Gina's car was hit on April 11, 2002. It's fixed now, but see the damage here.
Gina had 32k miles on her '98 Cavalier -- our first new car -- and had a job in Frankfort that required her to travel all around the state. She was accruing mileage quickly, so we decided to replace her car with something more comfortable.
Gina has always loved Monte Carlos, so it was a natural choice. At first we were looking at '99 model year cars, but once she test-drove a 2000, she had to have one. We went looking for a loaded 2000 Monte Carlo LS. It had to be black, tan leather, and a sunroof. A dealer in Radcliff found one in Illinois, but the dealer that had it said that the paint was badly damaged by rail dust. We declined it and kept looking.
A few days later, I filled out an online car request form for Dan Cummins Chevrolet in Paris, KY. A salesman called me back, and we discussed what we were wanting with him. He went searching, and called me back to tell me he found a car just like we wanted in western Kentucky. We went to Paris and finalized the trade. Our car was to be delivered the next day.
Unfortunately, we got a call the next afternoon saying that the car's paint was badly damaged. Hmmm. Seems like our Illinois car was traded to a dealer in western Kentucky. I told our salesman that we should just order a car. I ordered Gina's car over the phone (my first mistake). I asked for black, tan leather, sunroof, and we ordered every other option available on the car. Since it was May 2000, we would be getting a 2001 model year car. Great!
After our car was ordered, our salesman called to let me know the price on the car. It sounded awfully low, and I asked him to make sure it had every option; he said it did. I went online and priced the car, and came up with a much higher price. I called him back a few times and asked him to verify that the order was correct, and every time he said it was right. I trusted that he knew what he was doing (mistake number 2) and let it go.
The car should have arrived in July, but it was over a month late getting here. An angry call with the sales manager got the ball rolling -- it was just sitting on the truck waiting for more cars to be delivered to the area -- and the car arrived on August 22, 2000. That's when I got the phone call.
The sales manager called me that morning and told me that the car was ready, but that there was a problem. Apparently the ordering sheet changed from MY 2000 to MY 2001, and some options that were separate in 2000 were formed into an option group for 2001. Since the dealer didn't order that group, all of those individual options were missing. Items that we ordered but didn't get include heated seats, power passenger seat, split climate control, steering wheel radio controls, and automatic day/night rearview mirror. Total missing options came to about $700. The important stuff was there -- black, tan leather, sunroof, CD/cassette, DIC, and so on, and I could live without the stuff that was missing -- but it didn't have *everything*.
The sales manager then had the nerve to say, "Well, I know you've put some more miles on your Cavalier, but since it wasn't ordered right we'll let you have the same deal you made before." I blew a fuse. I let him know what I thought of him, the salesman, and their collective ability to think, and that as far as I could see, all they knew how to do was be slow and screw up. I then told him that I'd be there at 6 P.M. with the Cavalier and a check for a ridiculously low price, and that the car had better be ready, and that if he didn't like that deal, he could do some lewd things with that car that I won't describe here. He was quiet for a moment, and then said, "Okay." Picked up the car, and Gina's been tickled to death with it ever since. I wish we had made them re-order the car, but I couldn't pass up the deal they cut me to take the car. The next time I order a car, I'll do a couple of things differently. I'll do it in person instead of over the phone, and I'll make sure that the dealer's using the right model-year price guide (no more ordering a 2001 in May).
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