Esserman International VW, located in Miami, FL, will make a deal and take your money only to refuse to honor it when you pick up your new car. Experience at Esserman International was poor service by the manager which encourages to his sales team to play along with his scams. This story is long and has dragged on for awhile but remains unresolved and I think it will help others considering purchasing or leasing from this dealership. To look elsewhere. I will admit this dealership does have a good service center since it has a different manager.
I was leasing my first car, which was a 2012 GTI autobahn edition. This was in August 2011 when the car (with these specs) first hit the market with limited supply. Eager to get the car that matched my specifications that was parked at port awaiting to be sent to a dealership in my region. I went to Deel VW in Coral Gables first and negotiated a pretty decent deal but still not at the price I needed (this is where I found out the inventory of cars available and there locations and the process to have them delivered to a VW dealership. As you know, the day drags on when you go to a dealership to get a car, so I left when the dealership closed with no deal. The next day I decided to go to VW Esserman International. I met with a sales guy, who I pretty much showed the deal I had to and he promised to beat it, which he did by around $200. At this point, I agreed to the price and he even wrote down the fees that are exempt from my deal on the back of the negotiation/deal offer document used during this conversation. I made a deposit for the car and Esserman International was now able to lay claim for my car to be delivered to their dealership since it's sold now to them before it is to me. After waiting several days, the car arrived and I was excited to pick it up and was fortunate to have a friend to take me to the dealership that had a Maserati, as soon as I arrived to the dealership the manager - Manny, came out to greet us (and see the car we arrived in). As I waited to have my new car pulled out and finalize the remaining payment, the sales man came to me pissed off saying he's gonna lose his job because of me and that he lost his commission from our deal, then the manager called me to his office telling me he won't be able to let me take the car off the lot with the price my salesman gave me and that he's losing money at that price and he had to take the saleman's commission because he made this deal without his consent (keeping in mind when we made the deal every time to get a price the salesman would have to disappear to the Managers office for at least 10-40mins. The salesman I dealt with was probably the oldest person at the dealership who you couldn't let that happen to, plus I couldn't walk away from the dealership because now the car was on their lot and since it was a rare they weren't going to give it to another dealership because now it's there inventory and the other dealers are their competitors. Aside from needing the car for college which started the next day I needed my car the day we agreed upon to get to work. So when the manager said he would never have agreed to remove a specific fee, I requested he retrieve the negation/ deal offer document used several days earlier when I made the deal and paid the deposit, which had specifically stated the fee is removed, which allowed to deal to beat the offer I had from Deel VW. He said he's going to fire the salesman and gave me a new salesman to handle my future dealings. In the end being inexperienced in purchasing a car and enthusiastic to receive what I have been waiting for and needing to get to school and work, I gave in to paying the $500 fee, which now made this deal more expensive. Since it was on the last minute the manager just took payment and didn't change my lease buyout price or payments or interest, he basically just pocketed the money (I later realized). Months later, I went back to the dealership for service and found my original sales man working there and telling me he got his commission and that he's still my salesman. I realize the scam at this point. I liked the car but every time I saw it I think of this experience and how far the manager went to change the deal they made with me and that was the only reason I purchased from this dealership, I couldn't enjoy the car. I called VW America and told them and they were professional in trying to solve this and said they will have the manager of the dealership call me to resolve this. He never called and I when VW America called me back I told them I ll call them when he calls me. At the end of my lease is when this comes back to bite me again.
I decided to purchase my car, with only 2 days left on my lease extension. I went to Esserman International dealership since I know that extra $500 I paid last minute when I got the car didn't count towards lowering my residual value. I faced the manager this time, with my father, who was on the lease and signed only the original lease which was sent to him via mail, since he was not present at the time of the negotiation or when I picked up the car to sign an updated lease agreement, since I am only the co-signer. The manager immediately jumped to accuse me of being liar and making this all up. This was my first car purchase experience as a 20 year old car enthusiast, it's quite a memorable experience that cannot be forgotten as any other car enthusiast will know. The manager asked what took so long for me to raise this issue, it was simply because of his refusal in following up on his promises to resolve this and therefore leaving this an open issue for 3years. He said that the dealer kept every single paper from day 1 of our negotiations in a file, that was offsite and would take a few days to retrieve to see which one of us is telling the truth. After the way he was acting this last time I saw him on Thursday September 24th, 2014 he still rude and arrogant that there was no way of solving this until we see the papers, that clearly state the fee is waived.
More than 2 months have gone by now, still waiting to receive any follow up from the manager.
I purchased the vehicle from Gunther VW in Fort Lauderdale, they provided excellent service and professionalism. The downside is since this is unresolved I ended up paying that $500 again when I bought the car out at the end of the lease.
Esserman International Volkswagen Reviews
Esserman International VW, located in Miami, FL, will make a deal and take your money only to refuse to honor it when you pick up your new car. Experience at Esserman International was poor service by the manager which encourages to his sales team to play along with his scams. This story is long and has dragged on for awhile but remains unresolved and I think it will help others considering purchasing or leasing from this dealership. To look elsewhere. I will admit this dealership does have a good service center since it has a different manager.
I was leasing my first car, which was a 2012 GTI autobahn edition. This was in August 2011 when the car (with these specs) first hit the market with limited supply. Eager to get the car that matched my specifications that was parked at port awaiting to be sent to a dealership in my region. I went to Deel VW in Coral Gables first and negotiated a pretty decent deal but still not at the price I needed (this is where I found out the inventory of cars available and there locations and the process to have them delivered to a VW dealership. As you know, the day drags on when you go to a dealership to get a car, so I left when the dealership closed with no deal. The next day I decided to go to VW Esserman International. I met with a sales guy, who I pretty much showed the deal I had to and he promised to beat it, which he did by around $200. At this point, I agreed to the price and he even wrote down the fees that are exempt from my deal on the back of the negotiation/deal offer document used during this conversation. I made a deposit for the car and Esserman International was now able to lay claim for my car to be delivered to their dealership since it's sold now to them before it is to me. After waiting several days, the car arrived and I was excited to pick it up and was fortunate to have a friend to take me to the dealership that had a Maserati, as soon as I arrived to the dealership the manager - Manny, came out to greet us (and see the car we arrived in). As I waited to have my new car pulled out and finalize the remaining payment, the sales man came to me pissed off saying he's gonna lose his job because of me and that he lost his commission from our deal, then the manager called me to his office telling me he won't be able to let me take the car off the lot with the price my salesman gave me and that he's losing money at that price and he had to take the saleman's commission because he made this deal without his consent (keeping in mind when we made the deal every time to get a price the salesman would have to disappear to the Managers office for at least 10-40mins. The salesman I dealt with was probably the oldest person at the dealership who you couldn't let that happen to, plus I couldn't walk away from the dealership because now the car was on their lot and since it was a rare they weren't going to give it to another dealership because now it's there inventory and the other dealers are their competitors. Aside from needing the car for college which started the next day I needed my car the day we agreed upon to get to work. So when the manager said he would never have agreed to remove a specific fee, I requested he retrieve the negation/ deal offer document used several days earlier when I made the deal and paid the deposit, which had specifically stated the fee is removed, which allowed to deal to beat the offer I had from Deel VW. He said he's going to fire the salesman and gave me a new salesman to handle my future dealings. In the end being inexperienced in purchasing a car and enthusiastic to receive what I have been waiting for and needing to get to school and work, I gave in to paying the $500 fee, which now made this deal more expensive. Since it was on the last minute the manager just took payment and didn't change my lease buyout price or payments or interest, he basically just pocketed the money (I later realized). Months later, I went back to the dealership for service and found my original sales man working there and telling me he got his commission and that he's still my salesman. I realize the scam at this point. I liked the car but every time I saw it I think of this experience and how far the manager went to change the deal they made with me and that was the only reason I purchased from this dealership, I couldn't enjoy the car. I called VW America and told them and they were professional in trying to solve this and said they will have the manager of the dealership call me to resolve this. He never called and I when VW America called me back I told them I ll call them when he calls me. At the end of my lease is when this comes back to bite me again.
I decided to purchase my car, with only 2 days left on my lease extension. I went to Esserman International dealership since I know that extra $500 I paid last minute when I got the car didn't count towards lowering my residual value. I faced the manager this time, with my father, who was on the lease and signed only the original lease which was sent to him via mail, since he was not present at the time of the negotiation or when I picked up the car to sign an updated lease agreement, since I am only the co-signer. The manager immediately jumped to accuse me of being liar and making this all up. This was my first car purchase experience as a 20 year old car enthusiast, it's quite a memorable experience that cannot be forgotten as any other car enthusiast will know. The manager asked what took so long for me to raise this issue, it was simply because of his refusal in following up on his promises to resolve this and therefore leaving this an open issue for 3years. He said that the dealer kept every single paper from day 1 of our negotiations in a file, that was offsite and would take a few days to retrieve to see which one of us is telling the truth. After the way he was acting this last time I saw him on Thursday September 24th, 2014 he still rude and arrogant that there was no way of solving this until we see the papers, that clearly state the fee is waived.
More than 2 months have gone by now, still waiting to receive any follow up from the manager.
I purchased the vehicle from Gunther VW in Fort Lauderdale, they provided excellent service and professionalism. The downside is since this is unresolved I ended up paying that $500 again when I bought the car out at the end of the lease.