***UPDATE: I wrote this post, e-mailed the VP and posted a link to this post on the Imperial Cars facebook page. I received a message back from a different Dave, the business development manager. Before I could even call him back, Kevin, the owner of Imperial Cars, personally called my family member and had them come in to meet with him personally and explain the situation. Kevin went above and beyond to help rectify and fix what had happened. I realize it is extremely difficult for the owner of a company to make sure that all his/her employees have the same values as they do. At the same time, Kevin thanked us for bringing this to his attention and was quick to make things better. He took a lost customer that was upset and made them extremely happy and now has an evangelist for Imperial Cars. I have a ton of respect for Kevin and his company. He says he would like to meet me as well. I look forward to shaking his hand.***
I’ll try to make this long story short…
A member of my family went to Imperial Chevrolet in Mendon, MA about 6 weeks ago and bought a used SUV. After they bought it I had them take it to my mechanic and check it out. He found a couple of things for the dealer to fix and the dealer also agreed to fix the bumper because of some minor nicks and scratches.
About a week after the car purchase this member of my family brought the car back to Imperial Chevrolet to get the bumper fixed and talked to them about what my mechanic said. They fixed the bumper over the next day and said they took care of the oil leak and that in fact one of their guys overfilled the oil so if it’s on the engine that’s why. There was oil everywhere on the engine, basically like puddles of it. I don’t know how a mechanic could A) spill that much oil or B) not clean it up better. Now I just assume it was on purpose but I didn’t at the time.
This member of my family brings the car back to Imperial Chevrolet now a second time to get some of the things my mechanic said needed to be fixed and asked that the oil leak really be fixed this time. They kept the car for a couple of days and said they couldn’t do the work at this dealership it needed to go to the manufacturer’s dealership since it was a used car and not a Chevrolet. They would set it up.
My family member dropped the car off for a third time and they’ve only owned it for about 2 weeks. This member of my family was going away for vacation and tells Imperial Chevrolet that they can have the car for 10 days while they are away and it will get picked up when they get back. You would think that would be plenty of time to fix a car, right? Wrong.
My family member gets back and goes over to pick up the car and they say not only is it not done but it hasn’t been started. The reason they gave at Imperial Chevrolet is that since it is a sale the sales department needed to approve any spending on the car. It was also brought up that the sales department might not fix the car if it’s not worth it to them. They did offer a loaner vehicle at this point.
After four more days, I learn more about what’s going on, am asked and volunteer to go with my family member to get the car. Low and behold we get there and it’s still not ready. The member of my family took the offer for a rental car at this point and I talk with Mike who works in the service department at Imperial Chevrolet. Mike seems like a good guy and said that it turns out that a gasket seal needed to be replaced to fix the oil leak and that the whole front differential needed to be replaced. He said this was going to be about and $8,000 or $9,000 job and that the service department has been negotiating with the dealership that is doing the work and the sales department to see if it was going to get done and the work had not yet been started. He said it would be another week once it was actually started.
I asked about what options there were because obviously this car has major problems that the dealer missed in their inspections. Mike said that he would put my family member in touch with a sales manager to discuss options with this car. No one from Imperial Chevrolet ever called. After about a week and numerous phone calls from this member of my family, there was finally an appointment set and I was asked to tag along.
It’s yesterday. I met my family member at the dealer, who is looking at alternative cars. The sales manager recommends another used car. It’s a nice car with 20,000 miles that was a rental, not keen on the color but it had the features they were looking for.
I started to worry that a problem might begin. By looking at another car you are joining two issues rather than keeping them separate. Dealerships love to do this because it’s more difficult to figure out the right numbers. The purchase of another car blends with the getting rid of the first car with problems.
We also looked at some of the brand new models for the alternative car and my family member found one that had what they wanted but said they were more interested in the used car because it had a sunroof but mostly because it’s an opportunity to save a few thousand dollars since it’s a 2009 with 20k miles vs a brand new 2010. We go inside with the sales guy and the sales manager that pointed out the used car leaves at this point. The sales guy pulls out the paperwork on the used car and it’s more expensive than the new car. The new car has a $2,000 rebate running as well.
My initial reaction is help me understand why the used car was even shown. The sales guy said that he didn’t know and that we’d have to ask Dave the sales manager that showed the car. Dave has of course already left. Actually I believe he was yelling across the showroom floor to another customer at this time. My family member is like forget the used car let’s talk more about the new car. I say how about we take a step back and talk about the car that has all the problems that we want to get rid of. What can you do for us there?
The sales guy starts talking about trade-in value. I stop the guy and says I’m sorry but this car has major problems with it and you’ve had it longer than my family member, we’re here to get another car and would like better than just the trade-in value for the car. The sales guy says okay, let me know what you would like and I’ll go talk to the sales manager.
Warning: We’re going to talk numbers now! (these numbers have been changed to make the math more simple).
My family member paid $20,000 for the car I will now refer to as junk since it’s got major problems and no one wants it. It was paid for with a $5,000 trade-in and the other $15,000 in cash. There was also a warranty bought for $3,500. With tax, title and registration there was a total of about $20,000 in cash paid. We initially told the sales guy we would like the $20,000 for that vehicle off the price of the new car figuring my family member would get the warranty money back and the tax, title and registration was gone.
For anyone that doesn’t know, this member of my family will get back almost the full amount of the warranty because they’re getting rid of the car. The dealership has nothing to do with this. My thought process is to just leave it out all together because it was paid and will come back so let’s ignore it.
The sales manager, Dave, now comes back over. Dave proceeds to tell us that the full value is impossible because there’s another owner listed on the title and with the problems of the car it will go straight to auction and they can’t get that for this car at auction. Dave proceeds to tell us how he’s going to help us out. He says that $20,000 was paid in cash for the car and that the warranty money comes back so take that off and you get $16,500 which is way more than he should give us but he’s willing to help.
I question the math. I said that I understand not accounting for the warranty money let’s just leave it out. I was confused about $20,000 being all that was paid for the car since there was also a trade-in. Dave says well that’s gone it’s already been sold at auction. Imperial Chevrolet already got money for it, so we should include it then right? Dave says no it’s gone there’s nothing he can do about it. I said but you can’t act like it didn’t exist.
Dave then proceeded to walk through the math again about how he’s giving all the money back because $20,000 was paid and the $3,500 for the warranty is coming back and he’s giving a trade-in credit of $16,500 so we’re getting the full $20,000 back. I ask for help again with the math because I’m confused as to why the original trade-in isn’t even mentioned since the dealership already got money for it.
We continue the conversation for a little while and I continue to say I’m sorry I just don’t understand how you keep saying you’re giving all the money back but you’re not including the first trade-in that Imperial Chevrolet has already sold and got money for.
Dave rolls back in his chair and rolls his eyes at me. I say, Dave and I bothering you? He laughs out loud. I reply with, I apologize that I’m bad with math I just want to fully understand this and I don’t. He makes another comment and I said well, if I’m keeping you I can leave. Dave comes back with, go ahead and leave, I don’t care if you leave, “you’re not writing the check”. I reply with, Dave, there is probably a reason I am here that might have something to do with that check you just mentioned. At this point, Mark got up and left saying this is the final offer take it or leave it.
My family member and I sit there for a while discussing how rude Dave was to both of us and decide to leave. There is still this pressing problem. My family member is driving in a rental because the piece of crap car that was just bought still hasn’t been fixed. The car was bought six weeks ago from Imperial Chevrolet of which only about two of those six weeks was it in my family member’s possession. Now they have to go back to that dealership, who’s got some advice?
My thinking was and still is that Imperial Chevrolet made some money of the first sale to my family member. Why not give good value for the car. Make the customer happy. Sell a brand new car, which I understand they might not make money on but honestly they make money off volume of new cars sold so they will make money off of it later. Then they end up with a happy customer who talks about a dealership that fixed a car buyer’s worst nightmare, buying a piece of junk. Meanwhile, this member of my family liked the sales guy (before dealing with Dave, the sales manager) and asked about looking at some other used car after for another family member. If handled properly they would have sold a brand new car and a used car all by indirectly saying sorry and understanding (not admitting) that the first car had problems they didn’t know about.
Life just isn’t that easy.
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