Michelle Bertrand
Published 6 years ago
Love the car, hated our experience with the sales team
As the one-sentence summary says, we love the car itself, but our sales experience has left my partner and I very unhappy as we were misled and/or lied to multiple times, and had to be extremely persistent in order to get our issues resolved -- which took about 4 months.
We purchased the car in late January (picked it up on Feb. 1) during which there was a promotion to get free winter tires with the car purchase. During our discussion with the salesman, Warren, my partner mentioned that he was eligible for a partner discount because he was a member of a union (MGEU). He specifically asked Warren whether we would still get the winter tires even with the MGEU discount and Warren said yes. We signed off, happy with the purchase. I'll note that despite being asked (multiple times) by both Warren and the man with whom we signed the papers (Scott, I think?), we firmly declined the extended warranty.
When we came to pick up the car on Feb. 1, I noticed the winter tires were not on the car, nor in the back, and I asked Warren if someone would be putting them in the back. At this point, he said, "Oh, well you don't get them because of the partner discount." And we reminded him that he had told us we would, and also told him that the inclusion of the winter tires was one reason we had decided to purchase the car from them. He seemed a bit flustered and said he'd have to look into it and talk to a manager about it and call us back. So, we took our car at this point assuming the issue would be resolved shortly.
Well, after about 5 days and hearing nothing, I phoned him, and he said that he had talked to the manager, Pat, and Pat had said that they could offer us a $400 in-house gift card. I explained again that this was not equivalent in value to what we had agreed to (winter tires), and that the winter tires were a deciding factor in purchasing the car from them. I asked if they could go a bit higher with the gift card and he said he would have to check with Pat and get back to me, but it would be a couple days because Pat was off for the next couple days. During this conversation, Warren also said, "Now, I got the impression when we talked that your partner didn't want the extended warranty, but that you actually did want it; is that correct?" And I said a firm no, that this was a decision we had made jointly. I was very displeased with his tactic of trying to play me against my partner and get me to agree to something without my partner's input when it was clearly a joint purchase. So, as it was left, Warren was supposed to get back to me in a couple of days.
Well, about a week goes by, so my partner decides to phone the general manager (Richard) as there’s been no response from Warren, or anyone else. He got the manager's voicemail, so he left a message, but it's not the manager that phones him back -- Warren does. Warren tells him during this conversation that I had agreed to the $400, when I most definitely didn't, as outlined above. I was still waiting to hear back from him. My partner tells him this and Warren says he'll, again, have to look into it and get back to us. I was quite upset that Warren lied to my partner about what I had said.
At this point, we were extremely frustrated in our dealings with Warren, and with other life circumstances going on, we had to focus our attention elsewhere instead of keeping on following up with him when we kept not getting phone calls back.
When I brought the car in for the 3 month check-up (which ended up being closer to 4 months due to my availability; no fault of the service team), I figured I would follow up as we had not heard anything from Warren. I spoke to him in person and he said he thought the manager, Pat, had sent us the gift card, and then said that Pat was no longer there. I said we had not received the gift card, and reiterated that I had originally asked for something closer in value to what the value of winter tires were and he was supposed to look into it. He said that since Pat was no longer there, he'd have to speak to the new manager. He also said that they couldn't do any more than $400 because then they would be losing money on the car. I didn't have any way to confirm that, obviously, but reiterated that we still felt we should be getting something equivalent to the value of what we agreed to (the winter tires), and requested some all-weather mats in addition to the gift card. He went to talk to the manager and said they could do the $400, but it would have to wait till the following week because the accounting department had to issue it and they were off for the weekend (this was on a Saturday). I still requested something in addition, such as the all-weather mats. He said he would follow-up with me next week. He also disclosed that he had checked the promotional materials and none of them indicated that a partner deal, such as the discount my partner got through the MGEU, would invalidate any promotions. Also at this time, he again said, almost word-for-word as he'd done before, that he thought I had wanted the extended warranty even if my partner didn't and was that the case. I informed him that he'd already asked me that and I had said no.
When he didn't follow-up, I stopped by in person the middle of next week when I was doing some shopping in the area. The gift card was not ready, and Warren said that he would need the manager's approval and the manager was not currently there, but should be back in a half hour. I said I was willing to wait. About 30 mins later, Warren came back and said the manager was delayed and wouldn't be back for a while and that he could call me when it was ready. I again asked about the all-weather mats and he said he would talk to the manager. I also asked if he could just mail us the gift card instead of me having to come back another time. He said he would, and about a week later, the card arrived with a note apologizing for the delay. However, there was no mention of anything else, and I have not heard from him regarding the mats.