I just wanted to pass on my experience to everyone in hopes that the same thing doesnt happen to you with this dealer. This experience happened at Corvette Palace in Austin Texas.
I had been corresponding with this place for about a week about 2 03' Z06's they had for sale. Got car faxes, spoke to them on the phone, even called last night to verify the car was still available cause it's a 2 hour drive for me. I had looked at some cars prior to this trip and was disappointed so I wanted to make sure the car was what they said it was "before" I made the trip.
I was really interested in this 03 QS/black Z. 8800 miles. Looked at all the pics and the car looked great. I also wanted a stock Z, no mods. I told the woman on the phone that I was a serious buyer with a blank check and I was ready to buy the car on the spot. I wanted to know about the car and if there was anything wrong with it mechanically, or if anything was needed. She assured me it was flawless.
Make the 2 hour trip, she shows me to the car, and the first thing I notice was the LF brake rotor was grooved bad in several places. Walked around to the RF, same way, bad. My first thought was, could I have these turned, and looked again to see that even if turned they would still have grooves. Took a look at the rears and they were'nt as bad but one had a deep gouge and several smaller ones. I was a tad pissed cause she wasnt honest and plus I just drove 2 hours for nothing. I said "Nevermind, all 4 rotors need replacing." She snapped back "Fine with me you dont have to buy the car". Nice attitude for the owner of the company I found out. I said "C'mere and look at these rotors, you dont think that classifies as "needing attention"? Her reply was "Look around in this showroom, Almost all these Corvettes have grooves in the rotors, that's perfectly normal."
I looked at a black 03 Z, rotors were smooth. I went to a 02 vert, rotors were smooth. Besides, I have had plently of Corvettes and have built several street rods from the ground up and I knew better. I said "I would have appreicted a little more honesty from you on the phone" She said "The rotors needing attention is your opinion, I personally drove this car and it drives fine". That wasnt in question, the problem was the rotors needed replaced and her attitude towards a customer with money ready to buy was extremely bad. I told her that her attitude sucked. She said "What do you expect when you come in here and attack my car". Lady, I was stating a fact that anyone with any kind of experience with cars could plainly see.
What a waste of time for me. Even if I would have found something else I liked there I couldnt bring myself to give that woman my money. I hope this helps anyone who might be doing business with her in the future. Just be careful.
Hey Bro, sorry for your bad experience. If it was flawless, it wouldn't need new rotors at 8,800 miles unless it had been tracked or something worse. Wonder how she stays in business with that "attitude". :mad: Good luck with your search...you'll find the right one.
I went there to look at an 02 with 25K miles before I bought my 03.
I wanted to trade my pristine 2002 TA but he gave me some BS offer, basically wasting my time to drive down there.
Ended up going to McKinney and getting an 03 with 16K miles for a couple of thousand more but they gave me $4,000 more than he offered for my TA.
Hey Bro, sorry for your bad experience. If it was flawless, it wouldn't need new rotors at 8,800 miles unless it had been tracked or something worse. Wonder how she stays in business with that "attitude". :mad: Good luck with your search...you'll find the right one.
Bob
I cant prove this but I highly doubt that the 8800 miles are correct. I can swallow the 4 hour round trip cause that's part of the search. But her attutide was so bad I was just floored at that. She knew I had check in hand ready to buy too. Some people just dont understand customer appreciation.
Wow, I had a completely different experience with the same dealership and people. William and Shannon were both great to deal with when I purchased my car.
I did get a little lower value for my camaro when I traded it in (similar to pat03z06's experience) but I was in the office as William countered someone else's offer and said "you're being cheap" and got another $800 for my car.
The passenger side front tire had a bubble in the tire, either a manufacturer defect or from someone hitting a curb (the wheel however was in perfect condition). THEY pointed this out to me (I would've noticed it anyway) and OFFERED to replace the tire for me for free. I obviously agreed and the tire showed up at the local Discount Tire a few days later, and they paid to have it mounted/balanced for me.
It's unfortunate that you had a less than pleasant experience with them as I've had nothing but good experiences in all my dealings.
On a related note, if you do find a car in another city, perhaps one of the helpful people on this great site would be able to view the car for you prior to you wasting your time to drive there and back. I know I had an independant third party inspect a vehicle in Florida before I decided against buying it.
Woah my mistake it wasn't Corvette Palace it was another Corvette dealer. My apologies to Corvette Palace. I had to go check on yahoo maps just now and yup I was wrong.
Wow, I had a completely different experience with the same dealership and people. William and Shannon were both great to deal with when I purchased my car.
I did get a little lower value for my camaro when I traded it in (similar to pat03z06's experience) but I was in the office as William countered someone else's offer and said "you're being cheap" and got another $800 for my car.
The passenger side front tire had a bubble in the tire, either a manufacturer defect or from someone hitting a curb (the wheel however was in perfect condition). THEY pointed this out to me (I would've noticed it anyway) and OFFERED to replace the tire for me for free. I obviously agreed and the tire showed up at the local Discount Tire a few days later, and they paid to have it mounted/balanced for me.
It's unfortunate that you had a less than pleasant experience with them as I've had nothing but good experiences in all my dealings.
On a related note, if you do find a car in another city, perhaps one of the helpful people on this great site would be able to view the car for you prior to you wasting your time to drive there and back. I know I had an independant third party inspect a vehicle in Florida before I decided against buying it.
Sorry for the long post....
I only delt with Shannon. She didnt one time offer to make the car right because she didnt believe there was a problem with the rotors. The fact of the matter is, that car I was looking at was tracked very hard. All 4 rotors needed replaced or were going to need to be replaced fast. The thing that pissed me off more than anything was she told me over the phone the car was flawless and needed nothing. I guess she doesnt know what a bad rotor looks like. But for her to be the owner of a Corvette shop she should. Her attitude was because she knew I was a serious buyer and she knew when I mentioned the bad rotors I wasnt buying anymore. So her attitude turned nasty. Bad customer service!! I hope she realizes that word of mouth is the best advertising, and visa versa.
Quote:
On a related note, if you do find a car in another city, perhaps one of the helpful people on this great site would be able to view the car for you prior to you wasting your time to drive there and back. I know I had an independant third party inspect a vehicle in Florida before I decided against buying it.
Walked into Corvette Palace last week...put down a deposit, then cancelled it one day later...this is long so get ready.
Im representing my girlfirend's family and shes getting a 03-04 ZO6. Her parents are on vacation and asked me to make the deal. So her and I went to Corv. Palace ready to buy an EB 03 ZO6
First off we (g/f and I) wanted to put a rather nice deposit on the car and come back and pick it up about 2 weeks from that day, plenty of time to get all paper work together and let them detail the car. The owner/salesman was a jerk off to us. Told us he couldnt hold a car for that long simply b/c he could have sold it in that amount of time.
Then when we told him that her parents were out of the country on a long vacation and couldn't send him all of the money right then, so he replied with "well I just sent my buddy $100K in Vegas so they could send the money if the really wanted to." Ok butthole who are you to tell a customer what they can and can not do ...whatever none the less we phoned her parents and they told us to write a check.
Then we let him look over her high miles 98 C5 on trade in, on this he gave a ok trade in value and her family said just take fair market value if you can get it...done. When we go back inside to fill out paperwork he won't budge a nickel off of the $40,995 asking price for the 03 Z06 EB 9k mile car. When I ask him why his repsonse is and I quote "b/c I dont have to, I dont have to sell that car for any less. It will bring that so if I dont sell it to you then someone else will buy it, take it or leave it." What a jerk, his up-tight wife, who is doing all the typing, never even made eye contact with us the whole time. Even after we make a direct statement to her she will not even look at us harldy.
I asked my g/f right then if this is what she wanted, her being passive she said yes. So then I say ok well lets testdrive the car and hes says "oh well..uh, we dont let testdrives until the paperwork is complete, we cant just let anyone testdrive these cars." I ask him so how the hell are we supposed to know if the car is good and he says "hey buddy, I have 3 million dollars worth of inventory here and a Mercedes dealership, I only sell high quality stuff."
So they test drive the car, get back and I really look it over for the 3rd time. There is some rock chips (expected) a tear in the drivers seat (not expected) and the door sill plate is peeling up (not sure) other than that car is fine. When I pointed out the door sill he said and this is the last straw..."hey well I told you three times that I would detail the car ok, so why dont you let me do my job and then anaylize the car, if you can find anyhting wrong with then then let me know. Becuase until then we are just wasting time."
At this point I alomost got up and punched him in the mouth. For those who have met the A-Hole he is small (can we say Napolean's complex) and maybe b/c Im 6'5 he felt like pissing on me.
In the end we leave and Im so pissed that my neck muscles hurt. I get on the phone will all the corvette dealers/traders in the us the next day and she calls back and cancells her deposit. :bmad:
Im not what the hell he was thinking, maybe that we werent qualified buyers or what. I was in jeans and a golf shirt, she was in a skirt and nice shirt. Never judge a book buy its cover. Not to boast or brag but this girl has millionare parents, who are NOT silver spooned. They worked for evey penny they have, and are not stupid nor tolerant of arrogance...neither am I. So whatever it means to Mr. Corvette Palace he just lost a potential cash sale because his attitude sucked.
I will be calling him today or tomorrow and explainng to him about customer service and the lack there of...
If this is the treatment you want then do not buy from Corvetter Palace. Buying a vette should be a fun experience, not a pain in the a**.
Thanks For Reading, pardon mistakes
Blake
CS, TX
Last edited by bluesteel09 : 05-09-2005 at 09:02 AM.
If it will make you feel better call him. IMO I wouldn't waste my time. You spent at twice as long as I would have trying to deal with him. To many Vettes on the market to be dealing with jerks.
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Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience.
I don't put up with salesmans attitudes,I just get up and walk out.They don't like it when you cause a scene and disturb the other customers I have met so many Jacka--es and they all lie.The worst part is they believe thier own lies.
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CCW 18,19 chrome Z06 rims,Yokohama tires,ceramic pads,MA partition,shorty antenea,CAGS defeat,harness bar w/camera mount,saving up for LG long tube headers.
Just when you think they can't get any stupider,they keep talking.
Just because someone owns a car dealership, doesn't mean they know how to run one, or any business for that matter. You can only bet they they don't sell many. I personally would have told em "CYA!" With an F word on the end.
Just for the hell of it I did call him and guess what...he was rude once again...but in the end he was pissed which was all that I wanted.
I did it on principal. He must have interruped me at least three times until I just harped on him to shut his mouth and listen.
One good funny note...He did ask me what Ive done in my life b/c he has worked to get to where he is at today. I told him his salesmanship skills were "lacking" along with the fact that he was rude and arrogant, so he called me arrogant right back. He also responded with "I'm the owner here, not a salesman." The cream of the cake was when I told him "hey William no matter if your selling honda's or vettes you still sell car's, thats your job right?" Not putting down salesmen here, just this one.
Sometimes in life you have to speak your mind, and this was just one of those times!
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I have met so many Jacka--es and they all lie.The worst part is they believe thier own lies.
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