Complaint Review: Cleve White Nissan

This all began when someone left a business card on my apartment door after returning home on September 30, 2009.  Back in August, I had applied to Cleve White Nissan for financing for a new car.  At the same time, I was in the process of moving, and just didn't follow up.  Well, on October 3, 2009, a man from Cleve White, Victor Dickey, came to my job, introduced himself and told me that they had been trying to locate me, and had contacted my mother to get my address.  He told me that it looked good for me to get financed.  All I had to do was give him a copy of my latest pay stub.  I made a copy of it and gave it to him.  I had to work late that night and I told him that.  He told me that he'd come back and let me know if I was approved.  Around 4:30 p.m., Victor did come back and gave me a "thumbs up" sign, and told me to call him.  The next day, I did just that...and the excitement I initially felt, just deflated when he told me that based on my lack of credit, all they could offer me was a 2001 Impala car that had 210,000 miles on it. The deal that I could get would be for $240.00 a months for 24 months.   The look on my face could have stopped traffic.  Immediately I turned it down.  Frankly, I felt like someone had hit me in the gut.  Not only was this an insult to my intelligence, but I felt violated--completely disrespected.

Victor became a little flippant and said to me, "Well, I guess you'll have to keep walking then..." 

The nerve.

The clincher to this came the very next day, around 4:15 p.m. when another car salesman from that same dealership came to my job, by the name of Sylvester who tried to persuade me to buy the car--adding that my mother had already paid insurance on the car.  (((What?))))  My mother is 70 years old, is on disability and still has control issues regarding me, her grown daughter.  Honestly, she worries too much about my affairs and was just trying to help, but my God, was he kidding?  I looked him in the face and told him that I absolutely was not going to buy a car with 210,000 miles on it and if he knew what was good for him, he should just leave.  The car I currently have that is paid for is over 10 years, but only has 140,000 miles on it.  Sylvester just walked away when he finally got the point that I was not a desperate woman who was dumb enough to buy a car that probably would only last 6 months.

I was very insulted, hurt and angry.  This prompted me to talk to a few people that I know and all of them agreed that this dealer was trying to take advantage of me.

And the reason why I'm filing this report is that there have been complaints about the service at Cleve White Nissan from the discussions that I've had and I'm sure there have been many women who have been taken advantage of by this particular dealership.

Something must be done...it's just unacceptable for people to be treated like this.