EchoPark Automotive

Reviews 3

TI

Timothy Bell

THE GOOD: The Sales team was great! Michael was attentive and easy to work with. The trade in process was quick and easy. If it werent for Michael, EchoPark would be receiving a one star review. THE BAD: The service department. I had purchased a vehicle during a snowstorm, which in hindsight was probably a mistake. During my initial road test before the purchase, I only was only able to safely get the vehicle up to about 45MPH due to snowy and icy roads. After the roads had cleared, I noticed that my vehicle was making a loud whirring sound at highway speeds. I also noticed some popping sounds in the front end when going over small bumps and cracks in the road. I had the noise checked out by my local shop. They told me that the right front wheel bearing was excessively noisy and the front sway bar end links were failing and making the noise over bumps. They also told me that the oil drain plug was loose and leaking (EchoPark has just changed the motor oil). I returned to EchoParks service department and dropped my vehicle off Monday night to be worked on Tuesday when my appointment was scheduled. The service department confirmed my right front wheel bearing was making noise but stated that it was not an item that was covered under warranty. However, they got the managers approval to replace the wheel bearing at no charge to me. They assured me that the front sway bar links were not a problem and that the service manager who is a "former master certified technician" says there are no problems with the sway bar links and has road tested the vehicle. They had to keep my vehicle until Thursday afternoon to replace the one front wheel bearing ... stating that rust was a problem and it was taking longer than it should to do the repair. During this three day process to replace one wheel bearing I called the service department multiple times to check the status of my vehicle. Not once did a service adviser call me to give me an update on my car or any estimate of completion time. Its unfortunate because I am understanding and flexible... but with no communication I began to get frustrated when I rely on this vehicle to pick up my child. After receiving picking up my vehicle from EchoPark, I noticed the popping sounds still coming from the front end. The noise from the front of the car was much better but not repaired completely. I had my local shop install the other front wheel bearing to get rid of the whirring noise and replace the front sway bar end links. The repair took about 3 hours in total and I had my vehicle back the same day. The vehicle has now been properly repaired. I wouldnt have minded paying EchoPark to do the necessary repairs that had already been diagnosed for them!!!!!!! I understand there are delays with parts, problems occur, and rust slows down the repairs. Poor quality control checks and poor communication with me (the customer) are inexcusable! This experience has been especially bad for a company that has a good reputation like EchoPark. I would consider returning to EchoPark to purchase a vehicle but you can bet I will have another professional repair shop inspect the vehicle from bumper to bumper before making the purchase. I dont have buyers remorse and I love my car after it has been repaired correctly. That being said, I will never set foot in EchoParks service department again unless its for a refund for the expenses that I have incurred because of their incompetence. ----Update I have been contacted immediately by Mike Cervantes and have worked out a resolution. I appreciate Mike for acting quickly to help resolve the situation!

AJ

AJ Bucey

I had heard such good things about echopark that i swung by on thursday just to see what they had. I found a very nice 02 trailblazer right in my price range so i got the attention of one of the employees and asked if i could take a look at it. He let me look at it and i was very impressed so i asked to see the carfax and if i could take it for a test drive. We went inside and he showed me the carfax and informed me that he was sorry to tell me it had been reserved for a test drive the next day in stapleton. I let him know that there was no need to be sorry i swung in on whim without a appointment so i understood. I gave him my contact info and he told me he would call me tomorrow and let me know if it sold or not. Friday i get a call about noon from their callcenter to inform me it had not sold so if i wanted to set a appointment for a test drive i could and it would be reserved for me. I let them know that i didnt have a car to come by that day but would like to set a appointment for 4:30 on saturday after i got off work and they made my appointment. 2 hours later i get a call again and was informed that someone had just made a appointment for 1:00 on saturday and since i made my appointment more than 24 hours out that they couldnt hold it that long and my appointment was no longer valid. I was not informed of the 24 hour rule and let them know if i had i would of figured out a way to drive it today so i asked if there was anyway i could drive it today still. I was then put on hold while i looked into it. A few minutes later i was informed i could not because the manager in littleton would not release the vehicle for me to drive cause it was the only vehicle his customer wanted to see. When i informed them it was the only one i had interest in i was just told they were sorry but i would have to just hope it didnt get sold. Come saturday i was informed my appointment was still there by echopark thornton and that i could still drive the trailblazer. So when i got off work i called to make sure all this was true but was informed the trailblazer was being test drove in littleton and all signs point to them buying it. By 4:30 it had sold and i was left to keep looking. By the end of saturday echopark had made me feel like i wasnt as important as another customer. Since i wrote my review of my experience Joe and Josh the managers at echopark in thornton have reached out to me to try and correct what they could for me. They were willing to do what they could to work with me and get me into a car in my budget and made sure i could see any vehicles i was interested in. Unfortunately though through no fault of theirs we were unable to find a vehicle that suited my needs and was in my price range. To their credit though they did everything within reason to try and fix this and that says alot to me. Alot of places wouldnt of but they cared enough to reach out to me. So i have since changed my rating for them based on the effort tgey gave to right the wrong.

KE

Kevin Olson

We did buy a vehicle. Very nice people, and having said that... First point - If I walk into any dealership and say Im willing to pay thousands extra for a vehicle as long as you dont pressure me or charge a dealer/handling fee, its quite possible the dealer will agree to this. Second point - They had the wrong vehicle ready for us to take to a mechanic to check out, raised the price we owed from what they gave our bank to approve the loan, and then we had to remind them a month after purchase to honor part of the contract to replace a broken item (must have gotten missed in the 100+ point inspection). They know they sell these vehicles at high prices, just ask them if they use NADA, KBB, or what to price these vehicles (theyll just say its the system). Theyll use a system to give you a price on your trade in or sell, but if you ask them to run the vehicle you are about to purchase using the same system they wont do it (We did ask, so is the system not neutral?). Once again, very nice people who adhere to an extremely poor system. Great atmosphere, but Id rather pay a fair price in a normal atmosphere. Price is part of the experience, just not a part they give much consideration to. The person helping you is on a salary... great... so if we have serious questions and they dont have answers they still get paid. But the good news is that they dont have to pressure us into buying the car they cant tell us anything about. Its very different showing the car dealer the features of the car and how they work. We also enjoy letting them know what their inventory is (thats how we knew they had the wrong car ready for us, they thought they only had 1 and there were 2). Why did we still buy the vehicle? We ran out of time and were in need. Hopefully others will learn from our experience. If you cant handle pressure from a dealer, just bring someone with you who can help you. You dont need to go to a place like this.