I reported Own-A-Car in Portland, Or to the Better Business Bureau. Here is the report: I went to Own-a-car in Portland on March 26, 2006 with my husband, my mom, and my 6-month old daughter. I was trading in my '85 Chevy Blazer for a '93 Chevy K5 Blazer. I test drove the '93 Blazer and it drove well and I didn't have any problems with it. The truck was $5895 after an internet sale. I put $598 as a down payment and agreed to pay $402 by April 4, 2006 and make monthly payments of $249.80 starting May 14, 2006, for 2 years. I was given $1000 for my '85 Blazer toward the cost of the '93 Blazer. On my way home from the dealership, I realized that my daughter's car seat wasn't staying level with either of the side shoulder/lap seat belts.
I tried the middle seatbelt and it was too short to even buckle over my daughter's car seat base. I arrived home when the engine started knocking rapidly. I no longer wanted the '93 Blazer because my family's safety is most important to me. I called Own-A-Car when I got home. They were closed so I e-mailed them through the Autotrader.com web page. I let them know what was happening and I said I wanted my '85 Blazer back. I called the next morning, March 27, 2006, and spoke with Josh Ford. He said he'd look at the truck and we would go from there. I said I didn't want the truck anymore and I just wanted my trade back. He said that he wouldn't be able to do that but he would talk to his boss and we'd work something out. I faxed them a letter at 3:15pm stating the problems with the truck and that I wanted my trade back as well as the $598 down payment.
I arrived at 4pm that day with my mom, my daughter, and the truck. Josh Ford came out and inspected the truck. He was able to fix the middle lap belt but he still ignored all my requests for my trade back. He was adamant about finding the problem with the engine. I continued to say that I didn't have time for him to find out what the problem was and I would just like my trade back. He replied by saying that I couldn't just return a car and get my trade and my money back. He also asked if I would return a gallon of milk if I just decided later that I didn't want it. I replied with, ' if the milk was rotten I would return it,' then he got in the car and drove off ignoring my requests that he find out what was wrong with the car later so I could just leave with my trade and get my baby home.
I went in search of a manager or someone over Josh. I went inside the dealership and asked three men if there was anyone over Josh I could speak to. No one answered me. Finally a man on the phone said I could talk to him. I started to say that I didn't want the truck anymore and I wanted my trade back. This man, I didn't get his name, shushed me in the middle of my sentence. I asked him if he just 'shushed' me and he said, 'Yes, be quiet.' I told him not to talk to me like that and he told me to stop yelling. This angered both my mom and me so naturally, we started yelling, demanding respect.
He continued interrupting us, telling us to be quiet, lower our voices and to stop yelling. I had never seen this man before and to my knowledge, he didn't even know what my story was. My mom said to the man to just give me back my trade. He looked intimidatingly at my mom, tightened his lips and said, ' I don't have to do anything.' He said he would only talk to us if we sat down and stopped yelling. I told him I didn't have time to sit down and talk it out with him. He kept insisting that we sit down. I calmed down and agreed to sit and talk.
He started whistling and slowly walked to a table to sit down. He asked how he could help us and I, once again, calmly told my story. He also kept repeating himself saying that the truck was sold 'as is' and 'no refund' and I waived a 30-day no hassle policy. I was never told about any such policy. I figured since it had only been 24 hours that they could do me this favor no matter the inconvenience. He said that he was going to drive the truck as well and then he would make a decision. He came back from the drive 10-15 minutes later and said nothing to my mom or me. He went into his office for about 20 minutes and then Josh came out with a contract to cancel the car loan and return my trade to me. They charged me $152 for having the truck for a day, mileage and the $20 temporary license plate for the window of the truck. I signed the contract and left.
Josh asked that I apologize to Bill, the man who sold us the truck, for taking up is time the previous day. At no time did anyone ever ask if I wanted to test drive another vehicle. This made me wonder how much was really wrong with truck because of how badly they wanted to get that particular truck off their lot.
Bill was the nicest guy you would ever want to deal with when buying a car. Out of all the men there that day, he was the only one who I expected to be upset for losing a sale but he kept his cordiality and manners even when his co-workers didn't. And for his sake, I'm sorry that he has to work with a bunch of pig-headed men who don't respect women. He deserves to work for a company who has the customer's interest in mind.
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