4 years ago
I bought a new Colorado here in December. I called...
I bought a new Colorado here in December. I called a week before to be sure everything would be in order as I knew what I wanted, what I was going to pay, and how I was going to pay for it. Basically, I came to the table ready to deal and assumed they would be too. My salesman, Ernest, was friendly and honest, but it was clear that he had not been briefed or knew what was going on. The test drive went fine and I was ready to finish the paperwork and leave when they dropped a bomb: there was an active recall that they discovered when they ran the VIN (something other dealerships I've talked with do BEFORE a customer comes in for a specific car). I wouldn't be able to leave with it and would have to wait an unknown amount of time to take receipt of it. In hindsight, I should have stopped there and just told them to call me when it was ready and we could restart the process then. However, it was a decent deal and the trim/options package isn't available anywhere else in the area. My mistake.
It took 3 weeks to finally get my truck, during which I had to call regularly to find out what was going on. They had me drive several loaners during that time, which was nice, but ultimately more of a liability since I was essentially driving a rental. I understand that things happen and sometimes it's out of their control, but there's a way to be on the ball about it. I called/emailed regularly for updates, but didn't actually find out anything until I went to another dealership to have them tell me what the process should be (Hall Chevy wasn't very free with the information) and find out if the parts were ordered. At the other dealers recommendation, I called Chevy Corporate Customer Service and suddenly, everything was going to be fine....or at least, I was told that.
So after 3 weeks, I finally get my truck.....but none of the accessories I paid for are available yet. Also, those tanks of gas? Yeah, they'll have to "look into that".
Now, we're 2 months later. I still don't have the accessories I paid for and the only time the dealership initiates contact with me is when they want to know if I did my customer survey and the salesman report cards. Kind of hard to give honest answers there when you still haven't technically gotten everything you paid for. Ultimately, at the end of the day, I got a decent deal on my truck and that's about it. I've bought several cars over the years from other dealers around Hampton Roads and have seen how well a dealership can treat their customers. Hall Chevy, unfortunately, could easily be replaced by a Self-Checkout kiosk. Sorry, but that's just the experience I had. Not bad. But not real good, either. If you just want to buy a car or a truck and never deal with the dealership again, then this is probably for you.
(David Phelps in the service department, thus far, has been the only one to answer all my questions and make sure he's doing what he can.)