Bought the car late June, ended up with an actual purchase date of July 6th. Paid $2,400 down to get financed on an even $30,000.00 and then made my first payment of $500.00 on July 28th since I spent almost the whole month of July in the middle of the ocean.
I told the dealership I was in the air about whether or not I should ship it out or come pick it up.
I was curious about the car to make sure everything was good to go while I was in the middle of the ocean so I sent an e-mail to the dealership. I got a response saying that my car should have been shipped out recently and should arrive at my address shortly. I just about lost it and jumped through my butthole to get a call out from an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean out to a dealership in California, it was very hard to hear, but I wanted to be sure someone didn't forge paperwork and took delivery of my brand new car that I already made a payment on. They told me don't worry about that, the car is right there safe with them.
First week of August I purchased plane tickets to LAX and gave the dealership a call letting them know to expect me there to pick up the car on Thursday, August 20th in the morning. The salesman I had worked with throughout the entirety of this thing told me that's cool just remind him closer to that date and he'll come pick me up from the airport.
Some time on Saturday the 15th I called the same salesman and reminded him that I'm gonna need to be picked up, so he said please e-mail him the itinerary to remind him because he's got bad short term memory, so I e-mailed it.
Tuesday, August 18th, I got IL plates for the car and paid IL sales tax right along with it. Packed it all up in my carry-on bag and got ready for my trip.
Thursday, August 20th, I get to LAX at 9:25am and get picked up by that salesman in his old Galant at 9:45am and takes me to the dealership at about 80-90mph, then in casual conversation says "you didn't pay sales tax yet right?" So I replied that I had just paid IL sales tax when I registered it, and he says "oh that might be a problem, you're probably going to have to pay CA sales tax."
So after we get to the dealership, they won't let me take the car off the lot without either a tow truck taking it out of the state and can provide a bill of lading or w/e OR if I provide the $2,800 CA sales tax. They only accept money orders or cashier's checks, so I should have one with me at all times to pay things like this right? Well after a long discussion with the salesman that I had dealt with, he ends up saying flat out "I fucked up, it was my fault, sorry." Then he went on to say that it's my situation now, they can't do anything for me they need that bill of lading or they need the sales tax paid. He also said, look we can keep on arguing but nothing will come from it. If you want to bad mouth us online go ahead that's up to you. If you want to speak to a manager or anyone you want I'll go get someone but if anybody has any pull around this place to get something authorized it's me.
I asked for the manager.
When we asked if they'd be willing to ship it just across the CA/Nevada border they said no. After about half an hour talking about how we got screwed, they looked into it and said I wouldn't be able to get a company to ship it until the following Monday.
So finally I agreed to pay their sales tax because it was running on 11am/noon and all I had to eat was a granola bar so far and my bro only had a banana and he was dying to try the ol' In-N-Out.
Now they (female dealership manager) say let me see if we'll let you pay with a credit card because recently made a $2000 limit on credit card transactions.
She called up "corporate" and said that they were willing to do this for me even though they shouldn't be, but they'll help us out and let us pay their CA sales tax with my credit card.
So now I'm out over $5,000 in sales tax alone, and have to wait on $2,400 of that to be refunded from the state of IL.
Now we say well since we got such ridiculous treatment here can we at least be compensated for the hours we've spent here and the hassle and having to shell out $2,800 in sales tax that I wasn't prepared for? She replied that they cannot authorize going out of pocket for that since they already footed the credit card fee for such a large transaction. All we wanted was some Ralliart tail lights (dealer cost of approx $250-300) and they refused.
Then we finally settle all of that and now I go out and wait for my car that was still not ready for me to pick up (keep in mind I've been at the dealer for a few hours). When I start looking over the car, the guy who brought it out is handing me the key and the owner's manual and whatnot and said "we sent out the second key to your mom's address in Illinois right? That's what (salesman I had dealt with) said..." I said ummm I don't think so all I got back there was a flat envelope with a few papers in it. So I called up and nope, no key... so now I'm thinkin ahhh great, this is just awesome. After about 5 minutes he shows up with the 2nd key and a receipt to redeem for $20 in gas. WOOOHOOO, $20 IN GAS! WHAT A GREAT DEALERSHIP!
(keep in mind I've never bought a car out of state before in my life, this dealer on the other hand, ships out cars all the time and is the largest volume Evo seller in the country)
. Sorry to hear you experienced such bad service, but glad to see you finally got your car! Have fun with it and be safe.