Carmax in Plano, TX was a complete disappointment
Dear Carmax,
I’d like to talk to you about my car (kinda-buying) experience in Plano, Texas.
If you think that you’re a fair car service, maybe you should think twice about it.
First time I came to your dealership I was given a quote of $16,000 for my trade-in.
Surprise #01 — Bait and switch 🎣
I came back 10 days later and since my quote was expired I was given a new quote. The appraisal now was $13,000 😡 When I asked why I was told: “the previous technician missed something called an apron”.
Ummm — aren’t you guys the professionals? How the hell do you miss something and then take an additional $3000 off within just a 4 day period from quote expiration #SleazySalesTactics
Surprise #02 — CT Registration? 📄
I’ve been living in TX for almost a year now. How am I supposed to all of a sudden produce a Connecticut registration?
When I asked the sales rep, Justin, why he needs my CT registration, he said that he needs to confirm the name on my CT Registration.
Tell me something genius? How would I have legally transferred my car from CT to TX without the correct registration paperwork?
So after willing to trade our car in for $3000 less for some BS car sales trick (I really thought Carmax was different), we still couldn’t drive home with our car.
And this AFTER being here for 2+ hours, going through the application process, getting my credit dinged with an inquiry, being excited that my wife and I are going to drive home with a new car, getting our old car license plates off, we ended up going home with our own car that we drove in.
Surprise #03 — Deposit but no refund 😢
During our application process, I put down $3000 on my debit card. The next day, when I had the time to sleep over all the NONSENSE that y’all put me thru, I decided to not move forward with the purchase.
Upon telling my CarMax sales associate Yogesh about the change of mind, he spoke to his manager, and all of a sudden the car appraisal came up $2000 to $15,000 (insert shady car dealership tactics here).
When I spoke to Justin about getting my refund back he said that I’ll need to come to the store in person.
I live 45 minutes away from this store. Not to mention the health risk involved in going to the store in person #CovidAnyone 😷🦠
I sent multiple emails to Justin urging him to issue the refund some other way. But each email was replied to with NO — this has to be done in person.
So against my will, I had to go to the store 45-MINUTES AWAY from my house, so I could get my own money back. Not only that, I had a 5yr old in tow.
The straw that broke the camels 🐫 back
It is one thing to ask me to go to the store. But it is a completely different story when you make me wait ONE HOUR on top of that.
Once I reached the CarMax store on 4/27, I was asked to wait a few minutes by the rudest desk clerk ever — Victoria.
After 5 minutes of waiting, I asked about the refund (remember the child in tow, covid, health risk). I was told that the refund is being processed.
5 minutes turned to 15, turned to 50, and STILL NO REFUND.
I asked Justin what’s the delay and apparently, there’s some technical glitch. The entire time I was there, Justin didn’t have the COURTESY to come by and apologize for the delay or make any suggestions on how he’s going to fix this.
Instead, he just had a phone in his hand the entire time while he continued to “stay on hold with tech support” while I could clearly see him talking to his co-workers.
I was finally given a refund almost an hour later. You mean to tell me that in the 21st century, you have cell phones in your associate’s hands to appraise a car, but you don’t have an easy mechanism to issue a refund?
Conclusion
I have come to the conclusion that Carmax is just like any other car dealership. They employ the same sleazy, salesy tactics that every other car dealer in the country does.
Wake up and smell the roses Carmax, I thought you were different?
