Below is the exact complaint I filed with the BBB...

Before coming to Fox Valley VW, I knew my credit rating was below average and that I would not qualify for a prime rate loan. But I applied for a loan with Fox Valley via Carsdirect.com in an area of the website for people in my exact credit situation. I got the initial email from them where I was told by Ann G that "the loan approval is 100% guaranteed". She went on to say "We do not receive these applications unless they meet the criteria for approval with the Banks we work with". So my impression was that they got my application and that I qualified for the loan for a 2000 Nissan Maximum which was $6,990.

Since I thought I got the loan, I wanted to take a look at the car. The first person I met in the showroom was Greg who said Ann was not there. He still helped me out and showed me the car which I liked. He however was confused about how I explained that I was approved for the loan via Ann. He however gave me the impression that I need to fill out another application to continue the process. So I filled out another application with him assuming I was doing what was needed to finalize the loan process. So without realizing it, my credit got hit again. They could not look at this new application that night so I went home assuming they would call me the next day. Turns out Ann followed up with me the next day telling me I basically I did something wrong and that I should not have worked with Greg or filled out the application. They asked for me to come back and drop off paperwork for her instead based on our original loan application.

These two people were not on the same page and it seems that Greg was in a rush to make a sale rather than being concerned about what was going on. I ended up going back today with the paperwork she asked for and again assumed I would just finalize the details of the loan. But today I had to now fill out the application a third time with my wifes information as well. So that means her credit got hit again as well. Anyway, the kicker here is even though they said that I was 100% guaranteed for the loan on the Nissan for $6,990, they did the equivalent of a bait and switch. That loan I was guaranteed 100% for actually ended up being a loan for $9,300 and that I needed to put $2,500 with an interest rate of 24%.

So here I was thinking I was going to get a $6,950 loan for a car where I thought I would have to put say 10% down and also knew the interest rate would be close to 25%. But the fact that they required $2,500 down and then said the loan would be for $9,300 blew me away. Who in their right mind would do this. Please read this carefully they with a straight face said that that to buy the $7,000 car I would have to give them $2,500 and still have to sign a loan for $7,000 basically. With those terms, how can they say I was 100% guaranteed. So to say that was misleading is an understatement that was simply unethical. Fox Valley VW will say they were just the messenger and the bank dictated these terms for the loan.

However my complaint here is that they cannot say 100% guaranteed with those sort of terms and conditions. I had to jump through too many hoops waiting for hours because they were not on the same page to begin with. Next they were also more interested in the sale than my situation which dinged my credit twice. In the end they wasted my time and told me I was 100% guaranteed for a loan under face pretences. I can lend anyone a million dollars if they give me $999,999 to begin with. Our credit situation is already an embarrassing situation for my family to begin with and their misleading sales tactics need to stop. No one should have to jump through hoops like this and feel they are dealing with a loan shark.