Pikes Peak Acura

I purchased a used vehicle on February 04, 2012. I was told by the finance person (Scott) that if I purchase the extended warranty, then anytime I need to have my car serviced they would give me a loaner while my car is worked on. One week after I bought my car, the check engine light came on, so I took it back. They said I needed an oil pressure sensor replaced at $400! They asked if I was going to leave it or wait on it. I said I needed a loaner so I could go to work. They told me I do not get a loaner because my used car is not an Acura. I went to the supervisor in finance and told him what Scott had told me and he confirmed that Scott did lie to me about the warranty. Of course, it didn't cover the issue either.

I asked to cancel the warranty because I have a mechanic closer to my house that is a lot cheaper than they are and because they are 20 miles from my home. This is what I told Scott, but he lied to me to make it convenient to get the warranty. They refused to cancel the warranty. Here, a month later, I find out the car need $2000 worth of electrical work. It turned out to be a lot more than an oil pressure sensor. This place is a huge rip off and I would recommend avoiding them at all costs. If you google them, you will see lots of complaints of how crooked they are. Beware!

I found a 2007 Acura RDX vehicle on autotrader.com and on April 30, 2010 test drove and purchased it from Pikes Peak Acura in Colorado Springs, CO. Upon the test drive, I noticed the turn signal did not work properly and let the sales person know. He advised it would be pulled into service and corrected while we waited. We then began to negotiate a price for the RDX and it was listed on autotrader.com for $28,900 as a certified pre-owned vehicle. I began to wonder how thorough this certification process was since they did not catch the problem with the turn signal. I was told service checked the turn signal and it was working correctly. After I purchased the vehicle and left the dealership it immediately had the same problem.

Once negotiations began, I was informed that there was a $1,495 charge to activate the certified extended warranty. I was shocked since the internet advertisement said nothing of any warranty activation fee and I had made offer on a similar vehicle at another dealer with no mention of such fee. I previously purchased a certified pre-owned vehicle before and never paid extra to activate the warranty. I immediately considered this to be false advertising and eventually got the activation fee waived but I am disturbed by this practice and I find it dishonest and deceptive. When I agreed to purchase the vehicle, I was told that the Pikes Peak Acura sticker (advertising applique on rear bumper) could be removed with no problem and when the sticker was removed, they also removed paint from the rear bumper.

The salesman Aric advised me of this damage and said they were going to take care of it but I would need to return the car to the dealership for repairs. This was a major inconvenience since I live in Denver, 80 miles away. He assured me he would contact the service department and be in touch with me early the next week. When the vehicle was being prepared for me to take home, I noticed hail damage on the roof. I was compensated for this but it just added to even more frustration. I waited to hear from Aric regarding the status of the repair and heard nothing, and on Wednesday sent him an email using the email account from his business card. I still heard nothing and waited until Friday morning and called him, but he did not seem to remember the incident and I had to remind him what the problem was.

Aric told me he had been working on this and I told him that I would like to know what was going on and I did not understand why he did not contact me with information as promised. I think a week is more than reasonable amount of time to let me know the status. I again advised him to let me know something but did not hear anything more that day, and on Saturday May 8 I phoned the Sales Manager Howie. He apologized and said I would get a call within two hours with a plan and within that time frame I received a message from Aric giving me an option to get the car fixed. I returned his call and we scheduled a time to fix the vehicle.

Before calling Aric, I again called Howie to discuss the fee for activating the warranty and express my dissatisfaction that this is not disclosed in the internet advertisement. I noticed another disturbing thing when I was going through the glove box in the RDX; I found a sales sticker that I assume was once on the vehicle. The price on the sticker was $27,900 one thousand dollars less than the internet addand this just added to my suspicion of deception. Was this once the price of the car? I don't know but it just makes me suspect more deception. I eventually worked out a service appointment to fix all the issues on the car. I was to drop off the vehicle on Monday May 17th and pick it up on Thursday May 19th.

I told Aric that I wanted them to take the necessary time to fix the issues correctly so I would not have to make another 160 mile round trip to fix things again. Aric gave me a name in the service Department (Chris) and said he would be handling everything. Based on the previous experience, I called on Friday May 14th to verify that Aric had indeed set something up. The call confirmed that indeed I was scheduled to bring in the car on Monday May 17th and there would be a loaner car ready for me. Monday morning May 17th, I drove the RDX to Colorado Springs and dropped it off. I expressed concerns with Chris and notified him that I lived in Denver 80 miles away.

Chris asked me when I wanted to pick up the vehicle and I said Thursday Morning. I asked him if this would work. He assured me it would and he added that he would call me the next day with an update. I did not get a call on Tuesday as promised or on Wednesday. Frustrated, I decided to call and find out what was going on. I talked to Mike in the service department and he told me the car was not ready and that parts were on order. Surprised that no one had informed me of this, I asked, "What parts?". He checked and gave me a list of parts. When I asked why no one had called to inform me of the parts order or of the fact that apparently the car would not be ready Thursday Morning, he deferred the problem to Chris and said he was not there.

I then asked to talk to the Service Manager Brent. Brent was understanding and promised me a call shortly after he looked into the matter. He did indeed call me back and told me that Chris had promised me the car at noon on Thursday. This was news to me since I had never agreed to any such time and Brent offered to deliver my RDX to Denver because of the situation. He also promised me a call from Chris the next morning before 9am and this did happen. The frustrating thing is that I have to get to the managers before people follow through on their promises of good service. This is the same thing that had happened earlier with Aric.

I was told that I will be taken care of, but then it becomes my job to do all the work to be sure things happened as promised. This is very frustrating for me as a customer looking for good service. Service is one of the main reasons I chose the Acura brand. I am writing this letter in the hopes of improving service to customers. I believe when a company is honest and gives superior service to their customers; their business will thrive and customers will rave about their experience. I hope the next individual's car buying experience goes smoothly and they have no doubt that they were treated with dignity by honest people who follow through on their promises. I also hope that there will be no need for people to call employees supervisors in order to get things done.

I went to Pikes Peak Acura and found a 2004 Acura TL that was in my price range and that was going to lower my monthly payments and insurance. I was told the car was $17, 000 and it is a used car so I wanted to get a warranty which I was told was $1, 200. That was the first contract, since then I have signed 3 contracts all together. Now the car is $19, 000 and the warranty went up to $3, 000 and on top of that, my payments went from $342/month to $373/month.

I was completely lied to and disrespected in this car deal. I went into the dealership to give them a chance to make this right. At first, all I wanted was them to cancel the warranty and give me the $3,000 to refinance the car and get a lower payment. I tried to just get my truck back. That did not happen either. The corporate office and security services federal credit unions vice president both called the general manager and he still didn't want to do anything about it. I bought the car on Nov. 4, 2009.

The two contracts I still have, have the same date and contract number on them. I would have the first contract but the finance person ripped that one up before I could tell him I wanted it. I want this car dealership to give me my truck back and take their car back. I'll get a loan for how much I had left and I can find that out by talking to my loan representative at security services federal credit union.