TLDR: College Station Hyundai TX USED ILLEGAL BAIT-AND-SWITCH TACTICS, LEAVING MY SIGNIFICANT OTHER AND I WITH OVER $300 IN RENTAL CAR BILLS! THEY OFFERED NO HELP WHATSOEVER WITH THIS SITUATION OR ANY COMPENSATION AFTER WHAT WE WENT THROUGH. BUYERS BEWARE OF THESE SCUMMY DEALERSHIP PRACTICES.
My significant other and I were involved in a car accident about three weeks ago, which left our car totaled. As a result of the car accident, we had actively been searching for a new car and found a 2023 Hyundai Tucson SEL that we wanted to purchase at College Station Hyundai in Texas. On the evening of 1/6/23, my significant other and I called College Station Hyundai to inform them of our interest in purchasing the car and to ask if the car was still available. Our salesperson at College Station Hyundai , John Gaston, informed us that evening that the car was still available and ready to be sold. We informed John Gaston of our difficult situation, specifically being that our car had been totaled, and let him know that in order to purchase the car we would need to pay for a rental car the morning of 1/7/23 and drive two hours from Austin, Texas to College Station Hyundai. We let John know that getting a rental car was a large expense, and that we did NOT want to come into the dealership unless they could guarantee that we would be sold the car. John spoke with his sales manager, Shaun, and they both guaranteed that the car would be sold to us when we arrived to our 12:00PM appointment on 1/7/23, and not to somebody else. Shaun then sent us an itemized contract for us to look over and instructed us to email it back with writing about our negotiated price. The salesperson instructed us to not sign the document, as the contract listed the MSRP price and not the final, negotiated price. We sent back the contract to John as directed with our written negotiated price at the bottom. John then instructed us to fill out a credit application on the Hyundai website for the car and go to the bank to take out a Cashier's Check with College Station Hyundai's name on it to secure the car, all of which we completed. After John received all of these documents (both the credit application and the contract), he gave us a call informing us that everything was good to go and the car would be sold to us when we arrived tomorrow. They also let us know we couldn't put a deposit down for the car online, and would need to come in person. The sales manager, Shaun, at College Station Hyundai then proceeded to give us a call to inform us (once again) that everything was in place and that the car would be sold to us tomorrow at our 12:00PM appointment on 1/7/22.
On the morning of 1/7/22, we called College Station Hyundai to confirm the details of the car purchase and to make sure that they still hadn't sold it to someone else. Our salesperson, John, let us know that the car was still being held for us, as we had reached a sales agreement and filled out a credit application the night before, and instructed us to go ahead and get a rental car to make the drive down to their dealership. We spent ~$100 on this car rental and promptly headed over to the town of College Station, Texas. Upon arriving to College Station, Texas, we returned the rental car to its drop-off location and hopped into an Uber to make our way down to College Station Hyundai. During this Uber ride, College Station Hyundai called us to once again to confirm that we were still going to make it to our 12:00pm appointment, which we enthusiastically confirm. We then arrive to the dealership for our 12:00pm appointment and meet with John, our salesperson, who proceeds to show us around the exterior of car. He then leaves to grab the right paperwork for the car, but when he comes back he informs us that the dealership actually decided to sell the car a few minutes before to someone else that was willing to pay a higher price. He then proceeds to try and upsell us a car that was roughly $40,000, which completely leaves us baffled. The salesperson lets us know that there is nothing he can do at that point and that even though he had us fill out a credit application and pay for a rental car to drive out to the dealership, he could now only sell us a completely different and more expensive car. The salesperson used illegal bait-and-switch tactics to have us come into the dealership, which ended up costing us over $200 in rental car fees. Since we had already returned our first rental car before arriving to the dealership, we had to either (1) go ahead and purchase the more expensive car or (2) pay for a SECOND rental car to head back home. Knowing we had been completely bait-and-switched, we turned down the more expensive car and left the dealership as they refused to provide us with any compensation for having deceived us into paying for a rental car to make the trip out to the dealership. Both the salesman and sales manager completely deceived us both the night before and the morning of our 12:00pm car appointment, which ended up costing us over $300 in car rental bills. As a result of the dealerships using ILLEGAL bait-and-switch tactics, we spent MORE than $300 in rental cars and completed a credit application (which left us a hard pull on our credit report) for a car that would NOT be sold to us. THEY USED ILLEGAL BAIT-AND-SWITCH TACTICS TO LURE US INTO THE DEALERSHIP, ONLY TO TRY AND UPSELL US A CAR FOR $40,000. TAKE YOUR BUSINESS ELSEWHERE.
My significant other and I were involved in a car accident about three weeks ago, which left our car totaled. As a result of the car accident, we had actively been searching for a new car and found a 2023 Hyundai Tucson SEL that we wanted to purchase at College Station Hyundai in Texas. On the evening of 1/6/23, my significant other and I called College Station Hyundai to inform them of our interest in purchasing the car and to ask if the car was still available. Our salesperson at College Station Hyundai , John Gaston, informed us that evening that the car was still available and ready to be sold. We informed John Gaston of our difficult situation, specifically being that our car had been totaled, and let him know that in order to purchase the car we would need to pay for a rental car the morning of 1/7/23 and drive two hours from Austin, Texas to College Station Hyundai. We let John know that getting a rental car was a large expense, and that we did NOT want to come into the dealership unless they could guarantee that we would be sold the car. John spoke with his sales manager, Shaun, and they both guaranteed that the car would be sold to us when we arrived to our 12:00PM appointment on 1/7/23, and not to somebody else. Shaun then sent us an itemized contract for us to look over and instructed us to email it back with writing about our negotiated price. The salesperson instructed us to not sign the document, as the contract listed the MSRP price and not the final, negotiated price. We sent back the contract to John as directed with our written negotiated price at the bottom. John then instructed us to fill out a credit application on the Hyundai website for the car and go to the bank to take out a Cashier's Check with College Station Hyundai's name on it to secure the car, all of which we completed. After John received all of these documents (both the credit application and the contract), he gave us a call informing us that everything was good to go and the car would be sold to us when we arrived tomorrow. They also let us know we couldn't put a deposit down for the car online, and would need to come in person. The sales manager, Shaun, at College Station Hyundai then proceeded to give us a call to inform us (once again) that everything was in place and that the car would be sold to us tomorrow at our 12:00PM appointment on 1/7/22.
On the morning of 1/7/22, we called College Station Hyundai to confirm the details of the car purchase and to make sure that they still hadn't sold it to someone else. Our salesperson, John, let us know that the car was still being held for us, as we had reached a sales agreement and filled out a credit application the night before, and instructed us to go ahead and get a rental car to make the drive down to their dealership. We spent ~$100 on this car rental and promptly headed over to the town of College Station, Texas. Upon arriving to College Station, Texas, we returned the rental car to its drop-off location and hopped into an Uber to make our way down to College Station Hyundai. During this Uber ride, College Station Hyundai called us to once again to confirm that we were still going to make it to our 12:00pm appointment, which we enthusiastically confirm. We then arrive to the dealership for our 12:00pm appointment and meet with John, our salesperson, who proceeds to show us around the exterior of car. He then leaves to grab the right paperwork for the car, but when he comes back he informs us that the dealership actually decided to sell the car a few minutes before to someone else that was willing to pay a higher price. He then proceeds to try and upsell us a car that was roughly $40,000, which completely leaves us baffled. The salesperson lets us know that there is nothing he can do at that point and that even though he had us fill out a credit application and pay for a rental car to drive out to the dealership, he could now only sell us a completely different and more expensive car. The salesperson used illegal bait-and-switch tactics to have us come into the dealership, which ended up costing us over $200 in rental car fees. Since we had already returned our first rental car before arriving to the dealership, we had to either (1) go ahead and purchase the more expensive car or (2) pay for a SECOND rental car to head back home. Knowing we had been completely bait-and-switched, we turned down the more expensive car and left the dealership as they refused to provide us with any compensation for having deceived us into paying for a rental car to make the trip out to the dealership. Both the salesman and sales manager completely deceived us both the night before and the morning of our 12:00pm car appointment, which ended up costing us over $300 in car rental bills. As a result of the dealerships using ILLEGAL bait-and-switch tactics, we spent MORE than $300 in rental cars and completed a credit application (which left us a hard pull on our credit report) for a car that would NOT be sold to us. THEY USED ILLEGAL BAIT-AND-SWITCH TACTICS TO LURE US INTO THE DEALERSHIP, ONLY TO TRY AND UPSELL US A CAR FOR $40,000. TAKE YOUR BUSINESS ELSEWHERE.
