Complaint Review: Drivetime

FRAUDED BY DRIVETIME? TIRED OF THE DISHONESTY? READY TO START OUR CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST THEM?????

Our stories are all the same, we all know how Drivetime (Ugly Duckling Sales) works ..... so lets all join together to stop this from happening to the next guy. Let's all put Drivetime out of business for good. Take action NOW!!!!

I have not posted my story here but Drivetime pulled a major scam on me and I will not stand for it anymore. I'm going to go to great length to make sure this business has no BAD business ANYMORE. JOIN IN ON THE ACTION AGAINST DRIVETIME AND PUT THE COMPANY OUT OF BUSINESS FOR GOOD!

I'm going to be contacting the media and every avenue I can to make sure others find out just what kind of company this is. I have already begun contacting lawyers about this and I would like to get everyone together to start a class action lawsuit against the company.


My Story...

Drivetime frauded me while I was serving in the military and I have never dealt with such a despicable company before. Now after over a years time of complaints about being sold a lemon I refuse to continue to pay another cent to this company. I reported the engine problem only 3 days after the purchase and was given the run around for months on end.

The car was never in good working condition to start and overheated constantly. I was finally sent a month after purchase to a mechanic they worked with in town to have it "fixed". The man there never even looked at the vehicle but told me "it is normal to see the heating gage go up when you drive fast on the highway for example" and not to worry about the fact that the heating gage would go up to hot only after driving it for a short period of time. I constantly would pull over to make the car cool down or turn on the heat so that the gage would go back down.

The second occurrence when they promised to fix it, I was denied a receipt to see the repairs that had been made (at dealership location) on the vehicle and later learned the person who "fixed" my car was fired for never actually making repairs (Steve from the Albuquerque, NM location).

Steve assured me it would be in good working order to drive to Florida after this "repair" which I believed at the time, but ended up having to stop numerous times due to overheating on the way to Florida (while pregnant stopped on the side of the road- lots of fun!).

The problem was never taken care of, lie after lie from this company. Later right before my first child was born, the manager at the Albuquerque, NM location (Carlos) promised all repairs would be taken care of as well as the tow bill to their FL location (Deland Drivetime - to speak to Tommy there he knew about the issue and would take care of everything for me). Once I finally got Tommy on the phone he stated Albuquerque, NM Drivetime made no agreement to pay for the repairs, that it was my responsibility to pay for them plus the tow bill there.

I then contacted the Albuquerque, NM location about this and they sold me that manager (Carlos) was no longer working there and was now working at the Griegos, NM office. They told me there was nothing in the computer saying they would cover the cost of repairs. Also told me that because Carlos the manager at the time was now at another location, the promise to fix the car meant nothing. A woman in customer service contacted Carlos who backtracked on his promise and they contacted me back and told me they would in no way pay for any of the repairs.

I have been lied to again and again, have been given the run around for over a year now, told my car would be repaired and then they backtracked on their 100% promise to me to fix the engine.

My car is worth approx. 4,000 book value and I am in a 16,000 loan for the car after 29.9% interest rate (my own fault for signing that high of an interest rate, I was naive which is no excuse but completely sucked into the sales pressure that it was in fact a "great deal" at Drivetime.)

I have paid my payments for over a year now on a car that has had a cracked block for a few months now and prior to that it hardly worked. I asked the company on numerous occasions to explain to me why a car should have a cracked engine less the a year after purchase if it wasn't in fact a lemon to start. I have every receipt of "upkeep" for the car, regular oil/fluid changes/etc. continuing to keep it well inspected for regular maintenance which should have been the only thing the car needed. The only long distance I ever drove this vehicle was to Florida and that was after I was told by Steve (mechanic) at Albuquerque, NM Drivetime that it was safe to drive that long of a distance (which wasn't the case). Steve refused at the time to give me a receipt of the repair work that had been done on the car as he told me that I didn't need a receipt if Drivetime was covering the cost of repairs. I said that was fine but I wanted a receipt of the work done on the vehicle for my own records but he refused to give me one. I realized after the fact that NOTHING had been done to the vehicle at all, and while in a conversation with a billing representative at this location (Mona) she told me that Steve had been fired for "not actually working on cars" not too long after this. So from that and from breaking down on route to FL, I knew Steve did absolutely nothing on my car to correct the problem.

I filed a Better Business Bureau complaint against the company months ago and was NEVER ONCE contacted by Angela at the Corporate office who was in charge of handling my BBB case. I left numerous messages for Angela with no returned calls and once I finally got someone to talk to me at the Corporate office they told me the BBB case had been closed by Angela and noted as: RESOLVED!!!!! I asked how it could have been resolved if I never even received a telephone call about the issue, nor would she return any of my messages left on her voice mail. I didn't know companies could close a BBB report as resolved if it never was!

I have now told the corporate office that I will stop at no length to get the word out about this company, being media attention or legal action and from this point forward I will invest a lot of time to let others out there know exactly what kind of business this company does.

The Drivetime corporate office did not seem too concerned with my situation or where I will go with this huge loss. This is going to be a huge notch on my credit report for voluntary repossession, which I am sure they will report as only "repossession" since I stopped payment to them this past month completely and told them to come remove the car from my driveway ASAP!! I refuse to pay for a repair that they knew full well of when they sold it to me. One sales person I spoke to there a few months back said something to the effect of "yeah I knew there was some issue with the car when you drove off the lot". I have a years worth of complaints in their computer which I highly doubt they will be keeping now that I'm seeking legal assistance with this issue. I also have my own backed up documentation about this as well as numerous witnesses.

I'm sure you all were treated with the same "respect from the courteous professionals" at Drivetime as I was. After contacting the corporate office numerous times with no resolution (except an offer for me to pay for another car or pay for the repair of this one plus towing expense from them) I have decided I am not going to stand by and let this happen to the next person. I am absolutely fed up and I will not take it anymore.

TODAY I contacted Carlos the manager who had told me 100% not to worry that they would take care of everything (the repair cost and the tow bill). I decided to record the conversation and while speaking with him today I told him I was recording the conversation for legal purpose and he confirmed everything to me over the phone that he had promised. I asked him if he was not representing Drivetime Corp. while he made those promises and was working as the general manager at the Albuquerque location and he confirmed yes that was correct he was. He did not argue the issue with me nor deny it, he confirmed everything and stated that he had no control over the issue after he left. I later spoke to Rob Petty the new manager at the Albuquerque NM location and told him about my conversation earlier with Carlos and that I recorded it, and Rob Petty told me again that nothing will be done on their part as for cost of repairs and once again I had another wasted conversation with the people of Drivetime Corp. I yelled and screamed and told him they are a very deceitful company and from this point on they can deal with my lawyer.

PLEASE CONSIDER JOINING WITH ME, THERE ARE ENOUGH OF US HERE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!

I HAVE CONTACTED ATTORNEYS IN MY AREA BUT WILL BE CONTACTING A LAWYER THAT SPECIALIZES IN CLASSACTION LAWSUITS AGAINST LARGE CORPORATIONS SUCH AS THIS.

TOGETHER WE CAN FIGHT THIS COMPANY AND PUT THEM OUT OF BUSINESS FOR GOOD SO THEY CAN'T WALK ALL OVER THE NEXT GUY.

ALSO REMEMBER TO CALL THE CORPORATE OFFICE IN PHOENIX, ARIZONA TO LET THEM KNOW HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT HOW THEY CONDUCT BUSINESS: TELEPHONE 1.800.TO.DRIVE LET THEM KNOW YOU ARE JOINING IN ON A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST THEM STARTED BY AN ANGRY CUSTOMER WHO PURCHASED A VEHICLE FROM THE ALBUQUERQUE NEW MEXICO LOCATION! ASK FOR ANGELA SHE SHOULD REMEMBER THE CASE SHE CLOSED!

Christine
Ormond Beach, Florida
U.S.A.

Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Drive Time, formally known as Ugly Duckling which is registered under the same ownership.

sorry, allowing you to give a competitors name would instigate others to just file against their competition, to only come back later to suggest their company your comments on this policy are welcome! CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.