On December 23rd,2008 we drove to Bill Heard's Kennesaw dealership, responding to a telephone call from their employee (Carol) telling myself, and a separate telephone call to my wife, that I had qualified for a "NO DOWN" loan.
After driving the 1:15 hours, and giving information once again, that had been given with the on line application, we were informed that while we would qualify for a loan, we would have to put $1200 down.We had also been told that Carol was not a "financial" person and should not have told us that we qualified for a no down loan.
This is NOT what we were told when "Carol" called. This was a classic Bait and Switch. Get the customer in with one set of facts, and then change the offer.
We did drive two cars. One would have been satisfactory with an alignment and a tire balance..
When the frustration from having NO information given to us..not how much we would qualify for, no satisfaction with the down payment, and being treated like second class citizens, we left the dealership, with a great deal of frustration.
On the ride back (another 1:15 hours), Carol called. She had been told that we drove 5 cars - and wondered why we didn't find one we liked. We explained what had happened..and she said that she had been told that the dealership would adjust the pricing to make the downpayment. We also explained that we drove 2 cars, not 5 as she had been told. We also told her that we were never told how much we would qualify for.
Makes it a bit difficult to find something if you don't know how much you can spend.
Yesterday we had a telephone call from another Bill Heard representative, Crystal, wondering what happened. She called back after pulling the bank financials and said that the downpayment indicated was $1000 - NOT $1200 as we had been told.
It is also my understanding from a high ranking military official that Bill Heard is on a "blackball list", and recruits and enlisted people are told NOT to purchase from them because of their deceptive practices.
This was a series of Bait and Switch lies, and you may be assured that, after checking a web site and finding over 200 complaints against Bill Heard, I will be sending this information to the Georgia Attorney General, the Better Business Bureau, every newspaper with a Bill Heard dealership, the FTC, Chevrolet Motor Corporation, Customer Relations and it will be posted on every blog I can find, plus www.ripoffreport.com as well.
My father was a Chevrolet dealer in a small Minnesota town, & his father before him - people would come from 150 miles away to purchase cars from him. Why? Because he was honest. Bill Heard should attempt it. It works.
Bernie
McDonough, Georgia
U.S.A.