Dealership Tried To Screw Me!!!!! I won, though!

But I got them instead. Long story, u ready?

I went to Good Chevrolet in Renton, WA looking for a new 2007 Tahoe last week. I found prior rental 2007 Tahoe LT with 10,000 miles (no Onstar) that was on sale. After doing the numbers with the salesman, I realized it was more than I was willing to spend (37,000 and some change after taxes, registration etc.) So I left. The following week the salesman calls me and tells me they are having a big sale on BRAND NEW tahoes. The ad states 2007 Tahoe LS for 30,500 (they only have 4 at that price). And since I'm military it comes to 30K. I race down there (1 hr. drive) and start doing the paperwork on it. Now I already have financing through my bank (Keesler F.C.U. @ 5.25% for 84 mos.) and was pre-approved for 33K. I also had NO trade in, because they had already tried to offer me $14,000 for my 2002 Denali (my Denali is pristine) last week. I'll sell my truck on m own! So anyway the salesman takes my paperwork to his TEAM LEADER to look over. Meanwhile I'm on the phone with my bank to get their fax# for the purchase order. This jerk of a TEAM LEADER interrupts my call to tell me, and I quote, "We are not interested in your OUTSIDE money." :confused2: So I ask him to repeat that. He then goes on to explain that they are losing like 5k on this deal and that by putting out that ad, they are hoping the customer uses GMAC financing or they have a trade-in. He then says, "We can do the deal thru GMAC @ 9.9% financing for 72 mos." I laughed and told him that I have a 800 credit score that I EARNED. Why would I take 9.9%? He then said, "Well then we can give you $12,000 for your Denali." Thats when I started to get really pissed. You mean to tell me that the only reason you put the ad out was to screw some poor customer into a either a bad finance deal or screw them out of their trade-in? I said if thats the case, I don't need to buy your truck. The TEAM LEADER just got up and walked away. There was No THANKS FOR COMING OUT, NO SORRY, NO HANDSHAKE. I made a HUGE scene and walked out the door. The general manager came running after me trying to figure out why some customer was yelling in his showroom. I explained to him what happened. Explained to him that there was no fine print in the ad. Then I explained to him that I needed a copy of the ad to show to the attorney general. He did the whole speal about, "what can I do to earn your business". I told him to sell me the car at the advertised price. He said how about 6.7% financing? I said, I essentially came in here with a suitcase full of money and you are telling me that u won't sell me the truck at the advertised price? He then said, "U can buy from us at 9.9% and turn around and re-finance with your bank tomorrow. (I forgot about doing that). But I told him that, I have done that before and would have no problem doing that again, but at this point I have a bad taste in my mouth about this dealership. At that point he gave in, apologized, and said he'd sell it to me at the advertised price and I could use my bank. He then said, but when u get the customer service survey in the mail, please tell them that you had an excellent experience at my dealership. LOL!!! These dealerships are making money hand over fist. The kickbacks from the GM headquarters, the profit from the car sale, the finance rate, and then they screw u out of your vehicle's equity! So anyway I ended up getting a pretty well-equipped 2007 Tahoe 4x4 ($30,000) at well under invoice (and thats with NO trade-in for them to screw me out of). Its black on black w/ XM radio. After I get done with it, it will look like an LTZ...for half the price!:thumbsup:

Good Deal

Good for you!
My father -in-law did the same thing a few years ago on a s-10 pickup. They advertised it with chrome wheels and bed liner all kinds of stuff on it. Even had the truck sitting there with the advertised price on the windsheild. Needless to say that truck went home with him that day. Not the plain jane they tried to sale him when we first got there. That salesman almost got his butt kicked.

And dealerships wonder why so many are not using them anymore...

Congrats on winning that one. :cheers: BTW you can put some serious whupass :twak: on him in that survey cuz any answer that's less than Completely Satisfied puts the hammer on him. :giggling:

When we bought our Tahoe the dealer wanted us to bring the survey to him(to fill out) and we would get a free tank of gas.:skep: I guess they live or die by those reports.

Same here, that survey must be gold as i get a free oil change , again, if I fill it out Completely satisfied.

Dealers

:thumbsup: Their always trying to cheat people out of their hard earned $.

Good for you, for standing your ground. :clapping:

73shark said:

Congrats on winning that one. :cheers: BTW you can put some serious whupass :twak: on him in that survey cuz any answer that's less than Completely Satisfied puts the hammer on him. :giggling:

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73 shark is dead on on this point. You can crucify them in that survey. You might even want to include a copy of your post to demonstrate how you were treated in a more eloquent manner than numerical selections.

I'll bet you will be treated very well at service time,.....................if the GM doesn't shoot at you!
Bob

Good Job :thumbsup: All they had to do is give you what they advertise. They always want to come up with some bull!@#$ to get extra money out of you. Good for standing up for yourself.. :thumbsup:

Jigga, I bought a new 07 tahoe from Good Chevrolet in Renton, WA too.

I've been in their service dept 5+ times for various recalls, airbag, window paneling, and steering wheel noise.

My last repair, they washed my car with a brush and scratched my paintjob.

Instead of refinishing it or whatever, they buffed it to conceal the scratches and buffed all over my panelling leaving buff marks all over the paneling.

After my 3rd time there, their attitude about fixing my tahoe got worse and worse and they always talked about their survey to give them 100%.

I had to call GM and am in the process of fixing my paint at a body shop.

My point? Don't take your vehicle to their service dept. Their younger managers were garbage.

BTW, I love my tahoe, gas prices and all.

OK, are you ready for this? I worked in GM dealerships during my automotive career and the survey is "gold" to them. Here is why (1) with a excellent survey average the dealer gets more allocation of "desired" vehicles that sell rapidly for more profit (2) the dealership gets huge checks (thousands of dollars) based on their dealership averages of the survey every few months. The dealerships I worked for (Cadillac) would share those checks with us (salespersons) when they came in as we were the ones getting the good marks on the surveys after the sale, but the dealership retained the lion's share. (3) bad surveys trigger direct involvement with GM to the dealership and they don't want that either.
So you can see why they want that "Completely Satisfied" survey

Genestoy is right about the surveys. Although I would disagree with him that the survey is gold, but they do weigh a lot on a person working there.

At the stores that I worked for, a bad survey was little more than a reason to rip on you for a day or so. Yes, the dealerships(not just GM) have programs that reward the dealers for providing good customer service.

The allocation line that the salespeople are taught is 99% false. The majority of the allocations given to a dealership are based on the past year and 5 year sales for that particular dealer, not the survey score.

I might just be playing the devils advocate here, but when you see how both sides of this works you'll usually find out that the customers are typically the the cause of the problem. I have ripped my share of dealerships both as an employee and as a customer, but I actually know how things work at a dealership.

Is everyone familiar with the term "lost leader?" The vehicle that Jigga bought sounds like it is the lost leader for this store. Typically a dealer will order the most annoying color with some crazy options and advertise it at some ridiculous price to get people in. Problem is that when someone shows up, its never there. If you actually get to buy one, you made one hell of a deal, but I promise you that the dealership still made money on the transaction.

Unless you know what you are really looking at on an invoice, you leaving money on the table.

I have handled my share of complaints through the years. Writing the BBB and state attorney generals office only generates a letter that the dealership must respond too. No slap on the wrist, no investigation, nothing..... Unless they actually have a reason to look into.

Finally, once an offer is made on the part of the dealership in the negotiation process and we as customers decline or counter, the initial offer is void and no longer valid.

tahoenut07 said:

Is everyone familiar with the term "lost leader?"
Finally, once an offer is made on the part of the dealership in the negotiation process and we as customers decline or counter, the initial offer is void and no longer valid.

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I know this is nit-picking but the term is actually "loss leader". It's like when a grocery store sells a 12 pack of Coke for $2.00. It gets you in the store and then they hope for an impulse buy or two.

You didn't WIN, we never do!

Well we would call that ad vehicle the lost leader because at most dealerships the vehicle would get lost until the ad ended. I never worked for one that would do that. Those places were usually the ones that would threaten to fire you if you did sell the ad car.

I get it.

tahoenut07 said:

I might just be playing the devils advocate here, but when you see how both sides of this works you'll usually find out that the customers are typically the the cause of the problem. I have ripped my share of dealerships both as an employee and as a customer, but I actually know how things work at a dealership.

Is everyone familiar with the term "lost leader?" The vehicle that Jigga bought sounds like it is the lost leader for this store.

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I'm still waiting for u to explain how this is my fault?

I never said that it was your fault. I did however give everyone a little insight into how some of this stuff works out for the dealership.

In my other post I did say that it sounded like everyone had a share in the blame with your issue, but it sounds like you got them to correct it.

As far as the your share comment. In my many years working at car dealerships across the country, most problems are misunderstandings. Dealerships cannot get away with straight ripping people off anymore. So as far as casting the blame goes, everyone probably did play a part in it.

Like I said in my other post, congrats on getting them to fix everything.

Almost Forgot....

I spoke with an old friend of mine this past weekend. We got on the survey topic. Come to find out, if I didn't want the dealership to know that I was the one that gave them the bad marks, they don't count against them.