Larry H. Miller Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram Riverdale

I can say without hyperbole that my experience here was one of the worst I’ve ever had, regardless of industry. I’ve purchased enough cars to know that the process generally isn’t entirely a warm and fuzzy one. I understand that car buying is generally a self-interested experience, with both parties mostly looking out for their own needs. But while I don’t naively expect a perfect experience every time, I had it perfectly explained to me once that a “good deal” is when both parties leave the table feeling satisfied, respected, and certain they were treated honestly. For that reason I will never trust doing business with LHM Riverdale again. In an industry full of the fear of illusions and cheap tricks, my experience here was unfortunately the worst kind of stereotype. I recently found the exact vehicle I was hoping to lease in Riverdale’s online inventory. Intrigued, I sent their internet team the precise deal that my wife and I were financially capable of making, asking them to let me know if it was inside of their capabilities. I was quickly contacted by Jeremy Howe, a sales associate who assured me that the parameters I had specified were inside of their abilities. I told him that we lived about two hours round-trip from the dealership, and that I would only want to dedicate the time to come up if he was certain we were both certain of the details. He assured me that it was solid to a margin of error that we were both comfortable with, that the specifics were sound, and the deal was all but signed for. We emailed multiple times throughout the day, fine tuning specifics. We arrived after making the drive, greeted warmly by Jeremy. On his desk were the notes he had taken from our conversation, preliminary documents prepared and ready for signature, including the financing and credit check forms. The vehicle key and owner’s manual were even laid out neatly, as if to say that the only thing standing in the way were the formalities and handshake. Initially this came across as true to his word and highly prepared. It’s funny that even as you get older and more mature, you still get excited at the prospect of buying a new car. I wish I had remained perfectly stoic until the deal was signed and completed and not allowed myself to get my hopes up, as I’m sure it played into my ultimate disappointment. He proceeded to speed through each form, eventually proceeding at such a rate that I asked to stop the progress in order to see the vehicle and verify that it was exactly as we had discussed. The car was as described, which caused me to further trust my leanings that the deal was going honestly. With all preliminary forms complete, Jeremy stepped out to get the final paperwork. We waited for fifteen minutes before he came back into the office. When he sat back down, he sheepishly presented an offer almost 20% higher than we had very precisely negotiated. When I told him the offer was unacceptable and contrary to what we had agreed to, he told me that those numbers wouldn’t have worked “at any dealership on the planet”. He then said that the offer he had come back with was one he himself would never sign as a lease, and that if I wasn’t satisfied I should consider buying the car instead. The room remained silent until my wife suggested that he simply leave. We walked out of the now empty dealership, dumbstruck. I climbed into my car, shocked at how thoroughly we had been deceived. I was so disappointed in the lack of respect we had been shown that I asked my wife to stay in the car while I went back inside to express my concerns. I located Jeremy again, and began to tell him that I thought it was shameful and unprofessional to so knowingly get my family’s hopes up, only to waste our time and travel resources with such a nonchalant bait and switch. Visibly angry, his voice began to raise, nearly shouting at me when he told me to never question his professionalism and that he had nothing to apologize for. “Tell me one wrong thing that I did in there!” he yelled, pointing back toward the office where we had been sitting. As I couldn’t perfectly capture the words to describe my disappointment, I remained momentarily silent. “See? You can’t even come up with one example,” he said, seemingly answering his own question. Realizing too late that nothing good was to come of the conversation, I reached past him for the door handle and left. I continue to believe that honest dealings can be completed where both parties leave feeling satisfied. I do, however, sincerely doubt whether such relationships can be developed at LHM Riverdale. If my experience can be in any way extrapolated, they treat customers as mere financial opportunities, poorly representing themselves, the LHM brand, and the manufacturers they sell. I will never go back, and would highly recommend that anyone take their business elsewhere should they like to avoid a similar circumstance.