George Harte INFINITI

Highly unprofessional, incompetent & substandard dealer I would like to share my awful experience with the George Harte Infiniti dealership in West Haven while buying used 2013 JX35. If I had the luxury of I would like to share my awful experience with the George Harte Infiniti dealership in West Haven while buying used 2013 JX35. If I had the luxury of time to find another car I would probably have walked out of this place. Here is the summary of my experience. Professionalism: Highly unprofessional, rude, incompetent and substandard dealership 1) Verbally agreed upon a price and then dealership backed-off and increase the price after gaging our interest and the need for getting the delivery by 31st. 2) As my wife liked the car and I wanted to give her as a gift on March31st (for personal reasons), I agreed to pay price higher than mutually agreed upon. 3) Day and time was agreed upon to pick up the car 31st March @6:30 pm. 4) Approx. two hours before the delivery, added a new requirement that financing must be done through their dealership, when I already had the financing from credit union in the morning. 5) Arrived at the dealership with down payment check and financing @6:30pm 6) Although pick up time was decided upfront, me, my wife and two kids were kept waiting for approx. 1.5 hr. 7) After waiting for long time, general sales manager approached to us with credit application in hand to fill up. As I already had the financing approved and didn’t want to adversely impact my credit history with multiple inquiries, I declined to fill up the credit application and gave him finance document from credit union. 8) After receiving the document he walked away saying that I need to wait till he discuss this with sales person. 9) From the discussion the manger wasn’t happy at all with the arrangement getting us the finance though credit union and kept insisting on getting the financing from their dealership. 10) Finally after a long convincing he agreed to move on with next steps to close the transaction. I handed them the down payment check and the smart auto approval certificate (I received from credit union for $20,000). 11) The dealership express their inability to process the credit union payment and suggested that I go through their banks and they will match credit union rates. 12) As I wanted the close the deal, I agreed to fill out the credit application and took another hit on my credit score. 13) They process the request and instead of matching the rates, gave me interest rate ½ percent higher. 14) As the person handling the finance was not able to match the rates he suggested that I leave tonight and he will call credit union tomorrow to process the transaction and will have someone deliver the car to our door as a courtesy. 15) As it was quite late on a week day (~ 9:30 pm) with two kids haven’t had dinner, no hope of getting the car and series of disappointment, I agreed to take that option and started leaving. 16) Now Mr. Igor Zektser (general sales manager) came furious into the room thinking that we suggested that option and said that we will not deliver the car to your place. Finally we had to calm him down and explained him that this was not my idea and this was suggested by his own staff out of courtesy to the customer to make the car buying experience little less painful. With that we walked out of the dealership hoping tomorrow is a new day and will close the transaction. I am an engineer by profession and haven’t seen a person with such a title (general sales manager) worked-up so much especially in front of the customer. The situation was aggravated to the point where other general sales manager had to intervene to close the transaction next day. He seriously needs a mentor and coaching on how to deal with customers. 17) The next day started with more exciting fun. I called the credit union and explained that dealership was not able to close the deal due to the fact that they are not aware of smart auto approval certificate process. They took this very seriously and the issue got escalated to VP of customer lending and I was promised that someone will get in touch with dealership. 18) I wanted to make sure that dealership is aware that someone will contact from credit union. So I called the dealership, receptionist picked up the phone and I asked for the person. She asked my name and phone went on silent. I thought the phone might have disconnected. I tried second time, got to receptionist and as soon as I asked the finance person whom I wanted to speak and phone went on silent again. After that I have tried at least four times and same thing. Then I decided to send an email to make sure the dealership is aware of that credit union is trying to get in touch with them to process the payment. I have never expected such an unprofessional behavior from luxury brand car dealership, will definitely bring to Infinity’s attention. 19) In the afternoon other manager (John Sivak) from George Harte Infiniti called and gets the details of what had happened last night. Then he asked me, if he is able to match the rates, am I going to process the loan from their dealership? As I wanted get over with this torturous experience end soon, I said yes. And surprisingly he was able to offer slightly lower (tenth of percent) rates than credit union. Not sure what has changed overnight? 20) He processed the loan and discussed with me on pickup timing. I have asked if he can make an arrangement to drop off the car off he mentioned that not one is available today but he can have someone to pick us up from the home next day. By the time we were so frustrated with the dealership and decided that we will drive one last time to dealer ship and pick up the car ourselves. Do not need any more favors. 21) Next day we drove to dealer ship and finally picked up the car as we discussed with the manager. Poor Communication: From whatever time I spent at the dealership, it appears that salesman and general sales manager were not on the same page (or may be this one of the tactics), on several occasions. Salesman committed something to the customer and general sales manager reverted back. Every time I spoke to the manager I felt one step forward and ten steps back. Not sure if this is his working style to gage customer interest then exploit them accordingly. Unethical business practice: I am finding out several serious misrepresentations of the facts about the car that was sold at George Infiniti. 1) Miles Discrepancy: Miles advertise on the car at the time of sale was different than the miles reported/documented at the time of delivery. a. I can understand 50-100 miles discrepancy to account for test drive or so but not ~3000 miles 2) Certification claim: I was told the car is certifiable but not certified because some customer are more concerned with the price, so dealership doesn’t want to push the cost of certification ~$800 to them. So for this car it is just a matter of paying cost of certification. a. I am reading through the infinity certification requirement and my preliminary findings indicate that this car may not be certified even if I pay certification cost. Customer Care: Customer care can be felt thorough the experience I shared above. With the dealership I felt like the dealership is doing favor to me by selling the car. The other staff members were apologizing for the experience we went through at the dealership but Mr. Igor Zektser didn’t have a decency to come and say that whatever has happened shouldn’t have happened. We have bought several cars in the past but never experienced such thing from dealership. I have seen the flavor of customer service at Harte and will probably stay away from for any future car needs. Poor Car Delivery: 1) Once you like the car and committed, you will get not attention whatsoever. For them deal is over and they are of mindset that there time will be well spent on the new customer. 2) Make false promises and cannot be trusted. Need to get everything in writing. 3) I was told that car was detailed. Attached are couple of pictures showing the detailing. 4) Didn’t expect the car would require a oil change next day after you picked up the car. Attached is the picture. 5) I was told that car had pre certification 167 point service done. Car key battery low. Attached is the picture. 6) I understand these are not big issue but this shows how committed the dealership is when delivering a car. This you can expect from whole sale car dealer but not from luxury brand car dealership. 7) This is just from the one week that I owned the car, not sure how many more things I am going to discover in next coming weeks. Can not attach pictures here. Please let me know if you need picture or the proof for claims mad above. I would be glad to send via email More

Excellent First Car Purchase Experience I purchased a certified preowned Q50 a couple of weeks ago at George Harte Infiniti. My salesman, Edward Mayzler, went above and beyond to help me fi I purchased a certified preowned Q50 a couple of weeks ago at George Harte Infiniti. My salesman, Edward Mayzler, went above and beyond to help me find the exact car I wanted. We worked through the details and settled on a price. Even during the days leading up to the vehicle pick up, Edward was very responsive to my numerous requests. The establishment and its employees are extremely courteous and professional. I couldn't have asked for a better experience and would definitely recommend both the dealership and Edward to anyone interested in an Infiniti. More

Great salesman! Our salesman, Rich Yonkers, was extremely knowledgeable and worked with manager, Igor, to get me just what I wanted. Very professional and personable. Our salesman, Rich Yonkers, was extremely knowledgeable and worked with manager, Igor, to get me just what I wanted. Very professional and personable. Way to go to keep customers and get repeat business and referrals. More

Great customer service Today I picked up my new Infiniti. This is my third lease from Harte. This was one of my best experiences with this dealership. The managers and sal Today I picked up my new Infiniti. This is my third lease from Harte. This was one of my best experiences with this dealership. The managers and sales person went above and beyond to please me. I would definitely recommend the salesperson, Joe Finelli and Managers, John Sivak and Igor Zetsker. They are the best. Mr. Blackwell in the Service area is one of the nicest guys anyone would want to deal with. More

Fantastic experience Worked with Joe Finelli, excellent experience. Helped me get into the car I have always wanted. Easy to work with and painless process. Would recomme Worked with Joe Finelli, excellent experience. Helped me get into the car I have always wanted. Easy to work with and painless process. Would recommend. More

Excellent Experience Great dealership to buy from! Rich Yonkers and his sales manager John Sivak were very knowledgeable and great to work with, and made my purchasing exp Great dealership to buy from! Rich Yonkers and his sales manager John Sivak were very knowledgeable and great to work with, and made my purchasing experience one to truly remember!! More

Very Good Joe Finelli (sales) was very professional. I would definitely purchase another vehicle from him. Joe made the car buying experience enjoyable. The veh Joe Finelli (sales) was very professional. I would definitely purchase another vehicle from him. Joe made the car buying experience enjoyable. The vehicle, a 2015 Infiniti Q50, was an outstanding purchase. More

Richard Yonkers was great to work with! Rich made the purchasing of our Infiniti QX50 a no pressure, no hassle experience. Un-be-known to Rich, this purchase was to replace a vehicle that ou Rich made the purchasing of our Infiniti QX50 a no pressure, no hassle experience. Un-be-known to Rich, this purchase was to replace a vehicle that our son was killed in, so my wife and I were definitely not the most enthusiastic car buyers at the moment. His upbeat personality and enthusiasm about the Infiniti lineup made us feel comfortable working with him. Rich was extremely knowledgeable answering all our questions and worked with us to get the lowest price per value of a car of all the dealers we visited. George, the service manager, made us feel comfortable that our QX 50 was in good hands for all our needs. We are happy that Richard Yonkers came out to greet us and will recommend Rich along with George Hart Infiniti dealership to our friends. Ed & Barb More

Matthew was wicked awesome! Working with Matthew and the entire staff at George Harte Infiniti was a great experience. Their knowledge and approach puts them above all the rest. Working with Matthew and the entire staff at George Harte Infiniti was a great experience. Their knowledge and approach puts them above all the rest. More

Sales consultant Mr. Richard Yonkers was great! Mr. Yonkers made our car buying experience very enjoyable and pain free. He was very knowledgeable on the car we were looking to purchase and never on Mr. Yonkers made our car buying experience very enjoyable and pain free. He was very knowledgeable on the car we were looking to purchase and never once rushed us into making the purchase. He made it haggle free by giving us the best offer right from the start that made the process less time consuming. I will be recommending Mr. Yonkers and George Harte Infiniti to all my friends and family for a truly wonderful car buying experience! The QX50 we purchased is a gorgeous vehicle and will be a pleasure to own! More