Erin Siobhan Weston on Facebook 4 years ago
06/21/2018, 17:56 PM
24 hours later I am still dumbfounded by the experience I had at Surf City Nissan. Bottom line: Amoral manager will not honor agreements he makes. Background: 2 weeks ago I was hit by another driver. My paid-off Sentra that was in great mechanical & cosmetic condition is now totaled. Prior to this accident, my partner and I had been sharing my car and saving to buy a second car by Aug when our jobs will no longer allow us to share. So we were going to have one car with a payment and one paid-off, which is all we can afford at the moment. Unfortunately my car was older/high mileage, so of course the amount the insurance has offered is nowhere near enough to get a reliable car for my 50 mile drive to work. To add to the fun, rental coverage only lasts 3 days when your car is totaled, so I’m not paying for that out of pocket even thought the accident was not my fault. This situation has been INCREDIBLY stressful, trying to find a car and still be in okay financial shape to get that second car in less than a month. Cut to last Thursday, an exhausting day of going around to dealerships to get a feel for the different cars in our price range. We stop by Surf City and end up meeting salesman Donte. I told him right away that I wasn't prepared to buy that day but he still spent some time with us giving us helpful information for our search w/out any of the usual pressure. The next day I decided to visit the Surf City website to look at their whole inventory, hoping I could find something to buy from Donte because we liked him so much. I found a Sentra that was about $2k above our desired out-the-door price, but it was everything we hoped for so I went to see it. I test drove it and then went inside to look at numbers. I spent quite a while speaking with Donte and then one of his managers. Let me be clear, they didn't need to bring in a closer or whatever because I genuinely wanted to buy a car from Donte. So Shawn the manager spent a while talking with me, and part of his sales pitch was that the car was a Certified Pre-Owned. He described the benefits in detail, and explained that was the reason he couldn't come down on price any more. I wanted the car, but I needed to go home to discuss it with my partner. At that point, Shawn offered to let me drive the car home to show him in person, which was nice of him but I declined. I was absolutely aware that if I walked away the car might be sold before I came back. By Monday (yesterday) I hadn't stopped thinking about the car, so I took my partner to see it in person. He absolutely fell in love and we decided it was worth paying the $2k more than we had wanted. HOWEVER, earlier that day I had found out that the car was NOT certified. That revelation made me uneasy because CPO had been pitched so hard before, so I asked if we could have our mechanic inspect the car prior to signing for it. Donte checked with his manager, Charlie T., who said that was fine as long as one of their employees drove it there. So I made an appointment for 2pm the next day for Donte to take the car in. I reassured them that I was absolutely ready to come buy the car (cash) immediately after the inspection if my mechanic gave it the green light. This was at about 6:30pm on Monday.
**I was NOT asked to leave a deposit, nor did the manager give any disclaimers about selling the car before 2pm the next day.** At 1:33 on Tuesday, I received a text from Donte letting me know that his manager was about to sell the car to someone else. I was extremely upset since the car was supposed to be on its way to my mechanic in 15 mins; I was at work so my partner called Donte to see if there was anything that could be done. Unfortunately his hands were tied, Charlie said he wouldn't have held the car for us even if we had left a deposit (which again, wasn't asked for anyway). And he sold the car. This is the SAME manager that AGREED to our plan less than 24 hours prior. He's the same manager who didn't give us ANY warning or disclaimers about selling the car to someone else.
I *completely* understand that dealers don't hold cars for people to just think it over, but at this point we were committed and our understanding was that the dealership was committed as well. Charlie's actions cost my mechanic money, as he held that appointment time open for a no-show, and cost Donte a sale. This car search has been absolutely miserable and stressful, and now we're back to square one. And Charlie's actions cost Surf City a very loyal customer; even prior to deciding to buy this car I had been singing Donte's praises to anyone who would listen. Had I bought the car I would have serviced it there, and of course would have recommended the dealership to anyone. I still highly recommend Donte as a salesperson - he was AMAZING and should be running his own dealership. I do wish I could have bought a car from him. Shawn was very nice as well. However, this experience with Charlie T. makes it impossible for me to recommend Surf City to anyone.