On Friday, April 8th my husband and I went to Spartanburg - Candy
On Friday, April 8th my husband and I went to Spartanburg Chrysler Dodge Jeep with the intention of trading in my 2015 Dodge Challenger SXT for a new one. With our anniversary trip coming up on the 18th we wanted to make sure we had a reliable vehicle to make the trip in. Our salesman, Brandon Bone said they didn’t have much left on the lot but he had just found out that there was a brand new 2021 Hellraisin Dodge Challenger R/T that had just recently been delivered to their sister dealership in Lake Keowee from the manufacturer. After going through all of the details on the car and being assured the car was flawless we decided to purchase.
The car was delivered from Lake Keowee Dodge to Spartanburg Dodge that weekend. My husband went and picked it up on Monday, April 11th. Immediately the salesman said there were a couple of dents on the car but don’t worry, just bring it back as soon as we get back from our trip and they would take care of it. So my husband brought it home.
A few days later a customer, who is a big muscle car enthusiast, wanted my husband to show him my car. As they are walking around it, he starts pointing out a lot of things to my husband that we hadn’t noticed. The grill did not line up with the front end of the car, it almost looked as though it was coming apart. There were also gaps between the gaskets around the hood, the hood wasn’t lined up, one side was higher than the other. My husband took pictures and sent to Brandon, the salesman. He said don’t worry when you get back from your trip we will take care of that as well. But immediately at this point we are starting to wonder what could have happened to this car. Then on Easter Sunday my son’s friend noticed a few other issues. The passenger side door was a little off. There was also evidence of what he called “orange peel paint” on the front bottom bumper area, which generally occurs after market during a repair and not during manufacturing. My husband took more pictures and sent to the salesman.
We didn’t hear back until Monday the 18th as we were headed out of town. His manager also called us. Both said the same thing that they would take care of everything. We also told them we were starting to get concerned with what was going on with this car and whether there had been an accident of some kind. We were assured that they would get to the bottom of things and would contact Lake Keowee Dodge for information on it.
We returned the evening of Tuesday, April 26th. My husband dropped the car off to the dealership Wednesday, April 27th. At that point the salesman said Lake Keowee wouldn’t provide them any information on what happened to this car prior to us purchasing it, but they would keep trying. They sent my husband home in a loaner Jeep.
On May 12th the salesman said the car was finally back from the body shop and ready. He said the body shop went through it with a fine-tooth comb and so had they and it was perfect. Our son’s friend met us at the dealership and immediately notices the front end was still off centered. We also found a new dent on the passenger side behind the door and found several spots on the front and on the back driver side area that felt like there were grains of sand under the paint. The salesman says don’t worry we will find a different body shop and have it all taken care of and will make everything right. Then my son’s friend notices the driver side door was actually a different shade of purple all together! My husband turns to the salesman and tells him that he knows they said Lake Keowee is refusing to release any information but at this point we are insisting. I expressed my concerns of how I feel like I am being taken advantage of and lied to, Lake Keowee is being completely shady for not releasing information to their own “sister” dealership on a car that was obviously in an accident which they’ve obviously covered up. He said he understood and then I asked him if they had any other R/Ts onsite yet, that they could swap out to make things right. We paid for a brand new car, I expect a brand new car, not one that was banged up and patched together. He said there were two however they were cheaper and didn’t include several of the same features as the Hellraisin. He also mentioned that custom ordering one could be an option. Also reiterated that they are going to get the car fixed and made 100%. He then told us to just think things over and he would talk with his sales manager to see what all could be done. And we left in their loaner Jeep again.
The next day we decided we wanted to speak with the General Manager because at this point we are stressed. My husband texted the salesman and asked if all of the managers, including the GM, would be there around 5:30 because we wanted to come in and talk. He said yes they would. We arrive to Spartanburg Dodge on May 13th at 5:30. We are greeted by the Service Manager, not the GM or any other “upper” management. He kept saying they are going to send the car to another body shop and will make things right, it will be good as new. We demanded to speak with the GM since that was the purpose of us driving all the way there. The sales manager, Wes Hall, eventually comes out. We get the same song and dance that they will find a new body shop and will have it 100% perfect. We express our concerns that without knowing what happened to this car we don’t know what kind of long-term issues could spawn off from it further down the road. Not to mention we paid for a brand new, undamaged car. It is obvious this car had to had been in an accident for all of the defects and imperfections. He tells us he agrees, they still haven’t been able to get any answers from Lake Keowee Dodge yet but they also have someone at Chrysler checking to see if there were any reported accidents reported during transport. After we expressed all of our concerns once again and state we want a new car equal to what we were under the impression we were purchasing, he stated until they get information from Lake Keowee their hands are tied and nothing they can do but fix the current car since Chrysler has agreed to pay for all of that. He then stated that he doesn’t mean to come off sounding any sort of way but this is ultimately Lake Keowee’s problem not theirs and he is not willing to lose $15k (not sure what that amount was relevant to). Then he says he will keep working on things and he would call us on Monday by 1:00 whether he had information yet or not.
On the evening of Monday May 16th, we finally talk to Wes. He says that he found out that the car had indeed been damaged at delivery to Lake Keowee as it was being taken off the truck, and was then repaired and had the bumper replaced. We asked him why wasn’t anything like that disclosed. He stated any damage under $500 doesn’t have to be reported. We again expressed our concern about how shady that sounds considering the “recent” repairs alone surely exceeded $500 (and that was after the first “hidden” repairs and new bumper was done through Lake Keowee). Wes admitted that it did all sound odd but he was only passing on the information he was told and he also agreed that whatever repairs were initially done was crap. So we once again started discussing the possibility of getting a new car of equal value. He said he would look around to see what options he could find. We also brought up the ”custom order” option that the salesman had previously mentioned. Wes said that was not an option for us because the car they sold me was a 2021 and the custom option was only for 2022. We also brought up the fact that if we did go the route of swapping out vehicles we were concerned that we would end up being monetarily penalized on something that was their fault not ours. **We were told the way that they would have to do it is they would have to take this car back as a “trade in.” Then they would have to rerun our credit, the bank would rerun our credit (all steps that would make our credit scores take numerous hits on again) and then redo the whole car loan (not guaranteeing we would even get the same rate).** We expressed all of these concerns. We also asked if we would get penny for penny credit for what we paid them for this particular vehicle. He stated he would “try” but couldn’t guarantee that. (Couldn’t guarantee that the unethical sale that they handled wouldn’t cost us more money, almost laughable).
It is now May 27th and we have not heard anything else from anyone at Spartanburg Dodge since May 16th. We are about to make our second payment on a car that has not been in our possession in a month and was only in our possession for approximately 2 weeks. We have given them ample time to make things right and yet no one has stepped up to rectify anything.
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