We live 420 miles away from this dealership (4-hour one way drive). We pursued a Glockner Certified Used vehicle purchase based upon online ads at Autotrader and Glockner websites with an advertised list price of $28,989. The price was the same on both websites. Both ads included a $699 Glockner Guarantee Certificate (attached) which indicates in all capital letters that it is INCLUDED with qualifying vehicles: which this vehicle was.
Per Ohio law, any advertised price for a motor vehicle represents the full price including all costs to the consumer except tax, title, registration fees and documentary charge. So, by law the Guarantee had to be included.
We had asked our salesperson (Dave Peck) to remove the $699 Guarantee and provide a credit o the list price of the vehicle. He indicated that the cost was not optional and could not be removed and was already included in the price of the vehicle. This information conforms to Ohio law.
We then moved on to the financing office (Stephen Russell) the vehicle cost was listed as $1,000 more than the list price. It also included an added line item cost of $699 Guarantee. He admitted there was a $1,000 "mistake" and corrected the mistake however he refused to remove the added $699. He stated it was not included the List Cost; it was an added cost. He advised us to walk away from the deal if we did not want to pay the additional $699. I told him that I couldn't believe that we were the only customers to have ever complained about their false advertising - he shrugged his shoulders and indicated that we were not the first customers to have complained and added that "everyone has the opportunity to walk away from a deal." As we had already invested 6 hours of our day with the trip out to the dealership (and still had another 4-hour drive to get back home), test drive and waiting for paperwork to be reprocessed, we reluctantly moved forward with the purchase.
The next day, we reviewed the paperwork again and discovered an undisclosed added cost of $70. When we called Steve, he indicated that he was unable to determine what the cost was. He became very defensive saying that it had nothing to do with any Glockner process. He blamed it on the bank "likely mis-allocating a loan origination fee." He said that he would contact the bank and try to figure out what it was and would call me back. In the meantime, I checked with the bank and confirmed that they did not have a loan origination fee. Upon his return call, he indicated that it was another Glockner error related to non-reimbursed tax based on the $1,000 error noted above. He advised that we would be reimbursed via a check they would put in the mail within the next couple of days.
Later that day, I called the Used car Sales Manager (Jeff Doak) to discuss how we were misled by Glockner's false advertising of the vehicle list price and frustrated that we experienced multiple financial "mistakes". We felt that it was an entirely unprofessional transaction and they seemed to operate very unethically. And, just like the finance person, he simply said that we should have walked away from the deal. I told the Manager that we believed that the Glockner team's actions were not only unethical but also illegal - and that there are Federal and State laws to protect consumers from exactly what Glockner did to us. I told him that I would endeavor to write as many candid reviews online so that I could warn others what to expect/look out for if they deal with Glockner. I advised that I would also be contacting several agencies to look into their business practices. He replied that I could go ahead and do that and that Glockner has been around for 100+ years; and indicated that they don't break any laws. I replied that I understood his position, but did not agree.
False advertising is a violation of consumer protection laws.The car-buying experience that we encountered is the epitome of why there are these types of consumer protection laws. Glockner did not honor their advertised list price. Buyer Beware! read more
