The only word to explain this experience is "unbelievable." I went through the process of finding and purchasing a car. Initially, the customer service was very friendly and upbeat, and it WAS a very easy selection process. After reviewing my credit, they told me to pick a date for drop off. A day later they called and said "we need proof of income," that wasn't a problem, and I emailed them the info, and then they called back and said, "sorry, there was a computer glitch, you don't need to send proof of income." When you're dealing with finances, in this area you need to be exact, there shouldn't be such a miscommunication when dealing with money. I thought this was a random human error; I didn't realize this was foreshadowing of things to come.
I read a few reviews and realized they're not too competent when it comes to their deliveries, so I thought it would be beneficial to fly down and pick it up from their vending machine and make a vacation out of it. So I set a pick-up date about a month out, from their Nashville, Tennesse location, waited for it to be confirmed, and then purchased an airline ticket from Michigan to Tennessee, took a week vacation off work, and RSVP'd hotel rooms to plan on visiting North Carolina on my drive back to Michigan.
Three days before my pickup date, I got a text saying "you're a car buying genius! Your Audi A3 will be ready for you on 5/3 at 10:00 am" and I felt great. Later that day at 7:01 pm (they close at 7:00 pm), I get an email saying "we have to reschedule your delivery date." Thinking it was another computer glitch (since I was picking it up, not getting it delivered), I didn't worry much but still called the company that was now closed.
The next day I get a voicemail from Madison saying they needed to reschedule. I call back almost immediately and I explain to Matt the situation, that I've already purchased an airline ticket and planned a vacation around this pickup (since it was obvious my home address is in a different state than the pickup location) and wanted to verify the voicemail wasn't a miscommunication, and he said he would see what he could do and get back to me.
About three hours later I call back to get an update and Mark says "Matt's really good at returning calls, even if he doesn't figure out a solution, he will still call you back," and I emphasized reservations are non refundable 24/48 hours for some ancillary RSVP's I've made, so don't leave me hanging. After 5 pm that day, I called back again and the result of an entire day of "figuring it out" was, "sorry." There was nothing they could do, they couldn't even give me an explanation. They just said they could deliver it to my house a week later. They wouldn't refund my airline ticket, wouldn't provide a loaner car and could offer absolutely NOTHING except saying "we're sorry." I was so aggravated with their inability to alleviate ANY type of frustration or offer any compensation whatsoever except a ridiculous apology without an explanation.
I don't blame the call center, they seemed like a bunch of children pretending to be adults, I blame the fact that this company obviously needs to develop their communication infrastructure, and adhere to the same deadlines as any company does, when if that's not possible, offer SOME type of compensation when they make a mistake. It is unacceptable to tell a customer two days before they are flying out to pick up a car from the company's location that it's not available, and then offer nothing except an apology?
So obviously I called and cancelled the purchase today, if this is the type of haphazard business practice followed, to a potentially new customer, what type of person would want to get into any type of long term contract with a company that doesn't understand deadlines or obligations? I should have used the dealership like any normal person.
Now I'm going to cancel my insurance, throw away this non-refundable one-way ticket to Nashville, and try to scrape together some impromptu vacation with my days off. This will go down as one of the worst experiences with any business ever.
These aren't impulse buys or frivolous purchases, they're CARS! Carvana treats it like you're buying a book from Amazon, lol. Actually, I wish they would treat customers the way Amazon does because Amazon will get you a book better than Carvana can get you a car.
And Carvana, if you are reading this, don't even put up a response, because all it will say is "sorry [but we're not going to do anything about it]." You need to allocate more resources for problem-solving instead of damage control.
Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Company Response from Carvana
May 7, 2018
Thank you for taking the time to provide us with your genuine feedback. Our main goal is to provide our customers with a fun and stress-free car buying experience from start to finish, so we would like to apologize that we missed the mark and the opportunity to exceed your expectations. Even if things do not necessarily go as planned, we are always more than happy to support our customers and offer resolutions that are in your best interest.
That being said, we’re very sorry to hear that the delay of your A3 disrupted the plans you made with respect to the flight and hotel you booked. We can never anticipate transport deadlines, but we are always more than happy to help our customers in these instances. Upon reviewing your account, I do see that you spoke with us on 5/1 to discuss possible resolutions. We offered to reschedule your pickup appointment and also offered to compensate you for the flight that you booked. We’re very sorry if there was any miscommunication surrounding this.
Although you decided to cancel your purchase, thank you for giving Carvana a chance in the first place. Also, thank you again for writing to us in regards to your experience. It is very important for us to continue to examine our areas of improvement and this review will be invaluable to us as we steadily improve upon those processes. We would love to have you as a returning customer and gain your trust again with Carvana. If you have any additional questions or concerns that you’d like us to address, please feel free to call us at 800-333-4554.