Ourisman Chrysler Plymouth Jeep
Clarksville, MD
Ourisman is a car dealer out in Clarksville, MD. You wouldn't believe the crap they just pulled on a friend of mine. I always thought car dealers were one step above lawyers in the food chain but now I'm not so sure. Their little stunt today guarenteed that I'll never go to Ourisman for anything!
Ourisman basically pulled the bait and switch routine. Now this isn't anything new to car selling and I'm sure Ourisman has pulled this many times considering they were so good at it. But to see it live was something. I went with my friend and here's what happened:
My friend is shopping for a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Ourisman had the color he wanted but their price was higher than his target price. Another local dealer (County Jeep) had a price of $300 less than Ourisman (and less than the target price) but in a so-so color. My friend called Ourisman and offered this deal: he and the dealer split the different and Ourisman would reduce their price by $150. The saleslady (a very nice person that is obviously working for the wrong bosses) told my friend to come on in and we'll discuss it.
We get there and the first thing she says is "you've won, we'll do the deal at your price". The back of their offer sheet even had the words "YOU HAVE WON!" written across it in big letters. Great! Or so we thought. After about an hour of paperwork and looking over the vehicle one more time, the finance guy got involved. Here's where it gets ugly.
The finance guy starts writing and his numbers don't include the $150 reduction. My friend questions him on it and he looks confused. He says he has to go talk to the general manager. He comes back and says that they can't offer the additional $150 off. He proceeds to infer that the saleslady didn't know what she was talking about (in that arrogant tone of voice that only lawyers and car dealers can attain) and that she shouldn't have offered the reduction. We start flipping through the paperwork looking for the price written down and, lo and behold, the "YOU HAVE WON!" document is now missing.
Needless to say, all hell breaks lose. My friend and I don't know whether to be amazed or pissed at what just happened. At one point, the general manager spit out a complete lie. He said "our salesperson offered you my price and that's the best we can do". I was so shocked, I was unable to point out his lie. (By the way, the general manager was even more arrogant than the finance guy and I didn't think that was possible).
What Ourisman did was downright wrong. But I guess that's standard for them. They kept us there 1 hour past closing hoping to wear us down before pulling the bait and switch. They even offered, at one point, to let my friend drive home the Jeep. I'm sure that was just another tactic to get him locked into the higher price. This dealship obviously doesn't give a crap about its customers. Chrysler better rethink that 5-star dealership thing if these guys can qualify.
We walked out of there shaking our heads. We both agreed it would be
a cold day in hell before either of us walked through
Ourisman's doors again.
To update the story, about two weeks after this fiasco, my friend found the perfect blue Jeep Grand Cherokee at a dealer up near his family in Pennsylvania at what he considered a reasonable price. His experience with the dealer, he said, was excellent. If I get the dealer’s name, I’ll post it here.
FYI, we did some excellent research for car prices at www.edmunds.com and www.carsdirect.com. Also, www.carmax.com is as great sight for getting prices to haggle with. They sell new cars. You may have to travel to pick up the brand of car you want but it may be worth it.