Complaint Review: Jim Ellis Chevrolet - Atlanta Georgia

I bought a new 2004 modeal car from Jim Ellis Chevrolet this week. The dealership is located at 5785 Peachtree Ind Blvd. near the Brookhaven section of Atlanta.

While I love the car, I seriously regret doing business with this dealership, and here's why.

This car had been on the lot for some time and when I first approached them about it, they made it very clear they wanted to move it off the lot. They said the price was $20,000, which is very reasonable for the car new, and I was very interested.

I negotiated with the salesman and said I would take the car for $20,000 - *including* all taxes, fees, plus title and tags. They came back with a total price of $20,265 including all taxes, fees, title, and tags - which means I pay approximately $18,750 for the car plus fees. We also talked about my trade-in, and agreed on a price of $1,500 (it was recently damaged in an accident and they asked to take the car themselves instead of me getting repairs and then trading it in to them, which I initially told them was my intention).

So, a few days later, I come to pick up the car and pay. Due to my excitement and relative inexperience with buying a new vehicle, I forked over the check for $20,265 without thinking and drove away happy with a new car.

A few hours after arriving to work, I realized that they did not deduct the $1,500 trade-in cost from the total price. I called the dealership immediately and said it appears a mistake had been made, and the salesman tried to say that we agreed on a "$20,265 and out the door" price. That would make absolutely no sense since their original offer was $20,000, so that means I would have volunteered to pay $265 more for no reason and simply have the trade-in cover the taxes & tags cost I had negotiated to be included in the full price.

I was surprised at the salesman's attitude considering he seemed pretty honest during the process, especially considering I told him how satisfied I was, and was planning to buy a new car for my wife from him in about 1 1/2 years. So, I asked to speak to his manager.

The manager said I had two options: return the car and get my money back (not going to happen) or "live with it." The best part: he completely admitted that both his salesman and I were at fault for the misunderstanding! Yet he says they are under no obligation to give me anything back since I signed one of 16 forms put in front of me as I was leaving, which is legally correct but a horrible strategy for customer retention and satisfaction.

So, I agreed with him that both the salesman and I were at fault, and offered to settle for half the amount. He refused, and after I prodded him some more he said he'd speak to his head sales manager and get back to me first thing Thursday morning. It's Friday afternoon and as expected, they haven't called. They've permanently lost me as a customer (I really was planning on buying another car from them), and certainly made a business enemy in the community. They can be assured that this is not the only website or outlet I am reporting this incident to.

Now, I am following through on my promise to get the word out about Jim Ellis dealerships. They talk a good game but as demonstrated, they do not keep their word and will not work with you to find a solution to a legitimate misunderstanding. I took responsibility for not being thorough enough on my end, yet they won't extend the same courtesy despite admitting their mistake!

All they cared about was making some monthly sales goal instead of having a satisfied customer, who was openly planning to do business with them again and speak well of them in the Atlanta community. I'm no economics major - but that's not the sign of a good business enterprise.

Stay away from Jim Ellis Chevrolet.

Tom

Atlanta, Georgia
U.S.A.

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