***** WARNING! CONSUMER BEWARE *****
I FELT LIKE I WAS IN A SLAUGHTER HOUSE, MOVING DOWN THE CONVEYOR BELT (The drive, the sales rep, manager, financing, sales manager again etc)...each had a dialed in "PITCH" to take another STAB at me. Hoping I would overlook the hidden fee's, or sneaky credit apps they tried to slip in. The only thing I could compare it to, is a dirty slaughter house that left you with no other choice but to
take a shower when you got home! Unless you don't mind being butchered...I would
recommend you try a different dealership!
DirtBagCarDealers.com DOES NOT recommend Raceway Nissan of Riverside California.
Hello everyone! Wow, I never thought I would have such a pathetic experience buying a car than I recently had with David Pedder's Raceway Nissan of Riverside. I WILL SOON be posting a detailed video on this website that explains step by step what happened to me and how you can protect yourself from being scammed BY CAR DEALERSHIPS like this one!
Here is what happened to me:
May 13th 2013:
We needed a new family car and I located a "2011 Ford Escape" on Auto Trader that was being sold by Raceway Nissan. I Contacted Raceway Nissan using the chat feature associated with their website. I Spoke to a very friendly representative and asked specifically if they accept "RoadLoans" a financing company that I was pre-approved with. I explained I had my own financing and was not interested in any other financing. She checked with management and then returned to chat and confirmed that they did accept road loans. I explained I lived almost two hours from their dealership and I had to be 100% sure they would accept my pre-approved Road Loans financing. She checked again and came back and said they do. I wanted to confirm this 100% before driving 2 hours, so I contacted Robert Traver at the dealership and spoke to him and he assured me they take roadloans and assured me we could do the deal on the vehicle and it would take only a couple of hours and he would work hard to get me taken care of quickly. I scheduled to meet with him the following day.
Arrived at dealership, and was handed off to a sales rep vs. Robert. (I assume standard procedures) I inspected the car, the sales rep was nice and told me he knew nothing about the car. He said he could show me the car fax but that he had no knowledge of it's history, condition etc. He said he sells Nissans and not Fords. I thought it was odd that a sales rep knew nothing of the car he was selling. We drove around the block and then I told him, I would take it at full sticker price. (YES FOLKS - I PAID FULL STICKER PRICE)
We then went into his office and begin the process that takes about 5 hours. This process involved him telling me that regardless of me having my own finance "HE WAS REQUIRED TO PROCESS THE APP AND SHOP THE LENDING" I explained to him I was not interested in other lending options. He then said "WE STILL NEED THIS INFORMATION TO PROCESS THE SALE" he then started entering it into his computer. (What I was not aware of until later, was that he was completing a credit app). I explained to him over and over that I had financing and I was not interested. I became so frustrated that I was about to walk out of the dealership when they said fine...we can do it with Roadloans.
They then said that they would need my W2's, proof of emplyment etc. I thought this was strange being that I was already approved with RoadLoans and provided all my required information to them previously. We completed the paperwork then I was presented with a break down of fee's. He handed me off to the finance manger "Osmond" to discuss the fee's etc. When reviewing the fee's associated with the loan I noticed a fee for "Accessories" for over $1300. I asked what these fees were and he said that I wanted to have some type of special air in my tires. I told him "no thanks" normal air is fine..He then said, that he cannot do the loan unless we pay the fee. I told him I will walk then and pass on the car. He said..."wait let me talk to my manager". He came back and removed the fee.
He then said "Why are you going with Roadloans, I can get you a better rate" I told him, I am not interested. He pushed very hard for me to change financing. After a long drawn out discussion (almost argument), we signed the agreements and I was given the keys to the car.
3 days went by and we detailed the car, had it serviced, paid for insurance and various other expenses put into it. I then received a call from the dealer, thanking me for the business. I thought that was nice.
Then out of the blue...
I received a message on my phone from Lee Malcom where he basically said (I have it recorded and saved)...either you switch financing or bring the car back.
I called Lee Malcom the following morning and we spoke for several minutes. During the call he explained that they had an additional fee on the car that had to be paid for $720 and that Raceway Nissan was not going to pay this fee. This was a fee that Roadloans charges them based on a contract they have with roadloans. Previous to this Roadloans explained to me that based on their contract with the dealer they could not pass this fee onto the buyer. They said they charge a fee to the dealer and that fee is between them and the dealer and not the buyer. I explained this to him. He then became very aggressive on the phone and would not let me get a word in. Finally I had to ask him to please stop talking over me. Raceway Nissan should not let this guy talk to any person on the phone without sending him back to communications school. He hung up on me when I told him to stop talking over me.Keep in mind we already contracted the sale of the vehicle and I had been driving it for 3 days. I paid full price for the vehicle and did not negotiate off the sticker price. I was also pre-approved with my own financing that Raceway Nissan assured me they would take. I could have asked for money off the car but I knew they had to make some spread to help offset the $720 finance fee roadloans charges them, so I did not ask for a penny off the sticker price. Would they have sold me the car for $500 less than sticker..sure they probably would have. So in all fairness this would have been a hit of about $220 to the dealer. WOW...LEE MALCOM, GOOD JOB THERE...WAY TO PROTECT THE DEALER and save it $220.
The next day, I called to speak with the General Manager (Mike Harrington) and was told he was not in that day. I spoke to Ron Combado, sales manager (THE ONLY PERSON AT THE DEALERSHIP THAT IS WORTH A DARN) who skillfully calmed my nerves, expressed a concern for my situation and told me that he spoke with ROADLOANS as well as his management on Tuesday and told them that "THEY COULD NOT CHARGE ME THE FEE" and that the dealer would have to cover the fee. I explained to him that Lee told me that if I did not change financing that I would have to return the car and that the dealer was not going to eat the fee for the loan. He said it was not legal for them to threaten me to return the car if I do not want to change financing and was pre-approved. Please keep in mind the dealer agreed to my choice of financing before, during and after I drove off their lot. It was only days later that they changed their minds. Ron told me to "KEEP THE CAR, EVERYTHING IS FINE. IT IS YOUR CAR. THE DEALER IS EATING THE FEE."
I have to compliment Ron, he is a rare type of individual and this dealership should be thankful for having someone like him on staff. 14 Days later when I was forced to return the car, he called me and left me a message and wished me the best of luck. I was amazed that the one guy that had nothing to do with my transaction was the one that reached out to help save the deal. I never received a call form the General Manager (MIKE) with any indication he cared if the deal happened or not. As a matter of fact when he actually called me he said it was his JOB to PROTECT the dealership. WOW! I would think his JOB is to produce happy customers that refer friends and family to HIS dealership, enforcing the relationship between community and dealer. He is doing a fine job PROTECTING his dealership.
The next day I received a certified letter in the mail telling me to return the car. I tried to call Ron back and he would not return my calls. I then called Osmond and he said "Ron told you what? He is not the General Manager...He is not right". He then said let me look into it and call you back. He never called me back. I called again and left a message. He never called me back. I tried for a couple more days.
I then received an email from Melanie St.Louis with a request to sign a form that was missed from Roadloans. Keep in mind this was after I received the certified letter from Raceway telling me to return the car. I thought "great..looks like they are finally going to finish this". I was hopeful.
I was shocked to find in the email that they sent the original credit app that I refused to sign. They slipped it in, in hopes that I would sign it. During some of the conversations I had with them, they told me they had me approved with Capital One and Wells Fargo. I thought that is strange how can they say they have me approved if I have never applied with them. I am investigating if they tried to get me financing without my approval using the data on the app or if they shared my personal confidential information with any third parties without my approval. If this is the case, I am sure they broke several laws related to sharing or sending my personal confidential information. I am checking my credit report today to see if any inquiries were made.
I sent an email to Melanie and asked her "why she sent such confidential information via unsecured email" and she said "Mr. Ezinwa handed me the documents and asked me to scan and send them to you, I know nothing about your deal or what needs to be signed, if you have any questions please contact Mr. Ezinwa."
I then decided enough is enough and I called the General Manager (Mike Harrington) and was told he was in a meeting. The lady who answered the phone asked if I would like his VM. I said yes, she then transferred me to his extension and to my surprise Mike Harrington answered the phone. The call started in a professional manner and then quickly changed to a brutal attack on me, he said that I was not being cooperative with their financing options and if I was not going to change financing "JUST BRING HIS CAR BACK" what an ego..he actually thinks the cars on the lot are his...I am sure the owner of RACEWAY NISSAN just loves competing with this guy for ownership.
I told him, I could not believe he was calling me 14 days later asking for the car back. He said there was no way on earth he was going to eat the fee so just return (HIS) car.
Today, I am returning the car, launching an online campaign to educate the community about this dealership. I am also filing a formal complaint with the DMV as well as filing a lawsuit against those involved with this transaction.
CONSIDER A FEW POINTS:
- I was the golden buyer.
- I walked into the dealership pre-approved with my own financing. I called ahead and spoke to 2 individuals about my choice of financing (THEY HAD FULL KNOWLEDGE BEFORE WE EVER WALKED ON THE LOT WHO I WANTED TO USE...they also agreed to this.)
- I paid FULL STICKER PRICE for the vehicle. (knowing the dealer needed to make some spread on the deal because I used my own financing)
14 DAYS LATER
I AM FORCED TO RETURN THE
CAR (MIKE'S CAR)...HOW DOES A SALES
MANAGER SCREW A DEAL
LIKE THIS UP...
