I am facing a problem with my dealer because I left a negative review on my sales manager.
I recently leased a car from a dealer in Virginia. I’m living in Florida.
During the process, my sales manager didn’t update my application in time. My application took over a week to get approved but at the very beginning, I’ve already signed all the documents and paid the out-of-pocket.
I was in urgent need of a new car since I’ve sold my previous one. Because the sales manager can not get back to me in time, literally very irresponsible… I had to send 2 emails to request an update. But no update from him at all until waiting in a black box for almost a week and received approval.
I was so mad at him, so when I received the experience survey, I left a negative comment to the sales manager with his name and unprofessionalism.
Today, I received this manager’s call. He told me that because I think he is irresponsible. He refuses to offer me service anymore. And my car has not been registered, he told me that he will not help register my car and I have to register myself. But when we discuss the lease, government fee is included in the lease. Besides, I don’t know if he holds any document which may be necessary for my registration.
I am so pissed off… They are not doing their job well and customers cannot leave true comments??
Is there anything I can do to make sure I can register my car? Does anyone have any idea what should I do to deal with this dealer?
Things become complicated out of state. I probably would have waited til you got everything you needed from the dealer before leaving a negative review.
If it is a new car, you can try requesting help from the manufacturer or maybe the general manager of the dealership but regardless you just made your life more complicated.
Doing something like this greatly affects the salesperson/manager’s compensation. They could be losing a lot of money because of this. If I had to guess, a VA dealer doesn’t deal with FL DMV often, so it was probably taking a bit longer for them to figure it out. That being said…they’re probably more pissed than you are.
You’ve already done your worst by giving them a negative survey…you’re probably on your own. I doubt the manufacturer can make them doing anything at this point, it’s a DMV issue and the dealer told you to handle it yourself.
To be clear, I’m not defending the dealer, but good communication is key in any relationship; something that appears to have been lacking on both sides. If this was so urgent, why would you request an update through email? Why not call or text?
Call the leasing company tomorrow to get a power of attorney to register the car, and see what else your DMV requires (probably the signed buyer’s order)? You’re going to have a tough time doing this yourself, start doing your research.
I generally find that if two emails go unanswered, a polite phone call usually gets immediate results.
I have close to 2,000 emails in my work inbox now. Hundreds of these messages will get chewed up by my employer’s retention policy before I even see what’s in them.
Granted, these aren’t messages about a consumer transaction with a short lifecycle, but I am always grateful when people don’t assume that I’m a turd (however correct) and pick up the phone, and they leave the conversation happy (or at least content).
I see something bigger here, personally. It is illegal for a dealer to collect more gov fees than they pay out. So if they refuse to register the car, but they collected that money, they are acting illegally. Also, the bank is the one who paid them that money AND the bank requires you to have the car registered. Lastly, the sales person has nothing to do with getting the car registered. They aren’t running to the DMV. Call the finance manager. That’s the person who has the most at stake for all the reasons above. If he/she gives you a hard time, politely point out the overcharge of gov fees and how it seems like they need to rewrite the contract to remove those fees if they want you to do it yourself. If that doesn’t work, call the bank. THEY will then call the finance manager, most likely. And that is not a call finance wants to get.
One of the reasons I mentioned making a phone call is that some of the written info in the first post is unclear and potentially contradictory, and that may be how the emails were perceived if similarly phrased.
I’m not sure I understand the underlying issue at this point.
I sent an email first thing yesterday thanking one of my teams for staying up all night to pull off a miracle, but I concluded by saying “thank you for the big with.”
It was actually a big win.
Feeling like a complete a-hole, I called everyone individually.
Amazing people deserve more than a ham-handed email that I didn’t bother spending more than 4 seconds writing, but such is the nature of the medium.
Take your medicine and do this. You screwed up leaving negative feedback before deal was done and the dealer is making your life miserable.
Sure what the dealer is doing is probably illegal but being out of state you are in no position to enforce your rights absent spending thousands (maybe tens of thousands) on a lawyer.
I wrote 2 emails everyday to the sale manager and made 10 calls everyday to everyone involved in my case and even front desk trying to get any update…
I just don’t understand, why it’s so difficult to just let me know the progress of the process. I’m not asking they have to update me immediately, but at least if I’m asking a question, give some response…
I’m sorry I didn’t make it very clear. Last night when I wrote this thread, I was in shock after receiving the call… I called the sales manager directly many times every day… No response at all… After trying this, I called the front desk and even my broker to help me ask the sales manager to call me back. However, even though my broker got back to me that the sales manager would give me a call very soon, after waiting for another 24 hrs, there’s nothing.
I have to say my broker is responsive and responsible. This is the third card I leased from him. I’ve already contacted him and he told me that this is unacceptable and he will have a talk with the dealer. I wish things could get better.
I appreciate your suggestion. Good communication is the key to building friendly relationships. If you are in my shoes, you probably will see how difficult to build a connection with such a salesperson.
Thanks so much sir, I’m trying to work it out myself… The other problem is that my $500 government fee is included in my monthly payments, the salesman told me they will not pay that for me… and I checked the documents, there are no notes for that fee…
