bathrooms. Worked quickly to get our deal done. Vehicles are very clean. Inside the dealership is very clean as well as the bathrooms. More

Jon the salesman and Victor the manager were easy to work with. I recommend Kelley for all your vehicle needs. with. I recommend Kelley for all your vehicle needs. More

Jon sold me a 2019 Silverado and made the process a breeze! Highly recommend Jon and Kelley Auto! breeze! Highly recommend Jon and Kelley Auto! More

Awful, awful and awful. Problems and more unresolved problems. Don't buy from them, you may regret it for years. I will be taking them to court and the complaint is ready to Problems and more unresolved problems. Don't buy from them, you may regret it for years. I will be taking them to court and the complaint is ready to be filed. Join in. It's the only thing big greedy corporations understand, money. Pure evil. More

My son was visiting family in Florida and decided to purchase a truck as we did yrs ago from Kelly in Lakeland. He drove test drove truck and felt an issue with tires, a vibration. Called, returned it f purchase a truck as we did yrs ago from Kelly in Lakeland. He drove test drove truck and felt an issue with tires, a vibration. Called, returned it for repairs and they said it was shocks. So the good rancho shocks were taken off and replaced with generic shocks. Now my son is a mechanic with his nys inspectors license and the shocks they removed were fine. He has had handling issues due to the chopped tires, the xx engine light comes on and off, truck Stalls frequently. No repairs for this were made in Florida. He drove it home to NY with these issues and called Victor (gm) and he said take it to dealer and have them diagnose problems and we'll go from there. Well it went to our local Ford dealer and they found problems. And scheduled appts for it to be fixed. But these appts were canceled because Victor would not approve the repairs. When my son called him he told us, that he didn't have an open xx book and my son had bought a used truck and it was his problem! Extremely upset and disappointed in the treatment and service! More

Customer reviewPlease take time to read. I recently Customer review Please take time to read. I recently bought a truck from Kelley Lakeland on 2/20/21 and was not treated fairly after my purc Customer review Please take time to read. I recently bought a truck from Kelley Lakeland on 2/20/21 and was not treated fairly after my purchase. The truck I purchased had 4 tires that were not able to be balanced correctly and I was unable to feel the problem when taking the vehicle for a short test drive on the city streets surrounding the dealership. Traffic was also bumper to bumper the entire time on I4 heading back to I75. Unfortunately I was not even able to feel the problem until I reached I75 where I could take the truck over 50 mph, the steering wheel began to shake and the entire truck was shaking to the point that my water bottle in the center console was splashing out. I have had trucks and Jeep’s over my lifetime and know the feeling of an unbalanced wheel/tire, I immediately called Kelley of Lakeland and spoke with my sales guy Brandon Sanandres and informed him of the issue but I also stated since I live an hour and a half away and I was more then halfway home, I would simply take the truck to my local tire shop that I have done business with for over 15 years. I was told by Brandon to let him know if there was anything he could do to help and I told him I didn’t think it was a big deal and more then likely just a simple balance job. I made an appointment to with my tire guys the very next day. I asked them to simply take each wheel off one by one and place it on their balancing machine to see which wheel was out of balance. Well, it turned out that ALL 4 were out of balance but this however was only 1/2 the issue. They showed me each wheel rotating on the machine so that I could clearly see each tire spin. Two tires had side to side movement, one tire had a hop in it, and the 4th tire also was out of round. They tried to balance the wheels as best they could. After leaving the tire shop I decided to drive the vehicle for a day, since I would be back on the interstate for work and see how it felt. Well ... it wasn’t any better, so I called Kelley of Lakeland and spoke with Brandon again and told him what was going on and that the tires would need to be replaced. Now mind you I was also told the day I bought the truck that these tires were in fact new, which I later found out to be false. Brandon informed me that I would need to speak with their sales manager Victor Guingona and that I would need to bring the truck back up to their Bartow location where their mechanics are. I was unable to bring the truck that week because I was having work done at my home and would not be able to bring the truck in till the following Monday 3/1/21 I called the Bartow location and informed them of what was going on and also what my local tire shop had found. I asked that they have some sort of replacement tires ready to install the day I bring it because it felt unsafe at highway speeds and we have already determined the tires were bad and needed replacement. I was told they would have replacements ready but would still need to assess the tires to confirm, which I understood is proper protocol. I arrived in Bartow for my appointment on time and the mechanics took my truck, pulled each wheel, tried to balance and also did a road force test on each wheel. The result.. the tires failed miserably and needed replacement (which I already knew and told them prior to coming there) then they informed me that they did NOT have tires to put on my truck and said I would need to discuss it with Kelley of Lakeland. ???? So....this was a waste of my time, 1.5 hours each way. Needless to say I was irate over this situation and sent several texts to Brandon about what was going on. I received no response but the next day he told me that he had been off the previous day. I did however receive a phone call from Victor Guingona Kelley of Lakeland sales manager and he began to explain that “I had bought a used truck and it was as is ..blah blah blah” I told him that I informed Brandon THE DAY I BOUGHT the truck there was an issue and I wanted to know how they planned on correcting it. Victor then stated that he wasn’t going to put $2000 worth of tires on my truck and that he didn’t know what I expected him to do ?? Aren’t sales mangers supposed to know what to do? He even went so far as to say “ should we turn back the hands of time and have you bring the truck back ??? Seriously ??? This was his solution ??? Really ?? At this point I already had the truck for over a week and had spent money outfitting for my work! I told Victor “NO..I don’t want to bring the truck back, I simply want tires that roll correctly and ride properly” I even said I would be willing to put forth some of my own money to get tires of quality but felt as though the full financial responsibility should not fall upon me. He agreed. He said he would talk to his “tire specialist” and call me the next day. The next day came and no call, I text Brandon late in the day and explained that I had not received a call and explained to him that I even sent an email to Victor letting him know that there were other tire sizes available that may be more affordable. No response. Brandon later responded letting me know the price of some Nitto tires and also some Venom tires which currently are on the vehicle. I said “NO” to the Venom tires and would choose the Nitto. The tire specialist was supposed to contact me.. well that never happened. The next day I text Brandon again to let him know that Victor nor the tire specialist had contacted me at all the previous day and asked for this tire specialists phone number so I could simply communicate with him directly and determine what tires he had. His name was Kevin and he told me he had Nitto tires in my size and would speak with Victor and have Victor call me so we could work out the details and make a plan to get this done.. well .. no one called me and no one has ever contacted me again. I understand that when you buy a used car as is, the dealership has no obligation to help you after the sale, but I also feel that since I made them aware of the issue the day I bought the vehicle, they have a moral responsibility to do what’s right and to try their best to satisfy a customer. Needless to say I was completely let down and felt swept under the rug by everyone involved. I have since had to purchase $2000 worth of new tires just to make the $35,000 truck drive smoothly. My advise to anyone considering buying a used vehicle from Kelley of Lakeland is this ...insist on driving that vehicle at highway speeds, test the vehicle out as much as possible before you sign any paperwork, because once you do, you might as well consider yourself a ghost! All you are is another sale for their quota. Sincerely Craig Rittmeyer A very unsatisfied customer, Kelley of Lakeland used truck center. More