By Lm.
My fiance and I purchased our new car at Pathway Hyundai in Orleans - but now wish we hadn’t. The saleswoman, Laura, was friendly and very helpful, but that’s unfortunately where the praise for Pathway ends. The sales manager that came to talk to us during the financial negotiations was painful to deal with. We had originally stopped by just to get a price quote, however we ended up being pressured and guilt-ed into buying a car that night. We were told by the sales manager that we had already taken up so much of the saleswoman’s time, and his time, that we couldn’t dare leave and look elsewhere. We were also lied to about the cars in stock at another Hyundai dealership nearby (which we had already made an appointment at for a test drive the next night, so we knew that they had the car we wanted in stock). Finally, the sales manager, who had spent 5 minutes putting down this other Hyundai dealership, essentially threatened that if we didn’t buy a car from him, he would call
the other dealership and tell them not to sell us a car. He claimed that this was a strategy that he had used before. After about half an hour of private deliberations, my fiance and I finally decided that, against our better judgment, we were so worn down by the whole process that we just wanted to get it over with and buy the car rather than have to go through the whole thing again elsewhere. After making that decision, we proceeded to wait around for an hour for a finance manager, to finalize our financial information. At 8:45pm we finally opted to go home and to return the next day.
The next day, after another hour of waiting, we finally met with the finance manager. He was pleasant - for the first sixty seconds. Once he launched into his spiel about the types of warranties and products we should buy from him, and realized that we weren’t interested, he quickly turned hostile. He refused to look me in the eye or address me directly, which as a woman, I found incredibly offensive. Once we finally told him we weren’t interested in any of the extras, he printed out a form for us to sign, threw it onto the table in front of us, and said to my fiance to sign it “and to have her sign it too” (referring to me). He was incredibly rude and short with us for the rest of our appointment. It was very awkward, and I am still offended, weeks later, about how he treated us (especially me, his female client).
Last week, 3 weeks after our car purchase, we heard from Pathway’s General Manager. He seemed sincere in his apology, and upset with how we had been treated. He talked to both my fiance and I, and asked what he could do to gain back our trust and business. We promised to call him back the next day after we’d had a chance to discuss things privately. We called the next day and left him a message - yet, a week later, we haven’t heard back from him (we even tried him again yesterday, and left him another message, to give him one more chance. Still nothing). It seems like he has inadvertently proved the very point that he was trying so desperately to disprove - that the customer service at Pathway Hyundai is absolutely despicable. Please learn from our mistake - there are far too many other Hyundai dealerships in Ottawa/Orleans for you to waste your time, or money, at Pathway Hyundai.
rob says...
why did you tell him to f@@@@ off and leave - go to the other dealer and buy it.
they wouldnt turn a sale away.
you dont have to do anything you dont want to do - pressure he should have kissed your ass to sell you the car.
DM says...
Oh please no one put a gun to your head if you don’t want some thing you get up and walk out . You bought some thing you do not like and are now putting that on the dealership .
Ian says...
I think that they should not have broken under the pressure, but I totally sympathize with them. I went to bank street Hyundai to buy my car and they were total jerks, and finally when I threatened to cancel the sale a few days later (waiting on the car), regardless of what I had signed, they finally caved and did what I asked (too long to get into). From this point on, when I deal with car salespeople, I consider them as my adversaries and I will have no compunction to walk out the door at any point in any sale. Incidentally, both of you consider yourselves smart to have refused any extras… they are total scams, so feel better about that, for sure.
The one Hyundai that I think is better, is the one in Hull, Quebec, on St-Joseph Blvd. Their service dept is good. I have never bought a car there, but would consider it. Looks like Bank Street Hyundai and Pathway Hyundai in Orleans are both places to stay away from.
Incidentally, the tactic of telling others not to sell to you would not be possible. No dealership will refuse to sell to you. In fact, they will be happy to offer a new price to compare to the other.
IF you are a car salesperson, and you are not making money, get out of the business, and go back to school. Don’t take it out on customers.
Sandie says...
You are both grown adults, and if you at ANY point felt uncomfortable you should have stood up and left. Not to mention you should also report them to the Better Business Bureau, as this is not acceptable practice of business although it does occur which is sad. Not to mention you said that you had an appoinment for a test drive at the other dealership which you should have still gone too especially once you were told to come back the next day.
torn says...
You totally should have walked out as soon as they started pressuring you. Holy crap, I find it hard to believe that the two of you were bullied into buying a car that you weren’t ready to buy. That being said, your next course of action is to contact Hyundai directly to complain. Not the dealership, but Hyundai Canada, and I suggest you not give up until they’ve heard your complaint and dealt with it accordingly. Call daily, call hourly, just call. Good luck.
Ti says...
As grown adults you made choices and I find it hard to beleive this day and age you were “forced” to buy anything you made a choice to buy that vehicle now grow up and live with it…
Kary says...
I find it hard to believe that they were that rude and you still bought a car from them! I would have just told them “no thank you” and left. I honestly don’t know what you could do at this point if you’d already bought the car. I hope you and your fiancee learned a lesson from this!