After APA mystery shoppers visited new car dealerships in Calgary, we reached out to management at dealerships included in the W5 story.
Below are responses from dealership general managers. Personal phone numbers and email addresses have been removed.
Two dealerships, Country Hills Toyota and Sunridge Nissan, did not respond to W5’s requests. Eastside Kia declined W5’s requests.
CMP GM
From:Nate Clarke
Sent: January-23-15 5:56 PM
To: Madeline McNair
Subject: Re: CTV W5 Interview Request
Madeline
Thanks for the information.
APA has wrongly accused us on at least 1 of the 2 accusations below.
Without seeing the video beforehand it is very difficult for me comment on information that I don't have.
Thanks have a good weekend.
Nate
T & T HONDA
From:NAVROZ JESSANI
Sent: January-20-15 5:33 PM
To: Madeline McNair
Subject: RE: CTV W5 Interview Request
Dear Ms. McNair,
I would like to take this opportunity to respond to your inquiry regarding the APA survey findings.
We will not grant an on camera interview and we request that your camera crews respect our privacy and not enter our private property.
With a 30 year reputation of serving Calgarians and Albertans, we are very concerned with the results of the survey and we feel it is important for you and your viewers to understand the facts.
First, I would like to address the 2014 Honda Civic DX, manual transmission without A/C, as well as the 2014 CRV LX 2WD sports utility vehicle that were advertised but not available at our dealership. It is true that these vehicles were not available off the lot, and for good reason. These are not desirable models in the Province of Alberta and as such dealers are reluctant to stock them. We tend to stock vehicles with options that Albertans are looking for like Air Conditioning, 4WD sport utility vehicles and power features. In regards to pricing, we will always price our vehicles with options such as block heaters, mud guards, locking wheel nuts and other options that are desirable in our climate and that our customers ask us for. There is not point in keeping a vehicle in stock that doesn’t have any appeal to our customer base. Furthermore, the advertisement you are referring to is part of a national program with Honda Canada and if a customer desires to buy one, without any options, we can factory order the unit for them and honor the advertised price. I am disappointed to hear that our salesperson did not relay this information to the mystery shopper and we are handling this matter internally with additional training around these national offers.
Second, I want to make it clear that T&T Honda does not charge any fees on the purchase of a new vehicle. There is no such thing as a post-inspection fee and we have never charged this to any customer. The etching product is a customer option and we suggest it to every customer because we believe it represents good value if your car is ever stolen. It is not a mandatory option.
Most importantly, air conditioning tax is a charge on the invoice that comes directly from the manufacturer to us. Our final bill of sale to the customer clearly states that it is a recovery of the tax paid by us. I have taken the liberty of including a copy of an invoice from the manufacturer to us so that both W5 and the APA can put this matter to rest once and for all!
I am hopeful that the information above addresses your questions and I assure you that the most important thing to us is customer satisfaction. We have worked hard to build a solid reputation with Calgarians and Albertans for 30 years and I’d hate to see the hard work of so many of my dedicated employees tarnished by a misguided survey and unfairly generated results.
Sincerely,
Navroz Jessani
General Manager
WOODRIDGE FORD LINCOLN
From:Travis Eade
Sent: January-20-15 6:24 PM
To: Madeline McNair
Subject: RE: CTV W5 Interview Request
Miss McNair
Thank-you for providing details on the specific ad.
The conditions stated on the bottom of the ad clearly detail the lease option, including the $2250 contribution to the Credit plan.
Regarding the number of vehicles, the ad states that the vehicles range from base to fully loaded. This was to demonstrate the wide selection of F-150 crew cabs available at Woodridge Ford
As previously mentioned Woodridge Ford strives for transparency and full disclosure on all our advertised prices and offers, however we acknowledge that this ad may have caused some confusion for some readers. This was not our intent.
Again, I am respectfully declining your request for an interview but our sales and creative team will be watching your report and using it as a training tool.
Travis Eade
General Manager
Woodridge Ford Lincoln LTD
11580 24th Street SE
Calgary, AB T2Z 3K1
