3 years ago
I had a different experience than the trend of mos...
I had a different experience than the trend of most of the reviews here. That is partly because I'm pretty particular (some would say stubborn) about some things. Anyway, I was in the market for a new car, and I wanted to try just about everything before making my decision. I stopped into Patriot Subaru and met Matt Rieders. I can usually tell whether I am going to like a salesman or not within the first 5 minutes. Since I was trying out all kinds of different cars, I am always upfront with the sales people and tell them I am just considering options, and am not interested in leaving with a new car that day. The sales people I don't like, Matt Rieders included, immediately counter with something along the lines of "unless I find the perfect car for you, and then you will walk out with it here today." The sales people that I do like accept that I'm just looking, show me what I want to see, give me lots of info to mull over, ask if they can call me in a few days to follow up, and then send me on my way with no pressure. Some would argue that the pushier sales people are just doing their jobs. I argue that they are looking out for their interests, not my own. I don't care how good a deal is, I am not going to make a $15,000 to $30,000 financial decision without considering other options, trying out things multiple times, etc. So any sales person who doesn't listen to me when I say this, does not have my best interest at heart, and does not deserve to get my business.
So I did test drive a vehicle, and I did like it. I told them I now needed to go back to my other top contender cars, try them out as well and see how I felt and I might be back. They all of course didn't want me to leave, and kept trying to offer me the world to buy a car that day. They kept bringing other higher managers to talk to me, repeat the same questions, not listen to my answers and try and push a car on me that day. It took way too long from the time I said I needed to consider other options till the time they actually let me leave (I think they had my driver's license to copy it to get my information or something or I would have just walked out on my own).
Then my bad experience didn't stop there. Now the badgering begins. I visited on a Saturday, and when asked, I did say it was okay for them to call me in a few days to follow up. What I didn't want was a call the very next day (Sunday, seriously you're not working on a Sunday why would I want to get calls about cars on my Sunday as well?) Then every single day afterward, I got calls and emails, and mass emails and was otherwise bombarded by Matt trying to make a sale. After I bought a car (from someone else), I told him I was no longer in the market for a new vehicle. Then the emails switched to the flavor of, "even though we weren't able to get your business, please recommend us to others." I asked him to stop emailing me, and was ignored. So then I threatened to give a bad review if I got one more email from him. That worked for a few months, but then I got another mass email asking me to recommend him to my friends. So I am a man of my word. Here is my honest, but scathing review of his services.
Now some people might not have been bothered by what happened to me. As I said, I am very particular about some things. But I can honestly say that the way I was treated at Patriot Subaru factored into my decision to buy a car from one of their competitors, just up the street. I wanted my money to go to a salesman I enjoyed working with, who really did work to get me exactly what I wanted. Even if I did end up buying a Subaru, I would have gone to another salesman and not given Matt Rieders my business.