I purchased my Jeep Sept 30th 2015 -- I had test driven several SUV's the week before, did a lot of research and arrived at the dealership with a list of things required in order for me to make the purchase. I had qualified for 0% interest at other dealerships and had an independent cash offer for the car I would be trading in. Among my list of requirements was 0% interest and a certain amount in mind that I needed to get for the trade- in. At the time I was debating between a [redacted] and a Jeep. I explained to the salesman that I was leaning towards the [redacted] since I had family who worked at [redacted] and would receive an additional discount because of this. At this time the salesman got up and went to speak to the Finance Manager who agreed to match the discount.. Fast forward to me sitting with the finance manager: lots of numbers were thrown around and a balloon payment was mentioned. I directly asked if the final price included " x plan pricing" ([redacted] discount plan) and was told yes. It sounded pretty good-- the final numbers sounded pretty good-- I liked the car -- I decided to make the purchase.
I left the Finance Office and was told to return in 2 hours to sign final paperwork and pick up the car -- when I came back they were insanely busy, I finally sat down to sign paperwork and noticed that the 0% financing I had agreed to had changed to almost 4%. I questioned this and was told that it was because of the balloon payment. I did NOT like this-- but thought there wasn't anything I could do about it. I finished signing papers, and drove off with the car.
The next day I sat down and looked the paperwork over again and noticed that not only did I not get 0% financing, I also did not get any type of discount, nor did I get what I said I needed for my trade-in.... I was pretty upset. I immediately contacted my salesman questioning whether or not I could return the vehicle, and returned to the dealership that weekend with my Dad. We sat down with the finance manager who claimed I never asked about "x-plan pricing" he didn't know what that was. “ We never discussed that.” He told me that he didn't like that I implied that he was a liar -- but it was more than OK to imply that about me apparently. I questioned the interest rate and was told "oh - well it was on the screen, you could have read it. I insisted that I wanted to cancel the sale and return the car immediately. I was told no - There was no such policy. We eventually left the dealership with a promise that we'd receive a call from a Manager later that day. I went home and looked up the website and found this: ( cannot insert a photo - typed word from word from an image found on their site - available upon request)
" We want you to love your vehicle. So we have put together some of the most complete guarantees on the market. Most vehicles ( all except value cars) come with a 3 day, 150 mile money back guarantee. ALL per-owned vehicles from West Herr come with a 30 day 1,000 mile exchange policy. So if you aren't completely satisfied with your vehicle, you can exchange it, no questions asked!"
Funny that this image no longer appears on their website - even funnier is that they told me that no such policy existed. Eventually the dealership did work with me ( or should I say my father as they completely stopped contacting me all together and anything I heard about the car came from him) They agreed to change the terms to 0% financing and wrote a check for my first payment in order to make up for not getting the trade-in value we agreed on. Still nothing about the "never heard of" x-plan pricing discount but I figured in the end, it just wasn't worth it.
A couple weeks later I needed to turn a document in to my old dealership stating the miles on my car at the time of trade-in in order to receive a refund on my unused warranty. Low and behold I did not have this document anywhere in my packet of papers. I was told this was something that West Herr legally needed to include when I traded in a vehicle. I went to West Herr Jeep requesting said paper. They couldn't produce it. Eventually I was given a document with the necessary information, but still wasn't what I was told I needed.
Now nearly 8 weeks later I'm having issues with my registration. On Nov 11th I went to the dealership questioning the status of my registration. I had a temporary registration that was due to expire on 11/14/15 and I had yet to receive anything in the mail. I was told the documents were at the DMV and that they would be mailed to me once the dealership received them. 12 days later I get a letter in the mail from my auto insurance company saying that the DMV could not find active auto insurance on my car. According to the DMV my car is not registered OR insured and I may be accruing daily fees. I realize this may not be the fault of the dealership-- but I question why it took 8 weeks for me to be notified of an issue. I contacted the insurance company immediately who ensured me that I had been covered from the day I drove off the lot. I placed yet another call to the dealership requesting that this be fixed immediately. It is now 9 hours later and I have yet to hear back...
This entire experience has been an absolute disaster. I accept full-blame for signing papers without closely reading every line, but in my defense I would have never anticipated a reputable company pulling something so low. I also would have expected a reputable company to stand up to the guarantees posted on their site, or to follow their core values ( also posted on their site) which are:
Integrity - we do what's right.
Excellence - we strive to be the best
Urgency - we serve people now
Empathy - we care
Respect - we treat each other right
Teamwork - we work together
I actually laughed as I typed that. If they cared about anything at all, I would have never been in this situation. The best advice I can offer to someone looking to purchase a vehicle is to avoid West Herr at all costs.
I purchased my Jeep Sept 30th 2015 -- I had test driven several SUV's the week before, did a lot of research and arrived at the dealership with a list of things required in order for me to make the purchase. I had qualified for 0% interest at other dealerships and had an independent cash offer for the car I would be trading in. Among my list of requirements was 0% interest and a certain amount in mind that I needed to get for the trade- in. At the time I was debating between a [redacted] and a Jeep. I explained to the salesman that I was leaning towards the [redacted] since I had family who worked at [redacted] and would receive an additional discount because of this. At this time the salesman got up and went to speak to the Finance Manager who agreed to match the discount.. Fast forward to me sitting with the finance manager: lots of numbers were thrown around and a balloon payment was mentioned. I directly asked if the final price included " x plan pricing" ([redacted] discount plan) and was told yes. It sounded pretty good-- the final numbers sounded pretty good-- I liked the car -- I decided to make the purchase.
I left the Finance Office and was told to return in 2 hours to sign final paperwork and pick up the car -- when I came back they were insanely busy, I finally sat down to sign paperwork and noticed that the 0% financing I had agreed to had changed to almost 4%. I questioned this and was told that it was because of the balloon payment. I did NOT like this-- but thought there wasn't anything I could do about it. I finished signing papers, and drove off with the car.
The next day I sat down and looked the paperwork over again and noticed that not only did I not get 0% financing, I also did not get any type of discount, nor did I get what I said I needed for my trade-in.... I was pretty upset. I immediately contacted my salesman questioning whether or not I could return the vehicle, and returned to the dealership that weekend with my Dad. We sat down with the finance manager who claimed I never asked about "x-plan pricing" he didn't know what that was. “ We never discussed that.” He told me that he didn't like that I implied that he was a liar -- but it was more than OK to imply that about me apparently. I questioned the interest rate and was told "oh - well it was on the screen, you could have read it. I insisted that I wanted to cancel the sale and return the car immediately. I was told no - There was no such policy. We eventually left the dealership with a promise that we'd receive a call from a Manager later that day. I went home and looked up the website and found this: ( cannot insert a photo - typed word from word from an image found on their site - available upon request)
" We want you to love your vehicle. So we have put together some of the most complete guarantees on the market. Most vehicles ( all except value cars) come with a 3 day, 150 mile money back guarantee. ALL per-owned vehicles from West Herr come with a 30 day 1,000 mile exchange policy. So if you aren't completely satisfied with your vehicle, you can exchange it, no questions asked!"
Funny that this image no longer appears on their website - even funnier is that they told me that no such policy existed. Eventually the dealership did work with me ( or should I say my father as they completely stopped contacting me all together and anything I heard about the car came from him) They agreed to change the terms to 0% financing and wrote a check for my first payment in order to make up for not getting the trade-in value we agreed on. Still nothing about the "never heard of" x-plan pricing discount but I figured in the end, it just wasn't worth it.
A couple weeks later I needed to turn a document in to my old dealership stating the miles on my car at the time of trade-in in order to receive a refund on my unused warranty. Low and behold I did not have this document anywhere in my packet of papers. I was told this was something that West Herr legally needed to include when I traded in a vehicle. I went to West Herr Jeep requesting said paper. They couldn't produce it. Eventually I was given a document with the necessary information, but still wasn't what I was told I needed.
Now nearly 8 weeks later I'm having issues with my registration. On Nov 11th I went to the dealership questioning the status of my registration. I had a temporary registration that was due to expire on 11/14/15 and I had yet to receive anything in the mail. I was told the documents were at the DMV and that they would be mailed to me once the dealership received them. 12 days later I get a letter in the mail from my auto insurance company saying that the DMV could not find active auto insurance on my car. According to the DMV my car is not registered OR insured and I may be accruing daily fees. I realize this may not be the fault of the dealership-- but I question why it took 8 weeks for me to be notified of an issue. I contacted the insurance company immediately who ensured me that I had been covered from the day I drove off the lot. I placed yet another call to the dealership requesting that this be fixed immediately. It is now 9 hours later and I have yet to hear back...
This entire experience has been an absolute disaster. I accept full-blame for signing papers without closely reading every line, but in my defense I would have never anticipated a reputable company pulling something so low. I also would have expected a reputable company to stand up to the guarantees posted on their site, or to follow their core values ( also posted on their site) which are:
Integrity - we do what's right.
Excellence - we strive to be the best
Urgency - we serve people now
Empathy - we care
Respect - we treat each other right
Teamwork - we work together
I actually laughed as I typed that. If they cared about anything at all, I would have never been in this situation. The best advice I can offer to someone looking to purchase a vehicle is to avoid West Herr at all costs.