With my current car now over 300,000 km and blowing blue smoke, I decided it was time for a new one. Since I had good luck with my Civic up until about 5 days ago, I decided to stick with a good thing. I searched online and found a two year old Civic EX-L that fit the bill perfectly: it had under 10,000 km, it had one previous owner, it was a nice colour, and it was one of the top trims (which means it came with most of the amenities that I probably couldn't afford if I bought new, which I convinced myself I would never do). I phoned the dealership and set up an appointment for a test drive on Monday. This was Saturday morning.
On Monday, I got a voicemail from another salesman (we'll call him "Joe") that said the car I wanted was sold, but that there was another one there that was available. I looked up the stock number, and it was black (which I didn't want) and had 15,000 additional km on it. Oh, and it was a "bargain" at $600 more!
I emailed the original salesman and told him since the car sold, I wouldn't be coming in for a test drive (it's just under an hour from my house to the dealership). He phoned me about an hour later and nonchalantly told me that he had sold the car on Saturday night, but not to worry because there was an "identical" one there for me. I told him no, it wasn't identical. I didn't want black and it had way more kilometers on it. He said he would keep his eye out and if something came in he would call me.
I don't care that he sold the car when I had an appointment to test it (and unless it stunk like a teenager's feet smothered with unrefrigerated Brie, I had every intention of buying it), because that's just business. What I care about is that this guy was knowingly pulling a bait-and-switch on me. He knew -- for three days -- that this car was unavailable for me, but never told me so I would still come in. I don't appreciate being swindled or lead on.
Remember the voicemail from "Joe"? He apologized that the car was still showing as available on the web site, and that it was only there because it sold "late Saturday night". It is now "late Monday night" and the car is still listed on their site as available. Classy. (Edit on 2/15/2012: It's now Wednesday night, and the car is still showing as available on the Crowfoot Village Honda web site.)
I have since taken my business to Mazda, where I bought a brand new car because of the fuel economy on the 2012 engine (with the amount I drive, the fuel savings will easily offset the savings I would have obtained from a car that had depreciated 2-3 years).
Well played, Honda!