This was by far one of the worst dealership experiences I've ever had.
My family and I had been communicating by email with someone named Alejandro before visiting the dealership. When we arrived, we were greeted by Alex, who never mentioned that he was the same person we had been emailing. He handed us an "Alex" business card, so we naturally assumed Alejandro wasn't there and that Alex was a different salesperson.
Throughout our visit, no one corrected that assumption. In fact, the sales manager, Dennis Torres, even told us, "Alejandro isn't here, let me get Alex." It wasn't until the very end of our visit, after I confronted Alex about the confusion, that he admitted his real name is Alejandro and that he goes by Alex for "professional reasons." If that's the case, there was no reason to let us believe they were two different people the entire time. It made the whole experience feel deceptive.
The first Volkswagen we test drove had a loud engine noise that immediately concerned us. Instead of acknowledging it or giving us a chance to listen, Alex turned up the A/C, turned on the radio, and kept talking while we were trying to hear the engine. That same Volkswagen also had what appeared to be a backup camera screen, but when the car was put into reverse, the screen turned completely blue because the camera wasn't even connected. We were never told that.
We then came to look at another Volkswagen because we had specifically been told it had a backup camera, which was one of our biggest requirements. After taking the time to come see it, we discovered it didn't even have a backup camera at all. We made that requirement clear from the beginning, so it was frustrating to have our time wasted on a vehicle that never met our needs.
Eventually, we found a Nissan that checked every box we were looking for. Even after everything that had already happened, we still wanted to buy it. We simply tried to negotiate because we were about $2,000 apart on the price. Instead of working with us or making any effort to earn our business, Alex refused to negotiate and essentially told us to go find another car somewhere else.
Between pretending to be two different people, having the sales manager go along with it, trying to distract us from a loud engine during a test drive, showing us one Volkswagen with a disconnected backup camera and another Volkswagen that didn't even have the backup camera we were promised, and then refusing to negotiate on the only vehicle we actually wanted, we left feeling like our time, intelligence, and business weren't respected.
Buying a car is one of the biggest purchases most people make. Customers deserve honesty, transparency, and respect. Unfortunately, that is not what we experienced at Ideal Cars, and I hope this review helps future buyers know exactly what they're walking into. read more
