Poage Chevrolet of Wentzville

I purchased a car on November 2017. I have a warranty that is good for the power train until October of 2020. I have been waiting for parts for the car for nearly seven months. I have had multiple conversations with both the dealer and with GM. Recently I heard from GM saying that they will not now or ever make the part that I need. They only offered me a loyalty certificate for $2500 for another GM car, which is what I don't want.

Consider this fair warning to doing business with Poage Chevrolet in Wentzville, MO! Before I address this review I want to nip in the *** any canned responses they may post that they did everything to make things right or how sorry they are that we were unhappy and suggest “we” were unreasonable and unwilling to compromise. In the end, “WE” were the ones who compromised and were compromised!!!! Here are the facts as they transpired between June 14th and July1st. Fact number 1) We had been looking for an SUV type vehicle that had more room than our current vehicle for 4 adults to travel comfortably (especially for my in-laws who need the extra leg room because of knee issues), AND had the towing capacity for us not to max out a five thousand pound trailer ‘when loaded.' On Thursday evening, the salesman asked if we’d considered the Traverse as it towed 7,000 pounds! So we said no, really? 7,000? Yes, he said. So at that point we were interested but it was the end of the day. So after work on Friday, after looking at it, test driving it, and testing my in laws ability to get in and out of it, we began the sale process. Fact 2) When we started talking financing, I felt the number was a little higher than I could probably get if I went through one of the two banks we have accounts in. He assured me that they worked with all the local banks including ours, and several more, and that they would check with all of them and get us the lowest rate. (Unfortunately, I trusted what he said, but that is for a latter point). We finalized the sale just as they were closing and took the vehicle home. Fact 3) That night, we took the vehicle home and could not find anything in the vehicle manual that said it towed 7,000. Looked online, and still couldn’t find anything that said our Traverse towed 7,000 pounds. So first thing Saturday morning, we went to Poage dealership and asked the salesman if he could show us where it said that because we couldn’t find it. IMMEDIATELY he got defensive and said ‘he made it clear it was the AWD Traverse’ that towed the 7,000. So of course we were done with him and asked for the supervisor. At that point the Finance/business manager Matt *** and the General Sales Manager Nick *** both got involved. No surprise to then find out that regardless if the salesman had made it clear or not, that even the AWD does NOT have a 7,000 pound towing capacity. Fact 4) At that point in the discussions, I brought up the financing issue because I also found out that I most definitely could have gotten a better rate at my bank, and that the dealerships get a kick back for letting them do the financing, BUT the kicker was that I also found out that they don’t even deal with Bank of America AT ALL!!! So yes, another lie, misrepresentation of the truth and “say anything to get the sale” tactic and cover your behind after the fact. Fact 5) After our stern expression of the wrong doing, Matt tells us he thinks he has a solution and will be right back…. As we wait in Nicks office expressing our frustration and anger over all the lies so far, he said he’s looking to see what they can do to make it right. After a couple minutes of typing on his computer he says, well, I don’t think we’ll be able to do anything but take the car back! At that point, we were satisfied and fine with getting back our two trade in vehicles. My husband and I simultaneously took out each of the Keyes we each had in our pockets and put them on his desk and said, fine. Fact 6) At that point Matt walks in and says ‘hold on I have a solution’. He said they can get a weight distribution bar for our trailer, and a sway bar, which will increase the Traverse’s towing capacity to 7,500. That they would pay for it and take care of everything (at their cost…. As if it should be any other way). Again, we were willing to “compromise,” because technically, we still only had a vehicle that towed 5,000 max. My counter was that technically we could have added that on our own and if our vehicle truly was a 7,000 tow capacity vehicle, then we should have been able to increase it to 9,500 pounds according to their method and calculations. HOWEVER, at that point we were willing to SETTLE it that way! So they told us all they needed from us was to get them the trailer so they could know the specific weight distribution bar needed for that trailer and that we would take it down the street to E-Trailers and that they would do it. Fact 7) We made arrangements to get our trailer from out of state the following Wednesday for which my husband had to take a vacation day for, and on the way home I called to ask if they wanted us to take it to them or to the dealership. Nick tells me he will call them, and FOR ME, to call E-trailers the next day about taking it over there to see what I needed (I think they should have taken over at that point and just taken care of it, but it ended up being a blessing for us that exposed another mess). First of all, when I called, they had no idea or notes that the dealership had contacted them about it at all, and therefore began to ask me questions to figure out what I needed. I then explained to her what happened at the dealership and what they were trying to do to fix it and that I was told to call them to get what I needed and they would take care of it. Once she was clear on the situation she put me on hold. When she came back she said, “I am not going to put you in something that is unsafe” and that she was going to send me an article off their website that sates that a weight distribution bar does NOT increase towing capacity. She explained that it only allows your vehicle to tow AT CAPACITY. So of course at that point WE WERE DONE! We did not want that vehicle at all! No more bandaids for this issue. Fact 8) After this conversation with E-trailers, and a phone call we made, the GM Joel *** got involved. He seemed concerned and like he was willing to “make it right.” Offered us a Tahoe that was on it’s way to them and that they would make the numbers work so no out of pocket for us and we would have the towing capacity we were supposed to get plus the room for my in-laws! I asked for the VIN# so I could check it out before we get there after the work day. The Tahoe ended up being a 3 year old Tahoe AND did not have all the features we wanted when we purchased a BRAND NEW Red Line Traverse! So AGAIN, “who” is being expected to compromise? US! We said sorry, not good enough, AGAIN we’d rather call it a wash, take our cars or cash back for the trade ins (as they claimed our trade ins were gone by now, again another point for later), and just start over so we could have time to look at what would work for us. Point 9) THEN Nick says, I didn’t think you’d be happy with that knowing how you are and what you guys want, so I have another idea…. We have a 2019 Silverado that has the towing capacity you need and want and leather seats etc., and because of the 0% interest, we can make it work to where the numbers don’t change for your financing terms and payments. However, although I’m not normally a pressure kind of guy, we do have to decide by Monday because the 0% ends and there’s nothing we can do (But on a side note, why not make that the offer instead of a 3 year old Tahoe without all the features… because it’s bigger profit margins for them, again thinking of themselves, not us). I was not happy with that as with my work, I work on weekends and that left very little time for us to pray, think, and research if that is even what we wanted. At this point, I was more willing to get rid of the trailer than to “settle” on a vehicle we didn’t go in to buy in the first place. We agreed to think about it and took a truck home real quick first to make sure it would even work for my in-laws as this was one of the other main factors when we were initially selecting the type of vehicle. Poage agreed that if we took this truck they would through in a few things that would make it more of what we wanted, but in the end, by Monday we felt that those things were minor in comparison to all the technology features we were loosing if we took this deal and declined the offer all together and asked for a return. Fact 10) As we are discussing the buy back, they refused to give us the full credit for our trade ins because they closed their contract and the taxes needed to be paid. I told them after all this hassle, that the right thing to do would be for them to either eat the cost of the taxes and give us the down payment so we could use it towards the payment on another vehicle on the front end, or reduce the price of the buy back so that we still get our full cash back for our vehicles. They refused and said they could not do that. I find out that one of vehicles was still on the lot and said fine, give us back that vehicle and the difference and they still refused. After some arguing back and forth regarding the issue that I didn’t care about the tax credit on the purchase of the next vehicle and what we felt was the right thing for them to do, Nick states that they were doing us a favor by purchasing the vehicle back because they were not legally bound to do so and that the salesman made a mistake…. When I stated that there were too many lies and issues for it to have been a mistake and that either way it was THEIR mistake(s), not ours, this was his reply: “Regardless, it doesn’t matter, because a dealership/salesman can LIE about a car, but if you buy it that’s on you and we don’t have to take it back, we are not legally bound to do so, but we are doing it for you!” So integrity and customer service IS NOT in them! I don’t know how else to end it but to say WOW…. WOW…. WOW. On July 1st, they gave us a the return, minus the taxes which was about half our trade ins, and a rental for a week so we could find a car as I argued that this put us short a vehicle! Again, they acted like they were doing us a favor but we couldn’t stand it any more, took the “deal - not such a deal” and walked out! Like I stated at my opening, Consider this fair warning to doing business with Poage Chevrolet in Wentzville, MO! For the record, I’ve already been to Marshall Ford and they have already bent over backwards and jumped through hoops at an offer of an F150 fully loaded with everything we wanted, meets all the needs of our family dynamics, only has 700 miles (the Traverse had 1000+ when returned), tows over 10K, AND with literally only a few dollars more a month and 3 months more than the original terms with the Traverse both of which I was happy to pay for between the EXCELLENT customer service and value for our dollar! Thank you to Lynn *** at ***, along with Brad and Jimmy who helped turn out nightmare with Poage into a blessing in disguise! We are excited to p/u our truck later this week!