[clsmooth]

Just thought I’d share my experience in dealing with Car Avenue so that others may be able to make an informed decision for themselves.

I went into Caravenue.ca's physical location in Abbotsford on a Sunday as a vehicle of theirs online peaked my interest from the week before. Although it was one of the first vehicles I looked at, I was quite interested in it, but still wanted to look at other vehicles that I had made appointments for afterwards.

Rather than leave a cash deposit that I wasn’t comfortable doing (and thankfully I didn’t), I filled out a finance application with the verbal agreement that the salesman would sit on it til I called and gave him the green light to forward it onto his finance dept. (Since it’s a 3-hour round-trip for me to this dealership). The salesman himself seemed OK and I trusted him with this.

Later that Wednesday, I get a call from the finance dept. advising that my application somehow made it to their desk and my application was "accidentally" processed. BEFORE MY PERMISSION WAS GIVEN! As we had agreed upon earlier. I was furious as I did not want to apply for financing too often and have it affect my credit score or rating.

She, personally, was very apologetic and after some discussion, I advised the finance dept. representative I would since then like them to hold the vehicle until I get in touch with them Monday and I was looking at a few more vehicles over one the upcoming weekend. Her word(s) were, “Done.”

I viewed the other vehicles I had scheduled over this upcoming weekend and their vehicle was still preferred. Monday comes around and I contact this dealership to find out that the hold on the vehicle was only until Saturday? This dealership is adamant that it was Saturday that was discussed, but the reality of the situation was it was NOT what was agreed upon; it was for Monday. I was then advised someone else had already put a deposit on this vehicle and that there was a pending sale. This is now the 2nd time this dealership didn’t listen to me.

After discussing the situation with the staff that was present that day, I was told I would receive a call from either the general and/or sales manager Tuesday while on my lunch break. I did not receive such a call. I had to call the dealership myself on my own time as there was an apparent lack of courage on their part. The “general manager”, who didn’t address himself with a name, happened to answer the calls. Several calls, as there was several attempts to get this gentleman to simply listen to the customer's side of the story. Instead I was belligerently yelled at and spoken over constantly with the answer to whatever concerns I was able to utter with “There’s nothing further to discuss” and hung up each time. He invited me to come down to the dealership and discuss matters in person, but was adamant that there was nothing that could be done over the phone. I did also capture his comment that the vehicle's already been sold anyway and "too bad, so sad" for me.

One bit of information I did capture from him was that he was apparently on speaker phone with the finance manager Wednesday and claimed to have also heard that Saturday was agreed upon. I've been working in office settings for over 10+ years and can tell when I'm on speaker phone. I was not that Wednesday. Before hanging up for the last time, he ended the call with an attempt at intimidation stating they're fully prepared to defend themselves in court if need be.

I’m appalled and felt betrayed against by the general manager of this location with his lack of class, tact, reasoning and ethics. Completely unprofessional and not helping the stereotype that comes with the used car business. I refused to do any business with this location not only because of this general manager, but being betrayed earlier when my application was "accidentally" processed earlier. The general manger should take some time for personal reflection and consider whether he’s in a profession that suits him. He should also consider a refresher in basic customer service skills.

I’m just thankful I didn’t lose any money in this case and going forward I’ll take the extra step in getting dates in writing from someone as this dealership’s word seems hollow. And still, no one at this dealership has taken responsibility for how my application made its way onto the desk in the finance office. Even when this dealership first doesn’t listen to the customer and follows it up by making a blatant error, it seems their only true desire is to sacrifice ethical customer service in lieu of simply acquiring funds as soon as possible (2 additional days of waiting appears outside their capabilities in my case).

After contacting the Abbotsford police, they unfortunately can step in unless there's first further legal action on my part, however they stated they weren't surprised. They advised me that used car dealers in the region show a pattern of 'accidentally' processing loan applications; with the 'good news' afterwards that you've been approved. It's apparently a common tactic in order to make the customer feel obligated to purchase a vehicle from said dealer.

As per the Abbotsford police's advice, in order to make sure there weren't any problems to my credit score/rating because of this dealership, I found out from Equifax that they not only applied to finance me with themselves directly, but there was also a 2nd inquiry with TD Bank. As per Equifax, they appeared to be "loan shopping" for me, something that according to them, they're not suppose to do.

And after being told the vehicle's sold, it was still for sale on their site and craigslist for several weeks to follow.