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Humiliated, Berated, Left the Dealership in Tears.
Pressure from salesperson to "Buy Now"
Normal
How did you first contact the dealership?
Walk-In
Did you purchase from the dealership?
Yes
Would you recommend this dealership?
No
Name of Your Salesperson?
several managment people
Review Ratings Score
Pricing
3
Greeting
3
Honesty
2
Time
2
Questions
3
Promises
1
Financing
3
Treated
0
Overall Score
2.13
Our first car was purchased from the Kia portion of this dealership near the first of July. Both of the Kia salesmen were wonderful and we had no issues with them.
We did NOT end up purchasing the 2nd Kia Soul due to the issues that arose when we went to drop off the loaner, and give the dealership a check for the vehicle.
I was berated, humiliated and my character was called into question in front of sales staff and customers.
The General manager Alan boomed acrossed the room that I was "nothing but rude" and that "you disliked Rick the salesman" but could offer not back up to his claims.
In reality we gave Rick a very high rating on the customer survey regarding our first purchase. My husband was not happy with a phone call he got - but he never was angry with Rick the caller. It was the premise of the call that upset him and he said that repeatedly.
I tried for over 10 minutes to calm the situation down as I stood below the General Sales Manager's high desk crying in front of everyone.
Trying to explain to him that this is important to me because I am not a hypocryte - I started the Kindness Revolution to honor my daughter who was killed in a car accident in November and for anyone to question my character or my commitment to that cause is highly upsetting.
This is what I sent to the dealership - I got a canned - "it should not have happened" response - no apology was offered.
Please accept my apology for taking our business elsewhere on the 2010 Kia Soul that I had planned to purchase for my daughter Amber. We are purchasing elsewhere due to the incident that happened in your offices this morning. I feel that the way the situation was handled this morning was highly inappropriate and very unprofessional. I had no problem with my husband being spoken to if there was a preceived attitude problem but that should never have happened in front of other customers and staff. My character was called into direct question - I was told I was rude yet no one could state any situation where I was rude or inappropriate at any point in time. I left your store in tears. I was told that I disliked Rick - that is not the case at all and as a matter of fact both my husband and I gave Rick a very high rating on the customer survey. My husband did take issue with and called Allan on the phone call that we received about what he had originally understood to be a "buy inn" to hold our spot in the cash for clunkders program. It was not explained the 1,000 was to hold a particular vehicle for Amber as we had not picked the exact model yet. However I also heard him say that he liked Alan and that he wanted to make sure he didn't get him in trouble - he did not want to "shoot the messenger"... I did also get a call on my work phone apparently after 5:00 last night from Brian Condon letting me know of the delay - unfortunately I did not get that message prior to arriving at your location this morning. Not once during the last month had anyone indicated to us that Charlie's was not yet signed up as an approved/participating dealer in the cash for clunker's program - today was the first time we heard that. I hope you can see where the changes and the delays were frustrating to us as we tried to purchase our second car from you for our daughter. I pride myself on my kindness, my professionalism and my tact. I was highly upset when leaving your office to have been berated by staff in front of at least 10 people both customers and staff where I was told that I was rude and that it was my fault because my husband is an "ass". My husband is not an ass, he may have been a bit upset over things that happened and he may have spoken louder than necessary at times but he is a professional man in the customer service industry and he is most definitely not an "Ass". It was hurtful and very inappropriate in my opinion for this to be said, especially infront of others. I feel that both my husband and my character were defamed today and that the words spoken were sladerous. I am sorry once again for backing out of the purchase, but I just could not bring myself to return to the place where I had had such a horrifying experience.
I sent this fax to the owner of Charlie's his son had originally left a voice mail telling me that it appears that an apology was in order and asking to sit down and speak with me. I sent him a detailed fax with all the blow by blow and when I called to follow up and set up a time to meet he said "I have spoken to everyone involved and it should not have happened that way" but he didn't elaborate - for all I know he was talking about the way we reacted not the behavior of his staff. No apology was given.
I contacted the Better Business Bureau and filed a compliant and asked that I get a confirmation in writing that I was never rude and that at no time did I or my husband ever indicate that we disliked Rick the Kia salesman. I also requested that Charlie's and/or the General Sales Manager make a donation to The Kindness Revolution.
Charlies sent back a response to the BBB that was full of excuses about how the cash for clunkers program is difficult, has been a problem etc... he did apologize for our treatment but he did not address either of my two requests.
Post Thanked
0
times Post Booed
0
times
Untrustworthy***This Review is not Verified by natie.clark***
** This review is not verified by natie.clark ***
Since this review is not verified it neither counts for or against
the dealership and does not count in overall scores.
Pressure from salesperson to "Buy Now"
Low
How did you first contact the dealership?
Walk-In
Name of Your Salesperson?
Rick Chaplin and Steve Shuman
Review Ratings Score
Pricing
2
Greeting
2
Honesty
0
Time
0
Questions
0
Promises
0
Financing
1
Treated
0
Overall Score
0.63
Two months ago I purchased a vehicle from this dealership and within 2hrs it broke down. Two days later it was towed back due to another issues. It took 5days for them to fix it and before I even left the parking lot it was diagnosed with a $5000 transmission problem and it is still sitting there while I am begging rides off people because they refuse to give me a loaner and keep blowing smoke about what is to be done. Don't purchase from this dealership unless you want nothing but problems and the typical "sleazy car dealer" feeling asc. with them.
Dealership pulled typical bait and switch on very informed consumer!
I researched an outback sport, accessories, sticker, dealer holdbacks, etc. Drove every subaru model twice before presenting an exact specification from the Subaru web site to nine Maine dealers.
Charlies was aggressive, instantly matching the best deal I had and quoting well on accessories. Other dealers questioned just how good the deal is. So I questioned the deal twice and asked for the deal to have all paperwork drafted to "force the issue". Twice my sales person said that all numbers, features, etc were correct and final.
When I called to finalized deal, only the "manager was available". But he assured me that he "was involved in all pricing aspects of this vehicle pricing with my sales person". So I proceeded to try to get the paper work done and the car delivered to me....
Suddenly he needed to make sure everything was there "for my best interest" and to "make sure that "all the T's are crossed", etc. Well, guess what....1500 dollars more later, he found a few "mistakes".
Would you do business with a dealer that bait and switched after I already tried to question the deal several times?
Charlies was too aggressive to be true and confirmed it in emails twice...that amounts to misrepresentation to the consumer, outright bait and switching the deal or just having a lousy business model that can quote vehicles.
Admittedly I was streamed because I had shut down my other deals that were close. The manager Brad, called me a "telephone tough guy" and that "Charlies had laywers for this kind of thing."
I guess Charlies needs those lawyers a lot, considering my experience.
Post Thanked
1
times Post Booed
0
times
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Charlie's Motor Mall
Humiliated, Berated, Left the Dealership in Tears.
Untrustworthy