I found Trade-in Solutions on Caredge.com and Cargurus.com originally, and based on the yelp…read morereviews and the great call I had with Jennifer from the dealership who followed up on my online inquiry about a 2023 Tesla Model Y they had in stock, I decided to book a test drive the next day (May 20th!)
The listed price on their website for the VIN 7SAYGDEE2PA109095 was $29,388 as of May 19th when I looked and sent in the inquiry about the car online after-hours. Jennifer called in the morning May 20th and helped me set up the test drive same-day and was very helpful.
The staff were all very nice, patient, and accommodating. They let me test drive + inspect the vehicle from head to toe.
Adam led me on the test drive and let me test out everything I wanted to test out. After the test drive, one of the managers Jess sat me down in her office to talk purchase numbers - frankly I was ready to purchase the car immediately after how patient and upfront every one of their staff members had been!
Sadly, that is where the pleasantries ended.
Jess wrote up an out-the-door price that listed the car as $30,888. This was an increase in price overnight of $1500. I mentioned to Jess that it appears they had raised the price since I viewed it online, and that I felt a little bait and switched, but that if they would honor the original price they had listed the car for, I was still interested in purchasing it.
Jess quickly hurried me out the office after going to talk to the store manager or someone, and reassured me that she would contact me regarding the pricing history of the car. She did, just 30 minutes later when I had sat down for lunch with my family.
Jess insisted that I had been viewing a different VIN from a car that was now in Seattle despite the screenshots I have uploaded to this review proving the price increased unexpectedly (thankfully I still had their dealership's website open from the night before on my laptop when I got home, and I was able to download the original web page proving the price for this exact VIN was indeed originally $29,388 before I came in to test drive!)
To stop the arguing and unnecessary back-and-forth, I asked her politely to confirm that the new price of $30,888 was the price they were going to stick with, and she confirmed that this was indeed the price they would stick with and that there was no changing the price. She further insisted that I was the one who was mistaken and that the car I viewed was not in their possession, and thanked me for coming in anyways and to have a nice day.
While this kind of practice is not uncommon, reading the reviews on here for this dealership really did not lead me to expect this kind of bait-and-switch behavior!
If Jess had simply told me they had a pricing error and the dealership wanted to sell the car for $30,888 and not $29,888, I would have accepted this and purchased the car anyways especially considering how accommodating the staff had been, but to lie to my face and try to convince me I was delusional?
This goes against my moral compass and I cannot in good conscience support behavior like this.
I am uploading pictures of the sales sheet and their company's website as further proof. However, I would like to say that everyone aside from Jess (Adam, Jennifer, and the kind front deskman whose name I sadly cannot remember right now) did their jobs well and were extremely helpful and patient!
I may consider reporting this to the better business bureau as well, as bait-and-switch tactics such as these are exactly why dealerships get a bad rep.
Make sure to take screenshots of the dealership's website of the car you are going to purchase before contacting them for a test drive or coming in person to view the car! This will save you a headache. Also make sure the VIN is clearly visible, as Jess proved that this would've been necessary to prove the original price.