importboi22

SCMitsu I am really getting tired of the run-around here. I bought a car from them on 3/21 and picked it up on the night of 3/22, the first night I brought it home it had a made a metallic clicking noise from around 1500-2500 on decel. I made note of it but thought it was just a fluke, but then I noticed the noise again when I went to school the next day on 3/23.

On 3/26 I finally got a chance before work to put the car on my lift at home and check out the car and where the noise might be coming from. Noticed the car had a torn front right inner axle boot and splatter grease everywhere. The rear diff fill bolt was stripped and was so tight there was nothing that could take it out so I sprayed it with PB blaster and let it sit. Looked more for the noise and it could not be found in the drive train so, most likely its coming from the valvetrain but I was unsure.
-I called leo and mentioned my problem to him and he told me I would have to speak with Sam.
-I called Sam and talked about bringing it in on Sunday. Sam said "bring it in!"

3/28 I came to SCMitsu and talked directly to Sam, and told Sam about my issues of buying a used car that certain things like this should be checked out before someone even test drives the car. "Axle boot, clicking noise, and the rear diff bolt." But I did admit to "I saw the car in the back and liked the way it was (All stock 2006 WRX limited wagon) as I didn't want to buy a beat on modded car" But in my defense I left the car there a whole extra day so it could be ready for me to take home the next day I came back to pick it up. As of 3/28 6pm SCMitsu had possession of the vehicle

3/29 No call from Sam or SCMitsu but its alright maybe a busy monday from all the weekend drop offs like me prolly get back to me tomorrow.

3/30 No call at all so I decide to call at 3:30pm, maybe my information got lost in the mix. Call SCMitsu and I get forwarded to Serge(??? didn't catch his name and write it down) in Service and he tells me I should be dealing with Rigo, I get forwarded to Rigo but "he's not answering" So I leave a message with the secretary. No return call so I figured he probably just got busy for the day

3/31 Called again for Sam or Rigo, was told Sam was with a customer and was forwarded to Rigo. Rigo answered and informed me that "He knew nothing about the car and anything has yet to be done." by 4:50pm on wednesday, said he would have to talk with Sam, but he was out for the day. Conflicting stories? Its ok I know how dealerships get sometimes. Rigo mentioned "he will try to get a hold of Sam on his cellphone if not he would talk to him tomorrow"

4/1 Called at 1:20pm for Sam secretary paged him but he wasn't answering his pages. Asked if I wanted to leave a message I replied no (they don't return them anyways)
Called at 2:30pm for Rigo, his response when I talked to him about my car was "Sam isn't here today but I will try to get a hold of him again and will call you back" Never got a return phone call.

4/2 Called @ 11:50am and spoke with Rigo "Sam is in a meeting all this morning and he will talk to me as soon as he can" told him I would call him back, but he said its ok I have your number and I can call you back. No return call for today. Also today I received a notice to rescind contract from SCMitsu, I called Josh Rose. He told me that everything is ok and that my financing will continue. TO BE HONEST I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE THEM RESCIND THE CAR I WILL BE MUCH HAPPIER

4/3 Called at 9AM Talked to Rigo, once again nothing has even been touched on my car.


at this point I am a little fed up, I really just want to know WHAT IS GOING ON WITH MY CAR. Is that really a hard thing to ask? I went to SCMitsu because they have a reputation about their customers being happy and everything being taken care of on the spot. I was actually going to buy a car from Honda world in Westminster, but had some unethical treatment from them and refunded my down payment and filed a complaint with Honda, CA DMV, and HOA. So I decided to give SCMitsu a shot since they are talked about everywhere on tons of forums (supraforums, mr2oc, HT). At this point I am really disappointed in them. While Josh Rose and Leo were great to deal with and kept in contact with me to make sure I got in the car. Now that there is a little issue they have had it since sunday and not a damn thing has even been looked at. I know they are going to have the car for the rest of today and most likely will not get back to me, I don't know of anywhere that would take roughly 120+ hours to look at their customers car to give them a diagnostic and let them know what is going on.

I bought this car from SCMitsu because, I NEEDED A CAR. Not because I got the urge to go out and buy a car, I needed a newer reliable car and something that is AWD. I goto school 4 days a week from 10am to 9pm Monday/Wednesday and from 4pm to 10pm Tu/Th. I have been trying to get a hold of you guys on my breaks but so far no dice, the weekend has come and is now passing. I know a lot less gets done on them as far as mechanic work goes. I bought the car because I needed a car to get to school, I cannot just use our work truck for me to get school. On Wednesday I had to take the ******* RTA bus to get to school. :bang: Since I do not have free use of the company work truck that I would use to get to school, come Monday I will more than likely have to RENT a CAR to get to school. I was hoping that 7 days would be enough time for you guys to take a look at the car and fix what might be wrong. But now we are passing day 6. I will not be paying for a vehicle that is sitting at your dealership and want no part of anything to do with you or South Coast Mitsubishi PERIOD

To be honest with South Coast Mitsubishi since has already sent me a letter to rescind I am asking you to honor it. Had you guys not have taken this long I might have felt different, but we are coming on 7 days and NOT ONE SINGLE PHONE CALL FROM YOUR DEALERSHIP TO INFORM ME OF ANYTHING. South Coast Mitsubishi I am asking you to honor your notice to rescind contract you have sent me. I have documented every phone call TO YOU (since you guys never once called me) and I do not want to even have anything to do with this dealership if this is how you treat your customers. I have been civil and been easy to get a hold of, and you guys used that to walk all over me. I am 24 hours away from filing another complaint against another dealership.

importboi22

I know I am not active on here but I am active on my other forums

http://www.supraforums.com/forum/member.php?u=15214
http://mr2oc.com/member.php?userid=45605
http://honda-tech.com/member.php?u=999299169

DubsE46

iTrader: (32)

that sucks hopefully everything gets resolved, as for SCM ill still be a loyal customer, great service and just chill people in general.

awilli1715k

iTrader: (1)

wow sorry to hear that, hope everything gets resolved

jllaqui

damn man sorry to hear that

SOCALMITSU.COM

Issue has already been resolved with the customer. We purchased the car back.

importboi22

Ok sorry for the late reply everyone, got back home late last night. And was out for easter lunch and heading to the girlfriends for an easter dinner, figure this is the best time to update this thread for everyone.


A little bit of background information so this can be cleared on all sides.
-3/19 Honda of Westminster had run my card for my 7,000$ down payment on a car I had signed no paperwork. Then tried using my already charged card to twist my arm into a vehicle.
-3/21 Got my money refunded and went to SCMitsu
-3/21 Showed them my refund receipt and was going to use that as my down
-3/21 Worked out a Deal on a Blue 2006 WRX wagon with payment of the 7,000$ down as soon as it showed up on my bank. But I did not pick up the vehicle that day
-3/22 Went to SCMitsu around 6pm to pick up my car and gave them a check which as soon as my refund showed up they could cash (they did as agreed)

A little disclosure on my side, I have a 574 Experian and 600 trans union score with a previous BK7 discharged in Dec 2009. But with about 40% down on the OTD price of the car getting/finding finance would be a chore but talking to numerous dealers before SCMitsu it could be done. And I personally thank JOSH ROSE for helping me get financed.

Now onto the story on 4/3/2010
I went to SCMitsu around 5pm since at work I didn't have to do anything and was standing around. I changed clothes and picked up a friend for a witness in case anything did/were to happen.
I was taken to the WRX and pulled the last bit of belongings out of my car and talked to (whom I am assuming is the owner since he has been there in the background everytime running stuff) he asked me what I did for work and a few other small talk things.
I was shown to sit down in the parts area by the bikes that they have on display and was watching TRUtv on "the worlds dumbest partiers" or something to that extent

After about 45 minutes I was confronted by the same man who had a print out of this thread on socalevo.net and he asked "why I had to talk bad about Sam, Rigo, and the dealership as a whole"
I responded with "if you read that thread nowhere had I said anything negative about Sam or Rigo or SCMitsu, I simply stated they had not had any contact with me at all, unless I called in which my response was a generic response getting me no information"
Rigo looked pretty upset about the ordeal (which is understandable Rigo) and he had asked "why didn't I come to the dealer instead of talking over the phone or online"
My response was "I live 45 miles one way to here" (thats 90 miles roundtrip just to get told nothing happened hence were phone calls take priority for me since my schedule is packed MON-SUN)
The unnamed manned assured me that I could be upset all I want and say anything I want about a dealer that is my choice as a consumer. Once again I assured him that I AM NOT talking negative about them I simply stating what happened between me and SCMitsu

To sum of the conversation is this
- They could not look at the car until it had been financed
- To my knowledge the car had been financed through wells fargo and they were just trying to verify the rest of my info (per convo on 4/2 and calls from phat at wells fargo)
- Why would I post this online without confronting them first, which in my opinion calling everyday Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday they could have simply told me what was going on instead of responding with "i need to talk with X person before I look at the car, I will return your call" then proceed not to return my call
- They agreed to refund my down payment, in which Josh had let me know that I would not receive anything on 4/3/2010 and didn't want to give me a set day as to when I would receive something because it is up to business office. Which I will have to call monday morning 4/5/2010

Now where I stand on everything
1.) I am glad I have signed paperwork to return the vehicle to SCMitsu
2.) The service from Josh and Leo were beyond great and if I can ever buy a car from these guys I would be more than happy too, and would be happy to recommend someone to them
3.) Sam and Rigo are great to deal with in person, but over the phone a little different as either they are really busy or just simply forgot to return my phone call
4.) I felt that if I continued down the road on keeping the car once the car was financed I would be stuck with a repair bill on a 1X,000 car that I had bought from them
5.) If the dealer is selling a car with any type of warranty they should make sure the car is fit for everyday use (be it a Ford Focus or Ferrari Enzo) so in the end game the consumer is happy and continues to patronize said dealer.
6.) Hope that when I see my refunded payment from SCMitsu it says Payable to me in the amount of $7,097.
7.) The internet can be your best friend..... or your worst nightmare. I am on numerous boards and have a reputation on other forums and would inform anyone with an issue to let other consumers know about any dealing with a dealer GOOD or BAD.
8.) This all could have been solved with a phone call letting me know what they planned on doing with the WRX, they would have their money I would have a 2006 Blue WRX wagon

I will keep everyone updated as to when I receive my check and the amount.

stlgrym3

iTrader: (2)

to OP:

i know exactly how you feel. i've tried to call Sam a few times regarding to my lojack appointment no show and was getting no where just like you said in your post. it was either with a customer or meeting. but i finally got a hold of Josh Rose the finance guy and he re-scheduled it for me and it was done last week. dealer receptionist told me when Josh's out Sam also double duty as the finance guy so he can be very busy some days. try text him next time, i got responses back from Sam via texting a lot faster than calling him.

importboi22

As for my check, they got it the very next day. I was expecting to wait but I got it right away.

4/5- I received a check for the complete amount of my down payment it was an easy process. They wanted to make sure they are covered and that the check did go through (very understandable!) Sam got to me immediately, and he mentioned it would have been easier if I just called his cell this wouldn't of all happened. I agree with this statement and it could have all of been avoided had there been better communication between them and me. (and now I see his cell in his sig)

Regardless of that fact, I hope to one day give them another chance. Maybe when I graduate from school and have a better paying job. I feel that SCMitsu handled it well when the ball did get rolling even if it was on the negative side of things.
Once again I want to thank South Coast Mitsubishi for holding up their end of the deal when it went down hill.


Moral of the story
If YOU ever buy a used car from anywhere, take it to an independent specialty shop to get it inspected. Regardless of warranties or what a dealer will/does tell you.
High performance car or grandma's minivan, so you don't end up in a situation like I did and SCMitsu. Had I known ahead of time that there were some possible serious issues with the vehicle, I could have negotiated the terms to be favorable, instead of negotiating for what I thought was a great running mechanically sound car. You'll never know until you actually can get a little drive time in it, or have it inspected by someone who sees the cars EVERYDAY.



Now if you don't mind I got to study for 3-4 hours before I goto work

SOCALMITSU.COM

texting is my favorite Its harder to forget deals that way hahaha


Smash

drifthobo

iTrader: (3)

I hope this doesn't happen to me! My car's at their dealer getting stuff repaired/replaced, because after I bought my car from them, it started to have belt noises/rubbing from somewhere. I brought it back to them and Chris helped me out and was a great dude to talk to. I hope I won't come across issues like you did and think about the dealership other wise, but so far I think they're great and loyal.

Evonemic

SCMitsu help their customer to the best they can.. It's a busy dealer for a reason..

Domolution

iTrader: (74)

Ohhh great....another one of these.....all I got to say is, putting down South Coast won't go anywhere.

They're busy FOR A REASON!

Been going there for 7+ years, not 1 thing has been wrong. So to the O.P, you got your moneyz back, happy you, next time text Smash, don't complian when things can be resolved at certain points/time.

modvp

iTrader: (13)

Thanks for posting, I was hoping to buy a car from south coast and this post has given me second thoughts.

gr8dc2b

A good point about a used car - less expensive than a new car with a good probability that you will be in a car that you would love to be in at less of a price than one could afford if new. A bad point about a used vehicle - you do not know when a problem is going to occur. A used vehicle can go through inspection numerous amounts of times and pass without problem; upon purchase and 1-2 days later, you may be lucky lol and find that there is a new problem with your vehicle. Things like this happen...not just to SoCal Mitsu, but to other dealerships as well, especially with a sale of a vehicle of a non - brand dealership nature e.g. purchase of a Subie from a Mitsu store. It could have been the stroke of luck that whomever serviced the diff torqued the thing wrong and that the boot was about to rip at that point in time. Sad story to hear; it seems as if the easy fix would have been replace the boot and the diff cover, and things would have gone your way with the WRX. Whichever vehicle you purchase next, I wish you the best.