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Originally posted by RoninEclipse2GOriginally posted by LD25Delta9 Regardless of the economy, new car salesmen are greedy. They swim in the same pool as lawyers, man. Having sold cars at one point and having several friends that are currently car salespeople with verified souls, I take offense to this statement.
Yeah.....well, here's an update (its a long fucking letter. Cliff notes at the end). No car. Don't know when.
Need to know who you think I should send it to.
Here's the letter I wrote;
PREFACE
After the death of my mother-in-law, my wife came into a sum of money. She decided that she would buy a “sports car” with the money. She could never afford one before, but her mother and her had talked about it many times while her mom was alive. Hker mother, many times, said that she wished she had the money to buy Roseann (my wife) a sports car. So it seemed to be the appropriate use of the money.
So, after a bit of research and finding what she thought was the best looking car, she decided on the 2011Convertible Camaro
On 4/2/11 we (Mark Bullet and wife, Roseann Bullett) came to Partyka Chevrolet on 200 Skiff street in Hamden, CT and purchased a 2011 Camaro convertible (order number). We were referred to a specific salesman there (John Chillemi) by a good friend who had said he was a straight talking salesman that we could trust (I was not interested in doing the back and forth sales manager to salesman kind of game. I’m as straight forward as the come. I make deals based on my WORD. I don’t need contracts to hold me to my word. BUT, I also want it to be fair for both parties, so we didn’t want to haggle over cost; cash deal, give me a fair, honest price – without the "destination mark-ups" etc. "be up front with me and there'll be no discussion about knocking the price off on this or that) .
So the wife was obviously, very excited about her "cool" car!
THE DEAL
So, as I stated, this was a cash deal, with no haggle. Really straight forward (I would say this was considered an easy sale). All we had to do was sit down and discuss the options etc. of the car.
We met John and told him our position. I let him know that I was a straight shooter and as long as we didn’t get lies, then everything would go very smooth. It appeared at the onset, that he was being absolutely forthright. I appreciated that. We sat down and came up with a deal. We took a walk to look at other Camaro's on the lot so my wife could make decisions on what she wanted or didn't want. I could see her excitement building up as we got closer and closer to purchasing the car.
One of the important aspects of the purchase was how long before we would see the car. John said it would be a 6-8 week wait. Wow, ok, if it took that long, then fine it took that long. At least he was up front about it (point here of NEVER was there a question of whether or not it could be made, or was "available". Only that we would have to wait as much as 8 weeks).
So he had some papers drawn up (I would say many, heh heh) and he took us through every paper (again, I strongly appreciated that. No hiding, no funny stuff. Cool). At this point, for some reason (though I think I now know), he had to have someone else come down to finish the deal. This was the only negative about this day’s transaction. It seemed like we were now into Alec Baldwin from Glengarry Glen Ross territory. This person was the closer who was looking to push all the "dealer extra's" onto us. I let her know that I did not appreciate her answering my questions with "salestalk", instead of just answering my questions. Other than that, again, no talk about the possibility of the car not being "available" or being built. Just the 6-8 week wait.
Excellent. We put down a $3000 deposit (I felt that was fair) and left there with the wife being very happy and anxious to get her car. She was hoping for the 6 weeks but she was resigned to the possibility of 8 weeks. But at least she would get her convertible sports car for the summer and it would be a symbol/connection of something left to her from her Mom (whom we buried just a couple of weeks prior).
Again, NEVER, NEVER any question about availability.
THE WAIT
So we waited.
The next Monday or Tuesday ( 4/4 or 4/5, I didn"t save the e-mail because, well, I didn"t think I had to. But at any rate, it was soon after we put down the deposit) we received an e-mail from John stating that our car was ordered. Ok, Cool.
So, we waited.
At about 5 weeks (with ZERO contact from John or the dealership), my wife was getting antsy (like a kid waiting for a new toy from her Mom). She was asking me if I thought it was put together or not yet. I kind of chuckled and said it hasn’t been 6 weeks yet, but maybe you should contact John. My wife being the "concerned about bothering other people" person that she is, waited until the 6th week and had to contact John via e-mail (5/16/2011 again ZERO contact from the dealership. IF there was any problem, I would imagine that 6 weeks would be more than enough time to let us know).
He finally responded with this (we have saved these e-mails)." Hi Roseann,
i did check the status of your Camaro, It has been accepted and is in the #1 priority to be made on there list. There is one plant making them, but going by the list we saw on the pc, you should be made very soon . I will check weekly, and keep you updated. i am excited just like you, this is the way I would order a Camaro if i could.
Feel free to email or call me anytime, I will be happy to answer or address any questions or concerns you both may have, talk to you soon
Regards,
John"
Ok, accepted and number 1 priority on the list. Hmm, it seems its gonna be a little tough to hit the 8 week mark with it not being built yet. And why would he say "I will check weekly”? It's at the 6 week mark already. But maybe it only takes a day for them to pump it out. I really don't know, but it appears that John's not concerned (at least he stated no concerns to us), so....we wait.
At the 8 week mark, STILL no car and STILL no contact from the dealership. My wife again has to e-mail them asking about status (5/28/11 with saved e-mail). His response;
"Hi,
Sorry for the delay, we have been very busy here. Your camaro is still on priority #1. That means it is ready to be built, but waiting in line to be called. they must have alot of orders because GM's were in and asked if this order was a solid deal. Lee Partyka said yes and the gm called and said to produce the vehicle asap.
I will let you know everything as I am told it. Can't wait to see it!
Regards,
John Chillemi"
"Priority number 1, but waiting in line ready to be built" huh (we would find out later that this was not true). 8 weeks and this is the response that we get? And we are forced to contact him to get this information out of him?
Nope, something is "salesman" fishy and now I'm forced to spend my time and stop in there in person. In addition my wife is starting to get irritated on a transaction that will represent something her mother left her. Wonderful (sarcasm).
FINDING THE TRUTH
The next Wednesday (6/1/11), I get out of work a little early to go talk to John at the dealership. When I get there I find out that he is out that day, so I ask for the manager. I'm then introduced to Pat Ferraillo ("The General Salesman" I was told by him) for Partyka).
We sit down and he listens to my story. He can't speak for John, but "let's see what we can do" and he goes back to pull my file. When he comes back I get the "let's forget about what has happened and move on from here." So we discuss what "acceptance" means (among other things) and he says that GM has "accepted" our car, but he has "no idea" when it will be built.
Wait a moment here. I'm spending $40,000 on a car that I ordered over 8 weeks ago (in plenty of time to enjoy for the summer). I was told it would be here in 6-8 weeks. I was never contacted to the contrary, I am forced to make all contact and now you are telling me you have no idea when this car will be built? This seems to be way out of line.
Around this point, Mr Ferraillo does point out (in lawyer like fashion) on the piece of paper that my wife and I signed, there is a note that's typed in there stating "Based on avail/price based on msrp" so we really don't have to tell you when it will be ready.
Yeah, this is when I was officially upset. There is little doubt that I am getting the "salesman run around" here. All appearances would be to just get me to head back out the door. Now, you're going to play semantic/lawyer word games with me? I know the conversations I had. I know the E-mails that I have. I know there was NEVER, EVER a question of availability. "ACCEPTED NUMBER ONE PRIORITY ON THE LIST" or "YOUR CAMARO IS STILL ON PRIORITY #1. THAT MEANS IT IS READY TO BE BUILT, BUT WAITING IN LINE TO BE CALLED". Please tell me how I get "unavailable" out of that!
Ok, I calm down a bit and decide if it's a case of GM screwing up (as they are blaming it on GM. As Mr Ferraillo states "We are in the same boat" they can do nothing as well), then let me help. Give the acceptance info and maybe a GM number to call and I'll do some contacting myself.
At this point he says just a minute and returns a few minutes later asking me to come in back with him (it seems he has no real "GM acceptance" on paper). I'm now being taken to Joe Gallagi JR's office. He's General Manager of Partyka.
I sit down and tell him a quick overview of the situation and say I'd like the acceptance etc. information so that I can help make this happen. Well, as we talk and try to get info, I find out that there is not actually any "GM acceptance" and the only thing that they can find is the event history of my "preliminary order" being accepted by Partyka on 4/5/11 a few days after I came in (not being in the business, I'm finding the proper terminology hard to understand. But I would find out later that having the order "pulled" is the most important thing).
So Mr Gallagi tells me he is calling Jim Billing, his salesman from GM (the GM salesman for Partyka). In conversation with Mr Billing and Mr Galachi (we were on speaker phone), it appears that the order is basically sitting there doing nothing (keep in mind that Partyka is blaming this all on GM. Partyka has done all that they could). It is not pulled or accepted or anything. The only movement that I picked up on it (again trying to understand the terminology as the conversation continued), was a week prior there was some sort of "call for all orders" and that's when my order went to GM (I think).
At this point, Mr Billing says he wants to check a few more things and he'll get back to Mr Gallagi to verify where the car sits. We hang up on Mr Billings and discuss some possible scenarios on what is going to happen (as far as WHEN I could see a car). In the best case scenario (which at this point seems more and more unlikely and maybe even unwanted by my wife now), would be that we would see our 2011 in the middle of July! Yeah, do the math on April 2nd to middle of July. A good three and ½ months.
Or I could choose to get a 2012 for price match, but its up in the air when that would even be.
After I left Mr.Gallagi's office, it was agreed that he would contact me and keep me updated (as well as check out to see if there were any cars near our criteria that he may work a deal on. There were none). To that accord, he has kept in contact. Unfortunately, time goes on and the information stays the same; he has no new information.
With all the layers built into this system, I'm not absolutely positive who I should be sending this to, so I will be sending it out to various different people/positions. I apologize if it reaches your desk and does not concern you. I would really appreciate if you could just drop me a note saying such and possibly passing it on to the proper desk. For those that it does concern. I would appreciate a reply of some sort as well as, a possible explanation. Keep in mind, I honestly don’t know if Mr Gallagi is talking to his next door neighbor when he says he’s talking to Jim Billing. The dishonestly and deception leaves me very skeptical. Its just hard to believe that there is no known time of build when you pay for a car. The whole "nobody knows when" story is just........"fishy".
What could make up for all this baloney? Honestly? Give me a 2012 SS Camaro Convertible and you can keep my $3000 deposit.
I say that tongue in cheek but with some truth slated in. This is a time/emotion situation. The car was bought for driving it around in the summer. It represents the bond of my wife with her mother. This car was meant as some comfort to my wife. Every time she will get in that car, she will think fondly of her mother. I guarantee you, every time. How are you going to put a price on that?
In addition, we bought this car knowing we would have plenty of time to drive it around this summer. If we get the car in as late as September, we have virtually no time to enjoy the drop down experience.
As the old saying goes, you can't buy back time.
Sincerely,
Mark and Roseann Bullett
"Cliff notes";
On 4/2/11 we (Mark Bullet and wife, Roseann Bullett) came to Partyka Chevrolet on 200 Skiff street in Hamden, CT and purchased a 2011 Camaro convertible (order number). From John Chillemi on good reference. We were assured that it would be 6-8 weeks for the car to arrive. It will be much longer than that (we are on our 10th week), with little contact in the first 8 weeks from the original salesman (all contact initiated by us). Never were we lead to believe there was a problem. It took a face to face with the General manager to find out that they have NO idea when the car will be built, if it will be built. Partyka is blaming this all on GM.
I would strongly advise you to read through my 6 page description of events, so you can get an idea of how frustrating this situation is and why we are so upset about it.
Contacts;
E-mail: mbullett@comcast.net
Cel Phone:
Home phone:
Roseann’s cel phone:
Mark Bullett
Captain Caveman
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