Complaint Review: Dave Delaney

Bought a 2007 Jeep Cherokee from Dave Delaney Columbia in Hanover Ma. This sleezy car dealership has not changed since Dave Delaney’s father owned it. We bought the car for our 18 year old son who went to the dealership looking for a good price despite us saying how untrustworthy the dealership is and how bad the reputation is . But Our son had saved money and we helped pay for half. We bought the car in August of 2017. Dave Delaney Columbia does not do car inspections so we brought to our usual autobody shop and we were told the car could not pass inspection because the check engine light was on. Brought it back to Dave Delaney and delt with Bill in the autobody shop. All the mechanics did was shut the light off and then told us to drive it 75 miles and if the light came on again to bring it in. Of course it did. Brought it back in, light was shut off, and this time Bill told my son to drive it for 60 miles and if the light came on to bring it back. When we found this out my husband my son and myself agreed that if the light went on within 70 miles we would bring it back.

I guess Bill figured if he said less miles then the light wouldn’t come on and we would have it inspected just to have it come on at about 70 miles and then we would own the problem. Now we are in October and the issue is still continuing. By December (now 4 months with an expired rejection sticker) my husband went up to Dave Delaney’s . When he went into the dealership part of the business and he said he was having trouble with the car the salesman threw his hands in the air in a defensive mode and said " not me! I’m not the one you need to see, that’s the autobody shop!” My husband thought this was odd but a telling reaction of how this place runs. Everyone is on the defensive. When my husband talked to Bill, Bill literally yelled at my husband and said that there was "nothing wrong with the car!” and "Why don’t we get it inspected when the light is shut off!” My husband also brought up the fact that Bill had told my son he was going to get all of " the calculations and figures off of the engine and send them to my buddy at Jeep and we will figure out the problem and call you in a couple of days” we knew that was a joke and told Bill we were still waiting about 10 days now for that call. It was then that Bill agreed they needed to look more into the problem. It turned out to be the catalytic converter and by the time all this communication had happened it was the middle of December .

When my son asked when the car could be brought in Bill said not for another month. They had to order a part. I was so upset that this was obviously a lie because autobody shops can get a part in a couple of hours if not a couple of days but because we were tired of arguing and we really are not difficult people, decided to let it go and we would call in a month. And we were told by Bill for us to call them. Isn’t it better business to have them call us? Pathetic. Anyway, middle of January My son calls and part wasnt in. I called to speak with Dave directly but he seems to always be protected by his employees and their is never a call back or he is not available. On the website I saw that you could text so I did with a brief synopsis of the situation and Dave texts me back that he will let me know when the part is in. That is when I went into full detail about how the car hasn’t been passing inspection and what Bill has been putting us through. All I got was a text back that said " Thanks for reaching out” and the next day got a text saying " the part was in!!” Really? How ironic. When the car was ready Dave Delaney Columbia had also had the car inspected for us "as a favor” I felt like it was a cover up to hide something. Shortly after that about 1 month later the car was brought to Our autobody shop we use to have oil change and they couldn’t change the oil because the pan was corroded . The warrenty we bought from Dave didn’t cover corroded oil pans and said the car must have been in water. $ 650 later when we picked the car up the mechanic told us that there were no breaks at all.

I was so horrified that a car dealership would sell such an unsafe car to a kid let alone anyone. I posted my complaint on our town Facebook page. Some responses were support some were not. See Dave Delaney is a selectman in town so people feel the need to kiss butt to get what they need in town so people are very protective of Dave yet none have bought a car from him. Dave is so sleezy I’m sure that if someone he felt was important wanted to buy a car he would make sure the car was up to par . Although I really don’t think Dave knows what half his inventory is and how the customers can be treated. He knew nothing about our situation. I have all my receipts of everything we have had replaced . I have contacted the attorney general. We shall see what happens. I’m still thinking about posting all of my receipts online on the town Facebook page and let people try to argue my issue.