I decided I wanted a Mitsubishi Outlander for several reasons: good safety rating, great mileage, seven seats and price. I took last Tuesday off of work to do several things (besides the fact that Scott and I had our first date ever on January 14th...and I didn't want to be at work!) including actually test-driving the car my mind had chosen. Meiling went with me and we headed to the closest dealership, Hub Mitsubishi. We walked around a couple of minutes, just looking at the one in the showroom (the super-duper model that I couldn't afford), and finally, a salesman came over to speak to us. His name was George, and he had a quite heavy accent of some type. He was friendly, though, and showed me exactly what I asked for, a 2011 Outlander. In taking a look before driving, I discovered that the third row seat (in Meiling's words) was like a bad lawn chair. I drove the car, and only thought it was okay. Then he pulled the typical trick - "What about a new one?" The new model had an upgraded third seat, and some other nice options, and was only a bit more, he said. I drove a new one and was suitably impressed. (I had looked at the new ones online, so it wasn't as if I was being coerced, it was an underlying idea of mine anyway.) We went back in and told him what kinds of cars I had to trade. They came back with some lower-than-made-me-happy numbers, but they hadn't seen them, either. (This is when I thought the Jetta would be fixed in a day.) So I waited to see what the price on the car was, then what deals were available. Around this time, a Peter Frampton song came on the radio. I told Meilng "It's a sign!" (Peter Frampton being my number one favorite artist of all time...) We laughed about that. Somewhere along the way, my question "what does the car cost?" got lost in translation. After about 45 minutes of hard-to-understand conversation, George got the point that I didn't know the original price of the car. He then wrote a price down, saying that was the deal I could have. We left, and wiped our foreheads with exhaustion. It was hard to understand! He didn't hear what I was asking! One reason after another that it had been a very tiring afternoon.
Between Tuesday and Saturday, I found out that the Jetta was not cooperating on getting repaired, so I decided: I would get it fixed and not trade it. I would trade the BMW only and go to a different dealership where hopefully I would get more on my trade-in and understand the salesperson. As it turns out, four hours of our Saturday were wasted at Gillman Mitsubishi. I ended up sending a letter to all the executives listed on their website, as well as the national office. It describes how they treated us on that Saturday. The transcript is below, in italics, if you're really bored or want to see how to shame a company. That letter is the start of the story - here is the rest of the story.
We ran away from Gillman and went to Cracker Barrel for some comfort food. Knowing the number that George had given me last Tuesday, I called him. "George, I like the price you gave me. If you can give me at least xxxx dollars on my trade, the deal is yours." Of course, he said he'd have to see the trade, but please, come right in, we're open until 9. We drove straight there before I could lose my nerve.
Hub Mitsubishi welcomed us with open arms and big smiles. George was so happy we came back, and for some reason,easier to understand. He put me in the computer, and told a joke. He got the information on my trade, and told a joke. I was nervous! Would they meet my demand? When he came back with the amount, he acted like a ringmaster flourishing a new act. No wonder he was proud! They offered two hundred dollars over my demand! Who does that? (Not Gillman, that's for sure!) In all the time it took to pull the color car I wanted from inventory and fill out paperwork, George told a few more jokes and entertained Riley with some drawing puzzles. I looked at him and said "You should be a teacher, George, you're so good with little ones!" He looked back at all of us and said "You want to know my real story? I am a dentist. I come to USA from Syria many years ago, I am dentist, my wife is pharmacist. I had to take more training to be dentist here. I passed all training perfectly. When time came for my written test, I looked at it and it looked like nothing I could understand. I could not read it. My memory disappeared. I tried several times, I got medical care, MRIs, big medical bills, I could never pass test. I finally stay at home four years. Four years I sit on couch and watch TV. They never find out what is wrong. My memory sometimes is gone, sometimes is OK. Finally after four years, I decide I will do something. I start to sell cars. Here, I show you, I am top Mitsubishi salesman the last two months. They shook my hand and gave me one hundred dollars. Hmph."
Talk about church falling right in our laps.....I was willing to overlook this man earlier in the week just because he had a strong accent. He turned out to have more schooling than I do, and has overcome unknown challenges that nobody can understand. His entire nature and demeanor is positive and fun-loving. I felt as if I were picked up by invisible hands and carried back to buy my car from George. His challenges? Met, head on. His attitude? Fun. Just fun. As the author of the Momastery blog would say: Church, y'all.
We took a drive in the actual car with George - just to make sure and to fill it with gas for me. Peter Frampton came on the radio.
Dear Gillman Companies,
I would like to take this opportunity to describe to you my
personal situation and my recent experience at one of your dealerships: Gillman
Mitsubishi. As business owners, I would
think that you would appreciate some honest feedback from a neutral source.
I am a fifty-one year old widow. My husband passed away in May, 2013. He left
me and our two daughters well provided for, and for that I am very grateful,
but I am also faced with the challenge of being wise with my expenditures and
investments. I am a school teacher in
Cypress Fairbanks ISD, and my daughters both attend Texas Tech University in
Lubbock, TX. My late husband was a
hydrographic surveyor, but was also quite handy at repairing vehicles. For that reason, we all drove vehicles that
were around ten years old. Once he died,
I knew that I needed to upgrade all of our vehicles to newer models for safety
and the peace of mind that comes with a warranty. I bought my youngest a 2012 Nissan in August
2013, my oldest a 2012 Honda in November 2013, and was finally looking for a
vehicle for myself last week.
I was looking for a seven-seat SUV, and started researching
online. The Mitsubishi Outlander kept popping
up in surveys and safety ratings. I was
going to look for a 2012 model, same as my daughters, and within my remaining
budget. I took the day off work on
Tuesday, January 14, to go look and test drive that vehicle at Hub
Mitsubishi. I discovered that the third
row seat on the older models was similar to a bad lawn chair, but upgraded on the
new 2014 models. I was just on a
discovery visit, but figured that I could possibly afford the SE model in a
2014 Outlander. I was a little
frustrated, though, by the heavy accent of the salesperson. Although very friendly and polite, I didn’t
feel obligated to purchase from them, but I did leave with a definite quote, in
writing, on the model I was eying.
I decided to visit Gillman Mitsubishi on Saturday, January
18, in hopes of an easier and possibly better experience. Here is my honest account of my four hours at
your dealership. I brought along my
friend and her ten-year-old daughter for support. We were approached soon after getting out of
my car by a salesman named Youssef. He seemed a polite, well-spoken older
gentleman. I told him what I was looking
for, and asked the difference (which I did not know at the time) between the SE
and ES trim models. He then took us
inside while he tried to find the answer, telling us that he was brand new with
Mitsubishis, and please bear with him. I
kept trying to explain that I was hoping to price an SE model with the sunroof,
leather seats and premium sound, but did not know if that made it an ES
model. He had to check with a manager
named Walter, who introduced himself, and, I believe, helped Youssef locate a
car for me to test drive. It had none of
the options I had mentioned, and nobody had explained to me yet whether an SE
could come with those options. The
vehicle they brought around for me to drive had a sticker price of around $24,000. I knew about the $1500 rebate until the end
of January, and it had a big red tag hanging from the mirror that said “Red Tag
Special” (printed) followed by “After all discounts and rebates” (hand written)
then “3600 off”. Knowing that this would
bring it into my budget range, I finally agreed to give up on asking for the
sunroof, etc. model and test drive this one.
Youssef told me flat out to stay on the feeder road, make the U-turn and
come back on the feeder. There was no
chance to drive it on the highway itself.
When we finished driving, we did walk the lot to see the sunroof model,
but by that time I had talked myself out of splurging on that cost, an easier
decision to make once I saw the leather was the sporty type with the holes, and
no elegant smooth leather was available.
That being decided, we went inside to check my trade-in and price the
new car. Two hours had now passed.
Youssef started asking me questions for a form he had about
where I was going to drive the car, how many miles a year I thought I would
drive….ridiculous-type questions that he said were on a company survey, even if
I were paying cash. (We thought they were the questions for leasing a vehicle.) In the meantime, the ten-year-old was
starting to get hungry. She had not had
lunch, as it was a weekend and she had a late breakfast. My friend went to look for the vending
machine. They both came and sat down
dejectedly a few minutes later. The
vending machine was empty.
We finally got to the point where I said “Let’s see what you
will offer for my trade-in, and I’ll consider a purchase.” Between Youssef
taking my answers to fill out yet another form, him going into the manager’s
window and standing at the counter, walking back to ask ‘one more question’
about the trade vehicle, another hour passed.
During that hour, someone came in the front of the showroom with bags
and bags of Whataburger – your staff’s lunch.
I would not deny any working person their lunch, but surely there must
be a back door, or a workroom where such things can be accomplished. Even the service people were coming up to the
glass room at the front of the showroom to get their lunches. With the
Whataburger smell egging on the little one’s hunger, my friend ended up walking
to the dealership next door and purchasing some snacks from their vending
machine.
When I got the final offer on my trade-in, I was
insulted. However, that is not my
complaint in this letter. I will tell
you that I received $1200 more for that vehicle from the dealership where I
finally made my purchase. With that
final offer at Gillman, Youssef put the numbers on paper. The sticker price PLUS 1495 for etching. I
said I didn’t want that. He said Gillman
adds that to all of its vehicles before they go on the lot. He then subtracted the $3600 on the tag. I asked where the $1500 rebate was. He said that it was included in the
$3600. I claimed that the tag said the
$3600 was taken off after all rebates and incentives. He went and spent another twenty minutes in
the glass manager’s office. Finally, the
rudest man of all, a manager named Cesar, came and sat down with the sticker
from the vehicle and the red tag. He confronted me with an arrogant manner, not
polite at all. He showed me on the price
sticker the price – and on the next line the $1495 etching fee. No total was shown. He said it was fairly represented and asked
if Youssef had told me about it. I said no, and that I didn’t want that option. He simply said that was too bad because it’s
impossible, all the vehicles have it.
Then he laid the red tag on the table. A picture of the tag is enclosed
for your reference. The tag clearly
stated that the $3600 would come off the price after all rebates and
incentives. Cesar reacted as if I were
stupid and could not read the tag. I
must admit at that point I told him he needed to go back to school. I stood my ground, and asked for them to also
take the rebate off the price. Youssef
went and stood in the glass window for another session, after which he came and
handed me my insurance card and the key to my trade-in and said “I’m sorry we
can’t help you” thus ended my four-hour ordeal at Gillman Mitsubishi.
In all, I would have to rank my experience at Gillman at the
top of the worst business dealings that I have had to endure since being widowed
eight months ago. I sat for 3 1/2 hours without being offered water,
encountered person after person that either could not answer my questions or
made no effort to concede or apologize that perhaps they could have gotten
something wrong or that I ‘caught’ them in trying to trick me into spending too
much money. Your upper management may
have won all sorts of awards, but if you don’t sell a product with politeness
and precision, your reputation will soon sink you. I believe this holds even truer when a widow
is looking to spend cash of that amount out of her husband’s life
insurance. Thank you for listening to my
experience. I hope you can find a way to
take my words into account and make things more polite and fair for future
customers – which will never include me.
Sincerely,
Diane McCarty
