Complaint Review: Vandergriff Honda - Arlington Texas

I first purchased a vehicle from Vandergriff Honda in August of 2003. As a first time buyer with little established credit, I understood when two days after driving off the lot w/ a Civic, the dealership called me to bring the car back in. They were not able to find a bank to finance the car, so they put me in a Mercury Cougar and told me that in a year I would have established enough credit to come back and buy the car I wanted.

A year and a half later, on January 05, 2005, I return with the Cougar to trade it in. That evening I signed a contract for and drove off the lot with a 2001 Civic. On January 19, 2005, I received a call from a sales rep at Vandergriff. He stated that the people in finance had found a way to lower my monthly payment and that it was imperative for me to drive 25 miles from my work to the dealership.

When I arrived I waited half an hour before anyone, including the sales rep, could tell me what was going on. As it turns out, they were having trouble financing the Civic. The sales rep proposed that I swap the Civic for a newer model Sunfire. I was outraged that they lied to me to get me there and then suggest that I leave with a car that I would never consider purchacing.

At that point I made it clear that I had no intention of taking the Sunfire. They told me they could put me in a 2004 Jetta. I looked at the car and test drove it. I told the sales person that I did not particularly like the car. He responded by telling me that it was either the Jetta or the Sunfire. When I asked him if I could just have the Corgar back so I could take my business elsewhere, he told me it had already been sold.

It was almost 10:00 pm, I was hungy and irritated, and they were pressuring me to go ahead with the Jetta. When all the papers were finally signed, the sales rep delivered the Jetta to me on empty with the fuel light on. I asked him to please put some gas in it, as i would be driving almost 20 miles home.

In the end, I drove home the Civic they were so adamant about getting back because the sales person used the wrong fuel. He delivered it to me the next day. It was then that I noticed defects in the paint that had been messily covered up with what looks like white out. The back door on the driver's side does not close all the way and let's in a lot of air. There are places on the ceiling where it looks crunched up. I am convinced it was in a wreck.

When I returned to the dealership on Saturday, the manager over the sales rep that sold me the car denied all responsibility and told me he was to busy to attend to me. Now I am stuck with a piece of crap that I really didn't want in the first place. I either have to give money out of my own pocket to repair the door or trade it in for something else and lose thousands of dollars.

I told the manager that it was wrong of them to ghetto rig cars and then sell them like they're new. He said that Vandergriff Honda does not conduct business that way and that they are "very reputable in the State of Texas." Judging from the number of Rip-off Reports against them, I would say they are VERY wrong.

Elexes

Dallas, Texas
U.S.A.