CarCrazyFamily

I cancelled my order for a Black/Camel TL w/Nav 5EAT basically because the dealer did not provide me with the vehicle I had ordered when they promised, and did not inform me of any delays for the car.

I posted this previously at a previous thread, but for those who don't want to search:

I just encountered the same situation with my TL purchase. I had placed an order for a Black/Camel TL w/Nav 5AT on December 27, 2004. I was told that the dealer would to be able to locate the vehicle for me no later than 1 week.

I received a call from my salesman on Jan. 5 telling me that it would be 2 weeks until delivery.

I didn't receive any calls from the dealer within the 2-week time frame, so I decided to call the dealer this past Thursday. I left a message with my salesman who did not return my call.

I tried on Friday, requesting to speak to the salesman and left a message once again. About 2.5 hours later the salesman returned my call, and I inquired about the status of my order.

I was told that they have yet to locate my vehicle and that the vehicle in my color combo would be available by 2/20/04.

I was also told on 12/27/03 that I would be given the vehicle's VIN # in order to forward to my insurance company said information.

At this point I was very upset in that I was essentially left without any notification of this delay. I told the salesman that the situation was unaccpetable and that I would come by the dealership on Saturday to evaluate the situation and set an appointment. Note that I live in Queens, NY and I had to travel abou 1.5 hours to the dealership in NJ.

Anyway, I go to the dealer on Saturday. I see the salesman who directs me to sit at his desk. I sit at the salesman's desk for about 5-minutes and see the salesman approach me. He asks me to step away because he had just completed a transaction with another customer. Annoyed more than angry, I get out of my chair and ask another salesman to speak to the sales manager.

The sales manager greets me and directs me to sit at his desk.

I explain to him the situation. He tells me that the color combo is very difficult to find and that they have searched the tri-state dealers to find a swap on my color combo. He mentioned that they place orders every month for approximately 4-5 cars and that Nav TL's in "rare" color combos are hard to find.

I asked him since he was initally unable to find my color choice that I made on 12/27/03, how come no order was placed at that time to ensure I get the vehicle? My exact words were: "If an order was placed shortly after my visit, since you couldn't find a vehicle to swap locally, we wouldn't be having this problem now."

I was left with no repsonse.

I gave the guy an ultimatum. Basically, if I am not able to get a confirmation on paper by Monday for the vehicle of my choice by the end of the month, I want my deposit back. I also told him that if he is able to find the vehicle and confirm to me delivery by the end of the month, he would have to "make it worth my while" to purchase from him since a considerable amount of time has elapsed since 12/27/03 and the vehicle's price has dropped.

He agreed that if he could confirm delivery by the end of the month, money would be taken off the selling price of the car.

BTW, I chose this particular dealership since they were able to give me a good price on the car; my uncle has leased/purchased 5 Acuras from this dealer, and they were flexible on the price.

Very upset that I couldn't get my TL. Anyway, I'll wait for the 2005 or shop around.

Nitrotiger

they have that same car you want on the lot buy me its called Acura of ocean go get it

rets

Sorry to hear that... are U another Paragon's victim?

VTEC=happiness

Have you made efforts to locate the car at another dealer?? Or maybe use another dealer to order from the factory??

CarCrazyFamily

I actually stopped by Paragon Acura first since it's the dealer that is closest to me. I did not like their approach.

The salesman I dealt with, I felt, was very arrogant. He introduced himself by telling me about all the high customer satisfaction comments he has gotten over the years. He would not go below $35,000 on the price of the car, and gave me the "you have to order now, or you won't get the car until a month, so let's make a deal today." I believe the name of the salesman was Robert.

I'm actually in the process of finind other dealers in my area (Acura of Valley Stream, Acura of Manhattan, and Acura of Brooklyn).

BTW, what did Paragon do to get a bad rep?

DMZ

Is Robert the one at the 1st desk along the wall with the rug on his head?

rets

Another member here seems to get the similar delay from that dealer last week. http://www.acura-tl.com/forum/showth...threadid=70094 'cause her price is probably too low.

One of salesmen did accommodate me so haughtily and impolitely in the end of September... ... A week after, my friend went there for 04TL, the rep. told him it requires MSRP plus 2k adjustment fee 'cause this is the new HOT vehicles, meanwhile, they had sold out all September's allocations, time is limited. My friend said he need to think it over and like to get the brochure, and that salesman just walked away. Also, if you need to test-drive, you have to put $1k deposit... ... my professor liked to check on MDX a year ago, and got the quote from them. He and his wife then went to another dealer trying to compare the deal, the deal P offered seemed better. They went back to P and like to sign the contract. The salesman suddenly said they have to pay more to get it 'cause of ... the same old story...

IMO, I hate the dealer trying to play the game like this. Perhaps, their manager has the problems. (without going too far, you may check Manhattan, Brooklyn, Valley Stream, and Rallye. R may have most cars.)

DMZ

I just found out that out of the 260 Acura dealers in the United States, Paragon is #260! Their reputation is the worst!!

I'll PM you later CarCrazyFamily.

narnia

I suggest you e-mail dealerships to get price quotes before you ever call or go in. Print out the e-mail and bring it with you so there's no question about what price you pay. Be very specific in your request as to what color/transmission/add-ons you want.

I took my test drive at Paragon and they didn't ask for a deposit. This was in December, so maybe they had changed their policy, or who knows, maybe it depends on the salesperson you deal with.

For what it's worth, I got very good feedback from Rallye in Roslyn but their price was a little high.

Steve at Acura of Valley Stream was very straightforward and came in with the second lowest price. He has an Anthracite/Ebony 5-speed w/Nav coming in very soon in case anyone is interested, and he quoted $34,000 w/destination.

DMZ

If there's one thing I've learned, price cannot be the EXCLUSIVE factor in deciding which dealer gets your business. I'd rather pay a hundred or two more and be comfortable knowing I'm not gonna get jerked around.

Bartman_RENAMED

I'll second that. Generally, if you get a good price from a dealer with poor service, you will pay for it through hassles with financing and/or service in the long run.

jzinckgra

Wow. After reading a lot of these stories, I feel like I got the red carpet treatment from acura of boston. awesome experience and the salesguy was top-notch. In fact he has arranged to have my new falkens put on this wknd at no cost. I think he knows of the tire issues, including the hpt's, which I have.

rets

Count me one. I'll have a nightmare if my dealership reverses their answer/promise. Buying a car supposes to be a great event, it should not be like the pain of neck. I should be able to spend some allowance to buy the happiness.

Nicki

Do not use PARAGON! I wouldn't trust them for nothing, heard plenty of horror stories about them over the years. I feel bad for your problems. Good luck with your next deal

Formula 350

I hate almost all of the tactics used by car salemen.

I have heard the 'you need to put down a deposit in order to test drive'. I say 'you need to let me test drive a car PRIOR to me buying'.

They also LOVE to have you sit at thier desk and go back and forth with the sales manager. This is to wear you down. My sales guy was pretty good, but ALWAYS was trying to CLOSE the deal. They did not have what I wanted, nor at the price I wanted, but would say 'if we can get this do we have a deal' over and over again.

jshih57

CarCrazyFamily,
First of all, just curious, which Acura dealer in NJ? For what it's worth, I live in NJ & I bought 3 of our family's 4 Acura's (6 cars total) from Acura of Ramsey, which is 5 min from me. I did shop around before I bought our 03 TL-S Navi & 04 TL Navi. They gave me an excellent deal on the 03 in mid Sept, & a good deal on the 04 at the end of Nov. I said this because from what I've read in this forum, these deals weren't that great, but they were the best I could find, but I didn't look that hard either, as I liked the convenience & their service/parts depts. They are very helpful & have gone beyond their call of duty to help. As for the sales people, I think they're all the same, but still the best among the many I've dealt in the past, with Nissan the absolute worst (once in NY & once in NJ).

I lived in Queens for 18 yrs before I moved to NJ. I still visit Queens often & from my experience, the advertised prices of dealers in NY (particularly in Queens, many along Northern Blvd in Flushing) are quite a bit lower than the ones in NJ. Four yrs ago, I bought my 00' Maxima for a great price (in NJ), but later found out a friend bought the same car in NY for $1K less a month earlier! That's why I'm surprised that you went thru that much trouble to try to get yours in NJ.

Sorry to hear what you've gone thru, but I think this often happens when you get a good deal; dealer will always sale your car to some other buyer who's paying MSRP. For such a hot car, especially the Navi model, there's a big demand but short on supply, so there are plenty of people willing to pay MSRP or above if they don't want to wait. That's the reason dealers are reluctant to commit a VIN to you. I was walking in Ramsey Acura's lot last week, I saw at least 30 new TL's, but didn't see any Navi or 6MT.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by CarCrazyFamily
[B]I cancelled my order for a Black/Camel TL w/Nav 5EAT basically because the dealer did not provide me with the vehicle I had ordered when they promised, and did not inform me of any delays for the car.

CarCrazyFamily

Thanks for all the replies. Let me answer some of the questions raised since my last post.

DMZ: Robert Assile (yes that is his real name) was the salesman I dealt with at Paragon Acura. He's looks about 33 with black hair and about 6'-1". Honestly I did not know that Paragon was rated so poorly. I can't believe that they at still in business, and have the money to completly renovate their showroom & service area!

nitrotiger: I actually called Ocean Acura shortly after reading your post. They do have the car in the combo I'm looking for, but the salesman (Gary) did not want to sell the car lower than $34,900.00 firm.

narnia: I read and replied to your earlier post regarding the delay of your car. Are you still planning to buy from that dealer? I also took my test drive at Paragon, with no problems.

jshih57: The Acura dealer I had the agreement with was Open Road Acura on Rt. 18 in East Brunswick, NJ.

BTW, Open Road does have a Black/Camel w/Nav. but in 6-speed standard shift. I would buy it but I need an automatic transmission car as my other car for convenience; my S4 is standard shift already.

It is unfortunate that dealers have to string along customers and not fulfill promises made. I would be much calmer about the situation if the dealer had just told me of the delay ealier.

It seems that the car dealers in Queens are not very straightforward. I visited my local Subaru & Mitsubishi dealer about 1.5 weeks ago to get some pricing information on the STi and Evolution. The story is fairly long (unless you want to hear it) but neither dealer would budge off MSRP.

Anyway, I'll think I hold on for another 1-1.5 months until supply can meet up with demand to get some space to negotiate.

Thanks for all the good information.

markiemark

I think you should try my dealer in scarsdale, n.y. I just picked up my 2004 tl 5at deep green pearl and gave back my 2002 tl-s. They made me a great offer and i rolled away in the new one. They are one of the top rated acura dealers in the country and after getting my second one from them i would highly recommennd them and from queens with no traffic i'd say 30 minutes. Any questions feel free to call them or give me a buzz and i'll see what i can do. my cell 914-774-8721. It's Curry Acura by the way.

dbodik

You may want to try dealers out east on Long Island. I bought/leased cars in Queens and on Long Island and my observation is that as you get closer to the city their attitude gets worse. I just leased a silver/ebony/auto/navi from Smithtown, Acura and it was the most pleasant experience of any dealerships that I've ever had. You think Paragon is worse than Hempstead, Nissan?

rets

Another famous one... Doing the search will see lots of info about Curry...

NSXY

Yo DMZ,

Can you post the results of this dealer ranking that you found? I think lots of us would like to look it over.

NSXY

DMZ

Funny, that's where I'm going to do the deal for my deep green pearl/camel/6MT/Navi this coming Saturday! My salesperson, Anthony Meed is the most responsible, honest, and professional salesman I've met at any of the 5 dealerships I visited. Always returns my calls and hasn't BS'd me.......ever.

Today he confirmed that it's official: NEW TIRES IN FEBRUARY!!!

They also do the 3M Clearmask on the front and rear bumpers for only $300! Manhattan wants $850, don't even guess what Paragon wants!

I asked Anthony about having them install the wood dash kit from exoticwooddash.com. He called me back exactly 10 minutes later to let me know the service dept. won't do it because it's not an official Honda/Acura approved product and they do not want to be responsible for anything that might go wrong. They had a problem a few years back with such a kit that faded (being plastic) after a couple of years and getting if off was a disaster.

Also, if more than 1 car is ordered at a time, there will be a better deal for all. So if anyone in the NYC area is ready to order, PM me right away!

BTW, Curry even has a toll-free number: 866-491-1024. Anthony's extension is 104.
His business card proudly pronounces Council of Sales Excellence - Gold Level Sales Consultant...and from what I've experienced so far, I can certainly see why.

curryacura.com

legendguy

NSXY wrote:
I sure would. Thank you

Wanta04TL

Is there a way find out what all the dealers are rated? I would like to know this before I start calling b/c price isn't the only factor.

DMZ

That's what I was told by my dealer who claims they have a long list of ex-Paragon customers. I believe it considering all I've heard and experienced about Paragon and by the fact that this dealer is amongst those that routinely win Acura's Dealership Distinction Award. Though I currently do not have access to the dealer ratings list, I am trying to get a copy of it.

lrgold02

Go to Acura of Valley Stream... I've bought several cars from them... Ask for Steve Verga, the sales manager. Tell him Lee sent you. Their service department is great as well

VQ35DE

Your experience sucked CarCrazy. Ironically, I test drove a black/camel 2k4 TL w/Navi and full rear spoiler @ Brigdewater Acura this past Saturday.

So if you're still interested, contact AJ @ Bridgewater Acura (Bridgewater, NJ -- Rt 22)

....cause if you dont get it, I just may still!!!