Jim Trenary Chevrolet
O'Fallon, MO
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If you are getting ready to buy a car from Jim Trenary heed these words. If you love the car so much that you just have to have it, and are willing to sign, know up front that as soon as you sign, you are heed these words. If you love the car so much that you just have to have it, and are willing to sign, know up front that as soon as you sign, you are no longer a valuable customer. The service is rude, disrespectful of your time and couldn’t care less if you have a decent experience. The flip, nonchalante attitude is infuriating! I don’t have the time or the patience to write all the issues I’ve had with this dealership after buying a truck from them a month ago. All I can say, is “Run as fast as you can!” More
Liars and Scammers Bought a new car in May, all of the paperwork was signed and filled out, little did I know they would be tacking on gap insurance as well as the exten Bought a new car in May, all of the paperwork was signed and filled out, little did I know they would be tacking on gap insurance as well as the extended warranty without telling me and with out my written permission. Got a notice from the bank I financed through with the loan amount being $5000 more than what I was told it was going to be. Went it to get it fixed and was told by Matt their finance guy that "we thought you wanted it" and "well if you don't want the warranty on your car that's your problem" EXCUSE ME??? Unprofessional and flat out rude. When I put in a complaint I got a call from their sales manager Eric asking what the problem was and I told him. His response? "Oh maybe you signed it and forgot about it." I think the xxxx not, the paperwork I had, had NOTHING saying the gap insurance and extended warranty were being put on. On top of that Eric decided he was going to email the fiance people about it, and then he accidentally sent the chain to me where they were talking xxxx about me and saying I had "Malone gas and go regret" and "I am asking her about what she supposedly didn't want." "You need to re-sell them on whatever they bought. They bought it once you can get them to buy it again (aka keep it in the contract)" LOL funny how that was never in the contract. I will NEVER be returning More
If I could give them a zero star rating I would. I have been lied to and have waited 3 weeks for my car to be done. First it was contacting the extended warranty company and now it's in Jim Trenarys hands been lied to and have waited 3 weeks for my car to be done. First it was contacting the extended warranty company and now it's in Jim Trenarys hands and they have lied to me about a part coming in and told me it would be done on blah blah blah date and it's not it will be going on 1 week to get fixed all because of 1 bolt. Please I repeat DO NOT go there. More
BEWARE John gibbs of internet sales agreed to sell me a car, I took the day off work to travel the 6 hours only to find out he had sold it to someone else. I had sent all my info ahead of time. Then they w car, I took the day off work to travel the 6 hours only to find out he had sold it to someone else. I had sent all my info ahead of time. Then they would not reply to any messages, keep saying they will call back, what a xxxxty way to do business. Never in my years have I ran into a group of skeezers like this. More
Not very happy. Bought a used vehicle contingent on it being cleaned and getting the driver window repaired. Made the mistake of signing all the paperwork and writing a check for the full amount. Got two being cleaned and getting the driver window repaired. Made the mistake of signing all the paperwork and writing a check for the full amount. Got two updates on the car within two days assuring me it would be ready soon. My check cleared the bank the next day and I never heard from them again. Finally got a hold of someone a week later and told them I wanted out of the deal. Guy I talked to didn't understand that we didn't have possession of the car. Took another day and a few more phone calls to cancel the deal. Another week and a half has gone by and still don't have our money back. Just excuses and delays. More
purchased 4 trucks in last 5 years great deal, better than the other 3 dealers i shopped at. I have had my trucks serviced there for the entire time and service also did fine job, compl great deal, better than the other 3 dealers i shopped at. I have had my trucks serviced there for the entire time and service also did fine job, completes work as promised. More
Warning! This is LONG! I recently had my 2017 50th Anniversary Edition Camaro 2SS at Jim Trenary Chevrolet for warranty work. The two issues I reported were: 1. The infot I recently had my 2017 50th Anniversary Edition Camaro 2SS at Jim Trenary Chevrolet for warranty work. The two issues I reported were: 1. The infotainment display rattles. 2. When I fill the fuel tank, just when the pump clicks off, a significant amount of fuel spits out of the filler neck. I left the car at about 7:30 in the morning and got a ride home from a friend. The service writer calls around 2 PM (On my home phone. This matters later...) saying that they're addressing the issues I reported but he wanted to let me know that they also found one rear shock blown, the other leaking, and the engine oil cooler "pouring" oil. I say, “That's weird, the car isn't low on oil and there are no drips or spots in my garage...but OK, if you say so. Thanks for catching those things.” He says come on in and get a loaner vehicle. My wife goes in that evening and picks up a Colorado that must have been last driven by Snoop Dogg, HOLY CRAP the weed smell was BAD! They toss an air freshener in it and off she goes. (While swapping the truck out later, one of the employees said that they previously had to “bomb” the truck because it smelled so bad.) Two days later the service writer calls me again. I tell him I almost never answer the home phone and ask him to call my cell in the future. He says “OK,” tells me that the shocks are on backorder and asks if I'm OK driving the Colorado. I say, “Actually, no, the thing stinks and gives me a headache.” He tells me to bring it back and they'll give me another car. I go to pick up the next loaner and 3 hours later they hand me the keys to a new Blazer. 3 HOURS! They had no others available and this one took so long because there was trouble licensing it... Whatever, I'll take the baby poop colored Blazer. (It was HIDEOUS!) Another week goes by and I hear nothing, so I call. He's busy, and I leave a message to call me on my cell phone, which he does. (It’s confirmed. He knows how to call me on my cell phone. Again, this matters later.) Now the oil cooler is on backorder. More time goes by. Again, nothing. I call back, again. Still on backorder. A week or so later he tells me the parts are in and it’ll be ready tomorrow. Tomorrow comes and goes, no call, no car. I call on Friday, “It’s fighting him really bad, but it’ll be done tomorrow, Saturday.” Nope, no call. No car. On Monday I call and find out that the car is done. I work nights, so it's right at closing time when I get there to pick up my car. The invoice (More about invoices at the end!) says, "Stuffed foam behind the display per TSB.” Seems janky, but OK, and "Replaced evaporator canister vent valve solenoid. If fuel issue still exists, will need further troubleshooting.” What? Is the xxxxx car fixed or not? I demand that they wait while I go fill the tank and verify it's fixed. (Side story. I dropped the car off with an 1/8 of a tank of gas so that they could TEST it when they were finished repairing it, which I mentioned to the service writer at the time. He says, “OK. We’ll fill it up and put whatever it costs on the bill.” Perfectly reasonable but they don’t do it!) They agree to wait. I hit QT, start filling the tank, stop, think to myself, "I probably should video this, just in case…" Start taking video, 'click' SPLASH. F*xx! Back to the dealer, on the way, wiggle the display. Still loose. Awesome. I show the video and the guy literally says, "HOLY xxxx! That's what it's been doing?" He leaves the car in their service drive because they’re closed and everyone else is gone. Someone calls the next morning and says they can't move the car because the key is lost. I say “No, it isn't, I have it. I realized when I got home last night that I took the key with me by mistake and I'm heading there now.” (7 AM. I'm off work.) “BTW, I don't like the color of the Blazer and I want something else.” (Yeah, I’m being petty. They’ve had my car a long time, at least I can test drive few new vehicles for my trouble.) He says “OK, how about a Tahoe?” It's another hours-long episode to swap out the Blazer, but I get a Tahoe, right? Nope. Silverado... Fine, it’s a nice Silverado. A couple days later (On the house phone… My wife reminds him, yet again, to call my cell…) the service writer calls to tell me that they’re ordering an evaporator canister. I say, “OK.” He asks, “You good with the Silverado?” I say, “Yep.” He says, “I’ll let you know when it’s done.” They've now had my car for over a month. Backing up a little, while it was waiting for parts, I had them repair the right front wheel where I curbed it (Like 4 days after I bought the car!). No problem, $130, a guy comes and gets the wheel, fixes it and returns it. This was BEFORE they said the fuel issue was fixed and I took the video. (It matters later.) Side note, I had FOUR nice aluminum valve stem caps on the car. I now have THREE nice aluminum valve stem caps and ONE plastic valve stem cap. Can you guess which wheel it’s missing from? I bet you can… Yeah, I’m complaining about meaningless crap here, but it’s a matter of principle. I’m very lucky to be able to afford a car that’s pretty impractical and still have a beater for a backup, but a lot of people can’t, and their car is their livelihood. With the possible exception of a house, a car might be the biggest single investment of many people’s lives. We should be able to trust that the people who service them, especially dealers, will treat them BETTER than we do ourselves, right down to the last nut, bolt, and valve stem cap… A week goes by, nothing. I call, he’s busy, I leave my cell for a call back. (Sensing a pattern?) He calls back later that day and says, “Well, since UAW is on strike, we can’t get parts. I have no idea when your car will be done.” “Really, no idea?” I ask. “Nope, but I’ll let you know when it’s ready.” At this point, I stop calling for updates, why bother until the strike is over? It’s been something like 6 or 7 weeks now. Finally, the strike is over. Thinking I’d be funny, I call the dealership that evening when I wake up, with the intent of making a joke like, “Hey man, the strike’s been over for at least 15 minutes, you got my parts yet?” It turns out the joke is on ME! Service guy isn’t there, but the girl I talk to says, “Oh, yeah, the Camaro. Umm, I just saw that one…here it is. It’s done. It BEEN done for 2 weeks.” I lose it! 2 WEEKS?! “Yeah, he’s been trying to call and text you, but the number is disconnected.” “What number?” I ask. You guessed it; he’s been calling my HOUSE PHONE NUMBER! The one he’s been told repeatedly NOT to use. (I told you it mattered.) “Yeah, the number is disconnected, because I moved!” Then comes the bombshell! “Well, service is closed, but you can pick the car up tomorrow. It’ll be $35/day for the RENTAL.” “Uhh, no, it won’t, but you don’t need to worry about that, I’ll handle it in the morning.” I head into the dealership, ready for a fight. The service manager meets me, apologizes for the mix up, and assures me I owe nothing for the “RENTAL.” They’ve had my car for 70 DAYS! It’s now somewhere around November 1st. It’s cold and raining. My car has Summer Only tires and I’m worried about driving it home. Mr. Service Manager assures me it’s fine and I uneventfully drive the car home. I’m happy to have my car back, and it’s in my new 3-car garage, so I take a picture of it and post it to Facebook. Cheesy, I know, but I MISSED my car! End of story, right? NOPE! The next day I drive to Home Depot and on the way out of the store, I see it…the dent. The HUGE f’ing dent on the passenger rear wheel arch… You’ve GOT to be kidding me. I just get the car back and someone dents it in a parking lot the NEXT DAY! Or did they? I pull up last night’s picture. F*xx!! Plain as day, there’s the dent. I don’t know how I missed it, but it’s there. It went from dealership to my garage. Didn’t pass GO! didn’t collect $200. There’s no question the dent was there when I left the dealership, but hey, it’s OK, because I have proof, I mean, you can see that the xxxx car is still wet from the rainy drive home the night before. They’ll fix it, right? Buckle up, partner! I call the dealership, service is closed, so I leave a message (Again, I work nights, this is MY morning.) The service writer calls me the next day, “What’s this about a dent?” I explain and tell the story of the picture. He says, “Text it to me.” I say, “YOU send ME a text and I’ll reply with the pictures.” He’s not getting away with claiming I used the wrong number or something. I say, “BTW, I happened to snap a picture of the car a few weeks ago while it was on your lot and there’s no dent, so I know that it wasn’t there when I dropped it off.” (Yes, I took pictures of my car sitting on the lot because I missed it, sue me.) “I also have the video of it spitting gas and there’s NO dent then, either.” That was AFTER the wheel guy worked on it, so they can’t pawn it off on him. He says he’ll get the info to the service manager and they’ll get back to me. Three days later - nothing. I call the service manager and he informs me that they’re NOT fixing the dent. Why, you might wonder, as did I? Oh, it’s because he “Asked around and all of the employees questioned said they didn’t do it.” NO xxxx! You don’t say? Well, forgive me for wasting your time, then… Yeah, NO! “I need to talk to your boss” “OK, he’ll call you.” Did he call? Nope. Two more days go by and I have had enough of waiting for a response, so I go to the dealership. (Not in the Camaro because it’s too cold to drive the thing now!) The regional parts and service director (or whatever he’s called) tells me, repeatedly, that my “Story doesn’t add up.” Like I’m lying to him! “Why did it take two days to let them know about the dent?” he asks. “Since you’ve been so particular throughout this whole process, didn’t you inspect the car before leaving with it?” I’m stunned, practically speechless, but I respond, “It didn’t take two days to tell you. It was THE NEXT DAY! Why should I HAVE to inspect the car? Do you damage that many cars that people somehow know to check?” This is classic victim shaming…a common tactic to divert blame from the offender. Sorry, buddy, you aren’t pinning this on me… Long story long, he ain’t fixing the car. Get bent! (My choice of wording, not his, but the sentiment was the same.) “OK, who’s YOUR boss?” “That’s (Mr. Dealership).” Fine. I need to talk to him. “He’s not here today, and I’m NOT lying about that…” That was a strange thing to say. Has he been lying about everything else? Never mind. As I pull in my driveway, my cell phone rings. It’s (Mr. Dealership). He’s nice enough, friendly, professional, and xxxx, the first one to actually call me back about the dent. We talk for a few minutes. He asks, “Why did it take so long to pick up the car?” I respond, “I was told there was NO WAY to get parts until the strike was over, so I stopped calling for updates. Your guy was calling the wrong number for two weeks, I had no idea it was fixed. Trust me, I WANTED my car back; I’d have been there to get it had I known it was done.” I ask him if he saw the pictures of my car sans-dent and post-dent. “Wait,” he says, “you have pictures? No one told me about pictures…I’ll call you back.” I’m thinking, “Finally, someone with some common sense, surely he’ll take care of what happened while the car was in the dealership’s possession.” He calls the next day. “Well, we didn’t do it, and we’re not liable.” But he’ll do me a solid and pay half of the $1100 repair bill. I tell him that’s not what I expected, and I have to think about it. He emails me the repair estimate. I reply that I want a second opinion. A week goes by before it’s warm enough to drive the car. I get the second estimate and it’s pretty much the same as the first. I email him back and make my case that the only thing I’ve done “wrong” was take my car to his dealership. Everything else was out of my control, his people worked on the car. Drove the car. Parked the car. Why should I have to pay ANYTHING for something that was totally out of my control? The response, “He’s being more than generous, after all I’m getting $1100 in repairs for half.” But my view is “I SHOULD be paying $0 of a $0 repair because the car shouldn’t have a dent!” He reiterates that he’s not liable, it could have been another customer or a tow truck driver (a ghost, my ex-girlfriend, a meteor He didn’t say those last three things, but it would have been funny if he did.). But in the interest of customer satisfaction, he’ll now pay all but $300. I email back, “We’ll have to agree to disagree as far as what liable/responsible means, but fine. I just want this over with.” Side story – when I emailed him to say I had gotten the second estimate, he replied, “I thought you were handling this on your own based on the negative review you left on Google.” I had no idea what he was talking about, but it didn’t take long to get to the bottom of it. My 14-year-old son had left a negative review without consulting me. I explained to him there were multiple reasons his review was inappropriate: 1. It wasn’t “his fight.” 2. He didn’t tell the whole story. 3. It wasn’t over yet, and, we had no way to know what was going to happen. It was a good lesson to be able to teach and he (reluctantly) removed the review. It’s approaching Thanksgiving (Yep, it’s been over 3 months now.) so Mr. Dealership and I agree to wait until afterward for me to drop the car off. He says, “My service department will be ready to go, and we’ll get you a loaner.” I get there to drop it off on the agreed upon day, and unsurprisingly, no one had a clue that I was coming. An hour-and-a-half later, I leave in my Chevy Trax loaner. I see later that day that the car has made it to the body shop. (GPS and vehicle tech is awesome!) Now, keep in mind that during our initial conversation, Mr. Dealership told me that they don’t DRIVE cars to the body shop (I have the call recording.). They get transported there. Really? Then please explain to me why the My Chevrolet app says that my car drove there, and while you’re at it, maybe also explain why it says that there was a “hard braking” event, 8 “hard accelerations,” and that 9.5% of the trip was OVER 80 MPH?!?!?! (See attached screen shot if I can post it.) In his reply he makes no mention of why the car was driven when it wasn’t supposed to have been, but he does say, “They never want their employees to drive a customer’s car like that and the employee that drove it has been fired.” The thing here is, I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if I said, “Hey, your guy drove my car in an inappropriate manner, I saw it in the app, but I don’t have screenshots.” Would the response have been “I asked around…”? If the guy said, “No, sir, I didn’t.” would he have come back to me with, “It didn’t happen. We asked and no says they did it.” the same way that no employee dented the car. OK, I got the car back a few days later. It was filthy and covered in bird crap. But it was fixed and back so I didn’t say anything. The only thing I wanted at that point was an itemized invoice of the work done by the body shop, showing that the bill was paid, and all would be good. I go back-and-forth with regional parts guy, “We don’t have one,” he says. “How is that possible,” I ask. “How do you cut the check without an invoice?” “We pay what the estimate says. You can use that as proof of work done and we’ll confirm payment if needed,” he replies. “But, that’s just an estimate, and I could say that the work was done at the shop where I got the second one with that logic, but it didn’t… I just need a finalized invoice from the body shop, please.” It goes on like this for a few emails and finally, he sends me a scanned copy of the estimate with his signature that says it’s paid. I’m still amazed, I mean, I’m no accountant or tax lawyer, but it doesn’t seem to me that the IRS would accept an estimate as proof of work done and/or payment. If that’s the case, “I’ve got a LOT of business expenses…look, here’s my proof, dozens of estimates that I got from contractors. It’s cool, I signed them stating that they’re paid.” OK, let’s put it another way that might make sense. His service department gives out DETAILED, ITEMIZED invoices (Receipts, whatever you want to call them.) for the work done in the shop – parts, labor, misc supplies, environmental fees, etc – and the customer has that as proof of payment and work performed, right? That’s all I wanted from the body shop, nothing more. It’s not rocket surgery. They do it every day. They also give out ESTIMATES for things that need to be done, but for whatever reason, might not actually be performed. “Mr. Customer, you NEED your Johnson Rod replaced and it’ll be $x.xx. Here’s our estimate.” Can he come back and say, “My Johnson Rod broke, but I have this estimate, so you have to fix it for free.” Of course not! After a half-dozen or so emails and a voicemail from him saying that neither he nor Mr. Dealership knew what I was talking about, I just gave up. Regardless of how I framed it, he couldn’t understand what I was asking for, at least that’s what he said. It started on August 20th and ended on (roughly) December 5th. Over 100 days! Oh, and the last time I filled the tank, it spit gas. True story! I probably don’t need to say it, but it’ll be going to a different dealership this time. You know, “Fool me once…” blah blah. It’s along review, I know, almost 4000 words! Most of my college papers weren’t half this long, but how do you tell a story like this any other way and include the details? This is all by memory, but if exact info is needed, I’ll be glad to consult my paperwork, emails, call recordings, and voicemails. It’s kind of rambling at times but I’ve tried to make sure it is complete and honest, because telling the whole story matters. Obviously, I’m paraphrasing at times, and I’ve occasionally chosen anecdotal, colorful or sarcastic verbiage. My use of “quotes” is simply an attempt at making it more readable and removing confusion, the rhetoric is my own and shouldn’t be considered direct quotes by dealership staff. If the dealership remembers things differently then I’ll do my best to clear up any error on my part. Some likely rebuttals to the circumstances are: “We had no control over the UAW strike.” That’s true, however, if the car had been fixed correctly the first time and verified, the whole thing could well have been over with before the strike took place. “We’re not liable for damage done by a 3rd party, just like Walmart isn’t liable for cart dings at the hands of other shoppers.” These are my opinions, nothing more, and I don’t know the legal precedent, but here’s where I see differences. 1. I choose where to park my car at Walmart, and Walmart has no control over what happens in a PUBLIC parking lot accessible by anyone. 2. I didn’t choose where the car was parked at the dealership, employees did. 3. The service parking area is away from where the PUBLIC parks and I never saw a customer put a car in that area nor take one out. It was always an employee. 4. The car was in their possession, period. If I had returned their loaner with a dent, could I have said, “That sucks, but I didn’t do it. It must have been done by a 3rd party, so I’m not liable.” I doubt it very much, and when I posed that question to the service manager his response was, “We’d just submit it to your insurance.” Should I have just “submitted the damage to their insurance,” then? Right, it’s not a two-way street since I have no idea who that is… “Our employees know that if they damage a car and don’t report it, they’ll be fired. In fact, the regional parts/service guy actually said to me, “We’ve had techs come to us and say, ‘I didn’t do this, but here’s this door ding.’ And we’ve fixed things that we knew we didn’t do.” Under the circumstances, all it seems needs to happen is that every employee says that they didn’t do it and the matter is over. The customer is SOL! Furthermore, if you’ve “fixed things you didn’t do,” why not extend me the same courtesy? “If you had picked the car up sooner, maybe it wouldn’t have gotten dented.” Yep, maybe. If they had called the number that I repeatedly asked them to I would have picked it up as soon as it was fixed. As far as I knew, there was no reason to expect it was fixed since “they couldn’t get parts while the strike was on.” More
Terrible dealer lots of lies I called about a 2500 truck and the salesman Nolan told me he had it there along with several others that were similar so I drove 1.5 hours to buy thi I called about a 2500 truck and the salesman Nolan told me he had it there along with several others that were similar so I drove 1.5 hours to buy this truck. When I got there two hours after I called they did not have the truck or anything even close. Nolan and others there lied to me and said they probably sold it before I got there but they sure wouldn’t show me any proof of that terrible dealership don’t even waste your time here More
Bait and switch I emailed them to find a price on a car. Salesperson emails me back with the price, says when do you want to come in? Then the price jumps 35% for the I emailed them to find a price on a car. Salesperson emails me back with the price, says when do you want to come in? Then the price jumps 35% for the same vehicle! Thanks for wasting my time. More
Hello,Purchased a new vehicle 12/17/2019, three things Hello, Purchased a new vehicle 12/17/2019, three things needed repairing one being a safety issue! I agreed to bring in car at 0900! When I arrived a Hello, Purchased a new vehicle 12/17/2019, three things needed repairing one being a safety issue! I agreed to bring in car at 0900! When I arrived at the service desk there was not a scheduled appointment for my vehicle for a repair! I was also promised a loaner and was none available! They gave me two options, they would drive me to a place or bring car another day! Both these options will not work! I work three jobs and to have a day off is rare! I really got the feet no one cared about my situation! There bosses were in a meeting so no one would make a decision to allow me to use a used car and put dealership plates! As a result my third job is a set service I would be doing today and I’m stuck without a vehicle! This is not right! I’ve been doing business with thus dealership for four years! Thus is the worst I’ve been treated! More