I had a somewhat confusing and unpleasant experien...

I had a somewhat confusing and unpleasant experience while shopping for a 2017 WRX. I had been shopping around for quite some time and had compiled quite the amount of notes and price quotes from different dealers for both new and used WRX.

Given that the depreciation on the WRX follows a really standard curve unlike other manufacturers I decided to buy new. The best price quote I got was from Hueberger Motors in Colo Springs but that is further than I cared to drive. Mike Shaw is just a few blocks away and I like supporting my local business so I called them. A pleasant receptionist answered the phone and I said that I was looking to buy a WRX today and that it looked like the model and color I wanted were in stock. I told her that I had a quote from Hueberger (in writing) and I wanted to know if they would meet it. She said "we will be able to meet or beat that quote."

So off I went. I walked in and was greeted by Jamie. She was pleasant and asked what I was looking for. I let her know at the beginning what my situation was and that I was looking to buy a car today and what I wanted. Additionally I told her what I was looking to spend on the car and what I had been quoted by Hueberger and would they price miatch. She said yes and we went to the lot and the car I was looking for wasn't there. She recommended a couple of the other models and was a little pushy but hey I told her I was looking to buy today so I can't blame her as I've worked in sales before and I know when to push and when not to. We came back inside and she spoke to Ricky and together they looked for the car I had seen in the online inventory and sure enough located it.

I said I definitely want to buy this car and we returned to Jamie's office where she began filling out paperwork for credit, insurance, etc. She also asked me for the price quote I had received from Hueberger which I forwarded to her. She asked her team lead for assistance in printing my forwarded quote and he looked at and helped her print it. Then she asked me how much I wanted to put down on the car. I told her that I was going to do mostly cash and finance the rest. That was when things took a turn for the worse.

She took the printed copies and said she was going to run my credit. She returned no less than 120 seconds later and said "my manager said he won't meet this price quote and will only sell it at the invoice price."

I. Was. Shocked. I said "thank you for your time but I will have to say goodbye," and bid both her and Ricky good day. I stopped in the doorway and said "Really? The invoice price is it?" and she reiterated "Yes."

I work in retail sales. I completely understand the need to sell for profit. If the price Hueberger had offered me made it so that Mike Shaw selling the car would put them upside down on the sale it completely makes sense for them not to sell it to me. I had no problem with that. Here are the things I did have a problem with:

1. I asked two people if they would price match with Hueberger and they both said yes. A third person (her team lead) looked at the price quote and said nothing. Now all of a sudden the not only won't meet that price quote but...

2. They won't even change the invoice price... the same price that I would get at literally any other Subaru dealership and a price point that is available within a single google search. Additionally I gave the name of the Subaru dealership to all parties concerned and if they knew they couldn't meet that price why were they wasting my time?

3. I get that financing the car is important for a seller's bottom line, but it wasn't until I said I was going to put a large amount of cash down that Jamie disappeared and reappeared in two minutes flat to say "no sale."

4. Why did anybody say "yes we will price match" if the answer is obviously "no we won't price match, especially because you aren't financing?"

In the end it was just a very confusing process that resulted in no less than 3 people wasting their time entirely for an hour.