I went to Casebere Motors on the afternoon of April 30 to look at a Dodge Caravan they were advertising. There were no pictures on their site. I live in Fort Wayne Indiana, so the drive was about an hour away. They had apparently just got the vehicle in the previous Friday. The van was very dirty, and there was a dent in the side of the door. After taking it for a test drive these "appeared" to be the only problems with the van. The sales person I talked to was Cody Hall. We talked about the van, and I asked him if they had checked everything out to make sure all was right with the van. Cody said yes, they had looked over the van, they had found nothing wrong with it. I had expressed that I was interested in the van, but that the dent in the door was something I wanted fixed. I was fine with paying full price for it, so long as that was fixed and the car was cleaned and detailed. That was the deal... all the while I'm under the impression they've looked it over and assure me that nothing else is wrong.
They couldn't fix the door that day, they had to order a part and we had to come back. They did a quick cleanup of the van and I took it home that evening. I didn't think much of it, since I figured I'd take it back and everything would be fine. On the way home a light popped up on the dashboard (an exclamation point.) As soon as I got home I called Cody to ask what that was about. He said he didn't know and that the would check it out when I brought it in.
My wife took the van in the following Thursday. They gave us a loaner van to use in the meantime. We got a call the following Tuesday from Cody letting us know everything was done and the van was ready to pick up. I asked if they had looked into the light, and he said they did and that it was taken care of. He said it had to do with the tires not having enough air in them. I figured all was good, they put air in the tires and it's fixed.
I had to work, so my wife went to Ohio to get the van. She's 8 months pregnant and not feeling the greatest, and she took our 2 year old with her. She was under the impression she would just pick up the van and go, and perhaps our 2 year old could take a nap in the car while she was driving. When she got there she discovered the van hadn't been detailed whatsoever, it was still a mess. They took the van back to the shop and cleaned it up, meanwhile my wife is waiting with our screaming, tired 2 year old.
They finally brought the van back to her. When she got in the car she noticed the light was still showing. That was when we found out from them that the tire pressure sensor was broken. At this point I called the manager Brent to find out what was going on. I expressed my extreme frustration and displeasure about the van not being done when they said, and them making my pregnant uncomfortable wife wait with our 2 year old screaming at her. Then I got into the light, and I told him that I expected that to be fixed. Brent told me he was "not going to drop everything" for this light and be out $100-$400 to fix it. (I'm your customer Brent, and I spent money with you!) I told him that Cody had assured me they had checked this out and that everything was okay, this was not at all disclosed. Brent's argument was that the van was sold as is, and I drove it off the lot. I got into a heated argument with him. I told him he could either fix it or take the car back. He said no, neither of those things was going to happen.
I work in customer service and sales, I'm all too familiar with the game. I'm absolutely shocked and appalled at the way this company treats their customers. It was hands down the worst customer experience I've ever had buying a car if not anything else. Cody proved to be an incompetent salesman, and Brent proved to be a jerk.
I don't buy for one second that this car was looked over at all as Cody had said. If it had been they would have known that the sensor was out. If they had known then they would have said so when I called Cody after bringing it home to inquire about it. Instead of saying "I don't know", he would have said "The tire pressure sensor is broken, that's part of the sold as is" and that would have been the end of the conversation. The problem here is that they did NOT set proper expectations.
Brent was also incredibly rude, and clearly did not care about the situation. The van was sold and that's all he cared about. I have never met a more unprofessional manager in my life. In my line of sales I have one rule, and it's "Do the right thing". I can't tell you how many times I have gone above and beyond for a customer of mine, paying for something out of my own pocket to fix a bad experience for a customer. Guess what those customers did after that Brent.... THEY CAME BACK!!!! They came back and spent MORE MONEY! Guess what I won't be doing with you?
There's another thing said in sales... it's all about how you make the customer feel. read more
