The Epic Camaro Journey !!

[ZNOLMT]

OK Everyone, I don't know if you've been following the ups and downs of Nikki's (NikkiCamaro) terrible experience trying to secure a Camaro, but I've decided to share it with you all anyways.

This story is full of love, hate, villains, princesses, magic and wonder .. well, sort of ..

It does however have a happy ending, which could not have come without the fantastic help from Camaro5 members!! Thanks you guys !!

So, here we go.





A long long time ago, my girlfriend Nikki decided she wanted a car. She had finally found a decent paying job, and we had a great new apartment, so she wanted to find the perfect car for her. After doing a bunch of research (which included reading car blogs, reviews, watching Transformers, and eventually discovering Camaro5.com), Nikki decided that the 2010 Camaro was the PERFECT car for her.

After searching through Camaro5, we discovered that one of the local dealers in our area (San Francisco, California) was reportedly selling Camaro orders for MSRP, with $1000 deposits. So, Nikki stashed away the money and we eventually headed out to PUTNAM GM, in BURLINGAME.

When we got out there, we met a seemingly very nice man named Ed. He was pretty knowledgeable, took the cash, gave us a receipt and assured us the car would be in after about 8 weeks, but there were about 20 orders ahead of us.

So, we waited, and waited .. Calling every now and again to check up on the order, but getting very little response back from the Putnam Dealership. It's like they didn't want to tell us anything, we honestly felt like we were getting the cold shoulder, which seemed very rude considering they were holding onto Nikki's money. Our emails were returned only by very brief single sentence responses.

After about a month or so, we found out that Putnam had their yellow floor model there and we could check it out, so we did. After checking out the 2010 Camaro up close, Nikki decided she wanted a Sunroof added to her order, so she emailed Ed, told him, and he assured her that he added the sunroof to her order, and that it was just in time because her order would be going in to GM within the next week or so.

Keep in mind, Nikki's original order was; 2LT, ABM, Auto, RS. No known restraints on any part of it.

We later heard about a certain Camaro5 member, who had also ordered from this dealership, and had a VERY bad experience with them. I was extremely concerned, so Nikki and I consulted some of our (quite powerful) lawyer friends and family members, to make sure that if things went bad, we would be able to at least get our money back. I shared this on Camaro5, simply stating that I spoke to a lawyer out of concern for my girlfriend's order. Nikki later got an angry email from Ed at Putnam, saying he was upset with my actions.

I would just like to say, that my actions are non of Ed's business. His deal was with Nikki, not me. Also, if he didn't want to hear threats of lawyers and calls to the Better Business Bureau, then his dealership shouldn't have done such bad business with Camaro5 members.

The "bad deal" with the other Camaro5 member was supposedly worked out, but it lead to many other Camaro5 members complaining about their bad experiences with this particular dealership.

SO !! After a while, we were starting to feel a bit hopeless, as I'm sure many Camaro5 members can relate to, until one day, we found the famous "check your order" thread. I put Nikki's order number in, but got no response, due to the flood of members trying to get their orders checked. A few days later, Nikki successfully got her order checked on one of these threads.

Order status: 0000

ORDER CANCELED !!

Apparently our order had been canceled, TWO DAYS AFTER WE PLACED IT !!

So what the hell were we waiting for over the past two months ??

Nikki and I IMMEDIATELY tried to contact the dealer, and got very little response. We created threads here on Camaro5 and got opinions of other members, for which we are extremely grateful!

We EVENTUALLY heard back from Ed, who tried to tell us our order wasn't canceled. We also briefly spoke with another worker who told us our order would probably go in soon due to the fact that about 15 orders had gone in over the last few weeks .. Wait what !? 15 in a couple weeks? Weren't we 20th in line a few MONTHS ago ??

FINALLY, after multiple attempts to get a hold of Ed, Nikki demanded to see a copy of her actual order printout, and eventually got it faxed to her work.

The initial order was canceled, Nikki was never informed, and a new order was placed with a new order number .. and guess what else .. NO SUNROOF !!

At this point, we realized Putnam had been BSing us from the get go. We talked a bit, and Nikki then canceled her order. They told her they would send a check, but after a few days of waiting (canceled on thursday night, friday, saturday, sunday, monday) Nikki called again, told them to forget mailing, headed down there in person and picked up the check, which had been sitting on someones desk for god knows how long.

So now that THAT nightmare was over, Nikki still needed a car. I had been calling other local dealerships to see what their stock and allocations were like, but after mentioning our hard time with the previous dealership, they would often say something like "oh, yeah Putnam, they're our friends".

Needless to say, I never got a single call back from any of our local dealerships in the San Francisco Bay area.

After more and more searching, we heard about some good dealerships, but no one had anything on hand nearby, and Nikki was sick of waiting.

I found a Dealer in Sacramento, selling at MSRP, but they didn't want to sell their floor model till they got another one in. We headed up there (90 mile drive) to check it out, sign some finance papers, and get an idea of when she could take the car home.

Nikki called back a few days later, and they never even ran the finance application, and they had no idea when they would get another Camaro.

Forget them. I should have realized they were no good when they told us "You can't order these Camaros!" I assured them that customers could, and many Camaro5 members had already gotten their cars. The dealers just gave me a dumbfounded look and an "Oh." All this was going on while one of the other salesmen was trying to do handstands on his motorcycle.

SO FORGET THAT PLACE !! It really makes me wonder what they must do all day at dealerships like that? How could they really not know their product?

All had seemed lost, but then, JUST YESTERDAY (saturday), I widened up the range on cars.com to 250 miles for 2010 Camaros.

This new search found us a few Camaros at MSRP in ..... Madera, California!

I've never even heard of Madera. It is about 160+ miles from San Francisco out roughly near Fresno. I suggested it to Nikki hesitantly, and she immediately called, and asked them, if she showed up tomorrow, could she drive it off the same day? They pretty much said, HELL yes! They wanted to sell these Camaros, and we wanted to buy them! Well .. just one.

So we woke up early this morning and made our epic drive out to Madera California. It was a long .. LONG way, through tons of farmland. It was WAY out there, and we had luckily gotten a ride from Nikki's father, which was very nice of him. The drive seemed like forever, but it was probably just the anxiety of approaching this LEGENDARY city of Madera, where Camaros were sold for MSRP .. something UNHEARD of in our area.

We FINALLY got to Madera Auto Center, where we met Mario, a VERY nice VERY helpful gentleman who dealt with all the paperwork, helped us out and explained all the financing to us very carefully.

It was a big relief to be actually treated like people by a dealership. These people at Madera Auto Center were GREAT people, so helpful, and very kind. They had 2 Camaros when we got there, one yellow 2LT and one black 1LT, apparently the SS they had was sold the day before.

SO, we took the yellow 2LT out for a quick test drive .. and what do you know ~

As soon as Nikki pulls out of the parking lot and up to the light, a red 2005+ mustang pulls up next to her, looks at her, looks at me, puts his head down, then says "Nice car ...". Nikki and I looked at each other, laughed, and looked at him. She said thanks, and I said "I know." Then the rubber burned. We all had a good laugh, it was so perfect!

We got back, they dealt with paperwork, I got us all burgers, and after bunch of paper signing, and onstar explaining, NIKKI FINALLY GOT HER CAMARO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And so the Epic Camaro Journey came to a close !!

It wasn't exactly what she originally wanted, but thats what the aftermarket is for! We made sure to call the Sacramento dealership and tell them to shred her paperwork. Nikki even let me drive half the way home!

Now the Camaro is parked at our apartment complex and Nikki is asleep. She wanted me to write this because she knows that I have way too much free time on my hands.

I hope you guys enjoyed hearing about our adventure, and I hope you guys all get your Camaros soon if you have not gotten it yet!

Good luck!






Oh, and I know ..




So, here are some pics~

The black 1LT:




Nikki's Camaro:








More pix to come!

Oh, and a word of advice .. Turn the traction control off.

[xxbrankxx]

Glad things worked out! Nice happy ending.

[GMtothecore]

Glad it worked out in the end...congrats!

[Spyderseal]

Thats good to hear. Goes to show that there are a lot of sleazy dealerships out there, BUT there are a few good ones too, even if you have to drive a million miles to get there. Congrats on the new Camaro!! It's always good hearing a happy ending! Have fun with the car!!

[mjwaldschm]

Glad to hear it all worked out and that Nikki has her Camaro. Putnam is really screwing up big time. And we still don't know if the actually came through for Saving41.

Since you said you called several Bay Area dealerships would it be safe to say you spoke with Boardwalk in Redwood City? And if yes, who did you deal or speak with to make you walk from them. I'm hoping to order soon (just can't wait for the vert any more) and am trying to weed out all the bad apple dealerships. And yes, I will drive to Fresno if needed.

[68 Z/28]

glad there was a happy ending and glad you found a good dealer to work with you . I know how it goes trying to buy one of these cars , my home town dealer told me they could not order 1 , so I called the next closest dealer and they wanted $5000. over MSRP , so I finally found the dealer , Tom Gibbs Chev. in Palm Coast Fl. that said they would be happy to order me 1 at MSRP , within an hr. had mine on order after 2 days of calling all the dealers within 100 miles of us . Its just a shame that there are so many dealers that don't seem to want to sell cars in this ecconomy , go figure

[MeBeTonto]

I live in the San Francisco area too and I have been trying to find one these to buy for a while now. I had your same experience with some of these dealers and have been spreading the word to make sure no one wastes their time with them.

The guys at Madera are pretty awesome, I keep checking their site to see if they have a 2SS in yet that I can swoop on (no luck yet). I really hope I can do business with these guys.

Glad to hear your story ended well and congrats!

[a6pk2go]

That was just the intro wasn't it? Glad Niki got her Camaro and you will have to start Chapter 1 now on the first month and then your review and her review. I'm at work so I can't see the pics but I did get to sit in the Fbodfather's car on Easter Sunday so I know the color. Good story btw.

[Lauryn200]

A happy ending.....thank goodness....to many nightmare stories out there..

[NikkiCamaro]

I'm so glad that's over with,... now for the fun part! wooooooo!!

[GTAHVIT]

Very cool, Thanks for the updates!

[CamaroScotty]

[ZNOLMT]

Originally Posted by mjwaldschm

Glad to hear it all worked out and that Nikki has her Camaro. Putnam is really screwing up big time. And we still don't know if the actually came through for Saving41.

Since you said you called several Bay Area dealerships would it be safe to say you spoke with Boardwalk in Redwood City? And if yes, who did you deal or speak with to make you walk from them. I'm hoping to order soon (just can't wait for the vert any more) and am trying to weed out all the bad apple dealerships. And yes, I will drive to Fresno if needed.

We actually didn't talk to Boardwalk, because Nikki's patience had run thin and she didn't want to wait for a second order.

BUT I did hear that a few people from here have put their orders in at Boardwalk, and I have not heard anything bad about them, which is a good thing.

They seem safe so far, I think there are a couple other legit dealers too though. But hey, if you gotta make the drive out to Fresno, go for it.

Originally Posted by MeBeTonto

I live in the San Francisco area too and I have been trying to find one these to buy for a while now. I had your same experience with some of these dealers and have been spreading the word to make sure no one wastes their time with them.

The guys at Madera are pretty awesome, I keep checking their site to see if they have a 2SS in yet that I can swoop on (no luck yet). I really hope I can do business with these guys.

Glad to hear your story ended well and congrats!

They are legit over at Madera! I have a lot of love for that dealership now! If you see something you like, I suggest giving them a call.





Reviews and more pix will come!

[ZNOLMT]

Here are some pix from the long drive back, Nikki let me drive half the way home.





And here is when we finally got home! In front of the apartment building.







I'll take some more pix tonight, ABL and stuff.