Volkswagen Brandon

Why did I give this dealership an excellent review? Two words: honesty and professionalism. We bought a new 2013 VW Passat TDI from this dealership and had a very positive experience. The salesman greet words: honesty and professionalism. We bought a new 2013 VW Passat TDI from this dealership and had a very positive experience. The salesman greeted us on the lot with a smile and a handshake. He listened to what we had to say and didn't try to sell us something that we did not want. Turns out the right vehicle for us was on another lot, so the manager had the vehicle sent over to us promptly. We ended up buying this car. Everyone from the salesman, to the manager, to the finance guy made us feel welcomed and appreciated. No one attempted to "blow sunshine up our respective skirts". The dealership also did not try to add on additional things which we "should" buy. It was a simple, bottom line price transaction which I appreciated. The dealership also appears to hire a lot of veterans and we appreciate that. Everyone we dealt with was a veteran and we take pride in supporting businesses which support our troops as they transition back to the civilian workforce! Finally, I must not the cleanliness, professionalism and the welcoming spirit. This was reflected not only in the attitude of the staff, but in the kids play area, the free popcorn, and just the little other things that made you feel welcome and comfortable. Our transaction required us to be at the dealership still at 11:00 PM and never did we feel rushed or hurried - they stuck with us until we got the car we wanted and the deal was complete. More

Last month I re-leased a vehicle from Brandon VW in Tampa. I had a previous lease with VW and I was getting email after email and call after call to come in early and re-new my lease. So I went into VW Tampa. I had a previous lease with VW and I was getting email after email and call after call to come in early and re-new my lease. So I went into VW to see what they could offer me. They offered me a new lease with VW at a lower payment than I was currently in. They indicated that the payment was going to be 39 months which I was extremely uncomfortable with. I wanted nothing more than a 36 month lease. They then made some crazy comment about my credit score being low. I subscribe to a credit reporting agency that lists all THREE of my credit scores and tracks my activity. I went online to view my credit scores and all of them were above 710. Brandon VW tried to tell me that my score was around 600 but because I was a loyal past customer they could give me the 700 rate. This was all a HUGE LIE. What they did was give me a 48 month lease, which effectively put my payment lower than my current payment. I distinctly remember making a huge deal out of the 39 months. And they promised me that the extra three months were merely just a “requirement” of the sign and drive event. I was specifically told by the manager that the sign and drive event only gave 39 month leases. So the 1st time that I went into my account to make my payment and I see 48 months as my lease term, you can imagine my shock. I called both VW and the dealer who pretended like they were concerned and sorry, but ultimately they both knew I could do nothing. DO NOT deal with Brandon VW. They are extremely dishonest and deceiving. Especially if you are a woman. After this lease I will never do business with this dealership again. In fact I am going to see if I can get my VW serviced at another VW dealership just to avoid doing any type of business here. The amount of deception and out right fraudulent activity that occurs here is shameful. I will be making a review on every place that I can find about Brandon VW. And I will ensure that every person I know that would ever think about purchasing or leasing a VW never goes to Brandon VW. More

Long story short I went in for an oil change, alignment and full check up. Paid in full and a couple days later found out that they didn't change the oil or top off my fluids but took my money and wouldn't and full check up. Paid in full and a couple days later found out that they didn't change the oil or top off my fluids but took my money and wouldn't take the blame or fix the problem More

Apparently unless you plan on buying a car that costs 30k or more you should avoid Brandon VW because otherwise they don't care if you buy a car from them. I went to VW with a Blank Check approval from Capit or more you should avoid Brandon VW because otherwise they don't care if you buy a car from them. I went to VW with a Blank Check approval from Capital One approved for 20k and was looking at a Jeep Compass that only cost 10k. We dealt with DuWayne, who I had spoke to online and he seemed nice enough. After test driving the car and deciding to buy it, they told us what they would give us for her trade-in, which was about $800 under what CarMax offered. It wasn't the best news but it wasn't a deal breaker, I expect to be lowballed at any dealer. Anyways we find out we couldn't use the Blank Check because of the negative equity in her car, but still we wanted to buy the car. Then we got a sob story about how they only had one finance guy on Sunday and it could take a while because my credit wasn't great, even though I just bought a 160k house on my credit the month before. We asked how long and couldn't get a straight answer. Fine, we told DuWayne we would look elsewhere and he said he would call first thing in the morning to see if we found something. It's the next day, we had found another vehicle from another dealership and got instant approval but held off on it because it was at the top of what we wanted to spend and because we really liked the Compass. It had low miles, ran great and looked great. So around 10:30am, I decided to callback Brandon VW since DuWayne hadn't called me. The receptionist, placed me on hold 3 times to page him and each time she came back on the line asking who I was holding for. It seemed strange and a little annoying to have to reexplain who I was holding for 3 times to the same woman but whatever. She comes back the 4th time and says he must not be in, but he'll be there by 11am and she'll have him call me right away. I wait til about 1pm and callback, she does the same routine of putting me on hold and coming back to ask who I'm holding for twice before I tell her to just get me someone. She puts Andrew on the phone, I explain why I'm calling and he says he'll find my paperwork, have the finance run, and call me right back. To me right back means right back, so I wait and wait. Finally at 3 pm, I call back and ask for Andrew and this time I get the receptionist's hold and come back to ask me who I'm holding for routine 5 times before I give up and leave a message. 4:30pm, I haven't heard anything back so I call back as I leave work. This time (perhaps because I'm calling from a different number) when she pages Andrew he answers right away. I explain that I was waiting for him to call me after running the financing and he kind of stumbles through telling me he found it and is going to talk to DuWayne (who apparently is there and decided not to call me back when I left a message for him). Instead I get transferred to the voicemail of who knows. I have to call back and again get the hold routine for Andrew twice (who is suddenly unavailable), before the receptionist asks my name. I tell her and she says oh, he said you're DuWayne's and I finally get him on the line. He informs me that he got my paperwork to the finance guy, but that it could take a while to hear back. I ask if that's a few hours or weeks, and he says a few days. When I question why it takes that long, he says that they only have 2 finance guys there and they have customers in the office and it can take the bank time to review. I tell him that we may go with the other car and he tells me that I should do so if I need it done quickly. Shocked, I hang up. Incredulously, I call back and ask for a manager. He gives a semi plausible reason for why they don't give instant approval. Fine, I say but that doesn't excuse the service I got. At first he apologizes and says the GM will talk with them, but as I ask about it being days if we were in store, without asking he puts DuWayne on, who is now very short saying its up to the bank. Needless we won't be buying a car from VW. More

Part 1: My wife took her VW Jetta in to the Brandon Volkswagen Dealership to check out a taillight issue and have some simple recalls taken care of. I get a call from her that the car is on the lift a Volkswagen Dealership to check out a taillight issue and have some simple recalls taken care of. I get a call from her that the car is on the lift and the estimated bill is $2500. I asked to speak to a mechanic, I ask him how much for the taillights? “We haven’t looked at the taillights yet.” My wife reads out the list of bogus charges: mysterious oil leaks, CV joint covers, bent tire rim, 4 new tires, and on and on. I tell the mechanic to take the car off the lift, fix the taillight and order a new rim (because we have noticed an odd vibration). I tell my wife to be ready for more classic high pressure gender-based sales tactics. Later she tells me that’s exactly what she experienced. The cost for 2 tires and a new wheel: $750+ dollars. Part 2: I call my mechanic of 10 years (who hates VW’s) and ask him to order a wheel and two tires for the Jetta. He says he has to order them from the dealership. I don’t care, I want his business, not the shysters at VW. His cost for 2 tires and a new wheel: $350. I email VW Central about my wife’s experience with VW. VW rotated the tires (made a big point to tell my wife they did this as a free service). The car drives horribly now –there’s a thumping under the driver’s side tire –we assume they have moved the dented rim to the front and are feeling the effects. Part2.1: I get a nice response from VW central about how they will look into it and they care very much. I get a bored call (on my answering machine) from the dealership that does not reference my wife’s unpleasant experience. I email VW Central saying I do not want to deal with the dealership –why would I? I want to deal with VW Central. I have not asked for anything at this point. I cancel the tire order at VW. Part 3 (things start to get a little weird): I pull into my mechanics with the wife’s Jetta. While the car is in the parking lot my mechanic asks me why the spare is on. I have no idea. We didn’t put the spare on. Come to find out VW sends my mechanic the wrong wheel (wow), so we have to figure out just how bad the dent is (understand, that thumping we are feeling when we drive is SEVERE). Here’s where things gets weird: the tire VW put in the trunk (where the spare was) is fine, actually the best tire of the 4. (??), the tire with the dented rim is still in the rear –now on the other side. My mechanic tells me that the dent isn’t that bad, I shouldn’t be able to feel it when we drive. The driver’s side tire has a massive wear spot on it, as big as my hand and deep –my entire (large) hand fits into the depression of this wear spot. So, they took off a perfectly good tire, put on the spare, moved the bad tire that was ready to blow at any moment under the driver’s side –all, in my opinion, to give credit to the lie that we needed a new wheel, a wheel that we actually did not need. Total cost in dollars: $250. VW’s estimated cost: $2500. Cost in frustration: still calculating. Car runs fine (it has been over a week now) Part 4: After the initial response from VW I have heard nothing from them. I sent another Customer Service request through their system referencing my first request. Nothing. Also keep in mind, I never asked for anything. Not once. Fine, I’ll get the message out about Brandon VW in other ways. More

I had a very pleasant experience with Chris Hough trading for a pre-certified used vw. Chris was honest, mannerly, and quick to answer or find the answer to all of our questions before,during and a trading for a pre-certified used vw. Chris was honest, mannerly, and quick to answer or find the answer to all of our questions before,during and after the exchange. Car buying can be a very unpleasant and stressful experience. Chris did his best to make it the easiest trade I have had in the 20 some cars I have owned! Chris is superior in his marketing and people skills abilities. A true asset to Brandon VW. Geno gave us an acceptable trade value for my SUV. Eric made the paper process simple and quick. I still have a few unresolved issues that I am confident will be taken care of in time. I would recommend any of my friends deal with Chris and Brandon VW. More

My first experience with VW. Went to the lot with my daughter after leaving another dealership across the street where the salesman was quite rude and pushy. Was greeted by Chris in a very friendly mann daughter after leaving another dealership across the street where the salesman was quite rude and pushy. Was greeted by Chris in a very friendly manner. Going inside the building he was polite enough to hold the door open for my daughter and I. At the other lot the salesman went in before us and never even thought of letting us go in first. Getting back out to test drive cars Chris made sure to first open the passenger door for my daughter and then ran around to the drivers side to open my door! What a pleasant surprise to find someone with such wonderful manners! I then told him of our other experience and he stated that he was just raised right. No doubt about that! Never once felt pressured into making a decision on buying a car that day. I ended up having to leave that day but returned 2 days later and was able to purchase my 2013 Passat. Love everything about the car and my whole experience purchasing the car. Thank you Chris for being to kind and patient with me! Would definitely send family and friends to you! More

I had the absolute worst experience ever at Brandon Volkswagen. They were completely rude and in the end totally screwed me over. I would highly recommend you take your business elsewhere. They were al Volkswagen. They were completely rude and in the end totally screwed me over. I would highly recommend you take your business elsewhere. They were all arrogant men who worked there. Worst experience I've had with any car dealership. Needless to say I will NEVER return to that dealership, nor will I send any business their way. More

Found a car at Brandon VW through an internet ad. Met Chris Hough at the dealer and he was very energetic and helpful. We were test driving the car within 5 minutes of arriving at the dealer. The car was Chris Hough at the dealer and he was very energetic and helpful. We were test driving the car within 5 minutes of arriving at the dealer. The car was used as-is, but Chris worked to get many problems resolved. Management was difficult to deal with, but after multiple emails, they resolved the problems to my satisfaction. After the sale, Chris answered emails after-hours for questions & parts I needed to get the car in top shape. The biggest issue I had with the dealer was the 150 point inspection was not very thorough. I found later that a few simple items, such as fluids not topped off, and the windshield washer pump was seized, so I couldn't clean bugs off the windshield on the way home. However, the detail was spotless, and got a full tank of premium before leaving. Chris was great to work with, would definitely buy another car from him. No pressure and very committed to customer service! More

Brandon VW internet sales department quoted me a great price on a new car. I emailed them several times to be sure the price and car was all worked out. Brandon VW sent me a written quote and I put a depo price on a new car. I emailed them several times to be sure the price and car was all worked out. Brandon VW sent me a written quote and I put a deposit on what should have been my new car. I secured financing via my bank, picked up a cashiers check, and then called the dealer to let them know that I was on the way. They said that the car was ready for pick up and I headed to Brandon. 20 minutes later the dealer called and said they had made a mistake on the price and they were unable to sell me the car for that price. I informed them that I had a written quote and had just spoken with steve, I also let them know that I had already left work early to pick up the check. The dealer told me that they had made a pricing mistake and the car would cost me $1000 more that what we agreed on. The practice of getting a consumer to commit to a car, passing on other offers, taking there deposit and then switching the deal 20 minutes before arrival is deplorable. I have never attempted to shop at a business that operated with so little integrity. Beware of this dealership and there business practices. More