Buying My Saturn Vue Sucked
July 28th, 2004 by SamA letter to the General Manager of Flow Saturn of Greensboro. The letter was mailed on July 27, 2004. I await a reply…
Mr. Chris F. Wilson
General Manager – Saturn of Greensboro
1205 Bridford Parkway
Greensboro, NC 27407
Dear Mr. Wilson,
Thank you for your letter regarding my recent purchase of a Saturn Vue. I must say that I am quite pleased with the vehicle, especially since I had never even noticed one. However, I am less than pleased with the buying experience.
I have attempted to make this brief, but there is a story to tell. My partner, Greg Pretre, and I visited Flow Saturn on Monday, July 5. We were greeted by September Patterson and test-drove a Vue. Pleased with the vehicle, I informed Ms. Patterson of my requirements. She contacted my partner on Tuesday, informing him of a vehicle located in South Carolina that met my specifications. We both had Wednesday off for me to have a medical procedure done. I had to remain at home afterwards, but Greg went to Saturn to learn about the vehicle and discuss purchase details. After a few phone calls to me, we chose to purchase the vehicle. It was to be driven to Greensboro from South Carolina on Wednesday night and prepared for delivery to me on Thursday afternoon. The paperwork was to have been prepared and ready for us to sign by 4:00 Thursday afternoon.
We arrived at 4:50 PM and I informed your staff that I had an appointment and needed to leave no later than 5:30. The vehicle was not ready. It still required NC inspection. This was tolerable. The paperwork was not ready; less than tolerable. It had not even been started; intolerable. The man Greg had worked the trade-in and other numbers with was not there. The man we worked with on Thursday knew nothing of the deal and was unable to recreate the numbers of the previous day. This was egregious and stank of typical car sales. I asked if we needed to go ahead and leave and this man immediately became dramatically defensive, significantly lowering the already damaged trust I had in your company. Papers were shuffled and calls were made. I informed him that I did not like what was occurring and felt as though the confusion was a sales tactic. We had already placed the keys we had received when we arrived on our key rings and removed the trade-in keys, ready to give them to your representative. We had significant buy-in, to the point that it was our car. I told the numbers man I would stay until 5:40, but nothing was resolved. We returned the keys and left at 5:40. Before leaving, I informed September that she was losing this sale due to the poor closing and not due to anything she had or had not done. We were and are impressed with her honesty and desire to be of service.
While at our appointment, September left a message on Greg’s phone clarifying what had happened regarding the numbers. The payoff of the trade-in had been assumed at $3,000 less than it actually was. OK. That’s simply a mistake. They happen. However, had the paperwork been prepared for our visit, this would have already been discovered and we would (I hope) have been contacted. That would have been good customer service. While disappointed and probably irritated, I would have been understanding and amenable to working a new deal. Instead, our time was wasted and Saturn’s image was tarnished.
Greg contacted September on Friday and reworked the deal. The new deal accounted for the $3,000 and provided $1,500 toward it in vouchers. I found the offer to be generous and we chose to accept. While trust had been damaged, this was a great effort to convey Saturn’s desire to attain a new customer. We returned to Saturn on Friday afternoon and had a relatively pleasant experience, signing the paperwork and taking delivery of the vehicle. It was “relatively pleasant” because the paperwork was incorrect and had to be revised. The revisions were made because Greg owned the trade-in but the documents were created with me as the owner. We left in our new vehicle and were pleased with it.
Then I tried to load the CD changer and we couldn’t load a single disc. Greg called September and she asked that it be returned on Saturday for examination and repair/replacement. I did bring it in late Saturday morning. The service technician and I worked with it and a showroom model and determined it was defective. I left the technician, telling him I would be in the showroom and asked that he let me know what they were going to do and how long it would take. Fifteen minutes later, he came into the showroom and told me it was ready, that the unit had been replaced with a new one. Impressive!
However, during those fifteen minutes, I was asked to sign new paperwork on the loan. I was told that the lead-time was set at ninety days and should have been set to forty-four. I was told the change was because one finance company uses forty-four and another uses ninety. I reviewed that document; it was still GMAC financing. This had a shady feel to it, but I could not determine any detrimental changes, so I signed it.
After enjoying my new vehicle for several days, I received a call from Keith Comer about the outside bank check received as payment for my vehicle. I was informed it was too small a sum. After a few moments of confusion, I informed him I had financed through Saturn’s offerings and didn’t know what he was talking about. He then realized he was looking at the wrong purchase information. This was very disconcerting, but that ended readily enough. Then he informed me that I needed to return to Saturn once again to sign new loan papers. This time it was because GMAC forms were used the two previous times when another financing company’s forms were the correct ones. He offered me a tank of gas for my trouble. At first I said I would return that Friday or Saturday, as my schedule allowed. I called him back a few minutes later and retracted that statement, requesting the documents be mailed to me. He told me loan paperwork could not be mailed. I told him I found it interesting that my bank was able to mail me loan paperwork. He then said he would FedEx it. I also told Mr. Comer that this had been a less than pleasant buying experience. He told me it wasn’t supposed to be. He also suggested they should change their vacation schedules next year. I don’t know if it was his intention, but the remarks seemed rather flippant.
I received the third set of loan papers on Friday afternoon. I reviewed them against the other forms, noting one difference, though I’d be surprised if there weren’t several more. Of course, they weren’t easily compared because they were for SunTrust, not GMAC. So I was now financing through a completely different company than the one I had been led to believe on two previous sets of paperwork. Also, I was now financing through a company that has also given me poor service. One difference I noted was a possible penalty, up to $25, for early payoff. While that is tolerable, the principle is that I was misled. Whether intentionally or accidentally, I was misled. I signed the third set of loan papers and returned them via FedEx on the following Tuesday, July 20. To date, I have not received my copy of the paperwork.
This is my first Saturn and so far, I am quite pleased with the vehicle. The stereo problem was irritating, but it was handled very well. If I remain pleased with the vehicle, it is highly likely I will purchase another. However, in light of my experience with Flow Saturn of Greensboro, I will certainly give great consideration to using another dealer. I went into your dealership with an open mind and a willingness to trust. I knew nothing of Saturn so had no reason to distrust you. That trust has been badly damaged. I had heard of you being a different kind of car and a different kind of company. I didn’t experience the latter.
Your service center impressed me. I plan to take my vehicle there for servicing because of their action with the stereo and the convenience of the location. However, my experiences there will be, I imagine, lessened by the fact that I’ll probably cross paths with people involved in this transaction. I’d rather not even see them, let alone acknowledge them or be acknowledged by them.
This is, of course, still fresh on my mind and will subside with time. I would like to have a pleasant long-term relationship with your company. However, with the service I have thus far received, I wonder just how badly Flow Saturn of Greensboro wants that relationship.Sincerely,
Shannon A. Moore
