Complaint Review: Discovery Auto Enterprise - Houston Texas

Hi I'm trying to collect my senses so I can write this review without getting mad.

The title of this review is                "BUYER BEWARE"

My name is Travis, and if you are reading this, I would like to advise you to never buy a used vehicle from this company unless you get your own mechanic to inspect it and take it for a test drive before purchase. I would like to tell you how this company does not care about you, and is only interested in getting your money.

To start, I currently own a 2006 Toyota Prius, with 202,000miles (which still works flawlessly). I also had a 2005 Chevy Camaro, with 260,000miles on it, but the transmission finally gave out last week, so I handed my title over for $400.00(the Camaro needed a lot of work before it could be resold). I normally drove my Camaro, and my wife, Jema, drove the Prius. Well now we only had one vehicle, and my wife and I both are very busy during the day doing our running our own errands, I go to school, while my wife brings my 5 year old daughter to school and back every day, and takes care of our 1 1/2 month old boy, Colin, while I am helping people with computer problems during the day, so we both need vehicles. I decided that I've learned to like our Prius so much because of how much money it saves me on gas, so I went to look into buying another Prius. I needed to find one within three days; before I had to drive back to School in Gainesville Florida for the week (Leaving my wife and kids at home without a vehicle was something I couldn't do).  (I am working on my Network Security Administrator Certification using my GI Bill).

I've bought many things off eBay, and generally find myself satisfied with what I get. So I do an EBay search for Prius, and boom there it is  

      http://www.ebay.com/itm/60-MPG-FREE-SHIPPING-5-YR-WARRANTY-Hybrid-Low-Miles-MUST-SEE-/321490419379?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=crOhwWosPhlkVD2t3xtz6PcZvOU%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

A 2005 Toyota Prius with 86,650 miles, which comes with an extended 5 Year/100,000 mile power train warranty, and it looks like it’s in fantastic condition. No check engine lights or warning lights showing on the dash, and a very clean and well detailed car for $9,995.00 - Sounds and looks like a great deal right?  So I make the call: (844) 352-1444 and Mike answers. We start talking and I end up talking him down in price to $9.495.00 and that includes shipping the vehicle from Texas to my house in Georgia, and the 5 year/100k mile power train warranty, and no sales tax, but the stipulation is we don't go through eBay. All I was thinking about was saving money, so I accepted not to go through eBay. He asks me to put a down payment of between $500.00-$1,000.00 on my credit card. Then I will need to wire transfer him the remaining balance before the vehicle can be shipped. I did a cash advance on my credit card, so I could make the wire transfer, and get the vehicle for my wife ASAP. Well, my wife and kids ended up having to walk to school for the 1st few days of the week, and one day it rained on them during the walk back home. Fortunately my wife had a friend who let her borrow a vehicle after they got rained on, and that covered her until the Prius finally arrived on Saturday, August 23rd, 2014. 

First thing we noticed is that every single warning light in the vehicle is lit up like a Christmas tree. Next thing we learned was the vehicle cannot accelerate past 40mph. I called Mike, he seems to be very responsive with answering my phone calls, and notified him about the issues we are having. He suggested that we take the car to An Auto Parts store for a free diagnostic. It is a Toyota Prius, and I thought it might be a better idea to take it to a Toyota Dealership, who does free diagnostics, and are certified to work on my vehicle. This is when the nightmare begins...

The Toyota Dealership told me the conclusion of the diagnostic was that I needed a new hybrid battery, and quoted me a repair cost of $4,500.00 on that. They also notified me that I need a new catalytic converter, or my check engine light will never go away, and my vehicle won't be able to pass an emissions test, and that was an additional $1,900.00. I was thinking the vehicle would be under warranty, but neither the hybrid battery nor the catalytic converter is covered under the warranty that the company sold me, and that's when I begin to realize that I may have just been ripped off.

I called Mike back and updated him on the situation, and he offered to refund me $600.00, but in order for me to get that money, I would have to give up my 5 year 100k mile powertrain warranty. I thought that was a ridiculous proposal, and insisted that he should cover at least half of the cost of a new battery. I was getting very annoyed, so I called Another Toyota Dealership, and ended up getting offered a price of $3,000.00.  I then asked the original dealership if they would do it for $3,000.00, and they said yes. I couldn't believe that I had just talked them down $1,500.00 (They must overcharge a lot of people). I went ahead and charged the $3,000.00 to my credit card, and then called Mike back to ask him to help me again. 

Mike gave me his best offer of $300.00, which is 10% of the additional money I had to pay after the sale was finalized. I now have $12,495.00 into this vehicle, and I never even got to use the vehicle without check engine light on. As you can see in the pictures of the eBay link, he displayed the dash with no warning lights on, easily to do by resetting the battery. I informed mike that $300.00 was not enough, and if he cares about his customers, he should at least offer me $1,500.00 (half the amount I had just charged to my card). He would not budge from $300.00. I told him that I will be notifying the "Better Business Bureau" of my experience with him and Discovery Auto Enterprise, furthermore I will be notifying eBay of the actions he took to take advantage of them, and I will be leaving this review on every feedback sight I find of this business. He then retaliated by saying "Two can play that game", and telling me that he's gonna hurt my eEbay reputation as well. That was that, I didn't have the patience to talk to him any more.

 So here I am; taking the time to notify other's about his crafty antics. The Kelly bluebook on this vehicle is currently $5,500.00 trade in value, and here I am with $12,495.00 tied up in it. Also the front door speakers in the vehicle are blown, and the hubcaps are damaged. But I really don't care about that as long as it drives safely for my family's sake. At least the hybrid battery put some torque back in the vehicle; I'll just have to live with the annoying check engine light on, for quite a while until I can afford to pay the $1,900.00 to get the catalytic converter fixed.