I've been (im)patiently waiting for one of my local dealers to get a VBP Sport AT, but so far none of them have even had one listed as coming in any time soon. So, when I saw that Honda Financing was offering 4.99% APR until the end of the month and since that is better than any of my banks are currently offering, I decided to search farther away. I figured the extra drive would be worth it for the better APR and I'd get it now instead of continuing to wait.

The closest (and only) one I could find was at Dobbs Honda on Covington Pike in Memphis TN, a two and a half hour drive away. That's not a bad drive, so I figured for the APR and to get the exact car I wanted, it would be worth the trip. Since online inventories are notoriously slow in being updated though, I submitted the online form to request a price quote and planned to call them when I got off work if I hadn't heard anything back from them by then. This was Friday afternoon.

Pretty quickly, I got a call from the internet sales manager, we'll call him LM, saying that yes, they did have the blue Fit Sport automatic that I was asking about and would I like to come by and check it out. I let him know that I was in Little Rock and would have to drive the 150 miles or so to Memphis to do that, so I wanted to be sure that it really was what I was interested in and that the deal would be worth it. He said again that they definitely had the car and although they couldn't deal much with the price, since it's an entry level vehicle with not much markup, they were really interested in my trade-in, a 2003 Civic Si, since their used car inventory was low on Hondas. He wouldn't give me any hard numbers, but assured me that I'd be pleased since it was the end of the month and Memorial Day weekend, and they'd be able to give me more for it would normally be possible.

I told him I'd think about it, discuss it with my wife, and check the local dealers one last time to see if they had any coming in soon, but that I'd probably end up driving over there to get the one they had. I'd never driven to another state to buy a car before, but in the end, I decided I'd rather get exactly what I wanted, right now, then wait any more, so I called him back on Saturday morning. I asked him if they still had the blue sport automatic available and he said yes, he saw it on the lot that morning, so I told him to stick my name on it and that I'd be there in about two and half hours.

Still feeling a bit of trepidation, I started out. I even saw a red Fit Sport on the interstate on my way out of town, so I took that as a good sign. When I finally got to the dealer, my hopes rose as I caught a flash of that Vivid Blue Pearl behind some other cars. Then I got nervous when I saw that it was a base model. Not too nervous, since the online inventory had also shown a base model in VBP, but still nervous. Plus, it had pinstripes on it and I knew I'd be fighting them to remove those ugly things. But as I was walking into the dealership, I was getting more nervous, because the only other Fits I saw were a white and a black sport.

I walked in and told the salespeople at the front desk that I was meeting LM to pick up the blue Fit Sport automatic. They immediatly said, "Hmm, we don't have a blue sport, just that base..." Crap. It took them less than 30 seconds to look on their inventory list and see that the blue sport they had was sold a couple of days ago. One of the other salespeople asked me if I wanted to check out one of the other sports they had available. While they were pulling that one around, LM finally got back from a test drive and I asked him what was going on. He basically said "Oops, I guess it was the base model I saw and thought it was the sport. Will that base work for you instead?"

I told him that no, it would not work, that I had driven all the way there because he said that he had a VIVID BLUE PEARL SPORT model available. He said he'd go check if they could do a dealer trade with anyone else to get one and that was the last I saw of him. I took the black sport out for a drive with the other salesperson and liked it, but after seeing the VBP in person, it just confirmed that that was the color I wanted and I didn't want to settle for something else. I could have gotten a black one at home if I had wanted that.

In fact, I might have even gone ahead and settled for the black one from them if they had said, "Hey, sorry about making you drive all this way for nothing, would you take one of these others if we knocked a few hundred off the price?" But they didn't even try that. By then, the second salesperson came back out and confirmed that the blue sport they had had been sold on Thursday. The day before I asked about it the first time and LM said that it was still available. I would have thought that between an internet inquiry and not one, but two phone calls, and the fact that I stressed each time that I'd have to come all the way from Little Rock to do this, that the guy would have some time to go make sure he wasn't lying to me when he said the car was available. 30 seconds to check the real inventory sheet, come on! And shouldn't someone who is trying to sell these cars at least know the difference between the base and sport models?

I ended up leaving with nothing. At first I was feeling more disappointed than angry, but the farther along I got, the more pissed off I got. This idiot cost me over 300 miles of wear and tear on a car I am trying to trade in, around $40 of gas, and wasted my entire day because instead of actually confirming that the car I had asked about was available, he just said "yes, come on out." Unforgivable, unprofessional, unconscionable behavior. And stupid on their part as well. They had someone in their dealership who was willing to drive all that way to buy a Fit and they only made a lame, half-ass attempt to sell me something when they couldn't get me my first choice. It should have been a sure thing for them.

As a side note, the dealer add-on sticker on all their Fits had $189 pin stripes and $199 mud guards listed. The pin stripes were very poorly installed, with loose ends hanging off at the ends and between the doors (I guess so that they are easy to remove when the buyer complains?), and these were sport models, so there weren't actually any mud guards anywhere to be seen. I guess LM wasn't the only shady thing going on at Dobbs Honda. Also, the VBP Sport AT is still listed on their online inventory (VIN JHMGD38677S006758).

Now I'm back to waiting for one of my local dealers to be allocated a VBP Fit Sport AT.

 

whoa, that really sucks.. i feel you pain driving that far just to find out that you were deceived by a lazy salesman

 

Sad but true. I work at Jenkins and Wynne which is one of the more prestigous and respected Ford Lincoln Mercury Honda Dealers in the state of TN. (We're located in Clarksville, right outside Ft Campbell). We can't even keep any FIT's on our lots nor is Honda sending them at a fast rate. I completely agree with you on how that salesperson was. (BTW, I work in Ford service, I don't sell cars.) And had that happened to me I would have chewed some serious a$$ out. I'm currently waiting on my BMO Sport to get here and I've made it clear I'm not accepting anything else. It's unfortuneate but I bet what happens to you happens to a lot of people. They figure if they can get you there they can get you to buy something. But what he said on the price is true, I work here and I'm not even getting a mark off on price. I was told the FIT's are only marked up $400? We have some that are supposed to be on there way right now but most are already called for. I wish we could be of some help but I wouldn't advise any more traveling after that experience! Sorry to hear about the crappy situation and I hope yours comes in soon!

 

I saw a black Fit sport with pinstripes in Modesto... eww. Dealers are awful about "oh yeah we've got the car you're looking for!" tactic.

 

This experience is about what I'd expect given my dealings with Honda dealers thus far. You know, it's funny, I tell these stories to industry people, and many of them have heard many similar stories. Some even have their own Honda dealer stories to tell, a few dating back to the late 70s. This phenomenon occurs with many Honda models, so anything anyone is being told about this being unique to the Fit is just dead wrong. Such great product, such a lackluster dealer body (a few exceptions, here and there I'm sure).

And to prove that I'm the biggest promoter of GOOD service (regardless of the industry), I'm going to relay a story that happened to me this weekend.

Girl and I go out to an Italian restaurant in Southern California. Food's great, service is good. Server/busboy comes over to clear our plates and asks her if she wants her food wrapped up. She says yes, we get the bill, I pay, and still no leftover box. A few minutes later, the guy walks by and I ask him if we can please have our leftover box. He seems very confused and then goes off to the back.

A minute or two later a manager walks over to our table. He says about the following, "I'm extremely sorry and embarrassed. Your food was mistakenly thrown out. It will only take a minute I promise, and we can make you a fresh dish. What did you have? Also, I want to take care of your meal tonight."

So I'm shocked. She's going to get a fresh dish to take home AND we're going to get our entire meal comped! I actually tell the guy that it's not necessary. He says, "please sir, we really need to make this right." (gasp!) He takes my credit card slip, recredits the card, brings a new dish to go (with bread). I tell him I want to make sure the waitress gets her tip because it wasn't her fault. He explains to me, "Please don't worry about it. This is a part of our business. It's happened to all of us. Your waitress understands and she's embarrassed. We want you to leave here happy."

Wow, I was happy. Did they make a mistake? Yes. Did they take care of it effectively and efficiently once they knew about it? Yes. Did they exceed my expectations? Most definitely.

Mama D's Italian
1125 Manhattan Ave
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266-5329
(310) 546-1492

 

yea that man just freaking sucks

 

Holy h*ll, the world could use some more service like that! Unfortunately, greed rules...

 

Thanks everyone. I'm going to mail off a letter to the general manager to make sure they know what happened. I'm not expecting anything, but who knows, maybe they'll feel bad and reimburse me for my gas or something.

You know, I think I might have been less pissed off if they had actually tried that. But other than asking once if I wanted something else, they didn't even bother. So not only was I lured there by a lie (or gross negligence), but when they had me on the hook they didn't even try to reel me in. Frustrating!

I guess I've been spoiled so far and just wasn't expecting this. My wife and I have bought our last four vehicles from Bale Honda in Little Rock and have had nothing but good experiences. Now, when my brother got his Mazda 3, that was scary. I think he was subjected to every sleazy dealer trick in the book there.

 

send a copy of your letter to the better business bureau, Honda headquarters and the internet company that hooked you up with that dealership.

 

well if it makes you feel any better as far as i know the 4.99% doesnt apply to the fit

 

From what I've seen going to different dealerships (Ford vs. Honda/Toyota), the salespeople at the Honda/Toyota dealerships don't really have to do much work to sell their cars, so I would imagine that it could make them care less. However, just try doing a test drive at a ford dealer! They're so desperate its scary!

 

I was going to say the same thing...I've just filed a complaint about Hardin Honda in Anaheim, CA at the Better Business Bureau. It seems like they are one of the major sites that coorporations take seriously. i.e., if there is a complaint filed through them, they will try to do whatever they can to make amends. I still have to see how my complaint turns out; I'll let you know if I hear from them.

P.S. I thought Hardin Honda was bad for wasting a 40 minute one way trip for me...2.5 hours is just at a whole new scale! I would have burnt them at the spot! Good luck...*Crossing my fingers for your quick car purchase*

 

I would email the letters so as not to waste stamps. Look at what cost and mental anguish you've already incurred.

 

If I don't get a really fast reply, I'll definitely do that.

I know there was a previous offer that excluded the Civic and the Fit, but for this most recent one, everything I've read said it applied to "all 2006 and 2007 models." My local dealer as well as Dobbs said that the 4.99% applied to the Fit, but with everything else that happened, I don't know if I'd believe that anymore.

I may follow up with an electronic copy, but the main reason I decided on an old-fashioned, tangible paper letter was that I once read something that said that especially in this age of e-mails and instant messages, when someone takes the time, effort, and cost to actually write and mail a real, live letter, the impact is that much more significant and it increases your chances of being taken seriously. Don't know if that will actually have any affect, but at the very least they will have to walk it over to a trash can instead of just clicking delete.

Ha! Take that!

 

It would seem there are more bad, sleazy,unprofessional mofo Honda dealers than there are good ones

 

That's the way you do business in life, nice of you to reward them, by telling their story. I've done similar at Che Dave's. Nice story, that proves there are decently run businesses here, to bad they don't sell Honda's

 

Their story is now on many boards on the Internet, and I've told it to everyone I've come into contact with. I'm the best or worst word-of-mouth asset or detriment a business can have because I'm vocal and I take their service very seriously.

They SHOULD sell Hondas. Maybe the chef will sell 'em outta da kitchen.

Dan (who still can't get a Fit despite bountiful, arduous attempts)

 

Here is something else you can do, e-mail the general manager of that dealership and include a link to this thread so that he can see what kind of exposure his business practices can generate. If he reads your e-mail I can assure you, he will be in touch with you.

 

[QUOTE=orangefit]I was told the FIT's are only marked up $400? /QUOTE]

Sort of reassuring to see this statement from another source.

My salesman said the same thing when I put down my deposit - $400 markup on the sport, $200 on the base.

Still waiting for my Silver Sport MT.......

 

If you really want to get that salesman and his dealership in deep kimshee, let Honda America know what happened. They score the dealerships, and disperse their inventory accordingly. Nothing kills their ratings quicker than complaints from customers and potential customers.