I decided to buy a car and secured my financing first. Through the financier, I searched for a new car and found Metro Kia and would have received about $1500 below factory invoice.
Metro Kia called me to discuss my needs. I talked to a nice girl who I thought was a sales person, however she was the 'Internet customer service' person and would set me up with a sales person. She said she'd set me up with Brad. One thing she said, though, is that because I secured the financing and the vehicle cost beforehand, my experience shouldn't take a long time. She said, "You know, I've heard stories of people waiting in a dealership for 5 hours and wonder WHY!"
In the meantime, the Internet Service Manager called me (someone else) and left me a voicemail saying they wanted to "amaze" me with my buying experience.
Meanwhile, I received another call from *another* person on 1/3 saying it was their "end of fiscal year" and could I come in tonight. I couldn't, but asked what the deals would be tomorrow. He said to me, "I don't know; call me back tomorrow." Um, OK.
I called to say I would be in on a Sunday and was told that Brad would be working. When we got there, there was no Brad around, so I met with another sales person, Mark. I don't know if he realized the "Internet deal" I'd gotten, but it didn't feel like it.
I drove 3 different SUVs. EACH vehicle was well below the "empty" mark for gas. The first vehicle we drove, Mark asked us to first drive to the gas station to fill up! Ok, so fine, we did that. The next vehicle didn't have gas, but Mark didn't bring his gas card, so we drove it a short distance. Third vehicle, same thing.
Also, it took Mark FOREVER to find/retrieve the cars! We waited about 10 minutes between each interval and at one point, he left us outside IN THE RAIN while we waited for him to go back into the showroom to get the keys and plate.
I decided that I liked the V6 model, so we went inside "to the table". Then the "dealer games" started. "What car do you own now? We might be able to get you a discount"... "Are you trading in a car?" (Not sure...) "Hang on a minute; I think I have an idea to lower the cost..." (then he'd walk away for several minutes). Then the floor manager came over to talk to us, etc. And on and on it went.
Mark started saying something about the banks liking us to put down at least 20%, when I mentioned to him that I'd already secured financing so I'd be plunking down a check for the entire amount.
We didn't buy that day, but said we'd be in touch by the end of the week.
On Saturday, we decided to go back for a final test drive. Mark had followed up and left me voicemails.
We got there about 2:00 on Saturday. Mark was with another customer, so I told him we'd check out the cars in the showroom. He said he'd be 'right with us'. About 20 minutes went by and he was still sealing the deal with these other customers. After waiting 30 minutes, I wanted someone else to take me out to test drive two final cars. He came over to say he'd be "right with us" and I said, "Is there anyone else who can take us out for a test drive while you're busy?" He said absolutely; he'd find someone. 20 minutes later, he stopped by us and said he'd find someone right away. I said, "We're just going to take a walk around." (I was fully planning to leave; I'd had it.)
Someone asked if we'd taken out the cars yet, and I said no -- he never got to us. He said he'd get someone right away, and he did. This guy (Scott, I think) was nice enough and quickly got us two vehicles to test drive (one had gas, the other... well, you know the drill!).
We were done driving and Scott took us back to Mark who was still with the customers. Scott said he'd work with us and started to negotiate. Same drill as before - we tried to work with numbers and said what I wanted was impossible, but he'd go over to the manager to see what he could do. 20 minutes later, he said he couldn't and in fact, if we only put down $1K vs $4K our payments would actually go up (not sure about that one). I said I would think about it and got up to leave. He wanted to bring his manager over and I said no; he said, "Please don't go, I'll get in trouble." I apologized and left.
Bottom line, I didn't like my experience at Metro. Yes, in the end, I was "amazed", but I don't think it's exactly what they meant when they said they wanted to "amaze" me with my shopping experience. read more