“I’ll get on that right now,” said Salesguy. “I’ll call you back when I’ve found one.”
(By the way, that would be the day those of you on the notify list got the link to the current day’s entry along with a cryptic note about wanting to kick someone’s teeth in. Or something along those lines, I don’t really remember anymore exactly what I said.)
And then two weeks pass. At one point, Salesguy claims that he’s located a vehicle in Birmingham, and he’s sent a guy to go down to pick it up. A few days pass with no word. I harass Fred to call Salesguy. Salesguy says Oh! Right, the car! Well, I sent a guy down to get it, only somehow when he got there to pick it up, the dealer had sold it. I’ll keep looking.
By now I’m getting worried, because the first payment is due on the silver (which was supposed to be yellow by now, only – whoops! Salesguy claimed that we could get a professional paint job for $800 – $1000, but it appears that he was lying through his teeth to make the sale. Gosh, I wonder how it is that car salesmen get a bad reputation? It’s a mystery.) Aerio, and what the hell am I supposed to do? Do I send in the first payment, or wait until I get my blue car, or what?
Salesguy says to just wait. When the blue car gets here, they’ll cancel the loan for the silver car, and write a whole new loan for the blue one. So I tear up the check and sit back to wait. Some more. Because I haven’t done enough waiting. At ALL.
Days pass. Fred begins calling Salesguy every single day to see what the fuck is going on. Every day it’s a new story, and finally Salesguy says that he’s pretty sure they’re just going to have to get one right “off the boat”, because he’s having a hell of a time finding any in the area.
Friday, Salesguy calls. “We’ve got one coming off the boat,” he says. “In Florida. It’ll be here this weekend, I think.”
The weekend passes.
Monday morning, salesguy says “Oh, the car will be here tonight. I think we can get this done and the paperwork signed tomorrow!”
Fred tells me this. I am thrilled.
Tuesday morning comes. Fred’s phone rings. It’s Salesguy.
“Golly,” says the Lying Sack of Shit Salesguy who cannot possibly tell one complete truth to save his goddamn fucking life. Oh hey, that bible in the corner of your office? Nice touch. “It seems that because of the transfer of title (from the paperwork Fred signed), the silver car is now viewed as used. We can still get you the blue car, but the monthly payment will increase by $61.”
Um, no. FUCK NO. Fred doesn’t even have to call and check with me – it is NOT ACCEPTABLE and we all know it.
“Lying Sack of Shit Salesguy,” Fred says. “You need to figure out how to make this right. You’ve been dicking us around for weeks now, and if you fuck me on this, I’m never going to buy another car from you ever again.”
Lying Sack of Shit Salesguy continues the fucking shuck-and-jive he’s been performing for weeks and weeks now. He has to talk to his sales manager! He’s on our side! He’s going to do everything he can!
The sales manager calls Fred and basically acts like an asshole.
“This is the first I’ve heard of this!” he says. Like this is somehow our fault? Do buyers usually make a practice of being sure that the sales manager has a fucking clue what’s going on directly under his nose? Would he like us to stop by and wipe his ass twice a day as well?
“So, what? You just want this whole thing (the sale of the silver car) to go away like it never happened?” he says accusingly.
“I’d like Salesguy to stand up to the promise he made,” Fred says. “He promised me that we could get a blue car instead of the silver, and that the payment would be the same.”
Sales manager hems and haws. He has to check with someone else. He’ll call back.
“You tell that fucking piece of shit that he has until 5:00 and then we’re done,” I said.
Fred relayed the message.
At some point Lying Sack of Shit Salesguy called to say that they were moving up the chain of command to “see” if there was “anything” they could do.
“I think I own a goddamn silver car,” I said to Fred at 3:00.
“I own a goddamn silver car,” I said to Fred when 5:00 had come and gone and neither Asshole Sales Manager nor Lying Sack of Shit Salesguy had bothered to call.
“Take your phone with you,” I said when Fred was getting ready to take a nice relaxing bath after dinner. Around 5:45 I could hear from downstairs when Fred turned the jets off. I knew without a doubt that it was Asshole Sales Manager and when Fred didn’t use his cell phone to call my cell phone to let me know otherwise (we r so hi-t3ch. Also, l33t), I knew I was stuck with a FUCKING SILVER CAR.
No. We are not suing. Don’t even suggest it, because we’re not suing. I have a silver car. I’ve never, in my entire life, wanted a silver car. I’ve wanted a yellow car for-fucking-EVER, and failing that I’d take a blue car. Even a red one! But no. I have silver.
Despite the color (and don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty. But I don’t want to own a silver car) I do like the car. I love driving a little car instead of the huge behemoth I was driving. I love that it has a 6-CD changer, I love that it has adjustable cup holders, it drives like a fucking dream. It’s an awesome little car, and I love it.
The color? I don’t so much love it.
(I’m not insulting you silver car owners, am I? Because I love yellow cars, but I understand that some of you hate yellow cars, and I know it’s nothing personal, it’s just a matter of personal preference. Y’know?)
So, no. Not going to sue. But I did get a survey from JD Power and Associates. A “Suzuki Sales Satisfaction Survey”, to be exact. And not only is there an entire section entitled “Working with your salesperson”, there’s also this question: “How likely are you to purchase/ lease another Suzuki from the same dealership.” as well as “How likely are you to recommend the dealership from which you purchased/ leased your Suzuki to a friend or relative.” Also, a comment section on the back of the form. You can bet your ass I’ll be filling that survey out completely.
Edited to add: Also, Fred will be contacting the CEO of Suzuki in the next few days. I will, of course, let you know what happens!
I’ll be kind – I won’t even tell you the name of the dealership or Lying Sack of Shit Salesguy. But I will tell you that if you’re in this area and looking to buy a Suzuki? Don’t buy it in Huntsville or Madison. Buy it anywhere BUT Huntsville or Decatur.
I understand there aren’t as many Lying Sack of Shit Salesguys in other dealerships.
Before you bring it up, yes. Perhaps we ARE the very epitome of naive for stupidly thinking that a car salesman would (gasp!) tell us the truth, and continuing to believe him when he told us, time after time, that he was “working” on getting that blue car. But we’ve learned our lesson, and if you are a car salesman reading this? You can thank Lying Sack of Shit Salesguy for the fact that we have learned that car salesman are big fat fucking liars.
“Can I kill him, Mom, can I, can I, huh?”]]>
The car.
And for the record, nothing in this entry should be construed as a request for advice on what you think we should do. 🙂
That totally sucks…take all the kitties over there to scratch out their eyeballs! You’ve fantasized it, right? I would. I love my little SILVER ECHO 🙂 Nothing like fuel efficiency I tell ya. Sorry that happend…I know you can fire off the ugliest of ugly complaint letters to HQ if you desire.
Dang! That sucks. Too bad the thought of painting a brand new car did not sound fishy to you. It smelled bad through the monitor – yes it did! You really wanted that yellow car! Maybe you can find yellow accessories – steering wheel cover, seat belt cushion thingies, decals or even a pin stripe. 🙂
Have you contacted Suzuki directly? When my new Toyota turned out to have a tear in the ceiling liner the dealership said they’d only repair and not replace it (because they would lose their profit, assholes). When I called Toyota they jumped through hoops to make sure that I got a brand new ceiling liner because they didn’t want a dissatisfied customer. So try talking to someone (like the district manager or whatever) from Suzuki and see if they’re willing to come up with something for you.
thats sucks not getting the color you wanted..i do love it though, love silver, but shit, i understand, you should of gotten what you wanted..
Good grief, that SUCKS. I’ve been reading your journals for years and if there’s one thing I know about you, Robyn, it’s that you’ve always wanted a yellow car. (That, and you love your Diet Coke.)
A pox on their Suzuki house!
I’m sorry you didn’t get your yellow car Robyn. You want me to write an evil story about lying sack of shit salesguy?
I would have totally believed the sales guy too. It so sucks that people like him exist and the rest of us try and lead good honest lives and people like him get ahead in life over us. Well he’ll get his reward in some way some day!
That stinkles. I really love the kitty picture.
What a story! Oh man, that Salesguy deserves to be tarred and feathered. Bastard! Yeah! Sic the cats on ‘im!
How RIDICULOUS! I’d probably be crying myself silly for weeks if that happened to me. 🙁
Confessions of a Car Salesman is an interesting read. Definitely some stuff to keep in mind for next time anyway.
I know you won’t tell, but I would love to know the dealership to see if they’re paying customers of ours.
It’s really such a shame that something most people in the US need to do every few years is such a damn pain in the ass.
I’m so sorry Robyn!!!! Buying a brand new car should be a FUN experience – not a frustrating one!!!! :((((( I won’t give you any advice – BUT my Dad always says – if you don’t like the answer you were given (by a salesperson or whomever), keep going up the food chain until someone gives you the answer you want. Cute picture of the kitties!!!!
That sucks! why don’t you compromise and go get some really hot racing stripes in bright yellow? Silver and yellow rocks together.
That is terrible. A new car is a big purchase, and you should get want you want. I have worked in a car dealership so I know what these people will do to get a sale. Many of them lie thru their teeth and think nothing of it. I would go to Suzuki directly and complain. If nothing happens, I would contact your local tv station. Where I live we have a consumer complaint reporter who tries to resolve problems. With some publicity that they don’t want, I’m sure they would satisify your request in no time. It’s worth the effort.
We had a bad experience buying the husband’s car. Fortunately, my father-in-law is a lawyer and once he called, everything was set right. BUT, I say get yellow flames added to the side and hood of your car. Because you are such a badass.
Fucking fuckstick fuckers. I HATE car salesmen, especially when they pull that “talk to the manager” crap. They’re all bastards. I’m sorry — I know how you have dreamed of a zippy yellow car. Drag.
First of all, it is a cute little car.
And I don’t mean to sound all spacey and stuff, but maybe there’s some reason that you’re meant to have a silver one…
I know, shut the hell up.
Sweetie, go on-line, find out who the President or CEO is and go right to the top. The higher in a corporation you go, the faster you get satisfaction–especially if you have dates and records to show how the fucking shit of a salesguy treated you. My friend June got a new truck from Chevrolet by doing just that when she got the runaround from local salespeople after her her new vehicle stopped in the middle of traffic and was never repaired correctly. Good Luck.
Yeah, I should have mentioned that we’ll definitely be contacting the CEO of Suzuki!
I used to have a silver car and now I have a red car so I know what you mean about wanting “color”. But I did find that the silver car was way easier to keep looking clean. For what that’s worth…
I just stuck my complaint in the mail
Going in to buy a vehicle from a dealership is at the bottom of my list, also. No fun! You just about leave there ready to have a stroke.
Ha ha ha ha yellow flames!! well, that is quite the story… I’m sorry you got stuck with a lying sack of shit salesguy and didn’t get exactly what you wanted. It sure is a nice car though, hopefully having a silver car will grow on you and the lying sack of shit will get what’s coming to him. I look forward to hearing the CEO’s response!
Fuckers.
Oh man, buying a car rates #1 on my hate to do list. I have problems every single time, and almost got fuc*ed this past time, luckily my sales guy was a nice guy and fixed my problem…otherwise I’d be driving some crappy expensive but new car. But the one I did get I LOVE! Uggggh! Please let us know if anything happens. I hate to see good people screwed just for trusting someone!!! Go get ’em Fred!!
dang, well that sucks!! Now I don’t want a newer/used vehicle! heh…I too don’t really care for salespeople to begin with. My mums was one for 20 plus years, imagine leaving with someone who lives the same way they work. Fun stuff. I do hope you get what you really want! As they have said, new car is a big purchase….Good luck!! keep us posted 🙂
Those fuckers should have ponied up the five grand for a good paint job and painted your car yellow. Damned lying assholes.
I’m taking this entry to heart as my husband and I are going to be in the market for a new car in a couple of months.
Also, yellow is a really cute color for a car, I wonder why more cars don’t come in yellow.
THOSE FUCKERS!He and his manager should be taken out back and slapped around…I’ve had a bad experiences with buying a new car and long ago I worked for a car dealership…I would not trust them if they told me the time of day.
My sister got screwed by a car salesman, too. He talked her into buying way more car than she could afford, saying that she could get it refinanced in a few months to bring her note down. She fell for it, and is now stuck with a car payment over $600. She can’t even sell the car because she is upside down on it. Car salesmen are fuckers.
Yea so it does suck, you had your mind set on it and they jacked you. My only bit of anything is to relay to you the fact that i indeed did have a yellow car once. It was a Pontiac Sunfire. Yellow was my first choice of color and I LOVED it..for like 3 months. Being one who is not dilligent in clean-car-keeping. It looked pretty dingy most of the time. So who knows..maybe it won’t be sooo bad, regardless I feel for you..not getting what you want SUCKS!
Last year we bought a new house. Well it seems one of your neighbours (who moved in a couple of months before us) was having a VERY difficult time having some deficiencies dealt with. When he was finally FED UP, he posted a HUGE sign on his front lawn, detailing all of the issues he was having with the builder, and suggesting that any potential buyers (the model homes are also in our neighbourhood) BEWARE and perhaps choose another builder. Let’s just say that we spoke to him a short while later and his issues were dealt with very quickly by the builder after that! Maybe you could try something like that!
Oh HELL NO!!!!!
Git on their ASSES girlfriend!
Contact your states attorneys office pronto!
You have RIGHTS and the lying sack o’ crap need to be held to his means nothing word!! Call your local news stations too. You have recourses and I say use them!
Well the car mystery is not a mystery to us any longer! But dayum, it sucks the way they dicked you guys around. I like the “sign” idea. Yall can do your daily walk/jog in front of that dealership holding your “MADISON SUZUKI LIES AND CHEATS CUSTOMERS!” signs and get on TV! Hopefully the Prez of Suzuki will make it right for you. There’s always the Better Business Bureau complaint process.
Not that I’d make any suggestions or anything! 🙂
It’s a really cute car and I hope if you end up keeping it, you grow to love it. I love my silver car – least likely to show dirt of all the car colors I’ve had (including yellow!).
DAYUM! What a pain in the ass that must have been!
Glad you like the car, Sorry the color isn’t what you wanted. 🙁 I agree with the rest, get some nice stripes or flames put on it, or one of those big smiley decals for the hood hehe..
ugh. blood pressure rising just reading about it!
I am soooo sorry this happened to you. As someone suggested, I’d contact car manufacturer directly and see if they won’t make it right.
I’ve had the ole “bait ‘n’ switch” attempted on me, so I now know better and I put everything in writing. Fortunately, my daddy is an old Yankee Trader and he saved my ass and learned me. 😉 You wanna borrow my daddy next time you go car shopping?
*Yes, I am aware that drivers of red cars get far more tickets than drivers of cars of a different color.
This is a myth. Ask your insurance company. My rep actually laughed when I told her my concern over MY red car. It’s a hundred other things that raise your rates – sports cars, SUV’s (tip and fire factors), etc, not color. Apparantly, little old ladies drive red cars too 🙂
That totally sucks. But then I have never purchased a new car without getting screwed by the dealership in one way or another. Par for the course! Good luck!
I wanted a RED car – got a silver one because it just worked out that way. Still wish it were red, especially as every second car in every parking lot is silver and I have trouble finding it! But I love the car and no longer mind that it isn’t the color I thought I wanted. Also — I have total faith that you and Fred will not let this matter die — that was some ugly customer service and I’m sure Mr. CEO Suzuki will come up with some compensation. . . and a slap upside the head to Mr. L.S.O.S. Salesman.
We’ve bought two new Toyotas at two separate dealerships in the last year, so I know what EXACTLY what you mean about LSOS salesmen. The next time we buy a car, it had better not be a Toyota, or we’ll have to drive 30 miles out of town to buy it.
Wow, that is just BAD customer service on their part. Bad, bad, bad!
When I lived in Charlottesville, Virginia the local newspaper had an ombudsman who wrote a column. When a person had a problem with a business, they wrote into this reporter about their problem and the reporter contacted the business to see what they would be willing to do to rectify the situation. The story and the results were published in the newspaper. It really held local merchants accountable.
Robyn and Fred, I think you’d be excellent candidates to write a column like that. 🙂
That sucks unwashed ass.
I probably would have parked it in their fucking driveway a week after they dicked me around (prefferably behind the salesman’s car–indiciting he wasn’t going home until he got me my fucking ice-blue car). But then again, I’ve never dealt with a situation like that so I’m not so for sure how I would handle it. Either way, that’s a load of shit and that’s why car salesmen have the horrific reputation they do.
Fuckers.
Robyn and Fred, it’s time to call the troubleshooter…he can fix ANYTHING. Wouldn’t hurt to try and they help consumers 24/7 on their website.
http://www.troubleshooter.com
doesn’t matter if his show doesn’t broadcast in your city, he will still help you if you call in or email. He is a consumer advocate GOD
Robyn-
That’s just awful. So sorry that you didn’t get what you wanted. I love the racing stripe idea! Of course not all car salespeople suck or lie to get the sale, but, like in any industry, some people just suck!
Ugh. Apparently car salesmen and service managers at car dealerships are cut out of the same lying piece of shit cloth. I can sympathize with you – two years ago I bought a new Saturn ION. Love the car, but having to deal with the jerks at the dealership in order to get the FREE warranty work taken care of has proven to be a major pain in the ass. I, too, wrote to the manufacturer after a particularly horrendous incident … even got a phone call from Saturn apologizing (think: crocodile tears), but from what I can gather the dealerships are pretty much independent and can do whatever the hell they want with no consequences from the manufacturer. If it’s any consolation at all, I think your car is pretty cute – nope, didn’t think so. How about some flashy yellow bumper stickers? Preferably bashing the dealership.
I feel for you not getting what you wanted. I learned my lesson a while back and when I was ready for a new car, we went to an auto broker. I had already driven enough models to know what I wanted and got all the features I wanted without having to take those I didn’t. They found my car within three weeks. I will never deal with another car salesperson again.
That car is so cute, I love it! I hope that nasty salesman didn’t kill your new car buzz too badly.
For something as big as a car, something you carefully shopped for and dreamt about, something that says “ROBYN”…Ooooo I’d be spitting nails. I have faith that this story IS NOT over and that you will see a cute lil’ yeller car in your driveway before long. Don’t give up harrasing them. Give the Head Honcho your site address and let them see all the bad publicity they are getting and how they can give you a happy ending that 1000’s of us can read about.
Make sure this story is NOT OVER! Go to the big wigs and make a big smelly STINK! Call the newspapers, the local news channel if you have to. There is no way in heck you should have to put up with this. Lying sack of shit INDEED…
Oh, I am so sorry that y’all got such a runaround! Car salesmen SUCK! We bought a new car a couple years ago, and I had my heart set on blue. Ended up with silver, because the salesman said they don’t make it in blue anymore. Stupid, I believed him, and it turns out that they do, in fact, make a lovely shade of blue. Aargh.
Your new car is cute, though, even in silver.
Man,THAT is why I didn’t go into car sales-because you have to lie!
Next time I buy a car from a dealer I will tell him/her straight up that if they screw me over in any form that “I” will park in front of their dealership every idle moment I have with big signs in the car windows and a picket sign in my hands describing HOW they fucked me over.
Sales loss might speak volumes to their pocketbook.
I am soooo sorry Robyn !
Getting some custom made leather seat covers in yellow might raise your spirits. That would be cool! You were willing to pay to have the car painted so perhaps now you could invest the money on the interior, or as a few have suggested get pinstriping or custom trim work.
If it makes you feel any better, my brother, a part-time mechanic, convinced me to buy his friend’s Camaro at 3K below blue book because it had an “intake gasket oil leak.” $6,500 later, I still can’t get it to pass California smog. Not to be a “look on the bright side”-er, but know there are worse things that could happen…
Yes, this sucks big time and I am sorry 🙁
Let it be a lesson though. Before you sign =anything= or accept delivery make perfectly sure it is precisely what you want.
I work with a girl who bought a brand new house and after closing but before moving in went in and repainted half of it! I thought she had lost her mind. She didn’t like the colors and they would not change them for her.
Ok – Just a thought here – can you check the laws in your state? I know in some you can return the car no questions asked if it’s within a certain # of days from the day you signed the purchase agreement… and legally they have to take it back.
I’d also post the name of the dealership, but then I can be a vindictive bitch sometimes.
My husband (was boyfriend) at the time bought a Ford F-150. That truck went through THREE engines in 6 months. THREE. They had to take the damn thing back under the lemon laws of the state (WI).
There might be *something* that can still be done about this. And yes – this is exactly the reason car salesmen get such a bad rap!
I am not going to tell you what you or Fred should do. Just a suggestion as to what some of your loyal readers could, if they so chose, and if you had no problem with it, do. Call the dealership and very politely tell the manager that because the And3rsons were treated so badly, we will never purchase a car from that dealership. Now, I live in the middle of a cornfield and have no plans to drive to Alabama to purchase anything, let alone a car; but the dealer wouldn’t have to know that would they? I see from the latest update that the dealer is trying to do right by you so I won’t make the call. But, I’m just saying…..one hundred polite, “I’ll never purchase from you” calls would probably have an impact.
That sucks Robin. I know you have been wanting a new car for awhile and it sucks that the guy lied to you about getting the color you want.
Maybe the color will grow on you…
Anywho, sorry about the bad experiance