Worst car dealership experience ever. Three and one half years ago I purchased a car from this CarMax on Stockton Blvd., Sacramento and had a very good experience from start to finish of the purchasing process. All was fine except that the steering wheel cover needed to be replaced and it took a month to get the car I purchased. Irritating to say the least but I was provided with a rental.
That steering wheel experience should have clued me in to how they operate.
Around the week of December 7th, I contacted CarMax to have a car sent to the Stockton Blvd location for a test drive. The woman I spoke to was very helpful and asked if I had a trade-in, I responded yes and gave her the details of my car and that I purchased it from CarMax. She said great, I'll also set up an appraisal during your visit to test drive, it may take up to 7 days for the car to arrive. No problem
On the 16th of December I get a text to say the car is available to test drive and we proceed to set up an appointment. We scheduled for today Dec. 21st at 1:00pm.
On to my experience today. I arrive at 1:00 pm as scheduled and am greeted by a very sour looking young man. Actually no greeting, just "can I help you". I let him know I have a 1:00 appt for a test drive and appraisal of my car. He says ok, someone will call you when it is your turn. I return to my car to wait, I understand it is COVID time no problem, my grandson and I return to my car.
Finally at 1:17 I receive a text from Duwayne who says he will call in a few minutes. He does call at 1:19 and says he is calling to help with my car buying experience, I say ok do you want me to come up to the store now. He continues asking is there something I can answer about the car. I say no and give him the description of the car. He says ok, let me put you on a brief hold, he comes back and says ok is there anything I can answer about the car. Again I say no, I just want to test drive it. He again says ok let me put you on a brief hold. I am getting irritated at this point, but again wait for him. He's back on the line, and yet again ask is there anything I can answer about the car. Again I say no I am here had a 1:00 appointment, but let me ask you this, do you have me scheduled to have my car appraised that I purchased from CarMax. He says, oh I see you had an appointment but I don't see an appraisal scheduled but we can arrange that, let me put you on a brief hold. I say of a brief hold how brief. He says I'll be right back. I wait 5 minutes and the call drops!
I walk back into the dealership, the sour young man is gone, but a young lady is there and I am trying to explain what is happening. She gets a call on her walkie talkie and interrupts me, she then says oh this call is about your appointment and proceeds to apologize with a smirk on her face and says if you can wait 5 minutes we can get someone to help you. I let her know they have wasted my time not only today but from the very start I could have easily gone to another dealership back when I first contacted CarMax and driving another car by now.
As I exiting out of the car lot the young woman calls and says, if you wait by your car an appraiser will be right with you. I did not except that offer as I am sure "right away" would have been at least another 30 minutes.
It felt like Duwayne was trying to buy time for the dealership being over booked. Why not just be truthful instead of repeatedly asking if I had questions about the car I wanted to test drive and then to have the last call dropped.
I'm done with CarMax, business must be very good for them and they do not need my money. There are too many other car dealerships that offer great prices with great service. read more