Complaint Review: Outten Chevrolet - Allentown Pennsylvania

By far the worst car experience of my life. I am not able to put this review on their main page because you receive an email stating if you have a problem and are not going to give them a good review, to contact them rather than place a review. I went through 2 managers there and got no where (problem not yet resolved to my expectations) so here goes.

I bought a trade in vehicle (Honda Odyssey) from them on a time crunch. Went on vacation 6 days after purchase when we started noticing issues with the vehicle including a worsening clanking noise with turning, the transmission slipping significantly between 20 and 40 mph and a grinding under my foot when the transmission was slipping (transmission issue started driving home from VA, clanking noise was ever so present at purchase, worsened daily). I called to schedule service while driving home from vacation and received significant attitude from the service manager who obviously cared nothing about my concern. Vehicle went into service at day 15 of purchase. They gave me a beautiful loaner, which I had for 6 days (best experience of this all). The service manager apologized for the attitude on the phone and questioned if I had purchased an extended warranty (which I had not been offered at time of purchase). They called the day after I dropped my vehicle off to say they would be taking my vehicle to the Honda dealer the following Tuesday (dropped off on a Thursday, they called on a Friday) for open recalls and that this may possibly fix the transmission issue. I was also informed that they didn't hear the clanking noise with turning nor did they feel the grinding I had felt under my foot. Seriously? I am not a car person and the clanking was extremely loud by this point- how can they not hear it!!?

I then heard nothing from them until I called to check on my vehicle that following week- 7/19. Apparently it went to Honda, they reprogrammed the transmission control module and changed the transmission fluid "and performed several other updates and recall." Upon pick up, I requested to speak to a manager in regards to why I hadn't been offered an extended warranty and after more waiting, was offered an extended warranty at an additional purchase price of $200 down and $80 a month on top of the monthly car payment. Manager had absolutely no care in regards to my complaints- and it showed. At this time I also signed paperwork AGAIN because apparently there was an error to the original paperwork (I was told that apparently this happens? I've never come across this before). I still have yet to purchase the extended warranty. I was provided no details as to what it would cover nor specifically how long I have to decide and come up with this money.

Fast forward to yesterday. I had scheduled an appt again because the car had started making a screeching sound when it started as if you were overturning the ignition (that resolved prior to yesterday?) and it was (and is) still making the clanking noise the trained auto technicians didn't hear. I took it in yesterday and showed a technician what noise I was referring to. Apparently the car needs both front strut mounts replaced which would also then need an alignment, which is NOT COVERED UNDER THE WARRANTY. I've owned the vehicle 32 days. I again requested to speak to the manager and this time got the general manager. He was very nice and joked as to why I needed a minivan (I have 4 children 4-11, all of whom were with me, as we waited 2 hours while they decided what was wrong with my vehicle). He decided since it wasn't a safety issue, he would match me on half the cost. HALF. They quoted it as a $700 repair. On a vehicle I have yet to make my 1st payment on. And he couldn't guarantee that in the near future, it wouldn't cause the vehicle to fail inspection. I am furious. The vehicle was purchased with this problem, it should be covered at full cost- regardless of warranty or not. The 3 month/3000 mile warranty is even still in place at this point but apparently struts are not covered?!

I would not recommend this dealership to anyone. I had the run around from the start and as said above, if it weren't for time crunch, I never would have went through with this purchase in the first place. They obviously don't care about customer satisfaction or the used vehicles they sell as the vehicle they sold to me had open recalls on it (isn't that illegal??). I will be taking this further until this is resolved. There were a few people I came across there that were very friendly but the majority truly could care less.