It's been a few months now, and I finally think I'm ready to not just scream obscenities about this lying, scumbag ridden scam operation.
End of March I come in specifically about a very few cars I'd found on Edmunds and AutoTrader at their lot. I was escorted through by a gentleman who told me I couldn't test any of the cars because the lot was so jam packed. Interesting. Finally, we get to a 2012 Fiat with 49K miles on it. This is my car. Oh, but it just came in so it's being checked out on the lift, so the best I can do is sit in it and see that the engine light isn't on.
So I sign the papers. And agree to financing, even though I can pay outright, because the price skyrockets as soon as you don't finance. And I find out that there's fine print about the listed price for the car being the price *once you pay $2000 down*, so it's actually higher. I even leave a hefty deposit on top of the money down. Then I'm told that I can pick up the car on Tuesday after paperwork and inspections.
I can't come on a Tuesday, so I tell them I'll be in on Saturday. Saturday rolls around, I'm in a cab ride to their ass-end of the world location, and I get a call from the salesman that Oh, their mechanic couldn't fix something with the car and the engine went on, so on Wednesday they sent it to the Fiat dealership for repair. Did they call me to tell me there were more serious issues? No. Did they tell me the car wasn't on premises any longer? No. Did I get stuck for a useless cab ride fee for this? Yup!
I tell them I won't be able to come out until the following Saturday, and please get in touch and let me know what's going on with the car as it comes back, so I can avoid earlier mistakes. The salesman stops answering my requests. I call their interminable phone system and am put through to a manager, who says he's busy but will check. Gee, you have my money and your multiple hard credit checks (all excellent until this) made my credit score drop by 15 points, but yeah, take your time. Then he goes missing and can't be reached at all. I try multiple times per day to call and I'm always left on endless hold waiting and can't speak to anyone.
Cut to week 2.5 of waiting for this car and answers, I start calling the Fiat dealers and MOPAR repair shops around town. There aren't that many, and I have the VIN. No one can find this little ghost car in their system any longer. Later, a friend tells me either the lot has likely misplaced the car, or the car was damaged in transit from the shop where I sat in it in March and the late April day. I am so fed up, I start looking for new cars online... and see this same car, same VIN, same photos, still for sale on several sites with refresh dates of the previous day. They were still baiting and switching AND my car was gone.
That Saturday (week 3 of waiting), I come back down to their lot and ask to speak directly with the manager who'd been ducking my calls. They page him, which takes a solid 10 minutes, then *from across the large sales floor* he starts yelling at me "Hey! You know what? You can take your money back. I don't need your headache." No, sorry for the inconvenience, cost, credit hits, headaches. Sorry for the zero customer service or hell pit of a phone system. Just getting in my face and yelling. So I told him Yes, I want my money back, I want you to cancel the financing (which has a no cold feet clause from the purchaser's end), and be out of my life. I also told him I found the same car with 25K few miles, a year newer, and better CarFax details for $2500 less. At that he starts trying to warn me off of "small dealers" and SELL ME ANOTHER ONE OF HIS CARS! The absolute gall is astounding.
I go and buy the other car at Compass Luxor (a dream transaction), and love my car. Then I start getting my financing notification payment reminders from Queens Auto Mall's finance title holder for the ghost car. So then I had to spend another week on the phone with them, getting faxes sent to the financeer (which they didn't), going to get the letter of release of title from Queens and faxing it myself, and calling the title finance company over again to have it cleared since remember that No Cold Feet clause, I couldn't cancel myself, even without title or car.
The scam artists are a horror show. Steer far away from them at your peril. read more