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I know that this was probably discussed before, but twice this week I was played.
I see a car I like on the sites. I call the dealer to inquire. "Yeah, the car's here, come see me.." I give my name and ask again "Are you sure the car is there?" "Yes, it's here...I'm pulling it out for you." I get there and - you guessed it - "Oh, we just sold it five minutes ago, but we have this model..." Of course, I left but not without a few colorful words for the dealer. I'm getting a smartphone tomorrow and gonna start recording this "bait-and-switch" b.s. I think the State Attorney General's office might be interested. Pissed me the hell off (and still pissed) given the waste of time, gas, and energy!
Have you ever experienced bait-and-switch? What was your story?
Same deal as you. A truck though. Was looking for a base model 1 ton work truck. They tried to put me in a fully loaded crew cab. I left. Pretty stupid. I had the cash on me to buy but they decided to okay games. Went to a ford dealer the guy was a straight shooter we made a deal 1/2 hr later I was out of there
I know that this was probably discussed before, but twice this week I was played.
I see a car I like on the sites. I call the dealer to inquire. "Yeah, the car's here, come see me.." I give my name and ask again "Are you sure the car is there?" "Yes, it's here...I'm pulling it out for you." I get there and - you guessed it - "Oh, we just sold it five minutes ago, but we have this model..." Of course, I left but not without a few colorful words for the dealer. I'm getting a smartphone tomorrow and gonna start recording this "bait-and-switch" b.s. I think the State Attorney General's office might be interested. Pissed me the hell off (and still pissed) given the waste of time, gas, and energy!
Have you ever experienced bait-and-switch? What was your story?
It happened once to me about 10 years ago. The dealership was about 40 minutes away from me. I wasn't happy when i got there and found out i was deceived. So..................I took the "replacement" for an "interesting" test drive with the salesman.
I took the "replacement" for an "interesting" test drive with the salesman.
I've never had the experience with a car I looked up online not being at the dealership when I arrive. But a couple times I had a specific car I wanted to see & the dealer urged me to test drive another car. One time I went in to test drive a Mazda 3 & the salesman said that I'll never be able to drive my friends around in such a small car, so he had a Camry pulled up for me.
I knew I'd never buy the Camry, but went out with the sales associate and had a little fun with the big boat stick shift Camry. I'll never turn down an opportunity to test drive a car.
happened to me many years ago at a local independent dealer specializing in sports cars. I called on a '65 356C Porsche which I'd been looking at as a for sale by owner, so I knew the car ... couldn't make a deal with the owner and he traded on a 911 that he wanted.
I found out about the trade within a couple of hours of the deal, before the dealer had done anything to the car except roll it onto the back lot to prep it for sale. I called and they were willing to do a quick sale for a lot less money than the seller had been asking for it previously. Told them to hold the car, I'd be right over ... about 45 minutes away.
When I got there, the car had a "sold" sticker on the windshield. Yup, sold to somebody who had supposedly just walked onto the lot minutes before me, although I had no way of knowing if that was the real story or they'd just decided that they weren't going to sell it to me for the price they'd quoted. That's what I think happened, they realized they'd quoted too low of a price. The car showed up a month later at a Porsche club rally and the new owner told me what he'd paid for it, which was a lot more than I'd been quoted.
Anyway, at the dealership ... they let me test drive a much more expensive Carrera 2 ltr. Took it around on a rainy afternoon and managed to find some very deep puddles with it which drenched the engine. I turned it back to them, said I couldn't justify the much higher price for the marginal inrease in power. A few days later, they were calling me asking if I'd driven it through any deep puddles? Why no, of course not ... didn't know why the engine was having problems now and glad that I hadn't bought it.
A year later, the dealer was busted for many of his cars having been stolen vehicles from Europe. The Carrera 2ltr was one of them, the deputies came to the guy's house that did buy it and had a court order to turn over the car to them.
I know that this was probably discussed before, but twice this week I was played.
I see a car I like on the sites. I call the dealer to inquire. "Yeah, the car's here, come see me.." I give my name and ask again "Are you sure the car is there?" "Yes, it's here...I'm pulling it out for you." I get there and - you guessed it - "Oh, we just sold it five minutes ago, but we have this model..." Of course, I left but not without a few colorful words for the dealer. I'm getting a smartphone tomorrow and gonna start recording this "bait-and-switch" b.s. I think the State Attorney General's office might be interested. Pissed me the hell off (and still pissed) given the waste of time, gas, and energy!
Have you ever experienced bait-and-switch? What was your story?
FWIW, that's not bait and switch. Bait and switch, specifically, is advertising something when you do not have it available. Unless you can prove that in this case you have no case.
Happened to me not too long ago. Saw an ad for a vehicle that I was looking for in the AM paper. Called the dealer at 9 am, the salesman said it was a nice vehicle come in and ask for so & so and I'll show it to you. I got there at 10 am and asked for so & so and he said "yes let's go look at it". Well he couldn't find it on the lot so we went back into the office and he asked the sales manager where the advertised vehicle was. The manager said over there on the side line. So we went over there and couldn't find it. About that time one of the lot detail boys came buy and the salesman asked him if he had seen the vehicle and where was it. The lot boy smiled and said "we detailed it and sent it to auction last week. It was sold there".
I then went to my vehicle and tried to leave and the salesman blocked my vehicle and said he could make me a deal on another type vehicle, and I politely told him to move his arce and tell his $%&$ sales manager to shove all those cars into never never land and then I screeched out there.
One other scenario is that salesmen and sales managers have a way of making a particular vehicle disappear from inventory if a regular client wants the vehicle. One group I know deliberately mismatches vehicles to back lots as the company owns several franchises in close proximity -- the Mercedes winds up on the Lexus back lot, the Acura winds up on the Mercedes back lot, etc. Technically, the car is in inventory, but unavailable, since a client wants that particular color/model/options configuration. It all depends upon the dealership, though I do not doubt that some have antiquated inventory and advertising systems such that half the stock could be sold by the time the ad is actually posted.
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All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
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