Complaint Review: Ron Carter Hyundai

Heed all warnings!...And remember, like cockroaches, for every one complaint you see, there are probably thousands more unseen. As previously read, after my experience, I have no doubt they bribe consumers for many of the positive comments you see. I first contacted Ron Carter Hyundai online. One of their salesmen contacted me by video email shortly thereafter encouraging me to call. That email had a caption stating they would beat my best offer by $1000.00. I called and ask if the price listed online for an 2013 Accent was ‘bottom line’, and he said yes. Although, he didn’t sound too interested in my business he said he would call me back.

In the meantime, the online price went down by $1000. I called back and he said he would check into it. I was aware that all online prices include every incentive possible, and that I wouldn’t qualify for all of them. However, at that price I was willing to let them add some back in without complaint. When he called back I explained I was looking for a manual transmission, and that I was having difficulty finding one locally, so I would be willing to fly to Houston for this one, but only if he assured me the price wouldn’t change once I arrived.

This was a concern since I had read about it happening, in some their online complaints. He said he couldn’t let me come down in all good conscious expecting to leave at that price. He knew my husband was recently retired military, since I qualified for the discount, and said he was previous military as well. I guess, he threw that in for moral and ethical value. He assured me the price would not be a penny more than what he told me.  I was impressed by his feigned honesty, which I took to be genuine at the time. By phone, I explained in detail my best offer. 

There was no way for him to misunderstand. I then sent this offer by email. I told him he had to scroll down to see the numbers. I had explained the original offer, and that an additional $500 was offered if I went through Hyundai financing. It was all in the emails. He knew the bottom line. After he received this email he responded back with, “I'll do it for $1000 better than your quote. I have the keys at my desk but I will need to get a credit card deposit tomorrow to hold it for you”.

I responded by confirming all details again….price, excluding tax, tags, and license…no early payoff penalty through Hyundai, and that they would remove the pin strip. Oh yes, I almost forgot.  There is a $2200 package there is no getting out of…pinstripe…tinting…nitrogen tire inflation, and something else…nothing I cared about, but was stuck paying for. However, I only ask that the pinstripe be removed. He never confirmed/denied the final price, but did respond to my email saying he received credit app, and that I could either email credit card info, or call the next day with it.

That should have been a BIG RED FLAG, but he was ‘honest’ about the deceitful practice of luring people in with low prices, and after all he was prior military. He even said he could lose his job for telling me this, but he just wasn’t that type of person. I even thanked him for his honesty…LOL. I emailed him every document he said he needed and flew down for the deal. Evidently he hadn’t even ran the credit check before I arrived…he said the general Power of Attorney wasn’t specific enough for Texas…he said he needed to run a credit check on me but couldn’t access my credit online.

Well, after working through all that in 3 ½ hours he hands me a document to sign regarding price. I notice it is $500 more than we agreed. He argues and says that’s what we agreed on. I told him that was not taking off the $500 for financing through Hyundai. He said he didn’t think that was available anymore. Well, I had it printed out so I handed it to him just as he conveniently found it on line. When I had proven my point he goes to talk to someone then comes back and asks for my Hyundai registration. Confused at that point…I said I didn’t have a Hyundai.

He then said, “Well you don’t qualify for a Valued Owner Discount”. I guess this was a diversion tactic because I never said I qualified for that discount. When I told him that, he said the Hyundai financing $500 bonus was included in the “beat your best off by $1000”. I knew then that this was no mistake. I told him I would not pay a penny more, and that I would pay the airlines to get back home before I would give them the extra $500. He walked off again. When he comes back he hands me the forms I had emailed him, and says they are calling off the deal…LOL. Guess it made him feel better to think he was in control. I ask him if he would have the decency to call me a taxi.

He walked off again. When he came back he said he would have someone take me to the airport. I told him I didn’t want anything from their thieving dealership, and ask him again to call me a taxi. I also, told him I wanted my deposit back. He said he hadn’t ran the card. At that point I didn’t believe a word he said, so I called my husband to have him check the account. The entire time I was on the phone with him a little smirking arrogant salesman, that I had never met, stood beside me. I finally ask if I could help him with something. He said he didn’t know anything about my deal, but that my card hadn’t been ran.

I told him, I would rather hear that from my husband. He then said that I must have come there thinking I would get a better deal than I was offered. I told him if he didn’t know anything about my deal how would he know what I was expecting, and I told him that I should have heeded warning from all the negative reviews and that I would be adding mine. He said, “I hear your threats”…lol. I said it’s not a threat. I told him that I now know that all the bait and switch I read about was true. He then proceeded to define bait and switch for me. I told him I wasn’t in a court of law, and that my understanding of it was close enough to what they were doing.

He was quick to define bait and switch, so he must be used to defending the dealership.  I ask him again if there was anything I could do for him, and he said to either go outside or to lobby to wait for the taxi. Guess he didn’t want any potential customers to get wind of their shady practices. Lastly, the taxi driver overhead me and my niece talking as he was taking us back to the airport. He said Ron Carter Hyundai is known for that kind of thing. He even said one of his family members had been deceived by them.

He also pointed out another Hyundai dealership as we passed by, saying he had never heard any complaints about them. If it hadn’t been almost 9 pm I would have stopped to talk to them. Instead I spent a night in a hotel, and bought plane tickets home for the next day. Again, don’t take the negative comments lightly. I felt I had an honest ‘salesman’...lol. And I had all the email correspondence printed out. He even admitted to reading them. Either he intentionally lured me down to Houston thinking I would pay the extra $500, or he wasn’t paying attention.

Either way, it wasn’t my error. It was in black/white, and he replied to that email saying he would beat the offer by $1000. I know you can’t please everyone, so even the best of the best will have some negative comments, but after my experience I’m sure every one of these are deserved, and that there are many more potential customers that didn’t take the time to leave a comment. Avoid Ron Carter Hyundai at all costs. Jim, I don’t know if you believe in Karma, but I do. BTW, I just noticed there was a Memorial Day $500 rebate valid 5/23 – 5/31 that would have covered that extra you tacked on.

However, I’m sure you would have said it was somehow included in your so called deal. There is no doubt in my mind you saw this when verifying the $500 for financing with Hyundai. Either way, it is your job to be up on Hyundai incentives, right? How ironic is it that you chose to take advantage of a fellow service member Memorial Day Weekend. The quintessential sleazy car salesman stereotype came to life for me 5/23/2013. Thanks, Jim, for the experience!