Gillman Honda of Fort Bend

After working with various internet sales managers, we selected Gillman Nissan of Rosenberg, TX to make our purchase of a 2014 Rouge about two weeks ago. Their price was good, and their intent saleswoman, Raegen, was responsive.

Upon arriving at the dealership, a salesman, Nathan, was assigned to lead us through our purchase. As a first step, the salesman insisted that we do a test drive in the actual car that we were going to drive home. Having completed a test drive already, I was reluctant, but my wife insisted that we complete another drive. The salesman and I entered the car, and he proceeded to explain various features on the vehicle. After driving for a few minutes, we returned and I asked the salesman to clean the car while we completed the paperwork.

After completing the financing paperwork, we met our salesman again, who assured us that he had cleaned the car and parked it outside with a full tank of gas. He explained that he had checked everything on the car and that we were good to go. The dealership supposedly did not owe us any additional add-ons or accessories. We signed the final checkout form and went outside to what we thought was the same vehicle I drove earlier.

As my wife sat in the driver's seat and the salesman explained more details about the car to her, I went to take my son to the car in which we had arrived. It was then that I noticed the same car that I drove earlier. My suspicions were raised immediately, and I couldn't believe that the saleman would have so blatantly lied to us. I was confused as to why he would be trying to give us a different vehicle than the one I drove earlier. Moreover, I really doubted myself because I didn't remember any specific detail about the car I drove other than how badly I parked it. I began to walk back and forth between the two cars to compare them, and while the trim was the same, I eventually noticed that several of the dealer add-ons that we had paid for were not on the car that my wife was sitting in. I couldn't believe that we were about to be victims of a bait and switch. I was in utter disbelief. I asked to see the salesman's manager immediately.

As it turns out, of the $721 worth of add-ons that we had paid for, only the $47 wheel locks were on the car that we were about to drive home. The GM, Lloyd, fumbled through various excuses before eventually accusing the salesman of wrongdoing. Had I not seen the salesman go into the GM's office for every single decision that had to be made, I might have believed him.

Even though the dealership did provide the add-ons after I complained, I would highly encourage anyone to avoid buying a vehicle at Gillman Nissan of Rosenberg. Our purchase there was a terrible experience, and I would not trust anything that they tell you.

The only reason I'm giving the dealership 2 stars instead of 1 is because I had a very pleasant experience with their internet sales rep, Debra Hernandez prior to stepping in to the actual store. I went in to the store having already done a test drive (elsewhere) and having finalized a drive out price for a Honda Odyssey EX. The whole process still took an excruciating 3 hours of signing papers, waiting for an hour, signing more papers, waiting for an hour, and then waiting for someone to give me the keys to go.



In addition, I received conflicting statements about insurance and financing. The floor manager said my current car insurance would cover the new car for the 1st 30 days while the finance sales rep was emphatic that I needed to get coverage on my new car within the 1st 72 hours. The floor manager also recommended that I pay off the car within the 1st statement so that I could take advantage of the $500 financial promotional discount without incurring much interest while the finance sales rep said that if I paid the car off before the 4th statement, I wouldn't be eligible for the $500 discount. I don't think they meant to be dishonest, I think it just reflects the lack of thorough training - those questions are common for customers to ask and all sales reps whether they're on the floor or in finance should have one consistent answer.



Finally, as I'm about to sign the papers, I notice that the drive out price was $230 higher than what had been quoted to me through my email communication with Debra. When I pointed out, the sales rep took it to their manager to be corrected. $230 is no small amount of money and could cover months of gas. I received no apology from the manager, whose fault it was. And when I asked the sales rep how the error came about, he claimed that the manager forgot to calculate in the fees related to the title. Best case scenario - the manager is doing their job poorly - the email clearly said drive out price so I don't see how the manager could have mixed that up. Worst case scenario - they were intentionally trying to deceive me by sneaking up the price on me.



While the 3 hour wait time and the conflicting statements about insurance and financing were annoyances, the attempt to $230 extra is what motivates me to make sure I post this rating.