Honda of Pasadena

The one star rating is actually a zero star. Do not come to this dealership, period! We wanted to buy a Honda Touring, did some internet shopping. This dealer is the only one who did not respond. I called the manager, received a preliminary quote but was told to come in and the price can be a bit lower. Their quoted price was actually a few hundred higher than the offer from Galpin, but since I live in Pasadena, I thought it might be more convenient for me to buy it from this dealer. When we went in, the manager quoted the price was not there, the manager of the day came out and denied the quote, gave us a price that was $1200 more. On top of it, the car had some options installed that we did not need, another $3000, when I complained, they offered a discount to $2000 for the options. The people at the dealer had no idea where to find the person we were looking for, and had no interests to help us, once they figured out we are not their customer. The show room had two big holes on the ceiling, and two huge red buckets on the floor to hold the leaking water. There was a guy (we thought he was an employee but turned out to be a customer) who got into three of the displayed cars and ate a whole bag of chips in the car. We watched his behavior in horror. No one ever questioned or stopped him the whole time. Again, it shows the attitude of this dealer, don't know, don't care. I have quite a few experiences buying/leasing cars, and recognized the red flags - this type of practice would not stop at sales, it will continue in loan process and after sales services. The salesperson gave us all kinds of nonsense on why we need to pay $2000 for the options we did not need, but had no answer on why they backed off from their own offer. All he did was push for a sale. This is the typical bait and switch. When I pointed out this and told him they were not being honest and ethical , and totally wasted my time, he said all dealers do this. After hearing that, there was no need for further conversation, I told him that I will warn all my friends not to come to this dealer and walked out. I read some of the reviews online, some customers had exactly the same bad experience with this dealer – were offered a low price even in writing, but when they went in, they were told that it was a mistake. Had accessories installed in the car and forced customer to pay for features they did not need. This is the worst dealer I have ever encountered, do avoid them if all possible. We then went to Galpin. I talked to the manager from Galpin a couple of weeks ago and received an offer over the phone which was a few hundred less than Pasadena. The manager did not really remember the conversation but checked the records and honored the offer over the phone again, confirmed there was the only additional costs were sales tax, registration, license fees. (Watch out, some dealers gave you a low price without telling there is a destination fee of close to $1000 will be added, always asks about the total out of the door price with the breakdowns). The atmosphere in Galpin was upbeat, everyone was friendly and informative. Salesperson Hugo was extremely helpful in explaining everything in details (Pasadena never bothered to explain any features on the car). It was straightforward, no hassles, no hidden costs, no gimmicks. I found out Galpin has a very advanced system, any incoming or outgoing phone calls are logged with the content of the conversation, so that sales people/manager can track their conversations with potential customers. This was why the manager could not really remember our conversation but was able to find the logged record right away and honored the offer. There was no need to put the offer in writings. When I found out Honda does not offer the low loan rate on Touring even with my high credit score, I showed them the 2.5% rate that I found from website based on my credit, they matched it. A few minutes later, they told me they did a search on web as well, and found a rate of 2.45% for me. It only saved me a few bucks each month, but where can we find another dealer with such initiative? The whole transaction was smooth in Galpin, only pleasant surprises. Customer satisfaction was their #1 priority was the logo, and they put it in action. Galpin was 157th dealer by year 2005, and 2nd by year 2016. Most of the business was by referrals, this was the first time I bought a Honda from them and I could totally understand why. Honda of Pasadena has a long way to learn.