How the customer should be treated by the dealer (A little Long winded)

[jolusk]

This morning I canceled the order that I had already placed with another dealer after I was told that my order was at 3000 a week ago but later found out it was still at 1100. When I asked the salesman why that was he told me that was the information he was given. Yesterday I stopped by and another salesman that did not know me from anyone looked up the status for me thus proving there is more than one person at a dealership who can get that information. When I was at the dealership the sales manager and I both agreed that I would not be buying a car from them. More my telling him that then anything else. He assured me that my original estimate of 6 to 8 weeks was accurate. I told him that if the order is still at 1100 and not even at 2000 how could that be if it has been two weeks already and let him know that I knew 2000 means accepted by GM (you have allocation available). He told me that was wrong and that 1100 means accepted by GM. That was the point I informed him there was nothing he could do to keep my business and told him to give me my deposit back. Luckily it was only $500 but I will see where that goes. I am told it will be Monday when they refund the money. If it is not I think GM and the BBB may get a call. I know the salesman was not happy but when paying the kind of money that you do for a car the are not your friend or your buddy it is a business deal. I don't think they even realize how much they hurt themselves because with this community and the internet in general if you do wrong by someone a lot of people will know it.

Now on to the good part of the story. I went online to the chevy website and speced out the car again and submitted the information to several of the other dealers in the area. I received a call from Dave Gill Chevrolet letting me know they had four in stock. Unfortunately, none of them are what I want. I called them back and explained my situation and told them that I want to know if they have allocation available and if they honor supplier pricing. I got a yes to both questions with the answer that they had one allocation currently available. I let the salesman know that I would be on my way. I arrived at the dealer and filled him in on exactly what I wanted and filled out all the preliminary paperwork and credit checks. The minute he heard that I knew exactly what I wanted there was no more pressure. That is a big bonus in my book. If the customer says no don't keep pushing. This is when the surprise came in. He took me into the office of the person responsible for placing the orders. My salesman let me know that he has never actually dealt with placing an order for a car and normally tries to steer people to one that is already on the lot (pure honesty I think but we will see). The person placing the order pulled up the system and proceeded to walk through all the options and double check what I wanted on the car. He not only gave me a copy of the Order Workbench on the spot with the order type of SRE - Retail Sold but also printed off another document that lists all of the options and prices. Granted I can get most of that from the Chevy website but it is the fact that they were not hiding any information from me. I never got one piece of paper from the first order except the receipt for the deposit. While they were running the credit card for the deposit my salesman introduced me to the rest of the folks that I would be working with at the dealer. The finance manager, sales manager, etc even though I won't really be dealing with them for at least 6 weeks but probably more. I am hoping beyond hope that this experience goes better but just from the fact that they did not try to hide anything from me that I can tell and answered every question I think it is already better.

I do want to thank everyone on this forum who has given the pieces of sage advice and shared their experiences. I gaurentee that I know more about the process of ordering a Camaro than the salesman that I am dealing with becuase he told me so.

I will definitely be posting names and phone numbers once I am sure that the order is at least at 2000 and on its way to being an actual car and not a promise of a car.

[ljustin293]

good story- hope it all works out for you

[Outlaw]

Nice. It sounds like the 2nd dealer is a lot better and knows how to treat people. The information on this forum is incredible. I know it has helped me too! Hope it works out.

[BAD BRAD]

good job stay on top of those guys

[CloudXTC]

ive heard horror stories abt dealers here... good thing you found one thats open enough to give you the answers...