Terrible experience at Happy Honda
 

I started the Sunday two weeks ago on a sunny weekend to test drive the Honda Accord. The dealership was fairly empty and I was helped by their salesman Francis Yau. The day went pretty well with me test driving the 2013 V6 and LX model. I wanted the EX-L model which they did not have in stock. I felt quite a bit of pressure to sign on the day of test driving but I knew the price was not right. I went price shopping at another dealership and was offered more than $1000 less for the 2013 EX-L model. I called Francis to let him know that I got a better offer and he agreed to match it, subject to the availability of the model. Paid my deposit and signed the agreement and left. He called me the next day to let me know there were 3 in stock. Great! I thought...Nothing much else happened until a week after when they told me the car was ready for pick up. I was very excited and I told them that I'll need to delay it for 2 days. They were fine with the arrangement. I get a call the next day to inform me that my car cannot be given to me. But they could give me another one with 150km on it...Definitely not a new car in my mind. I escalated the issue to the GM and he told me that there were no more of this model in BC. They checked all over, yada yada yada. Fair enough, I give the other dealership I was previously dealing with a call and he indicated to me that he had 4. Ok, so the GM lied to me and my thinking was they sold my car to someone else. I went there one final time to get my deposit back...but they mess up my records with another customer and only refund me half of what I initially paid. They resolved the issue but it further infuriated the process. Will not recommend to anyone and definitely will not go back. Ended up giving my business to their competitor and will refer more to them.

Guess you weren't so "happy" after all... :troll:

Sounds like you should've bought a Mercedes or a Lexus. That BS would have never happened to you. Hope you learned to never buy a Honda product again. :troll:

Bud dum tiss :troll:
Posted via RS Mobile

strong username for such a rant :troll:

I got nothing to say, but however C-C-C-C-OMBO BREAKER!!! :nyan:





















:troll:

Should've requested a overnight test drive with no deposit. BEST WAY TO BUY A CAR!!

so they gave you your money back and you're angry about it?

hide all the stock...pricematch denied...strong Futureshop tactic :troll:
i know someone who works there...i'll let them know what a shitty job they are doing living up to their dealership name :fullofwin:

I feel bad for any of these guys who have a legit opinion/question etc, and we all come in here with these inside jokes, Private modder, overnight test drive etc etc. :troll:

Was it a big fat asian guy you dealt with? I was buying a BMW from them till they gave me the run around.

You ask for a refund and in the process I waste hours of your time. You are gonna be happy about it? Pretty low standard you have.

The guy is just sharing his shitty experience and disclosing the sales guy's name whom he had dealt with.

*yadda yadda something about private modding etc*

Did you get the EX-L from the other dealer?

This is the "Scene" part of Revscene.

The community has become xenophobic and suspicious of anyone who hasn't been a member for less than three or four years. New posts are met with jeers and people run wild on threads as if this were Fight Club.

Its a legitimate criticism and I agree with you.

I guess I do have low standards. I'd be choked if they gave like half of the deposit back, though; or better yet, if they pro-longed it even further.

are you saying this is what RS has turned in to?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Soundtrack.jpg

each independant dealership makes a choice of how many vehicles to purchase for next year, the previous year.

If they do not have it in stock, they can try to purchase it as a "dealer to dealer" trade from another dealership. however, that dealership has the right to deny this if they have a potential customer on the car.

Car sales is ripe for disruption.

The best part is, you don't need to move to internet sales to do it.

Honesty is the napster to the car sales industry Metallica. The sales guy tells the truth, "this guy has it, we can't get it", and this guy still buys a Honda. Does that do anything for your dealership? Nope. But he buys a Honda, meaning there should be another Honda success story out there. This guy walks around and says, "holy cow, the guys at Happy were great to deal with. I didn't end up buying from them, but super helpful. Plus, they are closer, maybe I'll have them do my warranty work, and boom...long game, they sell him the next one.

I hate watching shitty industries fucking up their own game. Things aren't the way they used to be. You can fight it, but no one gives a shit to buy the Hank Hill special from Frank down at "Honest Frank's Hondas". We'll play one dealership off the other. For floor mats.

in that world, lying to try to keep me from realizing that there are other dealerships out there doesn't help.

you do know the difference from corporate store and franchise store?

not all dealerships know the inventory of another store though they may share the same brand.

No, I understand that. What I'm saying is Honda working together to sell Hondas helps the Honda brand, in turn, assisting in selling more Hondas over Toyfordrolets.

I mean, the solutions presented so far to the issues of an informed customer base such as having people sign that they agree to purchase from that dealership and such aren't going to work.

Personally, I think dealerships need to work under the idea that they all win with a strong brand, they aren't going to be able to keep secrets to use to their benefit, and overall, you create a much better experience if you are honest with people right from the start.

If Honda the brand can't tell you where they have cars located that can be sold, well the OP in this case managed to find what he was looking for quite quickly.

i see your point of view. but it doesnt go by brand, it goes by franchise. Autowest Group, OpenRoad Group, Destination Group...

Each one of these franchise groups own several different brands. Its no different than investing into stock/bonds/funds. diversifying your portfolio of brands = less risk. one brand having a stronger year than others supports the slower brands.

Happy Honda, as far as i know, is a franchise, and should only be 1 happy honda in the lower mainland (owned by 1 group)

OP did the right thing, if one dealership cant meet your needs, go to a different one. but OP needs to know, one honda dealership does not know the other honda dealerships inventory.

Coles Notes of the OP:

- op goes to happy honda to look at accord.
- op decides on the model of accord he wants.
- op finds out they dont have the model he wants.
- op feels pressure to buy (which is a dead given if you walk into any dealership, especially after you have sat down and started the negotiation process)
***my notes: this would make it august 4th, which is already past month end unless it was extended to the following monday)
- op felt price wasnt right so went shopping around other honda dealerships
- op went to another dealership, got offered 1000 less for the model he was looking for.
- op bargained with original dealership, got pricematched so long as the vehicle model he wanted was available.
- op says salesman says 3 in stock. (at this point, i think the salesman actually check inventory at their spare compound and not whats just on the lot)
- op says the car he was told to get was not available anymore (bet someone came in with more cash and bought on the spot or salesman didnt file the papers and someone else jumped on the very same car)
- op says no more of that model (ex-L must be pretty popular, my guess is that model comes with extras that are worth more than what you would pay for if u were to get it after the fact or as individual options)
- op goes to other dealership, and they have 4 in stock in their inventory
- op got deposit back from original dealership

Really? My salesperson at Pacific Honda was able to quickly search the inventory for my specific model/trim/colour in the Lower Mainland and did a dealer trade.

maybe pacific has another dealership.

not all dealerships can search each others inventory

hmm not all dealers are willing to "release" cars for dealer trade and some dealers actually "hide" inventory from the BC inventory data base. It gets annoying especially when there is a strong demand for a certain car at the end of its model year (around this time of year)

I have had a customer try to order a certain model of Xterra and none showed up on data base. Manager gave a few calls and immediately got one the next day. It also depends on relations between dealers/ managers too!