Whitson-Morgan Motor

by bbrown87 on 04/06/2018

Beck Brown · 4 hours ago I chose this dealership based on their "excellent" ratings and their standing within the Clarksville community. The biggest determining factor being, they helped the family of a fallen law enforcement officer. Being in law enforcement myself, I thought for sure I was making the right choice. Now I find myself wishing there was a zero star review option. I had actually went to them for a 2009 GMC pick up they had. The GMC only had 45,000 miles on it. The salesperson I spoke with, was Josh Holt. I informed Mr. Holt that this was my first ever dealership purchase, because I had spent several years building my credit to do so. Mr. Holt stated that the GMC was being detailed and asked if I saw anything else I liked. I found the 2010 Chevy that appeared to be in decent shape, but it still had more miles on it than I cared to have. I explained to Mr. Holt that I was really interested in the GMC. Mr. Holt stated " The GMC is classified as a work truck, so let's get you approved on the Chevy because it has all the bells and whistles." "You can swap out the Chevy for the GMC afterwards". I agreed. After running my credit 8 different times, Holt called me and said I had been approved. I asked to swap the Chevy for the GMC and Mr. Holt stated that was no longer an option. I should have walked away then and there. My credit was ruined and that should have been the tell tale sign. But as a LEO, I still needed a vehicle, in case I was called out for an emergency. I reluctantly settled on the Chevy. It was only after I signed all the paperwork, Mr. Holt informed me the truck had not yet been serviced. Mr. Holt told me " since you bought it here, you will never have to pay a deductible to have it serviced here." He told me to bring it back in a week to have it serviced. I did and that's when the first issue arose. The morning after they "serviced" it, the truck failed to start before work. They replaced the battery, their service department claimed was in good shape. Between June 2017 and now, I've had nothing but issues out of my truck. A couple of minor issues, which the dealership made some effort to work with me to fix, but mostly bigger issues of which they either argued with me about or flat out refused to cooperate. Every single time I have taken the truck in, they tried to make me pay a $200.00 deductible. Every single time, I had to remind them, I was told I did not have to. One of the bigger issues being my truck ultimately needed a new motor due to bad pistons, less than 6 months after I bought it and only 3 months of actually driving it. Brian Ross in the service department, treated me like I was ignorant piece of crap. He was extremely rude when I contacted him in regards to clouds of bluish/grey smoke coming from my exhaust, every time I started my truck. Mr. Ross basically called me a liar and tried to convince me it was "steam" because according to him, "it's common in warm weather too." Mr. Ross also argued with me over an axle seal leak not being covered by my warranty, which in fact was. After a couple of months of this back and forth, Christmas Eve 2017, my check engine light came on and my oil gauge bottomed out. The oil had just recently been changed so I was understandably frustrated. A few days after Christmas, I contacted the dealership when they opened. Over the next couple of months, (not "several days" as Mr. Haberer would later say) my truck sat in their shop. The service department called me around the second week of January 2018 and stated the pistons were bad. They claimed the warranty company wanted them to preform an oil consumption test and run Seafoam through the engine. (Seafoam through a bad engine? Sounds like a breach of contract to me) According to them, neither of those worked and the warranty company agreed to pay for a "used motor with 70,000 miles." I asked how much the difference would cost me to just put a new motor in it. I was told a new motor costs $4,200, the warranty company was paying $2,200 for the used one, so it would cost me $6,400. That made absolutely no sense, so I told them to put the used one in there. I did not get the truck back from them until the middle of February 2018. I decided after all the issues with the truck and the dealership, I just wanted out from under it. I asked for proof of the miles on the motor so I could provide it to an interested buyer. Neither the dealership or the warranty company will provide this information to me to this day. Because they refuse to provide me with this information, I have zero proof the motor was even replaced, other than a piece of paper that states " the motor was replaced". Understandably, I cannot trust that motor was in fact replaced, given the multiple times the dealership stated there were no issues with the truck in past dealings. As of April 3, 2018, I took the truck in to an unrelated shop, for a new set of tires and an alignment. I was informed all the ball joints and the driver's side wheel hub assembly, were all shot (something that is not done to a vehicle in a 7 month period of regular driving). I was quoted a $1,700 fix. I then took it to a front end specialist and made no mention of those issues. The specialist gave me the same response and I was given visible proof. They quoted me a $1,300 fix. My warranty conveniently doesn't cover those issues. In an attempt to be reasonable, the dealership received a copy of the cheaper estimate. I have made attempts to settle the matter privately on multiple occasions. To keep from tarnishing their "multiple consumer satisfaction awards" they so egotistically throw out there, I filed a consumer complaint with the Arkansas Attorney General's consumer complaint division. General Manager, Patrick Haberer of Whitson-Morgan, either lied, or is just simply that uninformed. Mr Haberer accepts zero accountability for the people he employs. (Keep in mind, the Attorney General's office doesn't make contact on a consumer complaint, unless it's founded.) I have also had my truck looked at by other automotive professionals. I was blatantly told (while standing before them in uniform) to put gap insurance on this truck and roll it off into the river. Obviously, I cannot legally, ethically or morally do that. If I wanted a vehicle that would constantly be in a shop, I most certainly would have gone a cheaper route. I never dreamed a dealership that claims to have been in the running for "Ford's President award" would be perfectly fine taking $20,000 from an honest and hard working person, for truck that's been ran into the ground. All I wanted was for them to either fix the issues they sold me, or take the truck back and reimburse me. Now I am left with no choice but to publicly speak the truth and move forward with my attorney.

Read more

by DrivingGal25 on 02/18/2015

From the moment I pulled into their dealership until the moment I left with my daughter's new car - everyone was pleasant, helpful and super efficient. Will do service here and buy future vehicles!

Read more