My horrible car-buying experience at Don Carlton in Tulsa, OK

To whom this concerns:

I bought a 2003 Chevrolet Venture van on January 17, 2007 from Don Carlton Hyundai. This has been one of the biggest nightmares of my life. I thought buying a car was supposed to be a fun and enjoyable experience. I shopped for a Venture for about 4 months. I finally found this 2003 Venture listed in the Tulsa World Classifieds and went to Don Carlton's with the impression that I was buying a car from a reputable dealership, and that they would stand behind the cars that they sell. I was assured the day I picked this vehicle up that it had been fully inspected, serviced, and detailed by Don Carlton service team. I now realize, very little attention was given by them as to what shape this car was in when it was released to me. I don't think they even checked the fluids on this car. I am, now less than a month later, being asked to pay hundreds of dollars for a repair bill for a problem that existed on this car prior to my buying it and before I've even bought the tag, or made the first payment on this car. I feel I did everything I could from the first day to alert everyone at Don Carlton, that there was a problem with this car without any success. Please read the following facts about my purchase experience and decide for yourself whether you would consider buying a used, or even a new car from these people. I feel that had I not been alert to what was happening with this vehicle after I took it from the dealer - this repair could be much more disastrous - I could be looking at a new engine, rather than just a leaking intake gasket repair. In other words, an unsuspecting person might very well be on foot looking for someone to replace an engine on this vehicle.

Furthermore, I have been told by the Don Carlton staff throughout this ordeal that they lost so much money on this car, over and over. I heard this before the sale and I feel this is probably normal and appropriate during price negotiations. However, I'm still hearing this same song after the sale, and frankly, I don't care. I feel that it is very inappropriate to continue to tell a customer that we lost money by selling this car to you, so therefore, we won't stand behind it even if there was a major problem prior to you buying it from us . I think this is a very poor business practice, and I won't be buying any more cars from these people in the future. I also plan on letting everyone I know (and don't know) of my car-buying experience with Don Carlton in Tulsa, OK. I have notified the bank that financed the car and they are horrified! I also plan on sending this letter to all "Problem Solving" outlets in the Tulsa area, and anyone else who will listen if I end up paying any out-of-pocket expenses on this repair scheduled for Thursday February 15, 2007 at 8AM.

The FACTS:

2003 Chevrolet Venture

Purchased At: Don Carlton Hyundai Of Tulsa - 622-3636

Purchase Date: January 17, 2007 PM

Hyundai Dealership Manager: Tom Cadell

Salesman: Peter "Boston" Longhi – Cell: 955-2058

Financial Manager: Greg Greenway

Harris Bank: Bill Rohde (Loan Officer)

Service Manager: Frank Larson

Service Person: Nick Jones

Monday January 8, 2007 PM: First went to Don Carlton Hyundai to look at vehicle around 7PM. My mother had seen an ad in Sunday's Tulsa World so her and I went to view the vehicle. We first stopped at Don Carlton Honda. Salesman: Peter "Boston" Longhi. Peter escorted us next door and informed us that the vehicle was at the Hyundai dealership, and that he would be our sales consultant on this vehicle, even though the car was not connected to the Honda dealership. We negotiated a bit on the price unsuccessfully, and then we left.

Tuesday January 8, 2007 thru Thursday January 11, 2007: Throughout these next few days Peter and I talked several times via telephone negotiating the price on the car. Finally, on Thursday we negotiated an agreed price on the car of $7500.00. Peter faxed the sales agreement to American Heritage Bank, Kiefer, OK - PM. I was to pick the car up the next day (Friday). Peter assured me the vehicle would be fully inspected, detailed and serviced and ready for me to pick it up on Friday.

Friday January12, 2007 - AM: A Winter storm was due to hit Tulsa and vicinity today around noon, and it did, earlier than they forecast or we expected. Mother and I debated on whether it was a good idea to take a chance to go get the vehicle but we chose to try. First went to American Heritage Bank in Kiefer to pick up check for car purchase only to find the faxed sales agreement included an additional processing fee of $99.00 that was not disclosed to me by Peter at anytime during our price negotiations. Peter neglected to inform me of this additional $99.00 processing fee throughout our negotiations and I was unaware of this charge until I went get my check from the Heritage bank and go to dealer purchase the car. The reason this upset me so much is because it changed my monthly payment that I had originally agreed on with the bank. When I went to purchase the car – I confronted Tom Cadell: We had words in dispute of this fee and after what mother and I considered a rude encounter with Tom – I took my check and walked out. Peter was late coming into work so he was unaware of this situation until he later came to work. Later that evening we talked on the phone and he said he would see what he could do.

Monday & Tuesday January 15th & 16th 2007: The next 2 days Peter and I spoke back and forth by telephone about this fee – he apologized for not having told me about it and eventually agreed to (out of his own pocket) split the $99.00 processing fee with me. On Tuesday evening we both agreed to this and I was to pick the car up on Wednesday, sometime after 2PM. He again, assured me that the vehicle would be fully inspected, detailed and serviced and ready for me to pick it up on Wednesday after 2 pm. I still had the original check from American Heritage Bank (the amount included the purchase price plus the processing fee of $99) that I was to use to purchase the car. He said I would have to wait for an IOU from Don Carlton for the $50 that he was going to absorb with the processing fee.

Wednesday January 17th 2007 ~3pm: Most of Oklahoma was under a Winter Storm Warning. Another winter ice storm was bearing down on Tulsa today. My sister took me to Don Carlton Hyundai after we both got off work to pick up the car. I got there somewhere around 3-4 pm as the weather was turning bad to worse. It was close to 8pm when I left. Peter was there to greet me. As my sister and I were walking from the Honda dealership to the Hyundai dealership, the service people were bringing the car around from the back to the front. This appeared to me that they were bringing it up from the service department – probably making sure of all the final assurance tweaks and checks before releasing the vehicle to me. Peter allowed my sister and I to take the car for a short test drive up Memorial a little and back - 5 minutes tops because of the slick streets. My sister left me – she had to get home. Peter then turned me over to Greg Greenway the financial manager. I agreed and signed all of the necessary paperwork. Greg offered me a better loan package on the car than my bank so I accepted his offer. We ran into a problem because I had no insurance of any kind. Greg Greenway was going to allow me to take the vehicle home (30 - 40 miles in a winter ice storm) without insurance???? The weather was only getting worse as time went on turning bad with ice, sleet and snow – looking out on Memorial in front of Don Carltons – while we were doing our paperwork - it was like bumper cars. I didn't think this was a good idea that I take this vehicle into this mess and insisted that we get some insurance on the car before I left the dealership with it. I really had a hard time believing that Greg would allow this vehicle to leave their dealership without insurance on it. Greg worked very hard contacting several people and finally set me up with insurance that would cover me immediately so I could leave. I believe he called this a binder or something. This took a lot of time – but I felt it was the right thing to do in order to protect everyone.

Everyone assured me that the vehicle had gotten the best maintenance and inspection & service available before I took the vehicle. Upon leaving the dealership with the car, I felt the best way to get home would be to take Memorial south to Bixby then over to 75 and down to Beggs where I live. This would keep me off of most of the main freeways and I could take my time. This worked out well because the storm only kept getting worse. Everyone was slipping and sliding and accidents were everywhere. Freezing rain, sleet, snow was now coming down very heavily. The first thing I noticed is that I couldn't seem to get any heat. The car never got enough heat the entire trip to where I felt comfortable and I was cold all the way home. The heater and defroster were blowing cold air. It was very difficult to see to drive because the sleet and freezing rain kept building up on the windshield. I also noticed the temperature gauge was fluctuating from about