Complaint Review: CarMax Inc. - Fayetteville North Carolina

  Hello. My Name is Randall. I will now give you a detailed description of the sequence of events of my car buying experience. I began my CarMax, Inc., car buying experience first on Saturday, August 02, 2014 by traveling to your location from my home location at 5036 Alabama Avenue, Camp Lejeune, NC 28547. That is a military government housing address as I am currently serving active duty in the United States Marine Corps and live on the Camp Lejeune base. This location is approximately 2 and 1/2 hours from your location in one way of travel. I was actively seeking a vehicle from your establishment based on advertising "The Way Car Buying Should Be", and this missed the mark by a long shot. I test drove a 2012 Dodge Charger R/T at that time, but later in the week changed my mind on the type of vehicle that I wanted to purchase and set on a 2014 Dodge Journey SXT, stock number 10577089. I informed my sales representative, Kriston Bain, of my intent to travel back to your location on Wednesday, August 06, 2014 to test drive this vehicle. I test drove this vehicle, and identified maintenance issues to the sales representative at that time which was a hard pull to the right when moving in the forward direction, as well as vibration in the front end of the vehicle when traveling 55-60mph on the highway. I was assured by Kriston at that time that the maintenance would be performed on the vehicle prior to purchase.

I left CarMax that day with a buyer's order and the intent to purchase this exact vehicle. I traveled to Navy Federal Credit Union the following day, Buyer's Order in hand wanting to finance this vehicle with them, and not with CarMax as my current vehicles are financed through them. Again, after the test drive I was told that is never an issue to finance with an outside financing agent, and we moved forth with the bank. The bank identified key discrepancies in the buyer's order in the amount in the matter of total amount due at purchase. The issue was then supposedly resolved between the bank and your financing department. On Friday, August 08, 2014 at approximately 2145 (945pm) I contacted Kriston Bain via text message to inform her that I would be traveling the following day to purchase this vehicle, and I reminded her that the alignment and other maintenance issues needed to be resolved prior to my arrival so that I could drive away happy... I arrived at your location approximately 1030am on August 09, 2014 with check in hand from the bank, and the vehicle that I would be trading. Upon arriving, I immediately asked if the alignment issue was resolved and I was informed that "due to being backed up" they were not able to look at the issue. I became quite frustrated with Kriston, and informed her that if this issue was not immediately resolved, I would not proceed with the transaction and would not purchase from CarMax under any circumstances. I was informed that this issue would get resolved right away, and I would simply have to wait 1 and 1/2 hours to 2 hours and it would be ready.

Approximately 2 and 1/2 hours later we were tired of waiting and informed Kriston via text message that we were traveling back to the location from lunch locally in Fayetteville and the vehicle WOULD be ready or the sale would not take place. Upon arriving at your location, the technician was pulling the vehicle in the service bay so we decided to move forward with this purchase. Upon being brought around to the financing department "signing room", the original buyer's order that was a mistake on your financing department was presented to us from Mari from sales, and we were about to get up and walk out when Kriston intervened and then the issue was resolved for a second time (isn't the first time enough). They presented us with our final buyer's order (attached) and we were informed that this difference in amount would be covered in a "ghost check" or whatever that means, but seeing as that was not our financial obligation, we proceeded. At this time, we were signed and ready to drive away happy as I mentioned. I asked again if the issue was resolved and Kriston assured me that the maintenance was performed properly. After providing you with what I assure you is a BRIEF background of my experience at CarMax, here lies my main complaint against your location, as well as your company.

During my transit home, I noticed that the vehicle was pulling to the right, and that a vibration was evident at speeds of 55-60 mph, and there had been no improvement to the vehicles handling and performance since the test drive. Before you ask why I did not just simply turn around and come back to have this resolved, I remind you that I live 2 and 1/2 hours away, and I had my 18 month old son with me, so I needed to go home. I decided during my drive home that I would take it to someone WHO I TRUST and have this issue looked at. Sunday, August 10, 2014, 1031am EST I arrive at Merchant's Tire and Auto Centers located at 2221 Lejeune Blvd, Jacksonville, NC 28546 Store Number 7422. I request an overall vehicle inspection after informing the technicians of the discrepancies. This was to cost $9.99 USD. The first inspection showed that all tires were out of balance and a re-balancing of the tires would need to be performed. I agreed to this, and a re-balance would cost me $39.96 USD plus tax. After balancing the tires, the technician then informed me that post test drive, the pull was still there, and a potential tire issue could be at fault. I asked them to proceed with an ALIGNMENT CHECK and the attached files indicated in red show you that the ALIGNMENT WAS OUT. I was assured this was fixed at your location prior to purchase, yet here I am one morning later, with a bad alignment that was never even looked at before I purchased your vehicle.

At this point, I needed an alignment, and would have to pay for it. All said and done, the total was $157.02 USD that I had to pay out of pocket to Merchant's Tire for an issue that should have been resolved by your company prior to me purchasing your vehicle. I want to remind you that I traveled 2 and 1/2 hours with my family in the car with a quite potentially UNSAFE vehicle that I purchased from you, even after identifying handling/safety issues prior to purchase. Now, I want to make light of my upcoming unavoidable plans of travel as this might be necessary information needed on your part on how to address this, get me the correct information and move forward. I will be utilizing the 2014 Dodge Journey that I purchased for my travel vehicle when I begin traveling to my final destination in Bethel, Connecticut, starting on August 12, 2014. Due to the fact that I might still have a faulty tire that requires replacement that should have been caught and fixed at your location, and I will be traveling, I expect that if I have to replace this tire I will be fully reimbursed EVEN IF I DON"T USE CARMAX as my service center. I expect a full refund in the amount of $157.02, as well as some sort of compensation from your company for this TERRIBLE car buying experience. I WILL NOT use, NOR WILL I RECOMMEND CarMax, Inc., to anyone under any circumstances. If I wanted service of this level, I would have simply taken my business to a "tote-the-note" lot and spent money there. Having said that, I wanted to also make light of my displeasure with all of this and make it aware that,

AT THIS TIME, we have the intent to return the vehicle to CarMax, Inc., should this issue not get resolved and further potential issues not be resolved AT NO COST TO MYSELF OR MY FAMILY. Due to my traveling circumstances, I will not be able to return my vehicle to your location within the 5-day window that I fully understand on the paperwork that I signed. Due to these unfortunate circumstances, I expect that this window can, AND WILL, be extended to meet my circumstances. Should we choose to return this vehicle, I expect that this will go smoothly and I will get my money back in full with no issues. I look forward to receiving an expedited, detailed response to this matter, as well as your companies plans to compensate me for not only my purchases made to repairs not performed by your company that were supposed to have been performed, but as well as some sort of agreement between myself and your company about a manner in which you DO NOT plan to charge me for further charges incurred with issues related to this maintenance discrepancy. Should these expectations and simple requests not be met, I will be exercising my right to return the vehicle to CarMax, Inc., REGARDLESS of the 5-day window due to my traveling plans with a full refund. Additionally, I did take the steps to report this to the BBB, but I am also fully prepared with documentation in hand to settle in court, as well as make this as public as I possibly can. With documentation being in my favor, I highly suggest that you address this issue professionally and expeditiously. Thanks for your time.