I went to the dealership (on July 30, 2016) to test drive a Mazda-3 hatchback, and wound up driving a CX-3, which I liked better. I had purchased a CX-5 from Hertrich in 2015 and basically felt I had been treated fairly. The sales lady (Tina) knew me and told me to take the car home so my wife could drive it. My wife (who is 4 feet, 8 inches) could not see to drive it, even when the seat was raised as far as possible. I called Tina to tell her this but got her voicemail. She called the next day (Sunday) to ask if my wife would try to use a cushion to raise the seat higher, which I stated was unsafe and unsatisfactory. She advised me to bring the car back to get my old car (a 2007 Jeep Liberty) back. On Monday, she called to say she was working to find another car, which might be suitable...and to keep the CX-3 until Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Tina called both of us separately (I was out of town on business) to tell us the dealership had sold my Jeep on Saturday afternoon, although I had not agreed to any purchase or trade-in.
When my wife went to the dealership on Tuesday, the Sales Manager (Paul) showed her a Mazda-3 with an electric seat, which allowed my wife to see to drive. When my wife asked how they could sell our Jeep without permission or without the signed-over title, Paul told her the dealership could get the title without our signature. Furthermore, because the Mazda-3 cost more money than the CX-3, we would have to agree to take short-term (3-month) financing so they could recover some of the cost difference between the two cars. My wife had said she would only agree to the Mazda-3 if the price was the same as the CX-3.
My wife was left with no choice but to take the car, since our Jeep had been "sold" and could not be returned.
On August 5, I went to the dealership and spoke with the financing manager, Art. I told him we would only take the car as a lease, without taking the short-term financing. That was agreeable and I took the Mazda-3 for 3 years, 30,000 miles. The dealership agreed to pay the first of the 36 payments. When I told Art that I was very unhappy with how we had been treated, his response was "sorry about that". We did receive the same trade-in price for the Jeep as had been discussed originally when I had planned to pay cash for our new car. He also mentioned that the "low mileage Jeep" was considered to be a very desirable used car.
On August 12, I filed a complaint with the Delaware Better Business Bureau. Hertrich has not contacted me about this complaint.
On August 22, Tina (the original sales person) called me to ask me when I was going to bring the Jeep's title in to the dealership. No-one ever asked me to return the title, neither the sales or financing manager. As of this date (August 24), I still have the title.
Also on August 22, I
I do not believe Hertrich can sell the Jeep without the title, so we have been lied to repeatedly by the sales person, sales manager and financing manager. I will never buy another car from Hertrich and would advise everyone to stay away from this untrustworthy and unethical dealer. read more