So I bought a Jeep....not really...my experience with Jim Burke Automotive

Okay, some of you guys know already the situation I'm going to explain out.  I've waited this long to blog about it because I wanted it all to set in, and I wanted to see what was going to become of my new "Jeep".
This will be a rather long post, but there's a LOT of detail, and it's worth it...

During the summer, I decided I wanted to go ahead and look at buying a Jeep Wrangler. I've always wanted one, since I was about 5.  Love them. Well, here I am, 40, no jeep. Not getting any younger.  I decided to check around, see what I could find.  Checked with a few dealerships, no luck.  I pretty much knew this might be the case, with what I can afford vs. what I'm looking for, but I gave it a shot anyway.   After the third dealership of looking for the magical unicorn,  One of the local Birmingham dealerships who specializes in Jeeps told me part of the reason of difficulty.  By the way, the magical "unicorn" I'm looking for had to be a 4 door Wrangler, under 20K.   Almost impossible to find, since Jeeps retain their value very well, and they didn't start making 4 door Wranglers until 2007.   Seems ALL Jeep products from 2007-2011 had a major recall on airbag malfunctions. And this wasn't a quick fix kind of recall.  So the backorder log was tremendous.
On September 26, I stopped by Jim Burke Hyundai (Yes, I know, a Hyundai dealer for a Jeep...but the Jeep dealership was across the road!!) to look at a nice looking used Jeep Wrangler they had. But it was pretty well out of my price range.  A salesman came out, Don Traylor, and talked to me. I told him what I was looking for and he said he may have one that fit my requirements.  He checked, and said it may be on the way to the auction. I asked him to look in to getting it back and if they could, to call me. when it was ON THE LOT (that emphasis will come in to play later, trust me) and I'd come take a look at it.  He said okay, and I left.   So, about an hour later, I'm still on the job, I got a call.  "Mr. Hancock, we've got your jeep if you want to come on down".   I said "you've got it there on the lot?"  Yes sir.  Okay great, let me get off work and I'll be on down.   Now, fighting rush hour traffic in Birmingham is like pulling teeth with the tweezers from the game Operation.  So, it took me about 45 minutes to get back down town.  I finally get to the lot, find Don, and asked him where the Jeep was.  "Well, it didn't pass inspection, but we've got another one that's better, we're willing to make you the same deal on".  Now, you'll discover there's 2 things wrong with this statement.  1, after having told me "We have your Jeep HERE...ON THE LOT..." and 2, the original Jeep was going to be just under 18 grand, putting my payments right under $300 a moth...this "New Jeep same deal" was going to be "Only $349" a month.  I told him no, I couldn't afford that.  Mr. Traylor's reply. "Oh come on, it's only 49 dollars a month..."  Yeah, to you.  But to a guy who supports a family of 4 on 10 bucks an hour, that means less food or bills to be paid.    So, after arguing and me sticking to my LESS THAN 300 a month rule, he looked around on his computer and found one that could be in that range.   Great. Let's take a look at it. Oh, well, we'll have to order it, it's at another location.  Well, when you get it in, call me and I'll come take a look at it.  Mr. Traylor's reply: "Well, we don't work like that.  Have a seat let's make a deal!"   My reply:  "I'm not going to make a deal on a vehicle I can't check out in person first. Thank you for your time. " and I shook his hand and walked out of his office.  

At the front door, there's a sign that reads "If you are not satisfied with your Jim Burke experience, please cal the General Manager at ###-####.  I took a picture of the sign and left.   On my way home I called the number and talked to "Tee" Thomas, the manager.  I explained too him on what I felt was a lie to get me back in there and my agitation and wasted trip.   Mr. Thomas kindly explained to me that they are part of a group that can order vehicles from "other places" and have them shipped in and the "deal" that Don was making was needing me to sign a statement saying that I was interested in the vehicle and wanted to see it, but I was under no obligation to buy if I wasn't satisfied with the vehicle.  Sounds harmless enough.  Mr. Thomas asked me if I'd be willing to come back in and deal.  Sure, why not.  So I went back down, fully ready to give them a second chance.  Got there, Don apologized for any misunderstanding,  and we sat down to see what we could find.   So they found a black, 4 door, 4x4, soft top Wrangler, they said they could have it in probably in a few days.   I just needed to fill out the paperwork saying "I had an interest in it".  Later on I found out this was the pre forms for buying, AND, they did the credit check stuff.  Somewhat hiding all that fact...
After our dealing and agreeing was concluded, they asked if there was anything else they could do to make me happy. I made the joke that they could let me drive a jeep home for the night.  To my surprise, they said okay!  I got to dive home a 2011, silver 4 door hard top Wrangler. It was very nice.  They told me to keep it until they got my new Jeep in.  Okay cool! So I drove it for a few days and loved it.  A few days later, Don called, said they've got your jeep in!  So I got off work and drove down to check it out.  

2 blocks away...I get a call from Don.  "Mr. Hancock, the jeep we ordered for you is under recall, so we can't sell it to you.".  Well, that's understandable and nice that they told me!  I asked if I could come take a look at it anyway since I was just around the corner.  He said sure.   So I got to the dealership and he took me over to the lot where they do inspection and maintenance on incoming vehicles.   Oh man, this jeep looked nice.  Black on black, nice sized tires but not big mudders...tinted windows...
I opened the door and all of the floor bolts were rusted.  Clearly the vehicle had been submerged...guess they didn't bother to check that at the "other places".  
By the way, the "other places" turns out to be auto auctions.  They send people out to auctions to look for specific vehicles. They then BUY the vehicle and have it shipped to the dealership for sale.  This will come in to play later.  No pressure. Yeah.

Well, after pointing this out to Don, and telling him they may want to look at things like that before they acquire vehicles...and I also warned him about vehicles coming from up North as well...I was on my disappointed way back home.  He apologized and said he'd get on looking for another vehicle right away.  In the process of returning to the dealership, I'd made mention to Don that I'd really like to make a deal and have my new vehicle before the 21st of the month, because that's when the next payment on my truck was due. He said shouldn't be a problem, and if it was, he'd talk to "Tee" Thomas about making the payment for me since they were hoping to make a deal and that would include paying the Tundra off anyway.  (that'll come in to play later...)

By this time, it's around October 15.  yes, I'm still driving the silver jeep.  Over 2 weeks now. I get a call from Don, asking to bring the Jeep back. They may have someone interested in buying the one I'm driving. Cool, no problem with that.   So I get down there, Don's not there, nobody really seems to have a clue what's going on...45 minutes later, they put me in a 2015 Orange Jeep Wrangler soft top. Now, the orange isn't really that OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? Orange..it kinda grew on me.  And I liked the soft top. Easier to take down and ride topless.   Later one that day, I realized I still had the keys to the other jeep in my pocket so I ran back and dropped it off.   While there, found out the Jeep I had been driving couldn't be sold....why?  Because it was under recall.  So, for almost 3 weeks I was driving a jeep that was unsafe and shouldn't have had people driving it anyway.  Can you say...lawsuit?  I'm not that kind of person though. No big deal.  So, they're still looking for me a jeep in the meantime.
Nothing major happened for the next 2 weeks...I'd call and ask if any luck, the answer was no, everything they found was under recall or out of my price range.  Finally, one Friday towards the end of October, I get a call from some other manager at Jim Burke.  Tells me. Not asks me. To bring the jeep back. Okay, have you found me another one?  Guy says no, they just need the jeep back.  Okay...then he says "well let's face it, you're driving a jeep you can't afford anyway...".   Yeah. Thanks for that reminder.  You need to remember I'm not the one that GAVE the hairy fat man a jeep to drive while you're looking for the right one, buddy...

I called Don Traylor to find out what the deal was...he said he wasn't sure, that I'd have to talk to "Tee" Thomas. I also asked him about the offer to pay the next payment on my truck because it was now due...he said "well, since we gave you a loaner to drive, we're not going to be able to make the payment on your truck Needless to say this was another thing that pissed me off...  By this time I was on the road with my day job, so I took the opportunity to stop in while in the work truck to find out just what the heck was going on. I hate getting the run around.  Mr. Thomas said he'd let me know. I told them if they wanted the jeep back it would likely be a day or two because at this point I'm working 18 hour days and don't have a lot of time to run it by. I also discussed with Mr. Thomas about the deal on making my next payment, and he said they couldn't do that.

(Insert but not super important: By the by..there was a bit of confusion of them needing the key to my truck or me keeping the key to my truck throughout to this point...finally they asked for the keys to my truck in which I didn't have a problem. I was told that if I needed anything out of my truck in the meantime that I was welcome to come by and they'd help me out with that.  At one point, I think it was on the Saturday I took the Silver jeep back, they couldn't find my keys...this happened a couple times.)

Through discussing with a few friends I was given the contact number for the person that is the direct secretary for Mr. Jim Burke, and was told that I should give her a call and explain to her the troubles I've been having for the now MONTH (the time now is around October 25...), so I did.  She was out of office, so I left her a quick voice mail and she called me back.  Mrs. Gibbs was very nice and polite, listened to my story.  When I finished, she didn't sound really happy over the situation.  Replied that she was exhausted just listening to my story, and she'd get to the bottom of it.   In a couple hours, I got a call from Mr. Thomas, apologizing for the mixup and trouble... and told me not to worry about bringing the jeep back.  I told them that's good because if I would have had to bring it back after the guy was rude to me, there would be no deal.

Another week goes by, still no deal. Mr. Thomas calls me and tells me they're not having any luck with a Jeep but they're still looking.  He asked if they can't find me a Jeep, if there would be another vehicle I'd be interested in.  I told him I had an '02 Avalanche for 7 years and I loved it.  He said he'd start looking for one.
A few days later,  a sales man from another company who really had done his best to earn my business previous to me going to Jim Burke had called me, checking on me, and asking if I'd found anything.  I told him no, and my current situation with Jim Burke.  He apologized for it taking so long, and and then told me if I was really interested in an Avalanche, he could find me one quick, with no problem.  (Same kind of deal with people at auctions looking).  Within an hour, he called me back with 4 different options, 3 of them being in my price range.  I told him I'd consider, but I wanted to give Jim Burke a chance since they'd been working at this deal so long, but if it didn't work, I'd call him back.
Now, I was raised to be honest with people.  So I called Don and let him know that another salesman from another company had found an Avalanche for me, in my range, and wanted to do business.  He asked me to call "Tee" Thomas.  (I keep using "Tee" like that because that's what Don always referred to him as, and I never did get his real name...).  So I called Mr. Thomas and explained.  He got rather rude and accusatory with me, and saying they bought this truck for me and now I wanted to back out and that wasn't very fair since THEY BOUGHT THIS TRUCK FOR ME...
First off buddy, you lied to me yet again. Nobody ever mentioned (up to this point, this is where I found out about the auction thing...) that they had to BUY a vehicle to get it there...I also reminded him of the "no obligation to buy" that he told me up front...and then he made a comment about loyalty.  This pissed me off.  My reply to him, "hey buddy, you want to talk loyalty, I talked to this salesman LONG before I came to you guys, and you're the ones that keep dropping the ball, not me. I told the other salesman I wanted to give you guys the chance for the sale since I'd been dealing with you for OVER a month now."  Continuing with his condescending tone, he then tried to discuss the differences between the price difference of the 2006 Avalanche the other salesman offered me vs. the 2011 Avalanche they had, was because of the major overhaul and model change in 2008, and basically his 2011 offer to me was a much better deal.  Hmm....a 2011 avalanche, 110K miles, 2 weeks to get here, for 19.9.  The 2006 Avalanche, 62K miles, 3 days to get here, for 16K.  What's the better deal?   Mr. Thomas said he'd see what he could do.
After this phone call, I could not calm down, so I once again called Mrs. Gibbs, this time, VERY unhappy.  She wasn't really happy to hear from me either, stating that, she thought they'd already taken care of me and I'd made a purchase.  Once again, she said she'd make some calls.
November 6. I get a call from Don.  They had my Avalanche in, it was at the shop for inspection and it should be ready in the next couple days.  I wanted to come take a look at it.  No problem.  Went down, looked at it, talked to the techs that were doing the inspection.  They put a lot of work in to fixing it up. New tires, new brakes all the way around (supposedly, we'll see), water pump, and a few other things, they fixed a few scratches on it pretty nice, all in all I was pretty happy with it.  Granted, it took a couple days longer than the "couple days..." but finally, November 10th, we made the deal on the Avalanche.  Supposedly they knocked a few thousand off to get it to my price range, even though the monthly payment went up from what it was going to be, and the APR went up a couple points, but nothing enough to make me cancel the deal.  So... 46 days later...4 credit checks, 3 different vehicles, 2 phone calls to the higher ups, and an Avalanche in a pear tree, I got my truck.  It's nice. A bit too nice for my taste, but I'll deal with it. Lots of bells and whistles.  I drove off, happy with my Avalanche.

You think this is the end of the story, don't you.  Wrong.   First, a quick note to the story.   I was rather tired of the Tundra I was driving.  I was also tired of the 14.9% APR that Serra stuck me with, AND, I wanted to get away from Wells Fargo after the scams they'd pulled with their customers this year.  Turns out, they got me finance through....*drumroll*...Wells Fargo.  So there's that.

Now, in my best Paul Harvey voice, for the rest of the story.  Another issue I had with Jim Burke, is I wanted to do the deal before I had to make another truck payment. I'd just made one a few days before the 26th of September, and certainly didn't want to make another one while in transition of getting another truck...I finally wound up having to make the next payment on my Tundra, but they just "knocked some off my down payment to make up the difference."  Fair enough.  On with the story.
I called Wells Fargo around mid November to make sure the account was set up on the Avalanche to be able to pay online, and see if they could use the same account/logon information as the Tundra that I traded in.  I was informed that I still had the tundra on my account, and the payment was due soon.  ANOTHER call to "Tee" Thomas.  Apparently there's some big process on their end where it takes up to 2 weeks before the loan is approved and the trade-in is paid off.  To which I replied "I've already made the down payment, it's been removed from my bank, I better not have to make another payment on that Tundra, or you can have the Avalanche back and I better get my Tundra back..."
Apparently it got handled shortly thereafter.
On to the end of November!
I got a job in Texas, so I packed up and drove out hauling my little camper, no problems.  I'm here in Texas about 2 weeks and my check engine light comes on. I take it to an auto parts store that offers to read the code for free, and it's some sort of fuel evap cannister trouble.  I took it to a place up here and got it fixed.  Now, that may not be a big deal, I don't know.  But having just bought this vehicle and it ran through such a huge fine point inspection process, I'm not real excited about having it for less than a month, and already having mechanical issues.   So, got that fixed, cost me a little over 100 bucks.  Things are well.
Come time to Christmas and I get vacation time to go home and be with the family.  While driving home, just as I got in to Alabama, the truck starts chiming, the stabilitrak disengaged, then I got a light that said needs servicing.  Then, the traction control light chimes, and a needs service notification comes on for that too.  Oh boy. I'm still an hour away from Birmingham, and it's 2 am...
Then, nearing Bessemer, the check engine light comes on.  Am I'm gonna make it home??  I made it. Determined that, next morning, I'm going to go get it checked out.  AT this point, I'm reminded that Don said they were going to fix a couple of electrical issues in the truck as well.  Hmmm....
The next morning, the needs service lights for the traction things are off, but the check engine light is still on. So I went to O'Riley's and they read the code.  Cylinder 8 malfunction.   I take it to a place in Gardendale where we usually have the vehicles serviced. The guessing game was on. Needless to say, they couldn't do anything about the stabilitrak and traction control issues since the lights weren't on. Understandable.  The Check engine light issue, was going to cost me 100 bucks, just to find out what exactly was wrong with it.  I declined, they reset the light, I left.
On the way back to Texas, it all started happening again, but the lights would go on and off.  Finally, after being back a couple days, I took it to a place out here that fixed it the last time, and they managed to fix it, and it didn't cost me a lot of money.
Again, after having just bought this truck, and going through all the crap and so many days to get it, I'm not overly happy that I'm already having to shell out money to get the truck fixed...

I've waited this long to tell my story because I wanted to give it time to all sink in, let my anger cool, AND, to see how the truck deal turned out...

I'm not going to give my normal points system review on this.   I'm just going to give some advice, then a recommendation.
It seems a lot of big companies are going to this "Buy it at an auction and ship it" nonsense to keep up with smaller companies that do somewhat the same thing.   DO NOT make any offers or agreements to buy a vehicle if it's not on the property first, so you can check it out!  This is a scam to get you shamed in to buying the vehicle even if you don't like it, or it's not what you thought it would be.

As with always, never let a salesman pressure you in to getting a vehicle.  Don made me feel like I was being more rushed in to doing and not thinking, rather than being pressured.  I do not appreciate that. It's not professional.   Please feel free to walk away at any time if you're not satisfied with the progress of a car purchasing experience. You can, at any point, tell them no, and walk away, until you sign your name on the dotted line.  Make sure they explain EVERYTHING, and go over everything with a fine tooth comb before you're happy.
All in all, I'm happy with my Avalanche. I am NOT happy with the experience.
If I were to give Jim Burke a rating out of 5 stars, it would have to be a 2, at best.   I will never do business with that company again.   You are most welcome to take my advice or leave it.  The call is up to you, the reader.  This is as accurate as can be for my personal experience.   I cannot tell you if buying a car straight off the lot is any better than the ordeal I went through.  Only what I've experienced, or listened to from other unhappy people that were in the stores at my time of purchase.

May 10, 2016: A hard day's night...

May 4^th, 2016.  That’s a day I’m not going to forget.  Just around 5 am, I got a phone call. From my dad’s number.  Something clearly had to be wrong, because my dad would never call me at 5 am…I answer the phone and it’s my stepmom, Chris.

She’d called to tell me my dad had a heart attack, and died. My dad. Dead. At 64.

It hit me really hard. My dad’s side of the family has a good longevity about them. My dad was always on the go, always working. He retired early, and kept on going.  Apparently he loved playing with concrete…Chris says he would have concreted the whole yard if she’d let him…he was always fixing things; sometimes I wonder how much he broke just so he would have an excuse to fix it…but he was pretty good at it. He worked in his own way, and did it.  He loved fishing, hunting, camping, and getting stuck.  Chris tells me of the first time he got stuck since they were together.  On their honeymoon. In Grandpa Frank’s camper. In the Graham Mountains. And a troop of boy scouts came to his rescue…

We can assume here that he took this as personal…as he’d go out and get stuck just so he could get out on his own. Yup. Sounds like my dad…

Unfortunately this time, he didn’t make it. He was fishing down at one of his favorite spots to fish and camp, and coming out, he got stuck in a river bed. While jacking up his truck, that’s when it hit him. Someone came along and found him slumped over in this truck, possibly going to get his cell phone to call someone but it was too late.  The Sheriff was called, and he was dead.  So, the sheriff pulled him out this time…

Now, to the reader, please don’t take my words as harsh. I’ve learned this week, or rather been refreshed on the fact that we Hancocks tend to take death of a loved one sometimes with a bit of sarcasm and fun. It really helps to ease the pain. Chris, my son, and myself got together with Dad’s sister and two brothers, and my little brother Nick, and shared and listened to stores about dad. From blowing up dead cows with dynamite, to setting things on fire, to climbing trees on main street and throwing fruit at cars passing by, my dad was quite the mischievous fellow.

Back to the phone call. When the call ended, I sat there on the edge of my bed, my wife hugging me, and I cried. I cried a lot. I still couldn’t believe my dad was dead. Almost a week later and it’s still hard to believe. I went to work that day, and it was very tough. I’m a delivery driver, and between relaying the story to my co-workers and then driving, the long periods of me in the truck alone just wore on me.  I worked half my day and had to go home. Thursday was better, Friday was more bearable. My wife, being so supportive, had talked with several of our acquaintances, and made the decision to set up a gofundme account to help me get out to Arizona and back, and to help cover the loss of days at work. I have such a big hearted set of friends and family, and extended friends and family. They graciously donated from the heart to fund my trip.  So, I made the decision to go what would be perceived as the cheapest route and drove out, cross country, with my son.  Kind of a bonding experience.  We made it almost across Texas on Saturday, completing about 930 miles total, and stopping for the night in Big Spring Texas.  Up the next morning and on the road around 8, drove another 8 hours to Clifton Arizona. I’ve been here for 3 days, staying at my dad’s house with Chris, who has been a solid rock, and an awesome mother to me and Jr during all this time. She’s a great woman.  Certainly did all she could to keep my dad under control for 37 years, and I know that couldn’t have been an easy task!

While here, I’ve shared memories with my son, which my dad made with me. I guess I’ve sort of taken Dad’s role in teaching my son about being out here. We’ve gone around the copper mines. I’ve shown him the big huge dump trucks that my dad showed me. I took him around to the house that my dad lived in when I’d come out to visit when I was a kit. I’ve shown him around Clifton, Morenci, and we’ve tooled around Safford some as well.  He loves the train, the old mining town of Clifton, and we’ve had a great time.

It’s still not the same. I could never learn enough from my dad. He’ll never get to show me all the cool rocks anymore. He’ll never get to tell me and show me all the awesome constellations that I’ll just forget again.  He’ll never get to show me the great off road places he loves, the dried up riverbeds, or anything. I’ll never again get to hear him tell me that he’s proud of the man I’ve become, or crack some silly joke, or tell me he found another one of my “catches” (geocaching…he called it catching instead of caching…) without a dumb old GPS…

While I’ve been here, I’ve played around on your quad, taught Jr how to ride it and let him have at it. It’s been real fun.  I finished a project you were going to do for Chris, and I may have even figured out how to work your ice maker, and hopefully I can show Chris how to do it.  I sat in your shop tonight…the familiar smells of tools and metal, listened to your rigged up car stereo for a while, tinkered with a few things, and cried a lot...oh, and I scared the hell out of myself when I flipped the wrong light switch and turned on the air compressor instead of the overhead light…

Again. I’ve got some great and wonderful supportive friends and family. So many people have offered my family love and support through this tough time. I’ve never lost a parent before, but I’m learning what it’s like.  I know that, even though the words are kind, telling me that he’ll always be with me, and that he’ll speak to me through my heart, just isn’t the same as an email, or a goofy text, or a reassuring phone call. But I’ve got to go on as best as I can.

Dad, I don’t know if you can get stuck in Heaven, but I’m sure there’s a lot to explore.  I love you, and I miss you. I don’t know what the future holds, but I know it’s not going to be easy  getting over the loss of another great man in my life, my father.