*Preface: Mainland Motors will not find me in their records as I am not a customer. The following is my experiences dealing with Frank Sundram in sales and Alex Thorne in finance in regards to the dealership showing interest in purchasing my 2017 Nissan Rogue SV AWD 7 seater.
*10/21 - Frank (Frank's Deals on Wheels) works for Mainland Motors and they are interested in purchasing our vehicle. Frank tells us that the process is easy - They prepare all the paperwork, come out to our house, test drive the vehicle and we're given a bank draft with an amount from a pre-accepted offer and then they take the vehicle from our residence. We double check that they will come out to us (so we don't have to drive from Chilliwack to Surrey). Frank assures us that they will. We tell Frank we will think about it. We like how easy and convenient it all sounds.
*10/22 - We call Frank come to an agreement for a sale price. Frank is eager and would like to set up a pick up time ASAP. We send Frank information, including VIN#, etc. We are made aware that a lien from previous financing is still present on the vehicle and that it needs to be cleared before we can proceed.
*10/25 - Lien release paperwork is sent to Frank. We inquire when they would like to come to Chilliwack, as promised. We are told that they do not have a "lot boy" currently and cannot come out. We are asked to bring our vehicle to Surrey to complete the transaction and the dealership offered to pay for an Uber for our return to Chilliwack (so we didn't have to bring two vehicles into Surrey).We decline the offer and remind Frank that it was agreed upon initially that the dealership would come to us in Chilliwack. We would not have accepted the offer otherwise as we have zero desire to spend 2+ hours round trip travel time (commute only).We are told they will set something up for the next day.
*10/26 - After phone calls back and fourth, we are again asked to drive in to Surrey to complete the transaction. We again decline and remind Frank that we only accepted this deal because of its initially offered/promised convenience. We are told Frank will "get right back to us." A few hours pass and we have not heard anything. We call Frank around 5pm to find out if they are still making an effort to complete the transaction as they had originally promised. We hear Frank say "It's Jared E_____s" and then we hear an angry voice in the background (Alex Thorne) say "YEAH, I STILL WANT IT. IF HE'LL TAKE A F*CKING REGULAR CHEQUE." And then the phone is taken by Alex and we get the fake "Hello, my friend" etc etc. Alex, again, in full salesman mode, discusses how busy he is, how he is short staffed but that he will make it happen. He will send someone out to Chilliwack as long as we are okay with a business cheque (AKA The "F*cking regular cheque" when he thought we couldn't hear). After a lot of "my friend" on Alex's end (and claiming we could complete the transaction and "leave as friends"),we made a plan for pickup on Thursday (10/28) at 11:30am.
*10/28 - Frank was supposed to leave Surrey at 10:30am to arrive in Chilliwack at approximately 11:30am.12:15pm comes around and no one has come. We see we missed a call. Alex, obviously eating while he was speaking over the phone, tells us that he just arrived at work and that he has no one to pick up the vehicle (again, commenting on how busy he is and how he is short staffed).We remind Alex that we are being made aware of this 45 MINUTES past the time someone was supposed to have arrived at our home. We took the day off work for this. Alex is unapologetic. Alex wants us to drive the vehicle into Surrey. We, for the umteenth time, decline. We let Alex know that this needs to be sorted out by day end or we are walking away from the deal. Alex says he will speak to the owners and sort it out.
*We never heard back from Frank or Alex after that.
*We sold our vehicle to another dealership tonight (within an hour) and it was an easy, stress-free transaction, unlike our experience with Mainland Motors. read more