Chapman BMW on Camelback
Dealership Sales Review
I hve bought five new cars in my life. This was by far the worst experience. I live in California, but the only car with the options I wanted happened to be at this dealership, Chapman BMW on Camelback. All the local dealerships were friendly and reasonable with me. The one that located this car said they could get it for me on a dealership trade, something that is quite routine. After several days, they apologized that the car was unavailable because it had been sold by Camelback BMW. This was a plain lie--the story continues. I called Camelback BMW and spoke to Ben Majidi, the Internet sales manager. He told me the car was *not* sold, but then the best word to describe his attitude is "toxic." I felt like I had to hold the phone at arm's length from my ear, to mitigate his spewing rudeness. He was impossible to negotiate with reasonably. Next, I called a contact at a different BMW dealership near me. Again, he said he could get the car for me. Again, he apologized a couple if days later that Camelback BMW had said the car had been sold. Again, this was a lie. I called Camelback BMW again on a different phone number. This time I reached a perfectly friendly salesman named Glenn Sullivan, and I reached a deal with him to buy the car. I gave a credit card deposit and he faxed me written confirmation of the deal. Glenn also told me I would get a special Arizona three-day permit and I would have three days to drive the car back to California and register it here. What happened next? Glenn called me back and reneged. He said his manager thought the price we had negotiated was too low and they might sell the car to someone else before me. Of course, they did not succeed in selling the car at a higher price, so I arrived the following Saturday to buy the car. The car was fine, but the finance manager surprised me by asking me to pay Arizona sales tax. Glenn had never mentioned this, and I thought registering it in California meant paying tax there. The finance manager was unpleasant and unapologetic. So was the general manager. Both managers looked me in the eye and assured me I would not have to pay tax in both states. However, both cynically refused to put their statements in writing. They lived up to all the worst car salesman stereotype: making promises but refusing to be bound by them. At the time I am writing this, I still don't know if they were telling the truth. Glenn was completely mistaken about the "three day permit." It turns out I have a 90 day temporary Arizona permit, and I can't register the car where I live until Arizona sends me the title; the sales people couldn't say when this will happen. Camelback BMW dies frequent out-of-state sales, but they don't know what the laws regarding them are, and they don't care. Good customer service requires good knowledge and making customers feel comfortable; Carmine Grassi (Camelback general manager) and his staff don't care about this. Two final negative notes: The car I bought had pre-installed low-quality window tinting, which is not recommended by BMW, for which Camelback BMW wanted me to pay $289. They still live in the old days of dealer-installed garbage addons that are just hidden profit for them. Similarly, they add on a "junk fee" of $259 for so-called documentation to the final price that they say is non-negotiable, another lie.
- Recommend this dealer? No
- Purchased a vehicle from this dealer? Yes