Crowfoot Dodge, Calgary

We were in the market for a 4×4 vehicle and because the Jeep Patriot is the cheapest car in that class we went to visit our local Jeep Dealer, Crowfoot Dodge.

And because we had lots of different experiences in this whole process of buying the vehicle we will divide this review into parts.

First Visit to Crowfoot Dodge:

At our arrival at Crowfoot Dodge we walk a bit around the parking lot to see what kind of cars they have standing (second hand). Within a couple of minutes a sales person talks to us and we tell him what we are looking for and he shows us the two Patriots they have and offers a test drive.

The test drive went smooth although the sales person didn’t really know much about the car and it’s pricing (later I found out that he was working here just 3 weeks).

After the test drive we look at what the options are and ask about financing. The interest rate at this point is 4.9% for a Jeep Patriot and for us that is to much specially after seeing Jeep ads where they say 0%. So we left without making any decisions.

Next day Phone Call:

The next day I get a courtesy call from Crowfoot Dodge to ask how our experience was and if our sales person did his job right.

And because I write reviews I was more than willing to tell them what i thought and i also told the lady that we are interested if it came with 0% financing but other wise not.

The Lady decides to talk to the manager about it and calls us back to tell me that there are possibilities and we make an appointment with the salesperson to talk about that.

Second Visit:

At our second visit we went straight for what we came for. So when we told the sales guy about the 0% he looked at his sheet and said sorry but 4.9% is the best we can do, so i told him about the phone conversation that i had with Crowfoot Dodge. He want to go to his manger and came back with the news that they could not do anything about it. So I told our sales guy that we would leave then and look for a different car somewhere else. He thought that was the only thing we could do but he decided to go talk to his manger one more time.

And guess what now there was a deal to be made. They could not change the financing interest rate because that was something Chrysler decided on BUT they where willing to write us a cheque for the interest we have to pay so that would make it 0%.

That deal sounded good for us so we decided to sign the contract and when our sales person looked there where plenty of cars available.

We visited the financing person and things were arranged quickly.

The next day:

My wife gets a phone call from our sales person with the message that the car that we wanted is not available???? What do you mean not available? you told us the day before that it was. So I at this point am pretty mad and decided to go to Crowfoot Dodge. Our sales guy can’t do much else then offer us a more expensive car and wants us to pay 910 dollars more for it. I tell him that i don’t want the extra rubbish that they trying to sell me. He talks to his manger and says and when he comes back he tells me that he can’t do anything for me. At this point i just tell him to rip up the contract and that seems to worry him a bit so again he goes back to talk to his manger.

And then finally the Manger shows up. And then things get even more interesting. I guess because i am not my normal friendly person at this point he also gets very defensive and tells me that it is MY fault that they don’t have my car, yes you read it right they blame it on ME. And why do they do that, because THEY didn’t put everything i asked for on the bill of sale!

I now tell the sales manger the same story that i told the sales guy that i DON’T want the extras and definitely not for 910 dollars. And if this is the only thing they can do then they can just rip up the contract so that i can go buy a car somewhere else. He agrees with that and walks out to get that done.

After a bit he comes back with still no ripped contract. He tries to explain again what went wrong and that they can’t do anything else to make it easier. So in my last offer i tell him to try to get me a discount on other things to make it worth it for me. He walks out again and comes back a little bit later with the bad news that he can’t do anything else because i already got discount prices on things like warranty and car protection. And so again i tell him to cancel my sale and he walks out to arrange that.

But then after a couple of minutes he comes back again and now he has something to offer (FINALY) he can give me the extras on the the available car for 500 dollars instead of 910 and can offer me a coupon book with discounts and some free oil changes. And because i at this point really don’t want to be hassled any more by car sales people I agree with that.

We at that point set a date that we can get the car for thursday and they promised me the serial number of the car the next day. When i don’t get it i start calling again but now they seem to have moved my delivery date to the next Tuesday so again things need to be changed and then finally the thursday arrives and we can come and get our car.

Delivery Day:

I guess by now you wonder why so much can go wrong, but unfortunately this is not the end

So we meet at Crowfoot Dodge at the time we said and then the waiting game begins to see the financing guy. Finally almost an hour later then we expected we see the guy. He is kinda pushing all kind of extras on us and most of them we say NO to, but then the extra warranty comes up and I tell him that i don’t think it is worth that kind of money. Of course he disagrees but still I am not willing to spend that much. Then he offers us to do it for an lower price this price is more then 700 dollars below the offer we had (and they already offered a discount on that). So we say we want to quickly talk about it and so he leaves us alone for a couple of minutes. When he comes back we tell him that we want the extra insurance and he tells us he made a mistake. Apparently he offered us the warranty for a 2 wheel drive Jeep Patriot and not for the 4×4. It ends up that we get the warranty for the LOW price. When that all is done we meet up with our sales guy who puts go’s with us to get the plates and fill the tank.

When he puts our new plates on i notice that there is no Crowfoot Dodge logo on the car and that they also didn’t put a thing around the licence plate. I am happy with that but i guess they don’t want me to advertise there business.

And then we go home………

And what happens then:

When we get home of course we have a good look at our new Jeep and we notice all kind of black spots on the roof and the hood. Hmmmm. so the next day it is back to the dealer to get them removed. It turns out that the black spots are the stuff they use for the undercoating off the car. But doesn’t undercoating mean under the car? why does it end up on top of the car. Ah well they take care of it and that is fine.

In the mean time we are still waiting for the Cheque and the Coupon Book. After a bit over a month I started calling to ask where our stuff is. After 3 more calls the Cheque finally arrives and guess what, the amount is wrong and this time we are lucky again because they offer too much just a couple of bucks but still is it that difficult to see on the bill of sale how much it should be?

Then we are still waiting for the Coupon book. And after another couple of phone calls still nothing. In the mean time we get a letter from Crowfoot Dodge that we should contact them if something is wrong. I find out that the person in the letter that you should contact is the general manger so i try to give her a call. Of course she is a busy person and after a couple of calls i ask if she can call me back.

Apparently she doesn’t take care of case like ours herself and lets someone else call me back. This Gentleman takes care of things and two days later the coupon book finally arrives.

First Service Appointment:

I didn’t realize that Jeep wants you to bring you car in every 3 months for service and i guess that is how they try to make up for there lost money. So when i get a letter from Crowfoot dodge that my first service appointment is made i think wow very organized so i decide to check it out. Also because of the coupon book this service appointment is free.

At arrival at the dealer I tell them to check my tire pressure because one of them is way of and the girl tells me that they always check the pressure. I decide to wait for my car because it will only take 1 hour.

In the waiting room is a lady walking around not looking very happy 1 hour later i find out that she is waiting for hours now because they forgot about her and her car but they finally got through it.

Then 1.15 minutes after i arrive i see my car standing outside. I still wait for a bit longer because i guess they staff still needs to make the bill and stuff but after 20 more minutes i am sick of waiting and walk to the reception desk where they put my bill in the wrong drawer and so if i didn’t say anything i would have been there all day

On the service statement it states lots of things they did and one of them is the Tire Pressure. BUT as my Jeep has a tire pressure monitor inside i still see that one tire is way of and needs adjusting YEP they didn’t check the tire pressure and that makes you wonder if they did any of the other things on the service statement.

I think i will go for one mores service appointment at Crowfoot Dodge and see if they improve but other wise i really need to start looking for another service place.

CONCLUSION:

If you are looking for a good deal and can live the all the hassle that comes with it then i would say try to get a good deal at Crowfoot Dodge but if you expect service and wish to feel like a customer  then i say stay away from Crowfoot Dodge. I know for sure that they will not see me buying another car there.

Written by George on January 23rd, 2008 with 10 comments.
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