You may have read my last post a few down from this in reference to which model to get...the A5 I've had on order or the exact S5 I'd get which randomly became available this morning @ my local dealer.

So after a conversation this early afternoon with my sales guy (who is now a sales mgr), I told him I would be over there immediately once I got off work to complete the paperwork for the purchase of the S5. I told him the only thing that could keep me from buying this car at all would be the trim as I would have ordered carbon, but this had the piano black w/ stainless. He said no prob, he would have it ready and I could take a quick peak when I got there and if I changed my mine, that was no problem. I said great, see you @ about 6:30.

He calls me back a little later in the afternoon @ says he is leaving around 4 or 5, so he will have one of his reps help me with the paperwork/purchase/etc when I get there.

So around 6:00 I'm heading in that direction -- I get a call from the dealership and its this guy I'm supposed to meet with telling me not to waste any time coming over because someone else swooped in and purchased the car. I'm so pissed I don't even know what to say at this point. I finally calm down enough to ask why the car wasn't taken off the lot. He of course, "doesn't know". Said another one of the sales reps just sold the car a few minutes ago.

At this point I am furious as 1) the car should have been taken off the lot to begin with per my conversation a few hours earlier w/ the sales mgr, and 2) this guy should have spoken up when the car was being shown and consequently sold.

I decided to cruise over to the dealership either way because I wanted to see if someone was actually buying it right then. Turns out someone was, and they had just finished prepping the car. But as I pull in, guess who runs outside from the office to greet me...looking like he is trying to hide something. The salesman who was supposed to be waiting for me. I didn't say much, just wanted to see for myself, but my friend who was with me let him and another sales guy there have it.

As I turned to leave I told him they would likely need to find someone to purchase my A5 as well. Then I get in my truck and start backing out and I see this guy go inside and side down with the guy buying the car to finish the paperwork. Directly through the window in front of me. This snake who knew I was coming to purchase the car sold it to someone else himself...no call, no nothing. Probably assuming that they would be selling me my A5 either way, so might as well secure both.

I simply don't know what to even say about this...I have NEVER been burned this bad. I called and changed all the loan info w/ my bank, got my new down payment rdy, etc, etc...changed my whole mindset from an A5 to an S5 w/ magma red...basically my dream config...without the 9-12 month WAIT! Then it gets pulled out from under me.

That guy did happen to call the sales mgr I've been working with for months and he said that he thought I wanted to look at it first before making a decision. I made the damn decision on the phone and told him I was coming to buy the damn thing. If I knew it was a flat out race to get there first I would have dropped everything and gotten there at 1:00 this afternoon long before this other chump. !&@*&!*@&@(*&#^@(*

Not only do I not want to buy my A5 that is coming in any day from this dealer anymore, I don't know if I can settle back into that after being so excited about the S5. And the worst part is that I know the dealership owner really well, but I hate getting him involved in this kind of crap.

Needed to vent somewhere...sorry :(

...a car is this hot.

What, the sales guy couldn't wait a day or two? At least he could have given you the courtesy of seeing it, even if he thought you might change your mind after seeing it and go with the A5. So what, he loses a day at the most. Whoever he sold it to today would have happily come back tomorrow, or on the weekend or whatever; certainly that buyer is not flying to the moon tomorrow or something, requiring him to do the deal today--or never. Also, the sale falls into this month's sales figures, whether the sale is today or tomorrow or Saturday, so he can't even pull that excuse, as lame as it would be anyway.

I don't get it. I think that was horrible. Obviously you can't buy from that person, but do you believe the sales manager was also a co-conspirator?

what a bunch of scum bag losers. where do you live , I might have an idea. very sorry and I am going to leave it at that but I feel your pain.

If nothing else he should get you a fantastic deal on the A5 if you didn't have one already.

While I find this dealerships behaviour unacceptable I cannot say I'm shocked. In their mind they figure why sell you the S5? Then they have to sell your ordered A5 on the lot which as you have configured would sticker for $54,000 right next to more desirable less expensive mass configured A5s (no S-Line, auto, no Drive Select) for say $47,000. (Even as you point out an S5 sans Drive Select and Tech is $54k) As nice as the A5 is I think they'd have a hard time moving it. So they figured sell the S5 and you'll still take the A5 since it's only a couple weeks away and they can blame the whole debacle on mis-communications or say as they did "another salesman just sold it". It is really sad since they had told it would be "no problem". It's a tough call considering you waited so long, but I would too be tempted to tell them to go scratch and good luck selling the $54k A5.

but I don't think the sales manager was a co-conspirator, but he did drop the ball in part as well. He should have been all over these guys making sure they knew not to even think about selling the car tonight, or at least until I got there.

I've been working with him for a long time and he has been great. He also knows how well I know the dealership owner, so that would be really stupid.

If I do end up picking up the A5, I will make certain that one sales rep has nothing to do with it.

Also, the sales manager I've been working with is going to walk into the office tomorrow with a rather nasty email about todays events waiting in his inbox. Lets see what happens, if anything after tomorrow morning...

And I told my sales guy (the sales manager) this afternoon that this was going to happen. They wouldn't have even had to try and sell this one. Amazing, but this other salesman I'm sure thought something of the sort.

I will most likely be bring it to his attention (the dealership owner), but I'm going to wait and hear from the sales manager I've been working with for a while. He has a long and harsh email waiting for him in his mailbox, and when he calls I'll make sure to go over it all again.

Murphy's Law...

No offense. But if you know you want something you have to put a deposit down.
Right there, right then.

It's not 'yours' until you pay for it.

IT's business. That's how it works.

You NEVER tell someone that you will be by after work. You give them your credit card OVER THE PHONE and tell them to run a charge and confirm by email that you have held the order.

[p]

I never had a good experience with a car dealer until I started dealing with Yuri at Momentum in Houston. Truly the only car dealer I've ever dealt with that was honest, upfront, and helpful. Sounds like you just got a bad apple dealer. Hopefully it doesn't sour you on the Audi brand. As you can see by the folks here (many of them dealers), they are very helpful and honest (more the rule than the exception like your douche bag dealer who sold it out from under you to make a quick $).

While I agree in part with what you are saying, the PRINCIPLE of the matter here is dishonest horrible "salesmanship"! Their behavior is no way to treat a current (or for that manner ANY) customer!

I just had a bad experience with Bell Audi, NJ of Edison on the new 09 A4 and I can feel your pain.

I am currently a BMW guy and was hoping to switch to my first Audi, and after my recent turmoil, I'm not sure if I'm gonna get the A4 even though I love the car :(

God forbid he should take someone's word without giving them his credit card and $ deposit. A sales manager that he has worked with and already made a purchase from, a salesman that should have the sense to forewarn other potential customers that they have someone who is already coming to look at the car in a few hours.

Good salesmen and good dealerships don't just revolve around making an instant buck. They actually train to retain long-term relationships for both purchases and service with buyers. That's how they make money too you know. They 're wrong on this one. They treated another person, their customer, poorly.

Give yourself a week to cool off about this. The dealer is an @$$hole. No doubt about it. But don't let this ruin your chance to get your spectacular A5! Once you get it, you'll be happy. It's a beautiful car, spectacular to drive, and it actually has some advantages over the S5 in terms of handling, free-revving nature, weight, and mileage. The S5 is magnificent--better in some other respects. But both are glorious. Treat this as a bump on the road, get your A5, and find a new dealer after that.

You can't change what happened, but you can make Audi corporate aware of this dealers particular practices.

I suspect Audi corporate won't look too favorably on this and might be willing to help you locate another car from another dealer.

Worth a try. I wouldn't give up just yet...

..purchase, and is refundable at the request of either party. So it really doesn't guarentee one anything per se, legally or otherwise, unlike a completed purchase order or agreement with VIN, terms, etc. spelled out and signed by both parties. Also, I believe there are legal issues surrounding a dealerships ability to "hold" a car for someone without it being tripped (believe these are actually consumer protection clauses). So if all the sales guys get on the horn and phone customers re. an open unit, it's usually the first one down there with cash and pen in hand that gets the car, purchase price being what it is/equal. This kinda happened with my brother's S5 purchase. We literally raced up there an hour after getting the call about the freed up car, and did the deal right then. Another propspective buyer showed up not 10 minutes after we did. Had we gotten stuck in traffic or something, my guess is he would have lost her. Still a sad story though, given the relationship this gentleman had with his dealer and all. Bad scene all around. : /

you should have put down a deposit. However since it seems like you have a good rep with your dealership they should have held the car for you.

given the demand/supply imbalance on the car unfortunately this sort of behavior shouldn't come as a big surprise. we're talking about car dealers, here, not lawyers or doctors (having trouble coming up with a good analogy!!)....

i had a similar situation happen to me with a bmw about 10 years ago...my situation was even a bit more sleezy than what you are describing, so i took it all the way--bmwna, sales, mgr, dealership owner, and then lawyer. it took months but eventually got straightened out to my liking, and in the meantime the salesperson that shafted me was let go.

so my suggestion is certainly to follow up with the dealer, and if they won't give you satisfaction i would never deal with them again....there will be other cars, even s5's!!

shame on you. You can't expect a dealer to hold two extrememly hot cars just on your word. Those days are long over. Sorry this happened. But once again, try buying a video game system during xmas and you understand my point.

If car salesmen actually waited for every prospective buyer to come back in when they swore they were totally committed to buying it, they would sell FAR, FAR fewer cars.

By the OP's claims, he has already backed out on one S5 order he'd previously placed and was in the process of backing out on the A5 order for which "delivery is supposed to be any day".

I have a hard time faulting the dealership for not waiting for him to show up and sign the purchase agreement for that in stock "sold order" S5 (which another customer had backed out on) when there was another buyer right there and willing to pay.

We make a big deal about customer service here and it IS important, but there is a two way street aspect to it too.

what I would want for to happen.
And I would prefer that he didn't get screwed out of the deal...

And yes, the dealer could have been better about it.

BUT, I've personally been burned before. SO, my point is LESSON LEARNED. If you want something. PUT MONEY DOWN!!!

You can always ask for a refund of your deposit later.

The point is, don't place implicit trust in a transaction. Always defend yourself.

I wasn't trying to be a prick....

[p]

is this true?

... those days are not completely over. I could call my dealer right now and ask them to hold the S5 they have on the lot for me until Monday morning when i come back from a trip, and they would hold it for me.

It's all about the relationship, and trust. I agree that we've lost alot of that, but it is not completely gone. and if we forget these values, and succumb to a less trusting way of life, we are in for some hard times.

don't perpetuate this rut we are all in. Noone benefits from it.

I know it sucks, but it's a cutthroat business out there.

I will tell you this. As I looked at a Meteor Grey A5 sitting there on the lot with a hole in its roof at my dealer several weeks ago because they had to pull its GPS antenna to fix my non-functional Nav Unit on my S5 that I just took delivery of...it occurred to me just how beautiful the A5 is as well, particularly in meteor grey as it sat there gleaming in the sun.

It will suck doing business with a dealership that treated you so badly, but keep two things in mind...

You can always dump all over that dealership when Audi corporate calls you to get feedback on your transaction (and from what my dealer impressed on me, that's a big deal to them), and secondly, you are still getting an awesome car.

People always leave out important details on posts like this because they're mad they missed out on something they wanted.

Something tells me they offered to take a deposit on this S5, and the OP straight up declined. Probably sometime around this point in their conversation:

"I told him the only thing that could keep me from buying this car at all would be the trim as I would have ordered carbon, but this had the piano black w/ stainless. He said no prob, he would have it ready and I could take a quick peak when I got there and if I changed my mine, that was no problem. I said great, see you @ about 6:30."

To people in sales that says "I need to see the interior before I make a decision." And it also says it's by no means a for sure deal. It's a maybe at best.

What, are they supposed to tell a ready buyer that they have someone coming down to see if they like the interior or not? You gotta see it from both sides...