GR Auto Gallery of Grand Rapids
Customer Reviews of GR Auto Gallery of Grand Rapids
Review type:
Write a review: Sales
Have feedback for this dealer?Write a sales review
The following reviews are more than two years old. They are not included in the overall rating.
2 sales reviews
Sort by:
Extremely poor customer experience
by jrrmomo on 01/17/2018I bought a 2005 Jaguar XJR from GR auto Gallery in late December, 2017. I picked the car up in early January. Cars transmission had a major malfunction less than 25 miles from the dealership, with more than 375 miles left on my drive home.… Car was also unable to create heat, and the windshield washers were not operational. I was able to nurse it home through rough conditions, and then had it towed to a well-regarded, independent Jaguar shop. What the shop found was disappointing to say the least: The car was critically low on both transmission fluid and engine coolant. When filled with test fluids both the transmission and coolant system exhibited significant leaks. Damage to the transmission was catastrophic, damage to coolant system significant, and the total repair bill to simply get the car in condition to drive down the road was $7500 (now up over to $8000 when full extent of gasket damage from overheat was uncovered). This repair cost is more than 70% of the purchase price of the car, and that does not include the almost 1k I had to spend on tires with their preferred vendor to simply drive away from the lot (I was made aware the car was undrivable in any inclement weather on the current tires after I had wired them the funds). As soon as I had the diagnosis I reached out to the GR sales person, let them know what I had been through in the 3 days since picking up the car, provided any/all detail I could muster, and then asked them if they would be willing to help me in some meaningful way in order to make this right (I asked for them to share the cost 50/50). Their co-owner emailed me back, provided no apology, suggested I had errored in not getting a pre-purchase inspection, told me that they were not going to take any action towards restitution, and then thanked me for my business. I responded by letting them know how unfair I thought that stance was, and that I was highly concerned that they would let a customer drive off their lot with a car that was obviously leaking critical fluids, and in fact was so low on those fluids that the car catastrophically failed before I could get out of their zipcode, and that it was my duty to let the buying public know about my experience. The co-owner responded by saying they had no crystal ball that could have told them the car was leaking critical fluids, and as a result was catastrophically low on such fluids. He insisted that I should at least be grateful that they had been kind enough to let me know I needed to buy new tires, after I had paid them for the car, so I did not end up in a ditch. He then told me that I was free to rant all I wanted to about their business online, but it would not affect their happy customers, and that threatening to use gossip was not a way to induce them to help me. Again, there was no apology, no responsibility taken for allowing the car to leave their dealer in such a dangerous condition, and nothing that indicated they would do anything to amend for this situation, or do anything different to prevent such a happenstance in the future. I responded to him letting him know I thought the whole thing was unacceptable, that I did not plan to rant or gossip, but that I was simply going to tell my story and let others understand the nature of their operation. He responded a final time with a two-sentence email offering me a pittance of restitution ($550) if I signed some type of hold harmless paperwork, and tell me they were sorry that this happened on my purchase. Again, no responsibility taken for the clear neglect they showed, no phone call, not earnestness or honesty. I told them they could keep the money. Bottom line is this: Do not do any business with this group. They clearly do not have any best practices in place to insure the vehicles they sell can even be started without potential damaging effects, but more importantly they take absolutely no responsibility to do such due diligence. The nature of the leaks the car they sold me had makes it hard for me to believe they did not have any warning that there was serious issues, but that is not something I can know with certainty. What I do know is that this group is not a partner, does not take responsibility for their negligent actions, and will not even take the time to simply pick up the phone and show any empathy for a customer who has had an unbelievably bad experience directly caused by that negligence. If you care about your own wallet and sanity just move to the next listing, work with a dealer who has a semblance of honor, best practice, and decency. James Randall-GR Auto Gallery Transaction - May 2017
by engr_villa on 05/31/2017Buyer beware. During the month of May 2017, I purchased a 1982 Mercedes Benz 240D from Gr Auto Gallery. The car was advertised as being in Excellent Condition. Since I have friends that have purchased cars from Gr Auto Gallery and after… reading many reviews from the internet, I decided to trust Cory Wade from Gr Auto Gallery. Cory assisted me with the purchase. There were various deal breakers including whether the vehicle had a functional AC that blew cold air. I was informed by Cory that the car did in fact have a functional AC that blew cold air and informed me that the vehicle was in fact in Excellent condition. Through the transaction, communication with Cory was almost non-existent which was a Red Flag. I should have walked away from this transaction due to the poor communication with GR Auto Gallery. But again, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. After transmitting the funds, the real nightmare began when they made arrangements to have the car transported to me in Southern California. They made the arrangements with a transport company called Prestige Transport Inc. and this company was God aweful. I can't tell you how many times I had to call this transport company to try to get any kind of update on the transport of my vehicle to Southern California only to get yelled at by the driver or the main POC at the Prestige. The people at Prestige are obviously foreigners who can barely speak English. And don't get them upset because they have very short fuses. Anyhow, the car ended up getting dropped off at my residence and I was glad to pay Prestige to get them quickly out of my life. That was probably one of the most stressful experiences I've ever had in my life. Again, this is the sort of company that GR Auto Gallery highly recommended which reflects poorly. Anyhow, I was obviously happy upon the arrival of the car. I figured, that I could now enjoy the vehicle. To my surprise, the car had a lot of issues which included the following: 1) driver's door regulator was broken and so the window could not be opened or closed, 2) power booster pump was completely dead (i.e. would not hold suction) making the vehicle a huge safety liability driving it on the road, 3) the speedometer was not functional nor was the odometer and mileage counter, 4) the fuel gauge indicator was stuck and the empty tank light was on although according to GR Auto Gallery, the tank was full, 5) all of the oils in the vehicle including the engine oil, transmission oil, power steering oil, and coolant were all at dangerously low levels, 6) a number of vacuum lines were leaking air in the engine, 7) the main vacuum line that connected to the power booster pump was cracked and had to be replaced, and 8) the AC blows air but not cold. Those are some of the issues that have been identified by my mechanic as needing to be repaired to again make the car safe to drive. To get the AC to blow cold air, the mechanic noted that the AC system would have to be upgraded and that alone would cost an additional $1,200. So needless to say, the car I purchased from GR Auto Gallery was not in the Excellent condition it was advertised in. The car I purchased was not worth what I paid for it. At best, it was probably worth only half of what I paid. I immediately contacted GR Auto Gallery and again, my calls to Cory were not promptly returned. Therefore I spoke with Chris who is the owner of GR Auto Gallery. I asked Chris for a refund which he said was clearly out of the question for him. I asked if they could pick up the car and I could pick a different car which again was out of the question. Chris asked me to take the car to a mechanic to get it diagnosed and get it repaired. Chris noted that he was willing to work with me and would consider reimbursing me $250 if the repair costs were within $1,000 which they are now. I have acted in good faith and have done everything that GR Auto Gallery has suggested but they are leaving me holding the bag alone. I have not heard back from them noting that they will be helping to cover the $250 minimum on their behalf to make the car safe to drive. So GR Auto Gallery doesn't really give folks too many options if you're not happy with the car. To date, I have emailed Cory and Chris all of my receipts for repairs done to date and again, I have not heard anything from either Cory or Chris. To anyone on the internet thinking about purchasing a car from GR Auto Gallery, I am posting this review for your benefit. Buyer be ware. If you do decide to purchase a vehicle from them, either fly out there in person to see the vehicle else get it inspected before purchasing any car from them. Like I said, I have done everything possible to remain professional but my efforts have not been reciprocated by the people who work at Gr Auto Gallery. My transaction has been a nightmare from beginning to end. And it's been two weeks since I got the car and it's still at with the mechanic.
Chevrolet Camaro
Chevrolet Corvette
Ford Mustang
Jeep Wrangler
About our dealership
James We are sorry your experience was not better. We do check fluid levels in our vehicles and do a basic inspection. As mentioned in our conversations driving a car with a check engine light or fluid level low light is not the best choice. I am confident that if you would of stopped driving the car immediately you would of been able to avoid most of these costs. The tires were recommeneded due to the fact that the tires were performance tires on this car and you wanted to pick up and drive home in a snow storm. We were trying to look out for your best interest as opposed to trying to drive a performance rear wheel drive vehicle in terrible weather conditions...sorry for looking out for our customers. We always recommend a inspection when buying a car sight unseen to protect yourself, but even with that inspection the fluids would of come back at proper levels and there would of been no way to predict this issue. Again driving a car for over 300 miles when you knew something was wrong is hard for me to understand. We did offer you some help as many used car dealers sell cars AS IS and never offer any help once the car is delivered. We sell over 1,000 vehicles each year and with the nature of older vehicles, things do go wrong and many of them are impossible to detect or forsee. We appreciate your feedback and can assure all of our prospective buyers that overall we have a VERY satisfied customer base and as with any business, only a fraction of our satisfied customers take the time to write a review and people like James make it their new pastime to degrade a very reputable business like ours. We have been in the automotive business for over 25+ years and would not continue to be successful without positive customer experiences.
by grautogallery1 on 03/19/2018