Pete Franklin's Best Cars KC

Pete Franklin's Best Cars KC responded

My Dealership participates in the DealerRater Certified Dealer Program. We are committed to providing high quality customer service, but based on your DealerRater review, you did not share that experience. That is very disappointing to us, and through this program we have the opportunity to work with you to resolve any issues with your experience at their dealership. I am sorry that you had a bad experience at our dealership. We often get overly excited about selling cars, but I understand that not everyone works at the same pace as us. Buying a car is a big decision and it's important to make sure you are happy with your purchase. We would love to sell everyone a car with 2% interest, no money down and a low, affordable monthly payment. However, with customers that have had previous credit challenges, we are governed by our lending institutions. They want to set our buyers up for success, which is why they have the parameters set they way they do. The price is based off Kelly Blue Book or NADA, depending on the financial institution. It's good new for our customers because they won't let car dealers charge their future customers too much. Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves, because we do this each and everyday, we forget that our customers need to learn more about the car buying experience when faced with credit challenges. But the bottom line is, pressuring and lying is not the culture at our dealership. At Pete Franklin's Best Cars KC, we value our customers and know, without you, we wouldn't be able to save folks thousands of dollars off the price of a nearly new car. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help ease your frustration about your experience. I am here to help and sincerely apologize for our employees' actions. Please don't hesitate to call if there is anything else I can do to help rectify this issue. I would love to earn your business in the future. With gratitude, Tyra Franklin

cpebworth responded

Tyra, Thank you for reaching out to me. I understand the car business very well. I also understand the way credit works which is why before ever driving 45 miles to your dealership i did everything online and worked with Gary they had pulled my credit and knew my situation in and out. when they said come on in the first time i said no because i didn't think it was possible to put me in the car i wanted with my situation.Gary the followed up with me after talking to Rob saying Rob guaranteed him they could put me in the car for $1000 down which is 5% of the price of the car which is a good deal. that makes that car $20,000. i said give me 3 days ill see if i can do that. Gary then called back a few hours later saying him and Rob talked to Pete they had a buyer for my car and they would be able to put me in the car with no money down no cosigner. so i said OK ill come in. I took off work the next day to come to your lot to purchase the car. When i arrived i found out after sitting and waiting for a while that it wasn't possible and that the car was $32,000 not $20,000. at that point Gary Rob and i where talking. Rob said that he was told i had a cosigner with perfect Credit which Gary immediately said no you where not as did i. So as my review says i was scammed and lied to to get me in there then they tried to sell me a cheaper car after i made it clear from the first talks i was only interested in one car. my trip to your lot cost me $20 in gas and 8 hours of work at $16 an hour that's $128. your dealerships lying scam cost me $148 and several hard hits on my credit report that will cost a couple hundred to have removed. I hope you further understand my displeasure.

Pete Franklin's Best Cars KC responded

Dear Mr. Bruner, My Dealership participates in the Dealer Rater Certified Dealer Program. We are committed to providing high quality customer service, but based on your Dealer Rater review, you did not share that experience. That is very disappointing to us, and through this program we have the opportunity to work with you to resolve any issues with your experience at their dealership. After reviewing the review with our Service Manager and General Manager, I wanted to clarify several things. Please know all our cars we sell are preowned. We truly are saving customers thousands of dollars, off the purchase of a slightly used vehicle, compared to the price of the same car, brand new. Our customers are always encouraged to have their own personal mechanic check out the car before purchase, and regular maintenance is recommended on all vehicles whether you purchase it brand new or preowned. You purchased the car over a year ago in 2012. We have a service ticket dated 12/27/2012, stating your rotor pads were evaluated. In addition, Pete paid for your headlights to be aligned because you didn't like the way they were aiming. This wasn’t required and wasn’t agreed upon before purchase. Since you decided you wanted slotted rotors and pad, which we don’t supply, you decided to buy these specialties parts yourself, offline, and asked for us to install them. Four month later, on 4/1/2013, you brought the parts back and we installed them. We did this, per your request, to later find out, you purchased the wrong rotors. We now have a strict policy to not install any outside parts brought in by customers. We did this because, although our mechanics are fully certified master technicians, it was overlooked and they assumed the parts you provided were appropriate for your car. In addition, Pete paid for a detail and we replaced 4 lug nuts for FREE that day. Again, work that was not required or agreed upon before purchase. Pete Franklin's Best Cars KC never recommends unnecessary work. It isn’t unusual for a mechanic shop to try to upsell a customer or to jump the gun and recommend repairs that aren’t an immediate priority, although, they may act as if they are. After we realized, the rotors were not compatible with your car, Pete reimbursed you for another shop to replace them. The check was written 6 month after the original purchase. Pete Franklin's Best Cars KC has a full car service maintenance and repair center. Our facility is clean, modern and fully equipped to service nearly every make and model. Our car service staff includes fully certified master technicians, meeting the industry standard in certification for dealer and independent automotive technicians. We utilize the latest diagnostic techniques and equipment for our car service center including computer access to specific vehicle repair information, factory recalls, current service bulletins and customer service reports detailed on our management software system. I am sorry our technician wasn’t familiar with slotted rotors to determine the rotors were not compatible with your car, but clearly, the company that sold them to you didn’t either nor di you when you purchased the parts. At that point, we did everything possible to rectify the problem, with no cost to you. I would like to clarify the following: you stated after a year of owning the car, you wreaked it, and at this point, you realized the air filter was also installed wrong by us. I imagine if you had ensured that regular suggested maintenance was performed, they would have realized this long before a year later. Either, regular maintained wasn’t performed or misinformation was given to you at the time of your wreak. An air filter is a minor repair in comparison to a lot of our technician’s work. But we do a many air filter replacements each month, and I find it hard to believe that your air filter was installed wrong. Also, the same person told you the tires were bad. Obviously, with any car, the tires are going to wear out over time. A year after purchase is an extreme amount of time, in our opinion, to realize your tires are bad. We are sorry you are dissatisfied with your experience. I hope this clarifies our recollection of the situation, which is far different from your account. Please take the time to update your review to reflect the actual events. You forgot to mention, you were responsible for purchasing your own parts, and that you are referring to a car that you purchased over a year ago. I would love to review the$1200 invoice and speak to the actual shop that did your repairs. I have the service bills and all the notes that were entered by the technicians for your review, if needed. Dealer Rater takes great pride in verifying each review has accurate information and won’t allow a review to be posted if the information isn’t correct. Please know we take pride in our dealership and our customers. I am sorry you perceived us as unfair. We went above and beyond our responsibilities. It is a federal law, we are required to inform the customer the purchased vehicle is being sold “AS IS”, before the purchase. So although, you said Pete informed you of this fact again, when you called, he still went on to spend hundreds of dollars, trying to satisfy you. If there is anything, we could do to help ease your mind, please let me know. Thanks for letting us know of your concerns. Please don’t hesitate to call with any additional concerns, comments, or questions. With Gratitude, Tyra Franklin Customer Advocate Specialist BestCarsKC.com