AutoNation Honda West Knoxville - Service Center

In my professional opinion, DO NOT EVER SERVICE OR BUY CARS FROM THIS DEALERSHIP!! Here is why I truly believe this with my experience that has spanned from 02/10/22-02/15/22… (I wouldn’t wish this exper CARS FROM THIS DEALERSHIP!! Here is why I truly believe this with my experience that has spanned from 02/10/22-02/15/22… (I wouldn’t wish this experience on my worst enemy) I travel a lot for work being the sales manager with a marketing firm covering the whole state of Tennessee. My main client is a local Sportsbook that we now run events in every major city in the state. This weekend was Super Bowl weekend, so it’s like our Black Friday or busiest weekend of the year (I was running 7 events in 4 days). Traveling from Nashville to Johnson City, my alternator goes out due to an oil leak in my 2011 Honda Accord Crosstour on Thursday around noon. Now I love my car, and wish Honda still made Crosstours; but it needs fixed. So I call my insurance and they cover a tow as I found a certified Honda dealership within 5 miles from my location (AutoNation Honda West Knoxville). I called ahead to notify them I would be arriving and to check if they had available parts and open in the service department. They said yes and they would treat it like an emergency situation. I arrive (with my service animal as well who travels with me weekly) and get checked in. This is where I meet BRAD (remember SERVICE MAN BRAD). Brad tries to tell me what’s wrong which was an oil gasket leaked onto my alternator and fried it. So new alternator and new oil piece, okay cool. What’s not cool is HOW MUCH THEY INFLATE PRICES FOR “LABOR!!” Total cost for the parts was maybe $400 on high end. My bill he tries to tell me is $2,200! Now he hadn’t applied the $150 coupon but still that’s over 80% of the bill for inflation they’re charging me for labor up charged 550%. Now I had an alternator changed a year prior and it was less than $500 with labor in Iowa. So I knew these prices were way high. But I need my car bc it’s super bowl weekend so I tell Brad yes do it up and fix it and we can talk numbers later (this is important as it was my approval). Now I’m very universe prone and take signs, so I took this as maybe a sign to upgrade my car. So I say, “Hey Brad, could you get me someone to show me the lot maybe I can upgrade since they said it would be about 8 hours to fix my car” (which was a lie it took less than that). So Brad introduces me to SALESMAN SAM (remember SAM). Now this is where I tell Sam and Brad what I do for work and how busy of a weekend I have coming up expressing the necessity that I need a car by the end of the day and maybe trade in on a new one. Sam shows me the lot and I look online and on the phone with my father (who buys a lot of cars over 130 in his lifetime) and he lets me know, not Sam, about 0.9% financing they have going on. At this point I have my eye on the HR-V and a hot baby blue civic hatchback with all bells and whistles. Mind you I also have my service animal with me so not ideal for trying to look at new cars but that’s the hand I was dealt so trying to make light of a poor situation. I ask Sam with my dad on speaker phone if the civic is also on 0.9% financing. He says YES! (that was a lie it wasn’t.) So I’m really thinking about that car now, and I have nearly a 800 credit score and money to spend, as well as my Dad who had me send a video of the lot and he and my step mom were interested trading out their brand new Kia’s out just to get that 0.9% APR financing. Come to find out that’s only on the Pilots and HR-V’s. So I have Sam go appraise my car which on KBB the low end is $4,500 but averages around $5,500. He says they appraise my car at $1,000!!! Sam then says my car being higher mileage (190,000) is essentially a junker and they would sell of for parts but they would also need to put on new tires and some body work and the $2000 I’m about to pay them. So already I’m like no that won’t work. But let’s talk turkey and work a deal. Sam leaves, and BRAD comes back out saying two of his mechanics are asking if I’m selling because they want my car. I tell him to make me an offer as Sam just told me to my face my car is junk and worthless, yet they want to buy my car which I love and has been fantastic. Service man Brad tells me they could probably do $1,500 on trade in (he isn’t in sales). Brad gets called back in and Sam comes back out saying, “I have another client coming in that I’ll have to help, do you want to test drive right now?” I said I have my dog’s cage in my car if theirs an office I can put her in (trying to be respectful to not have a dog in a new car). He says they don’t have any open offices to do that AND IM TOLD NO (another lie I find out later). So I say okay I’ll be on the phone so you can deal with your customers and come back out or send someone else. I wait an hour outside on the phone for someone else to come out. Go in trying to find out more details about the length of the 0.9% financing as my dad and step-mom are on the line also interested in possibly buying (so at least 1-3 possible car sales on the line). I ask for Sam and he’s no where to be found and I’m told they will send him out. I go back outside and wait about 45 min before I go back inside asking someone to call Sam. One of the financial guys calls Sam on the cell phone, in which he tells me SAM WENT HOME AN HOUR AGO! So I was left outside for about 2 hours thinking this guy had some important client he needed to deal with, instead I’m rudely left outside alone with my service animal and no car to leave her in to rest on a bed. So then they put me with SALESMAN JEFF. Jeff seems nice but I’m told he’s been there longer than most of the managers yet he’s not one (another red flag 🚩). I start asking Jeff questions about the blue civic hatchback and financing questions. EVERY QUESTION I ASK JEFF ANSWERS WITH I DON’T KNOW. He literally googles Honda financing in front of me. I even ask to speak with a financing manager who might be more well knowledgeable in the field and he says they are busy so NO. They are in a glass room which I can see and everyone is just standing and talking and laughing (not busy). I ask if they could work some better financing on the car I like or if I could speak with the sales manager and I’m told NO. So now I’ve been there about 6 hours. I ask Jeff to check with Brad and see how far along my car is because I need to get to Johnson City. JEFF comes back with BRAD, in which they say there was some miscommunication and Brad makes a comment of “I thought you were buying a new car!” I say, “No BRAD, because I was left outside by Sam who you introduced me to for 2 hours and he went home.” BRAD THEN TELLS ME THEY HAVEN’T EVEN STARTED WORKING ON MY CAR!! He said I NEVER CAME INSIDE TO GIVE MY APPROVAL! My approval was given when he showed me the first numbers. And not once did he tell my my car wasn’t being worked on yet when he came out to ask if I wanted to sell it. I had been there for at least 6 hours by this point so it should have been done! I’m flabbergasted at this point and speechless. Brad runs away to check something and I call up my dad to quickly explain what’s going on. Brad comes running back frantically saying we have to leave RIGHT NOW to go to enterprise to rent a car. I look at him, and say hold on. So you have had all day to be working on my emergency car situation like I was told when I called ahead and now I’m forced into having to get a rental. He says I can come back Saturday and my car will be fixed. I said, “No Brad I’m not coming back until Monday because its SUPER BOWL WEEKEND AND IM WORKING 6 events in 3 days and covering 70 ambassadors across the whole state of Tennessee so if I leave I’m not coming back until Monday. He says they can cover rental for only one day. I said no you’ll be paying for the whole weekend and we drive to enterprise. Now I just get dropped off as Brad frantically tells me to hurry inside (with my service dog) bc they are technically closed. The manager comes out and says I can’t go inside as she’s allergic to dogs. So now we’re standing outside of a closed enterprise and they come out and explain Brad just called them and said Honda dropped the ball with me and Enterprise has to cover their xxxxx and put me in a car for the weekend. So Enterprise is very upset getting pushed to this position. They try to put me in the smallest Toyota Corolla I’ve ever seen and I’m 6’5” 300 lbs and I just laugh bc all the supplies in my Honda Crosstour wouldn’t even fit in that car to get up to Johnson City. They had 47 bookings going into tomorrow so every other car was booked. Bless their hearts they end up getting me into a VW suv. So I get a call from Brad as I’m finalizing things with enterprise saying to come back and talk to Lyrika the manager and they’ll cover my rental for the weekend. I said enterprise was already going to charge you, but okay. So I come back and speak with manager Lyrika who was very nice and sensitive to how I was treated and my experience thus far. She tells me she will notify the service manager Scott and they will be going through and discounting a lot in my bill. I say thank you and drive off to JC (3 more hours to drive.) Now it’s Saturday and I’m working my first event. I get a call from BRAD. Brad says my car is done (at 1 pm so less than the 8 hours of labor they charged me for, so another lie) and did you get my email? I ask what email and he says the bill. I’m like oh this should be good. I look and see they are trying to charge me $2,200 NOW!! I tell Brad I’m not paying that and I already talked to Lyrika. He says he wasn’t told anything by her and I have to pay that before I get my car back. I tell him that I’m working events at my job on the busiest weekend of the year and do not have the time or energy to communicate with them anymore this weekend and will be there Monday to talk with the GM. I get another email 30 minutes later where BRAD discounted off $73…. LOL I can’t make this up I laughed out loud literally. Shrugged it off and focused on my weekend which went very well across the state and personally for me. Now I come back Monday and I get to Honda with my rental and kept my keys until I knew my car is good. I ask to speak with CASEY THE GM. Casey is very sensible man and has been there for many years. I tell him everything that happened as he was NEVER NOTIFIED OF ANYTHING. He agrees as well that I was wronged by them and would like to make it right. He goes to talk to SERVICE MANAGER SCOTT. They end up knocking my bill down to $1775. I just want to go home so I’m like cool maybe we can work a deal out next week for a new car. Bill is still way too high in my opinion. They pull my car up to my rental so I can transfer everything over. I start up my car and transfer everything but notice my mufflers don’t sound normal like they should. I was about to bring my car back around and find Scott and NOTICE MY ENGINE LIGHT IS NOW FLASHING VERY FAST! I go in and find, you guessed it, BRAD. I tell Brad to find me Scott because now my engine light is flashing which never was flashing before it was my battery light. Brad can’t find Scott so I have to go to my car and get my dog out and they take it to the back. So now I’m in the same position I was Thursday and my car was “done” on Saturday. Yet my car is now not working again for something different. Come to find out, they put in a faulty piece that nearly FRIED MY WHOLE ENGINE!! And my car would have to cool down overnight and I would need to come back Tuesday. So now I’m wanting to go back to Nashville (home) but have a rental car and would need to drive back. So I’m walking the lot with Xyia my service dog and Shawn the Sales manager comes out with Brandon their best salesman who’s also a preacher. Both are very nice and sensible. Shawn knows slightly about my situation and Brandon doesn’t. He’s their to make the situation easier. Now Brandon is great, very similar mindset of treat other like you want to be treated like me. We check out a few cars. And I could leave Xyia in the rental when I would test drive. I end up favoring a Honda Passport Elite. We start talking numbers before I test drive it. We get to a possible closeness on a deal so I’m like let’s test drive it. Now before I was told it was also blue sticker certified owner so has a 100,000 mile warranty. We drive it and I actually loved it! So I’m finally like okay this is the one. We get out and Brandon says, “oh shoot I told you wrong it’s not a blue sticker”…. I’m like what does that mean and he says it’s only remainder warranty so 26,000 miles. I’m just like how many mistakes can one dealership make across so many different people in so many different sides of business. Then I’m like that’s a deal breaker and they need to give me a 100,000 warranty on it or drop the price below $40k. He then says the GM is driving a new 2022 passport and maybe I could get a better deal on that. But he’s gone as I’ve been there for another 5 hours that day. So now I’m forced to get a hotel room close by so I don’t drive 6 hour round trip as I’m wore out from all of this stress and the busy weekend I had. It is now Tuesday morning and I’ve yet to hear if my car is fixed. Today is their last chance to make this right because I’m at my breaking point and I never would wish my experience with them on my worst enemy. More