Jeep Wrangler Forum banner

My Koons 2017 Experience and Jeep Waves Help

6K views 43 replies 25 participants last post by  Rltilley 
#1 ·
I ordered my JKU Big Bear with Koons and Craig Benner on 02/10/17. Price was about $1200 less than any dealer I could find in NC. Twelve hour drive round trip and one way car rental @$125 was well worth the savings. Craig was super easy to work with and very responsive while communicating to order. Collected my $1k deposit and order was placed. Within thirty minutes he emailed me a von number and congratulated me on the order. I asked how I can get updates on the build progress and he stated he would inform me throughout the process. I only received updates when I inquired
through email. I knew when my Jeep was sitting on their lot before he did. Jeep arrived 03/02/17. I informed Craig I would be coming in on Friday night 03/10/17 and would be at the dealership upon opening 03/11/17. He stated Saturday's are bad days because they are so busy. I requested the Jeep be flashed to accept a back up camera. I agreed to pay for it and he stated he would have it done. I had to change my plans the Monday prior due to inclement weather coming the weekend I had planned to pickup.
I contacted Craig and informed him I would be coming Thursday 03/09/17. I would be leaving Mooresville at four am and planned to be at the dealership at ten am. Craig told me he would not be able to see me until two pm because he would not be in in the morning and had another appointment at eleven am. I asked if there was someone else who could show me the Jeep and direct me to the finance person to sign my paperwork and hand my cashier's check to, he said no it has to be him. After some more uncomfortable conversation, I told him I would be at the dealership at
ten am that I am sure someone will take my check. I received a text thirty minutes later from Craig informing me that he would change his schedule and be in in the morning. He said it was his birthday and he would have a lunch date and not a breakfast date. On 03/07/17 I received an email from Jeep with a "golden ticket" $500 coupon. I text Craig asking if I needed to bring it and if I could subtract $500 from my total when I go to get my cashier's check. He stated yes and be sure to bring the coupon.
I was at Budget car rental at 9:39 am on 03/09/17. Dropped the car off and had to catch a cab from the car rental to the dealership less than 3/4 mile away because I didn't have an official appointment so no one was available to pick me up from the dealership. Once at the dealership met Craig and looked over the Jeep. The Jeep looked awesome. I asked Craig if he would have service lower the air pressure on the tires to the pressure on the door jam as they were at 43, 43, 42 and 43. He agreed. I asked Craig about the
flash for the back up camera. He stated and I quote " this radio(430N) in the Jeep can't accept a flash for a back up camera". I laughed and had to pull the instructions up on my phone and text them to him so he could take it to service to have it done. A full week had passed since I requested the flash be done and he never mentioned to me that it could not be done until the day I was to pick up. Needless to say the flash was done and he stated he spoke to the wrong person about the ability to flash and accept a back up
camera. Craig asked for my Jeep golden ticket and went to grab paperwork. When he returned he stated that my golden ticket when run through the system was not for $500 but for $1000. So the dealership would mail me a check for the $500 overage of my cashier's check. Filled out paperwork and waited for finance. Get to the finance office and start signing. Justin Sutherland was the finance manager. Very nice person not pushy on the extra offerings. He offered I declined. I asked for a "we owe" paperwork for the $500 overage check. He stated I would not need that, that the check would be cut in a day and mailed out. I insisted on him filling out a "we owe" and he did. Craig met me coming out of finance and we shook hands
and away I went. Installed my dead pedal in there parking lot and let more air out of the tires as they were at 39, 40, 38 and 41 then drove home. One week later guess what I am still waiting on? My check. I call the dealership and the young lady who answers the phone says she can look up the details on my check. She stated the check had not been cut yet and said the total is
for $449.51. WTF. She says they deducted $50.49 because "they" miscalculated taxes. No one was going to tell me anything just mail out the check. I ask to speak with someone about it and she transfers me to the book keeping manager. Her voicemail is full. I call back and she transfers me to another person. Voicemail full. I call back again and ask to speak To Justin the finance manager. Voicemail full. I call back a fourth time, she transfers me to Tom Higgins a sales manager. I get his voicemail and leave a message. I text Craig as well. I wait sixty minutes and called Jeep Wave. Spoke to a nice young lady named Christen. I explain why I am calling, state that I have the "we owe", never received any communication from dealer about there clerical error and express my anger. She immediately agrees I should receive the amount owed and the dealership should cover there error. She places me on hold to call dealership. I am on hold about fifteen minutes. When Christen comes back she is not very happy at all. She states she
spoke with Tom Higgins and that he was the rudest person she has spoken to. He was not receptive and stated the dealership did not owe the $51 that the buyer did. She stated if the dealership felt that way then Chrysler would pay the $51 to the dealership but the dealership had to cut me the check for $500. She stated he would be calling that day. She emailed me a case number and her contact information with in minutes of our call ending. I received a text back from Craig informing me that he left early for the day and he would check on the problem on Monday. I informed him that Jeep Wave was now involved. He then text that he called the finance
department and they stated I would be getting the full amount back. And he took the time to inform me that I failed him on the Chrysler survey by giving him an eight score on one question. Really....you bring that up to your customer, not very professional. I replied that I answered honestly to the survey. I really liked Craig, I think he is a good salesman. But I believe he
has a plate that is to big. He was excellent in responding to all my questions upon ordering, but once that non refundable deposit was made everything kinda fell right in line of a typical car salesman. Finally Tom Higgins calls me after thirty minutes of my call ending with Jeep Wave. Wow what an arrogant, condescending and sarcastic sob this clown was. All in one breathe he takes responsibility for there error, disagrees with me and insults me. "I didn't mean for this to ruin your day and get you worked up" he says. I politely asked him to drop the sarcasm as I don't think it is productive. I politely explained that I had owned two retail swimming pool retail stores
and that if one of my associates would have had a clerical error I would have covered it or at the very least I would have contacted the customer first and explained the error. I sure as hell would not have just deducted money owed to them without telling them. Tom assured me the check would be for $500 and would sent out that day 03/17/17. Sadly Tom Higgins is the type of sales manager that gives the car business a bad name. This guy has no business as a manager let alone dealing with any paying customer before, during or after the sale. Well the check was not cut on Friday. It was finally cut on Tuesday the 03/21/17. I am thrilled with my new Jeep, love it. We were planning to order a GC in about six months. I do not know that we will order with Koons after this. Probably play the dealer game and beat them down locally. I do not regret purchasing from Koons, even though you really are a number in line there. They could learn just a little bit by reviewing those survey's and using a little commonsense when dealing with customers and people in general. Rant over, thanks for the read hope someone
takes something out of this. Like get everything in writing, keep names and use everything available to you for help. IE. like Jeep Wave they were awesome to deal with. Quick, informative, did exactly what they said they would do and most importantly professional and polite.
 
See less See more
#3 ·
:pullinghair:

I was leaning toward Koons because of iffy responses about Lustine, but now it appears that there's not a whole lot of difference.

The dealers in that area have the best prices I've found and also the best selection, but man I hate dealing with BS like that.

How much below MSRP was your Big Bear as that is the model I am probably going to go with, but in a 2 door. :)

Also, pretty great that you got it in only about a month after order!
 
#4 ·
:pullinghair:

I was leaning toward Koons because of iffy responses about Lustine, but now it appears that there's not a whole lot of difference.

The dealers in that area have the best prices I've found and also the best selection, but man I hate dealing with BS like that.

How much below MSRP was your Big Bear as that is the model I am probably going to go with, but in a 2 door. :)

Also, pretty great that you got it in only about a month after order![

Over $4k. Actually it was three weeks from order to delivery.
 
#5 ·
Three variables in every transaction...price, quality, and service. No matter how reputable of a place you are only going to get to choose 2 of the 3 variables. In this deal you chose quality and price. Choosing a different dealer could have resulted in receiving quality and service but not the price you wanted. Just have to go into every deal knowing which 2 of 3 you want so you're not disappointed in the end.
 
#6 ·
Had a great experience with Craig at Koons, got one of his first delivered 2017s, and mine included a site unseen trade-in so for me it was kind of risky driving 5 hours and maybe not getting the deal I expected if they balked.

I even came on the dreaded "Saturday" for pickup with no issues. Just left from NJ early, was home before it was too dark.

I paid the price on the sheet Craig had sent me day 1, got updates on status as they were available (was also watching via JeepGarage) and honestly have never had a better experience buying, including doing "internet sales manager" deals in the past.

Sorry you got some run around, but Koons was legit for me and compared to the three different dealers in NJ I went to a complete paradise. The ones local to me had the usual attitude of "they sell themselves" and didn't give a crap about what I wanted and just focused on what they had. None of them even wanted to deal, and mentioning tread lightly they kind of sucked in a breath and said "well maybe...".

The only 2 negatives from Koons are minor - 1. The tires were at like 45 psi and beat the shit out of me until I stopped for gas and aired them down, emailed Craig to let him know for the next guy but I think thats the factory/transport standard, and 2. The finance discussion where I was paying in full took longer than it should with the finance manager, I politely declined financing and max care more times than I should need to but it was still FAR BETTER than the borderline criminal behavior at past deals.

Koons was legit for me, and I was very happy with them and Craig. Sorry it didn't work out the way you wanted.
 
#7 ·
Or... you could be like many of us and pretty much have to pay retail because we didn't know a place like Koons discounted and never had a $500 let alone $1000 discount on top of that. I see them mentioned here a lot which probably sends a lot of business their way. Probably makes them real busy and unable to service you to the degree you seem to need. I would have taken the steep discount and ran!! For the price you saved you should probably be sending your salesman a $100 Starbucks card.

Oh, and you drive a Jeep now. You're supposed to be happy!!!!!!

And no, I don't have experience with this dealership but you can bet the next time I need a Jeep I will be checking in with them so I don't have to pay MSRP locally. I'll let them know you referred me. :lmao:
 
#9 ·
I pretty much did pay retail on my 16 that was totaled in February. I found this forum right in time. I don't need the service. Don't tell me things you are gonna do when you can't or don't follow through. Simple as that. I am happy very happy with my Jeep. I have a great service department locally but the sales side only discounts to invoice.
 
#8 ·
I hate to hear that, I didn't have any problems with them when I picked up in Feb. From the information I had read on the forums regarding the salesmen keeping you informed of the build I went ahead and joined Jeep Garage so I could have Milous track the build since that seemed to be the best way, well worth the $30. I'd say 99% of the people knew their Jeeps arrived before the sales reps notified them. Mine arrived on the 17th and I received an email the 19th. Not sure what prep/paperwork they have to do after delivery. I had also purchased a locking gas cap that I brought with me and Craig asked the service guys to key it and they did and didn't charge me. The only little snafu was whoever prepped my Jeep didn't put the window sticker in the glove box so Craig ordered me a new one. From order to delivery was 3 weeks although she had to sit 3 more weeks on the lot as I had to wait for my VW diesel buyback and Craig was very understanding. I just shot him over the paperwork to show the buyback date and money we'd receive so that he knew we were being honest.

Sorry to hear about your experience, but congrat's on the $1,000 golden ticket, that's awesome!
 
#11 ·
Our experience with Craig this year was near flawless, from the initial discussions to the ordering to the delivery. We're from Florida, but it was worth it to travel for the savings and ease. If we bought another Jeep tomorrow, we'd go straight back to Koons.
 
#17 ·
Agree to a point. I bought mine when Erica was still the group buy coordinator (I think I was one of the last to do so). The problem is the volume - they're moving so many vehicles it's hard to keep track. I had a junior sales guy trying to take care of my case, and while he did an okay job, they were VERY close to losing my sale - they didn't have the Jeep I wanted, and the closest thing was at another dealer ~400 miles away. At first, they said it was too far, they won't do anything over 350 miles. When I told them I had my financing squared and the deal was no longer on the table without this specific Jeep, they "made an exception". I confirmed MULTIPLE TIMES with MULTIPLE PEOPLE that my Jeep would be trucked from dealer to dealer, and that I was paying an extra fee to have that done. Was assured at all points that yes, that's what's happening. Came in to pick it up on Saturday morning and it had 443 miles on it. Seems Junior salesguy decided he wanted to drive 800 miles round trip to bring one Jeep down and mine back up on the dealer-to-dealer trade. I had to fight tooth and nail to get the trucking fee reversed and mileage on odometer credited back to me @wear and tear rate of $0.51/mile, plus getting the warranty started at 443 instead of 0 miles. Everything else about the transaction was above board, smooth, and seamless. Financing guy only asked once if I wanted them to try doing the financing (no) and if I wanted extended warranty (only if they could be the discount pricing, which they couldn't). Popped the top back and cruised home :)

tl;dr: Everything worked out okay, but the group buy coordinator needs to delegate work to sales drones and just focus on tracking/coordination.
 
#18 ·
I live local to Koons and know enough not to buy from them. I did shop with them, and beat their price by over a grand with another dealer. They sucked too, but I got a helluva price on my Jeep.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Newgene
#20 ·
Koons sells Jeeps way cheap, and sells a LOT of them. I knew this going in, and was ready to have to deal with a headache or two because of the $$$ savings. Turns out, I had all my ducks in a row, knew the value of my golden ticket ahead of time and worked with Craig's schedule. Funny I didn't have a single problem, but then again, I'm not going to ask him to lower the air pressure in my tires for me either.....
 
#22 ·
re: Koons

I'm not going to speak to the experience when you email the right person ahead of time and ask for this special "X% over invoice" pricing -- because I never tried that. (Learned about that only after I already bought my Jeep from another dealer in VA.)

But my wife just got her Wrangler Sport Unlimited, and initially - she tried buying one at Koon's off the lot (after I pointed out that I knew they did a high volume of Jeep sales and presumably could make her a better deal than some of the other places).

Her experience was pretty awful. They tried to sell her a totally stripped down Wrangler (not even power locks or windows) at a ridiculously inflated price, and wouldn't really negotiate when she pointed out better deals advertised elsewhere.

She wound up going back up to Tate in Frederick, MD (much closer dealership to where we live anyway) and got a far better deal on what she wanted.
 
#21 ·
While I understand your frustration with Koons, it still sounds like the best experience dealing with sales team than any dealerships I have dealt with, Jeep dealerships in S Florida included. Maybe it is just me, but gotta keep in mind they are just salesmen at a car dealership - you will be lucky to get a professional, intelligent and honest salesman at any dealership, the bar to entry is pretty low - at least from my personal experiences.
 
#29 ·
So untrue, not all dealers treat customers this way. I bought 3 new vehicles and last year bought my '14 JK used. Great experience with all of them. Any requests I made were handled without question. Someone pointed out it seemed petty to ask for the air pressure to be adjusted - not petty if you are driving it home, and it is a simple accommodation. The problem with traveling so far, they got you and it is really tough just to walk away if you are not happy. I walked out on more than one dealer because it appeared to me they did not want my business.
 
#25 ·
Blame me, last fall I contacted Koons about a new build buy at 7% below invoice. Worked with Craig and got an emailed quote of the build exactly the way I wanted it. Took that quote and shopped around my area in a 100 mile radius. Found a dealer willing to match so I went with them. I'm sure Craig wasn't happy with my decision but there's no way I could have gotten that deal without the Koons quote.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SOCALGAL
#28 ·
Where is the invoice price? Then where is the 7% off of invoice, you sure you know what you are doing? (not trying to be a dick).

This looks no different than the crappy deal I got in S Florida where I ended up paying more than retail (MSRP) when all of the other line items were added in, albeit for a $45k JKU.
 
#33 ·
Needless to say you are not going to get the personal attention at high volume dealers that you may get from the "feel privilege that I am letting you look at this Jeep" dealers.

I want a dealer to give me a deal, let me get on my way, and see you in a few years for another one.
 
#34 ·
Socalgal- sorry to hear about your experience. Also looks like you beat me to the Recon. I had thrown in the towel and decided to wait on a JL for several reasons, including a possible relocation. Call me impatient, but I don't want to miss out on a summer of driving- I can always trade it in and lose very little.

I had shopped around the Maryland/DC area for Jeeps. The local guys didn't have a clue what they were talking about, and wanted $8k for a 2" lift and 35's (and the 35's weren't special). What also took me off guard was that offering a straight purchase with cash counted against me. It still irritates me how very few people seem to take their job seriously.. that's an entirely different thread..

Koon's had the best selection, and Craig was straight up and professional and by far the best price. He also never gave me trouble over customizing the Jeep and always had time for me as a Jeep newb.

It's good to know about the finance department and your experience there.

You do like your Recon though? Any regrets? I wanted to mod the heck out of it at first, but think as this is my first date with a Jeep to take it slow and enjoy it.

Will be going to Koon's this Thursday to look at ordering a black Recon Unlimited.
 
#37 ·
Oh, I think you confused me with someone else, I have a Sahara and I actually had a really good experience with Craig and would purchase again and recommend him. No regrets at all from ordering from Koons. DH was also happy with the process.

And I don't like my Jeep at all...I LOVE my Little Red! DH has Big Red (Silverado).
 
#36 ·
My feelings exactly. The only time they'll see me after the sale is for warranty work, and if I buy out of state a dealer in my state will be seeing me for that work. I ended up doing better 30 miles from my house, and used a closer dealer for warranty work.
 
#42 ·
I wouldn't see a reason to get pissed over the $50 in the end... They found an EXTRA $500 over what you figured you had in the coupon!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top