On October 26, 2011, after a months-long search for a Chevy Cruze, we saw an advertisement for a Cruze 2011 LT with 2LT package on Seattle's Craigslist. The link went to the Pierre Chevrolet website, where no price was listed, but the fine print said the price had been reduced from $20,366.
The following day the Bill Pierre website now said the price was $16,987. Sounded reasonable so we called Bill Pierre Chevrolet and talked with Sales Associate Mitch. He confirmed this was the correct price for that car. We asked for an out-the-door total price. He was uncertain whether an out-of-state buyer would pay WA taxes or not. He said he would call back.
Sales Associate Theodore called back and said we would need to pay Washington taxes so the out-the-door price would be $19,169.50 plus a possible document handling fee of $150.00. We told Theodore we would have to fly to Seattle and wanted to confirm the accessories on the car before investing the time and money in the trip. He confirmed the options included with this vehicle and suggested they could pick us up at the airport if we flew up.
So far things were looking good!
The next morning we made arrangements to fly to Seattle to see the car, but ran into a logistics problem and had to reschedule until the 3rd of November.
The on-line ad was still there on the 2nd of November, but now the price listed was $15,987. Though obviously a better deal, this struck us as unusual so we called the morning of November 2nd to confirm both the availability and the price. The Sales Associate passed the call on to Sales Manager Scott who bluntly said $15,987 was not the price. It was a computer mistake. He could sell the car for $17,700, complaining "I have more than nineteen thousand in the car." Scott went on to claim that he would need to go through eight locations and hundreds of cars to rectify the consequences of the "computer error". He expressed no concern when asked whether the poor impression created by "inaccurate" prices might offend potential customers.
Things began to get truly strange as we tried to learn what the real story (and price) might be. Another call to the dealership was picked up by yet another Sales Associate. The Sales Manager was not available. Dylan (Sales Associate) thought the $15,987 price posted on the website was correct. But when he "checked", he said no, they couldn't sell it for that. A few more phone calls were not able to locate any of the people we had talked to up to this point.
We finally made contact with yet another Sales Associates and told him we would give them the benefit of the doubt and buy the car for the originally listed price of $16,987. The Sales Associate said he would have a manager call us back.
Damien, a sales manager called back and said it was a "computer error" and he could not sell the car for that either. He could, however, offer the car for $17,725, plus taxes and fees. When reminded a different (lower) price had been "confirmed" days earlier with his staff, he simply repeated the "computer error" story. Disgusted, we told him we were not longer interested.
That should have been the end of the discussion. But the next day a caller from Bill Pierre Chevrolet asked if we had flown up to see the car (??). We told them we hadn't and would not deal with any Bill Pierre dealership. Seemingly unperturbed, the sales person asked "So $1000 more (than the posted price) was too much for you?" Almost flabbergasted by the unrepentant gall, we carefully explained price was no longer the issue, their dishonesty now far outweighed it
For the following week, and beyond, there were at least four Chevrolet Cruze vehicles listed on the Pierre Chevrolet website, each with a $15,987 price. The "computer error" not only was not rectified, it apparently proliferated. read more