I will only put the introduction and the conclusion of the letter. Since the main body is pretty much the same as what I had posted on each date.
Dear Mr. Gary and Lyle Morrey,
My name is Kenneth Yu. First I must thank you first for taking the time to read this lengthy letter. Please allow me to introduce myself so you will have an insight to how things transpired to this letter. Since my graduation from UBC Physics in ‘05 I have been working full-time to repay my student loan. As a requirement for my first job I purchased a 2005 Nissan Sentra SE from Morrey Nissan of Burnaby through the help of a friend who was in the business. The purchase process was relatively quick and painless. I had stood by Morrey Nissan of Burnaby because of this particular experience. You must know that I am the kind of person that puts other people’s needs before my own and justice before everything else. I believe your company has done great wrongs to your loyal customers.
the negotiation drama goes here...
It was unfortunate that the deal ended on a bad note. Based on Christina’s rude behaviour at signing alone, I will never return to Morrey Nissan of Burnaby again. Customer loyalty obviously meant nothing to the sales Carlos and the manager Ken as they tried to pitch ridiculous offers at inexperienced returning buyers. The hours I spent were only enough to bargain a deal that we could’ve easily gotten from Richmond Nissan within a 15 minutes over the phone. Without friendly service and competitive pricing, what more is left of Morrey Nissan but a hollow name?
A year ago, 7 weeks into my employment at *my employer's name goes here* I was awarded the “Spirit of Service” for my commitment to serving my peers. Your company has offended my dear friends and me personally. From now on I will pit my words against yours and see to it that no one should have to suffer such torture. I will not be afraid to share my unbiased experience with others. Of course, the choice will be up to them, but believe me; my words weight a lot more than those of your sales’ and managers’. Thank you again for reading this letter. If you feel that I had misrepresented the dealership’s integrity, please write me back.
I printed out three copies all addressed to the Morrey Seniors, Gary and Lyle. One directly mailed to their headquarter and the other two mailed to their branches c/o the Morrey Juniors. I hope the paper copies will weight more to them than a simple email transmission.
Continue to: 06/21/07---Legal Contract
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
The Final Boss?
On June 10th, 2007. We had everything arranged for us to pick up the car today. I took my time on this beautiful Sunday to play basketball. I hadn't played basketball for a long time because of my weak ankle, but today I was kicking ass. My team won 5 straight before we headed to the dealership.
We were greeted by the salesperson Carlos with a big smile. He went over all the features and controls of the car and then we waited patiently to see the manager Christina to sign the lease contract. At this point we had already forgave Carlos for his ridiculous over-priced offer. He was probably just acting as a proxy for manager Ken. Carlos had to earn a living, too. We made excuses for them. All we have to do now was to sign the paper, and drive the car away.
That wasn't it. I sat silently in the corner of the office. Christina first asked Ann to initial and signed the contract. After it was signed she then introduced the never-mentioned-before $45 dollars processing fee and amount of $545 due at signing all together. It raised a question mark in my head. I indicated to her that the first month payment should’ve been free according to our deal sheet. She replied, “then it will only be $45 for the first month.” The biggest mistake we made was that we signed before reading the contract carefully.
After signing I picked up the contract so I can read it more carefully. She sharply raised her voice at me, “May I have that back please? That’s my copy. I will give you your copy if you want to read it.” I put the copy down and picked up the yellow copy. I read through the lines, but didn’t find the $45 fee. I asked her to please point out the $45 charge line to me. She replied indifferently, “I would’ve gone through it with you had you not grab the copy from me.” I found that hard to believe, she recited the additional charges at signing after everything was signed and showed no intention of providing explanations until confronted.
I leaned over toward Ann so we can read the contract more carefully together. I noticed that the air conditioning was on full blast blowing at Ann’s face. I asked Christina, “May I turn the AC the other way? It’s pointing at Ann’s face and she has a cold.” She bluntly replied, “Why would you do that? We’re done here. You’re just about to leave to see the insurance person anyway.” Ann’s sister Tina was still squinting at the fine lines on the contract and Christina asked to put it in an envelope for her. We sat there for another 30 seconds while she organized the paperwork under the full blast AC. While we waited for the insurance agent, I asked Carlos about the $545 initial payment. Carlos brought over the owner Jarrett Morrey. I explained to him how this binding contract could be used against Ann. Jarrett spoke to Christina. Again, Christina refused to make any modification to the binding contract even though it was contradictory to our terms. Jarrett assured us there was going to be no problem. It was just how paperwork was done.
That afternoon, we happily drove away with our Nissans. We decided it was the last we should ever see of Morrey Nissan of Burnaby. After a 3 weeks of frustration we had finally reached the conclusion of our car deal.
Upon reflection, it was probably a bad idea to go in my basketball gear. Christina may have thought I was disrespectful dressing in T-shirts and shorts. There was a bitter after taste and I had decided to write a letter to the Morreys on how I feel about their dealership.
Go on to: 06/13/07 ---Letters to the Morreys
We were greeted by the salesperson Carlos with a big smile. He went over all the features and controls of the car and then we waited patiently to see the manager Christina to sign the lease contract. At this point we had already forgave Carlos for his ridiculous over-priced offer. He was probably just acting as a proxy for manager Ken. Carlos had to earn a living, too. We made excuses for them. All we have to do now was to sign the paper, and drive the car away.
That wasn't it. I sat silently in the corner of the office. Christina first asked Ann to initial and signed the contract. After it was signed she then introduced the never-mentioned-before $45 dollars processing fee and amount of $545 due at signing all together. It raised a question mark in my head. I indicated to her that the first month payment should’ve been free according to our deal sheet. She replied, “then it will only be $45 for the first month.” The biggest mistake we made was that we signed before reading the contract carefully.
After signing I picked up the contract so I can read it more carefully. She sharply raised her voice at me, “May I have that back please? That’s my copy. I will give you your copy if you want to read it.” I put the copy down and picked up the yellow copy. I read through the lines, but didn’t find the $45 fee. I asked her to please point out the $45 charge line to me. She replied indifferently, “I would’ve gone through it with you had you not grab the copy from me.” I found that hard to believe, she recited the additional charges at signing after everything was signed and showed no intention of providing explanations until confronted.
I leaned over toward Ann so we can read the contract more carefully together. I noticed that the air conditioning was on full blast blowing at Ann’s face. I asked Christina, “May I turn the AC the other way? It’s pointing at Ann’s face and she has a cold.” She bluntly replied, “Why would you do that? We’re done here. You’re just about to leave to see the insurance person anyway.” Ann’s sister Tina was still squinting at the fine lines on the contract and Christina asked to put it in an envelope for her. We sat there for another 30 seconds while she organized the paperwork under the full blast AC. While we waited for the insurance agent, I asked Carlos about the $545 initial payment. Carlos brought over the owner Jarrett Morrey. I explained to him how this binding contract could be used against Ann. Jarrett spoke to Christina. Again, Christina refused to make any modification to the binding contract even though it was contradictory to our terms. Jarrett assured us there was going to be no problem. It was just how paperwork was done.
That afternoon, we happily drove away with our Nissans. We decided it was the last we should ever see of Morrey Nissan of Burnaby. After a 3 weeks of frustration we had finally reached the conclusion of our car deal.
Upon reflection, it was probably a bad idea to go in my basketball gear. Christina may have thought I was disrespectful dressing in T-shirts and shorts. There was a bitter after taste and I had decided to write a letter to the Morreys on how I feel about their dealership.
Go on to: 06/13/07 ---Letters to the Morreys
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Kenneth V.S. Ken
On May 19th, 2007, I got up at 6am because I couldn't sleep. I began to go through websites after websites on car purchasing because I felt inadequate in this field. I came across CarCostCanada.com, a website that offered information of the dealership wholesale prices at an incentive. Within 2 minutes and 42 dollars later, my report was printed. I spent the rest of my early morning refining my understanding of lease terminology and procedures.
At 9:00AM I left to go to the dealership and stopped at my office to let Ken know that I was on my way. Ken refused to meet me in person; he claimed that he had no time for this meeting and that there was nobody higher than he was in the dealership to handle a situation like this. I just didn’t want to play phone tags hiding behind the false sense of security.
Eventually we compromised to speak on the phone. During the first 30 minutes of the conversation, Ken was insistent that it was already a done deal that nothing can be changed and he did not understand why we were even having this conversation or why I was involved as a family friend. After a heated conversation back and forth, he was only willing to add a $200 gas card from Petro Canada. I mentioned the report I had printed in the morning to him and I offered him $450, a reasonable 5% profit based on the wholesale price. Ken said the wholesale price was irrelevant to our deal. Also he had concluded that I was an “unreasonable customer that they were willing to lose. If I wanted to go somewhere else, I may do as I please”, but they will not return the deposit. I was shocked that he was willing to shut the door after giving almost no grounds even with the wholesale report in my hands.
Honest and naïve as I was, thinking that there was no reasoning with this guy, I started to look for a better quote with my new wholesale price report. I called Richmond Nissan and mentioned to the salesperson, Harrison, about the report and why I was calling him. Only that Harrison wasn't specialized in dealing with CarCostCanada deals. I asked him to try his best and indeed he did. He quoted me a $500/month lease price. It took less than 10 minutes. I didn't believe it, I asked Harrison to check the specification 3 times and see if I missed anything. It was a deal ready to go, $500/month, sign the paper and drive the car away, as Harrison put it. Surprisingly, Richmond Nissan only wanted a $500 deposit. I felt absolutely appalled by Ken's attitude just 10 minutes ago. Was I being unreasonable?
I called Ken back and quoted him that price. He gave out a long silence before he blurted, "I'm going have to look into this and I'll call you back." I left him with my direct extension. I sat back down to my desk and checked my email. The wholesale report has charged me on my credit card already. Then there was a second email from the provider. The wholesale report website had found me a real-time dealer who will honour the deal of $1050 above wholesale. I called Harrison with that detail. He wasn't too familiar with the pricing because he had never sold a car based on CarCostCanada report. Five minutes later he got an approval from his manager to lease the car to us for $480/month. I called Ken immediately, trying to inform him that he should put this new quote into his consideration. He wasn't available at the time so I left a message.
At 11:30AM he called me back. He sighed and said, "You know, we're gonna do it. We'll match their quote and I am afraid I can't get your that first payment and gas card since..." Before he could finish I cut him off and gave him the new $480/month quote that had been authorized by Richmond Nissan. He said, "Please stop playing this game...." I stopped there. He was now willing to put the free first lease payment and the gas card back on the table. We recited the terms: $500/month, tax-included, first month free - $500, and a $200 gas card at Petro Canada, no freight charge, and the car will arrive in 3 weeks time from the prairie region. The $480 deal from Richmond Nissan was still better, but I had a conscience and I believed Morrey Nissan of Burnaby incurred an expense of $700 to order the silver and the black car for us.
That day afternoon, Ann, her mom and myself went to the dealership to sign the new contract. Apparently there was some confusion, that we were only signing a deal-sheet, not a contract. Christina, the manager, sent us away with a piece of paper stating the terms both party had agreed to. We were to pick up the car 3 weeks from that day. Christina offered the top-off warranty on the last year of the lease that manufacturer’s warranty does not cover. We kindly declined, as we never purchased such warranty for our past leases. From that day on we were willing to put the past behind us. We sat at $500/month, tax included, first month free, 200 gas card, no freight.
Continue to: 06/10/07---Final Boss?
At 9:00AM I left to go to the dealership and stopped at my office to let Ken know that I was on my way. Ken refused to meet me in person; he claimed that he had no time for this meeting and that there was nobody higher than he was in the dealership to handle a situation like this. I just didn’t want to play phone tags hiding behind the false sense of security.
Eventually we compromised to speak on the phone. During the first 30 minutes of the conversation, Ken was insistent that it was already a done deal that nothing can be changed and he did not understand why we were even having this conversation or why I was involved as a family friend. After a heated conversation back and forth, he was only willing to add a $200 gas card from Petro Canada. I mentioned the report I had printed in the morning to him and I offered him $450, a reasonable 5% profit based on the wholesale price. Ken said the wholesale price was irrelevant to our deal. Also he had concluded that I was an “unreasonable customer that they were willing to lose. If I wanted to go somewhere else, I may do as I please”, but they will not return the deposit. I was shocked that he was willing to shut the door after giving almost no grounds even with the wholesale report in my hands.
Honest and naïve as I was, thinking that there was no reasoning with this guy, I started to look for a better quote with my new wholesale price report. I called Richmond Nissan and mentioned to the salesperson, Harrison, about the report and why I was calling him. Only that Harrison wasn't specialized in dealing with CarCostCanada deals. I asked him to try his best and indeed he did. He quoted me a $500/month lease price. It took less than 10 minutes. I didn't believe it, I asked Harrison to check the specification 3 times and see if I missed anything. It was a deal ready to go, $500/month, sign the paper and drive the car away, as Harrison put it. Surprisingly, Richmond Nissan only wanted a $500 deposit. I felt absolutely appalled by Ken's attitude just 10 minutes ago. Was I being unreasonable?
I called Ken back and quoted him that price. He gave out a long silence before he blurted, "I'm going have to look into this and I'll call you back." I left him with my direct extension. I sat back down to my desk and checked my email. The wholesale report has charged me on my credit card already. Then there was a second email from the provider. The wholesale report website had found me a real-time dealer who will honour the deal of $1050 above wholesale. I called Harrison with that detail. He wasn't too familiar with the pricing because he had never sold a car based on CarCostCanada report. Five minutes later he got an approval from his manager to lease the car to us for $480/month. I called Ken immediately, trying to inform him that he should put this new quote into his consideration. He wasn't available at the time so I left a message.
At 11:30AM he called me back. He sighed and said, "You know, we're gonna do it. We'll match their quote and I am afraid I can't get your that first payment and gas card since..." Before he could finish I cut him off and gave him the new $480/month quote that had been authorized by Richmond Nissan. He said, "Please stop playing this game...." I stopped there. He was now willing to put the free first lease payment and the gas card back on the table. We recited the terms: $500/month, tax-included, first month free - $500, and a $200 gas card at Petro Canada, no freight charge, and the car will arrive in 3 weeks time from the prairie region. The $480 deal from Richmond Nissan was still better, but I had a conscience and I believed Morrey Nissan of Burnaby incurred an expense of $700 to order the silver and the black car for us.
That day afternoon, Ann, her mom and myself went to the dealership to sign the new contract. Apparently there was some confusion, that we were only signing a deal-sheet, not a contract. Christina, the manager, sent us away with a piece of paper stating the terms both party had agreed to. We were to pick up the car 3 weeks from that day. Christina offered the top-off warranty on the last year of the lease that manufacturer’s warranty does not cover. We kindly declined, as we never purchased such warranty for our past leases. From that day on we were willing to put the past behind us. We sat at $500/month, tax included, first month free, 200 gas card, no freight.
Continue to: 06/10/07---Final Boss?
Friday, May 18, 2007
Drama That is Carlos
In the morning of May 18th, 2007, Carlos pitched me the 50/50 deal. He wanted us to absorb the $300 and I simply rejected the offer. At this point I had thought that Ann was to lease a loaded Altima 3.5SE based on the price I obtained on Nissan.ca. Carlos called back offering me another deal; the way he put it was delicate: Morrey Nissan would pay for the freight $600, but deduct $300 dollars from the $1000 deposit. I was surprised he would try to manipulate numbers against us.
A quick called made to Richmond Nissan proved to be timely. Richmond Nissan quoted me $580/month lease on a fully loaded, top of the line 2007 Altimate 3.5SE within 10 minutes. I asked Carlos again to speak to his manager Ken and call me back when they were ready to pay for the $600 freight transport. 20 minutes later Carlos called back all smiles that he had finally convinced the management to absorb the $600 freight. He asked for future referrals since he was losing money on this deal. We gave the okay to order the black car.
Another co-worker reminded me to get everything down in writing, so I asked Carlos to fax me the deal sheet that contained all the new terms. At 1pm I had the fax in my hands. It was not a copy of the deal sheet. It was a print out from the internal Nissan inventory site. On the side of the print out, it stated "ALTIMA 2.5 S" I was in disbelief. I called Richmond Nissan gave him the specs from the printout word by word. After 5 minutes, he quoted me the price $562 after tax. Common sense would tell you that a quote over the phone is the worst deal you can possibly get on a car. Apparently this was not the case even for a returning customer. We were at $588/month with no freight.
I called the Carlos once again. I confronted him with the quote of $562. He was speechless for a good while. He asked for a moment while he spoke to his manager. During my afternoon break Carlos called me back. They had determined that the $588 was a typographical error by the accountant and they were willing to make it right and offer us $565/month with no transport fee and no first payment. I asked him how he wanted make up for offering us the ridiculous deal initially. Carlos said that he could no longer make any decisions at this point and I'd have to speak to the manager Ken directly. I gladly took his advice and intended to speak to and possibly meet with the manager, Ken, the next morning.
At this point, according to Carlos, they had already purchased a silver and a black Altima for us, costing them $700 dollars. We are sitting at $565 / month with first payment free over 48 months lease at 3.5%. This was exactly the manufacturer's suggested retail price, after the 3rd negotiation.
Next to: 05/19/07--- Kenneth V.S. Ken
A quick called made to Richmond Nissan proved to be timely. Richmond Nissan quoted me $580/month lease on a fully loaded, top of the line 2007 Altimate 3.5SE within 10 minutes. I asked Carlos again to speak to his manager Ken and call me back when they were ready to pay for the $600 freight transport. 20 minutes later Carlos called back all smiles that he had finally convinced the management to absorb the $600 freight. He asked for future referrals since he was losing money on this deal. We gave the okay to order the black car.
Another co-worker reminded me to get everything down in writing, so I asked Carlos to fax me the deal sheet that contained all the new terms. At 1pm I had the fax in my hands. It was not a copy of the deal sheet. It was a print out from the internal Nissan inventory site. On the side of the print out, it stated "ALTIMA 2.5 S" I was in disbelief. I called Richmond Nissan gave him the specs from the printout word by word. After 5 minutes, he quoted me the price $562 after tax. Common sense would tell you that a quote over the phone is the worst deal you can possibly get on a car. Apparently this was not the case even for a returning customer. We were at $588/month with no freight.
I called the Carlos once again. I confronted him with the quote of $562. He was speechless for a good while. He asked for a moment while he spoke to his manager. During my afternoon break Carlos called me back. They had determined that the $588 was a typographical error by the accountant and they were willing to make it right and offer us $565/month with no transport fee and no first payment. I asked him how he wanted make up for offering us the ridiculous deal initially. Carlos said that he could no longer make any decisions at this point and I'd have to speak to the manager Ken directly. I gladly took his advice and intended to speak to and possibly meet with the manager, Ken, the next morning.
At this point, according to Carlos, they had already purchased a silver and a black Altima for us, costing them $700 dollars. We are sitting at $565 / month with first payment free over 48 months lease at 3.5%. This was exactly the manufacturer's suggested retail price, after the 3rd negotiation.
Next to: 05/19/07--- Kenneth V.S. Ken
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Freight, $600
On May 17th, 2007, in the afternoon Ann received a call from the salesperson Carlos. He joyfully brought the news to Ann over the phone, "Ann! Good news! We had found you a silver car!" Ann was stunned, she didn't understand why Carlos was getting her a silver car instead of black. Carlos said that there was no black Altima in BC at the moment, shipping it from another province would take up to a month and there will be a $600 dollar freight charge, but he had successfully acquired a silver car and it'll be ready for pick-up in no time. Ann asked to call him back later.
I was chilling at my desk after work. I was to drop off some computer equipments that I no longer used to a friend at the nearby university. There was a few hours to kill before I could catch my bus. That was when I overheard Ann talking about the $600 dollars.
I grew a bit uneasy about her situation as I listened. As a family friend and coworker I volunteered to give Carlos a call to negotiate the $600 dollars freight charge. I argued a few points. First, Ann and her mom were never once notified that black was unavailable during the 2 hour negotiation. Second, they could've called us to tell us that our primary color black was unavailable before getting us a silver car. Carlos argued that black as not a primary color. He listed black and silver as two options, so if he found either one, he's fulfilled his duty. My objective was simple: I wanted to get rid of this $600 dollars. That was all I wanted. Carlos didn't budge so I told him he better talk to his manager and call me back when they had agreed to absorb this $600 charge.
At 7PM I hopped on the bus to SFU, I spent my whole night formulating strategies and back-up offers that could possibly help the negotiation on Friday.
Continue to 05/18/07--- Drama That Is Carlos
I was chilling at my desk after work. I was to drop off some computer equipments that I no longer used to a friend at the nearby university. There was a few hours to kill before I could catch my bus. That was when I overheard Ann talking about the $600 dollars.
I grew a bit uneasy about her situation as I listened. As a family friend and coworker I volunteered to give Carlos a call to negotiate the $600 dollars freight charge. I argued a few points. First, Ann and her mom were never once notified that black was unavailable during the 2 hour negotiation. Second, they could've called us to tell us that our primary color black was unavailable before getting us a silver car. Carlos argued that black as not a primary color. He listed black and silver as two options, so if he found either one, he's fulfilled his duty. My objective was simple: I wanted to get rid of this $600 dollars. That was all I wanted. Carlos didn't budge so I told him he better talk to his manager and call me back when they had agreed to absorb this $600 charge.
At 7PM I hopped on the bus to SFU, I spent my whole night formulating strategies and back-up offers that could possibly help the negotiation on Friday.
Continue to 05/18/07--- Drama That Is Carlos
Sunday, May 13, 2007
As Returning Customer
On May 13th, 2007, Ann and her mom walked into Morrey Nissan of Burnaby in British Columbia, Canada. Ann and her family has had a long history with Nissan vehicles. This was going to be their forth Nissan and the second car from Morrey Nissan of Burnaby.
She was greeted by the salesperson Carlos. The last time Ann dealt with Nissan was through a salesperson named Charlie. Jimmy, a church friend was in the business at the time, so he arranged everything through the Charlie and his manager. It was a pleasant experience worth remembering.
Unfortunately, Charlie was unavailable that day. Ann and her mom instead dealt with Carlos, another salesperson from Morrey Nissan of Burnaby. After two hours of negotiation, Carlos convinced them that the price of $588 tax on a 48 months lease was a good deal for a few reasons. First, the first month lease payment was free. Second, he was giving them an absolutely wonderful deal. Ann questioned why it was a lot more expensive than their current Altima. Carlos countered that the price of Altima increased over the years. It's only normal.
The Nissan Canada advertised manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) price was $500 per month plus tax for lease over 48months. Carlos asked if Ann would like "the same item" as her last Altima. She thought if it was the same as her last Altima, it couldn't be wrong. Carlos never budged on the price. In the end, Ann and her mom settled for $588 after tax over 48 months with first payment free. Ann wanted a black Altima. Carlos manager Ken asked Carlos to get a second color so Ann gave silver as a secondary color. A $1000 deposit was put down on the deal.
Continue to 05/17/07--- Freight, $600
She was greeted by the salesperson Carlos. The last time Ann dealt with Nissan was through a salesperson named Charlie. Jimmy, a church friend was in the business at the time, so he arranged everything through the Charlie and his manager. It was a pleasant experience worth remembering.
Unfortunately, Charlie was unavailable that day. Ann and her mom instead dealt with Carlos, another salesperson from Morrey Nissan of Burnaby. After two hours of negotiation, Carlos convinced them that the price of $588 tax on a 48 months lease was a good deal for a few reasons. First, the first month lease payment was free. Second, he was giving them an absolutely wonderful deal. Ann questioned why it was a lot more expensive than their current Altima. Carlos countered that the price of Altima increased over the years. It's only normal.
The Nissan Canada advertised manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) price was $500 per month plus tax for lease over 48months. Carlos asked if Ann would like "the same item" as her last Altima. She thought if it was the same as her last Altima, it couldn't be wrong. Carlos never budged on the price. In the end, Ann and her mom settled for $588 after tax over 48 months with first payment free. Ann wanted a black Altima. Carlos manager Ken asked Carlos to get a second color so Ann gave silver as a secondary color. A $1000 deposit was put down on the deal.
Continue to 05/17/07--- Freight, $600
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