Vroom Review: How It Works, Pros and Cons

Vroom is not the best company. I love my car and not having to go into a dealership, but there is no customer support what so ever.

First of all, when they delivered the car, the delivery guy locked my keys in my car (in a parking lot at 10 pm) and appeared to be under the influence. Then I was told I would get my plates in 4-6 weeks. After six weeks, I called. It took me five days of calling to get a person on the phone. The person I talked to said I had to get a smog check since I'm in California. I told her no one told me that. I told her my tempory tag is about to expire, and she said that her supervisor will email me the paperwork I need for my smog and that if I send proof of insurance, they would overnight me an extended temporary plate. Well, its been two weeks since then, no email, no return calls after several messages left and emails written.

In about the 20 times I have called, I've gotten one operator who transferred me to another voicemail box. I'm pretty upset, and my temporary tags expire in three days. If I could do this all over again, I would not get a car from Vroom. They don't care about their customers in my opinion. I feel that we are literally spending thousands of dollars, so we deserve to be treated with some respect.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Absolutely the worst customer service ever. I was given different answers depending on who I spoke with. Fraudulent information on the website concerning the history of the vehicles. Impossible to reach anyone in charge. I was given the wrong phone number to customer support. I am still waiting for my deposit refund. Worst experience ever!

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Overall very disappointed and believe me, I didn’t want it this way.

Pros:

- VERY nice people on the phone.

- Car came with no surprises; the pics were accurate.

Cons:

- The phone salesman giveth, operations taketh away.

- You never get the same person on the phone twice.

- No one really understands the car biz, and they sound like they really don’t like to work there.

- They’ll never give a manager's name (they don’t exist apparently).

- No one is ever in charge to help with drama, and I had nothing but.

- Salesmen promised it was fully serviced, but no one could confirm or produce records. Service cost me $600.

- The delivery driver tried to drop off at Midnight.

- You must do your own Smog and VIN verification in California. I didn’t know that, so my registration took 90 days, with me reaching out multiple times for help. Very little or no response from them.

- They still owe me $160 for that - we’ll see.

- No technology on their website to track your purchase, and they never reach out during the process; just dark the whole time (not even emails in 2018?!).

This is not an online car company; I cannot see how they will still be operating by the end of the year.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I found a vehicle that seems like a great deal on an Audi A3 for my son. Everything seemed fine until I decide to buy the vehicle. Customer service is really poor even before you buy the vehicle.

I asked them to provide me Out of the Door cost and they sent me the numbers. I go ahead and put down $500 on the vehicle and they sent me the contract overnight.

The contract has a higher amount then what was conveyed to me via email attachment.

Extended Service contract - I had asked them about providing me details about the extended service contract and they told me, they cannot give any details unless I buy the car. That should have been a big RED flag. Still, I decided to get it based on knowing I can always cancel it and get a prorated refund. I never received the contract for the extended warranty. I got about 50 pages but no details of what is covered, what isn't, if it is refundable or not...you get the idea. Sketch.

Second RED flag, when I had told the associate that I can buy the car outright in cash, I was told I have to do the paperwork if that is the case. I decided to finance and asked them if there is any penalty if I paid off the loan as soon as I got the vehicle and I was told that would be the case.

The difference in the cost of what they indicated to me earlier and what they send me in the contract seems to be GAP insurance. If I am willing to pay off the car or purchase the vehicle outright - why would I pay them $859 or around that they are charging me for Govt fees and GAP insurance? That is big RED flag #3.

Red flag #4 - If you have read all the other negative reviews about their customer service, understand this. I called them first thing after opening the FedEx envelope at around noon Arizona local time and was hoping I can talk to the person with whom I have been dealing. I could not reach her, so I provided the information to someone else who said she will ask Robbie to call me back. She took all the information from me, and no one called me back.

Red flag #5 - I have not seen any company where the associate dealing with you would not provide you a direct contact number or email address. Vroom.com does not provide you an email address for a specific associated; it is a generic email address so you can never email the associate you are working with. You have no number you can reach it is a generic number for their Huston Sale Office and everyone answers. If you ask for an associate and the person does not or cannot answer it goes to voicemail but there is an error in their system so you get a message "I could hear you," and it disconnects you.

Seriously, I believe the business model is great, and at some point there will be an honest company that will make a killing in auto trading, but I doubt if Vroom.com is that vendor though.

Red Flag # (I lost complete count now) is their seven-day, 250-mile, no questions asked return policy seems fake. The contract I received has a date of 6/21/2018 for the seven-day. I received the contract from them yesterday on 6/22, I have not mailed them anything yet and have no intentions of mailing anything back to them. However, I wonder if I were to have mailed it back to them on a Friday, they would not have opened it until 6/25. Even if they had shipped me the car on the same day (highly unlikely), I would not have received the car from Houston to Phoenix, Arizona before 6/27 evening. So, I would have inspected the car on 6/28 and would have been stuck with the car because I exhausted their seven-day return policy on a $22K car.

Seriously, they could do this honestly and become successful, instead, they give you the same taste in the mouth as dealing with any other dealer. I think they did every one of us a favor, the local dealers have become a lot more responsive and are at their A-game in communication and have been providing you everything upfront and it seems better than the past.

Regardless of Vroom.com's success or failure, I am glad they helped the consumers by giving a threat to local dealers.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I paid for the car in advance, got a bunch of e-mails about the car being delivered and when the date came for the car to be delivered they said the delivery vehicle broke down and not sure when the car will come. After waiting a few weeks, I had to ask for my money back. The company simply said sure, not apologizing or nothing. Personally, the feeling of having given Vroom a bunch of money and not getting the car is scary.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I bought a Tesla with the supposed 7-day 250-mile guarantee. The car arrived so dirty it was hard to see the paint. The left rear quarter panel was damaged and repainted even though Carfax report said no accident. The repair and repaint were so bad it was visible from 20 feet away. The car also had a critically low battery so was unable to test. The bill of lading was not filled out, and it turns out it was almost 400 miles over what the agreement and odometer form stated.

Its been three weeks and now they do not want to refund my shipping fee, even though based on the above it was a fraudulent deal. Time to file an action with Texas DMV and start legal action. Did I tell you they still have my $22,000+ deposit?

RUN.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I am writing this review on behalf of my experience with the purchase of a car with Vroom. I went to the dealership on Saturday, August 4, 2018, and was literally the last couple out of the door around 8:45 pm.

I was finalizing the finance paperwork through my lender for the purchase of my 2017 BMW X3. We were unable to complete paperwork, so I was told to come back on Monday to finish and pay any remaining balance. I received a telephone call early Monday morning from Casandra, the saleswoman, asking what time was I coming into the dealership.

I arrived at the dealership at 12 pm to meet with Finance to complete the final paperwork. I was at the dealership for two hours+ and no one told me the car was not ready. It was when I arrived at the delivery desk that I found out the car was in the shop. If the car was not ready, they should have called me just like they called me to find out when I was coming in to complete paperwork. Poor service and communication, and I told the manager Mike and saleswoman that is NOT acceptable. I took the day off from work to pick this car up.

I asked Mike how do I provide feedback on my customer experience and he said that I will receive an email with information to provide customer service. I called the number, and the woman that answered the line was not a friendly person. I did not feel comfortable leaving any comments with a person that is onsite at the dealership and not receptive.

I had other things that I needed to get done and visiting the dealership more than once in one day was not in my plans. I received a call from the saleswoman telling me the car had a problem with brake light and it needed to go to the dealership. That the dealership can send it or I can take it as it. By this time I was stretched over a barrel. The car was supposed to be in make ready sent by Mike on Saturday. I asked on the phone if the car was clean, and it was one excuse after another. They said yes. But it was the opposite. We arrived at the dealership at 6:30 pm and the car was not cleaned. They made more excuses and told me that I can take the car myself to get detailed. So I would have to pay out of pocket, scan and email the receipt, and be reimbursed five days later. NOT acceptable.

Just like they called to follow-up about when I was coming in to bring my money is how they should keep customers in the loop and be upfront and transparent about the status of the car even if it is a delay. When a car changes a status or delays, it should notify people throughout the process no matter where they are in the process all the way to delivery.

For God's sake, I could have taken the car on Saturday if I have to take to the dealer because it's delivered with a problem. I have to clean it myself.

They have to figure out how to maintain quality customer service throughout the process in a high volume sales model. The process started out good and was negated with the customer service going downhill...fast!

I wasted my time, had to take the day off, gas, had to change plans. I am not happy about it at all and at no time did the manager or saleswoman accept responsibility for the service.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Vroom lists all of their inventory in most major cities, and I had assumed the vehicle was local. I’d never intended on buying a car through a site, but with how friendly and easy my sales person made it seem, it was hard to say no.

Unfortunately, that was two weeks ago. As the title states, they have the business plan together to make sales run smoothly. They don’t have any follow up, follow through, or logistics to actually handle inspection or delivery of the purchase. There’s no mechanism in place to provide information on your vehicle after the paperwork is received, and there is virtually no communication from them.

Once your paperwork is processed, you’ll receive an email saying it's "in for its final quality inspection" and you'll be instructed that you will hear from the "delivery team" within 7-10 days, and have your vehicle within 14 days (longer depending on location).

Well, I’m on day 13, and I’ve still yet to hear from the "delivery team." I did receive a nice email full of terrible grammar (I mean really, have someone proofread before sending out boilerplate apology emails - knowing the difference between "your" and "you're" is important) this past Monday night (day 12), with the promise that my order would be "personally overseen" and that I'd have some follow up information the next day from this person.

I'm sure it's no shock to anyone that I did not receive a follow-up. The promise wasn't kept, and I doubt they ever intended to.

Here’s my advice, if I'm as lucky as the other reviewers and Vroom is actually reading this (as opposed to my emails?).

It takes far less effort and time to get in front of and own a problem than it does to clean it up. Had someone written or called me on day 1 or 2 of your 7-10 day window and informed me of the delays, and offered some form of "hey, we appreciate your business, we know this is an inconvenience," I wouldn’t be writing this. I would have been understanding. Your customer service rep that attempted to do that on Monday after it was already past the projected date was too little too late, and his lack of follow up and follow through on his promise would have been a fireable offense had it been a core philosophy to keep customers happy.

Look, the reality is that in 2018, a company does 80% of its business with 20% of its customers, and that number is rapidly becoming 90/10 with e-commerce. It takes far less effort to keep a customer and have them come back than it does to create a new one. If you ever want to see some scary numbers, see how much each new customer actually costs from a marketing budget perspective. Repeat clientele is paramount to a successful business strategy. With your current complete failure to keep customers informed or stay in front of problems, you’re not only losing repeat business, you're creating terrorists actively trying to dissuade people from doing business with you. I’m now motivated to go out of my way and post this, as opposed to just not shopping with you ever again.

A company’s strength is measured by how it handles its problems.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I should have read the reviews that warned about poor customer service, especially when it related to money and refunds. I had started the process of buying a car and had put down the standard hold deposit while the paperwork was mailed. In the meantime, I found a much better deal on a better car elsewhere. I contacted the "specialist" to cancel the deal, release the hold, and get the deposit refunded. Easy, right? No. After several days and no response, I contacted the specialist who assured me that everything was being processed and I should see the refund any day.

More time passes, no response, no refund. Again, I contact the specialist who once again assures me that "everything has been cleared." I am not sure why it has not posted back to your bank. I will call the paperwork team once they are in office in the next hour just to double check what I am seeing. I have never had this issue before with a refund on a hold, and rest assured we are not trying to keep it from you. Again, no further reply and no follow up from the specialist. More days pass. 14 days after I canceled the hold, I get an email saying the refund has been processed and could take another ten days. Unacceptable.

If you call customer service to inquire about the further delay, they simply say they are sorry and there's nothing they can do. I will never purchase a car from this group, and I am so glad that I did not allow them to handle more than $500 of my money. As of this writing, I still do not have the refund.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I purchased my vehicle and got it five days after the 10-14 day promised delivery (I received it on the 21st calendar day, they say 10-14 business days). They called me 30 minutes before they wanted to deliver to me, 24 hours earlier than the date of delivery that they had committed to and had been communicating for five days. On the day of delivery, I had to call them to inquire where my vehicle was, two hours after the driver called to tell me he would be there in 15 minutes. Vroom customer service agent requested that I call her back and give her an update because the driver wouldn't share any information with her! No seriously, that happened? I called her out on it. She gets mad at me? Really?

It arrived covered in dirt and mud, fine. It was shipped on an open trailer, OK. However, it arrived and was empty of gas (diesel, first one I have owned and not every gas station has diesel, just an FYI.) The Audi dealer vehicle inspection revealed that it needed new engine mounts and rear shocks, a total of $2,600. The Limited 90-day/6,000 mile warranty did not cover the $1,400 rear shock replacement. Additionally, the rear-view camera was not operational, due to not being plugged in (so no additional repair cost, this make me happy). This tells me that their 150-point inspection is complete fiction.

I will lose $500 to send it back but save myself from a $1,400 repair bill, which their inspection didn't find and you can make the call on this one. I see that sending a vehicle back to them is a nightmare, but I guess I am going to have to just dive right in. My friend cautioned me about buying "the pig in the poke," and now I understand. I would definitely recommend buying from someone you can actually see the vehicle beforehand because Vroom customer service is a complete joke.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I have purchased a vehicle and have been waiting for the delivery! The communication on their part is vague, and this is extremely frustrating. If I send over payment, I want what I pay for! Why am I having to wait and get the runaround?!

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend