Complaint Review: Suburban Chevrolet Cadillac of Ann Arbor

5/17/2014

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am a 59-year-old female, single, and special education teacher with a doctorate in education. I can’t believe how stupid I am. On 12/31/2013, I bought a two-year-old Cadillac SRX from Suburban Cadillac of Ann Arbor from a Mr. Greene. I thought that because it was a Cadillac dealer that I would be purchasing a high quality vehicle and I was very excited. I grew up thinking that the name Cadillac meant something, that I would get a fair deal at a Cadillac dealership. 

 On 5/12/14, I noticed that paint had come off of the driver’s side door handle so I took the SRX into the Cadillac dealership closet to my house, Don Massey Cadillac. The next day Mr. Estes, the service technician said he had to talk to me about my car. Mr. Scott Estes informed me that my car had been poorly repainted prior to my buying it from the dealership and that now the paint was coming off the entire car. He said the paint job was very poor; he pulled off the rubber seal by the driver’s door and showed me the pink paint that was the car’s original color. He said it may have been a pink color then poorly repainted in order to sell the car.  He advised me that the paint job is not a Cadillac quality paint job and the car even when stripped down to the metal would still not have a quality Cadillac paint job that a 2-year-old Cadillac SRX should have. He advised me to either get my money back from Suburban Cadillac of Ann Arbor or to get another Cadillac SRX with the same mileage from them.  I was devastated and started to cry, I am a stupid old special education teacher who was duped by the Cadillac name.

I called Mr. Masser, the general manager at Suburban Cadillac of Ann Arbor. I told him what Mr. Estes had told me. He was rude and arrogant towards me and told me that first, lets get this clear, I am not going to give you your money back or give you another car. He told me he did not repaint my car, I told him that Mr. Estes had made it clear that the repaint job was so poor on the Cadillac SRX that there was no way that the dealership had to know that the car was repainted before they sold it to me.

Mr. Masser again made it clear that he would not take responsibility for selling me a car that had been repainted. He told me to bring the car to the service department on Friday that he would try to be there to see it and for his service manager to see it. But he was busy with a fundraiser for Motts Hospital that day. I told him I taught special needs children but I would try to get there by 4pm. Mr. Masser never apologized for what happened to me, he just told me to be there by 4pm and hung up. On Friday, May 16, I left work early and with my son in law drove to Suburban Cadillac of Ann Arbor. The service manager and two other men looked at the car and the poor paint job. I also showed them my purchase agreement and the paperwork by Don Massey and the carfax history report on the car, (which did not report a repaint job on the car). They then informed me that the manager Mr. Masser was not there and they could not say or do anything without his permission. They then told me to come back on another day and then maybe someone would talk to me. Again I do not have a lot of money, I am an old special education teacher who is a single mother. I helped my daughters get their college degrees by myself, and I also got my doctorate in education, by myself. However, right now I realize how stupid I am because I was truly duped and taken advantage of Suburban Cadillac of Ann Arbor because I trusted the Cadillac name. How stupid am I? I traded in my 09 Ford Escape Limited for this car with low mileage, in mint condition. How stupid am I for trusting a dealership with the Cadillac name?

Sincerely,