Friday, January 5, 2024

Dodge Steps Up

 Mac-Haik screwed over a soldier deployed but thankfully, the CEO of Dodge himself made things right.   The Drive website reported: 

Dodge owners have been in an uproar in recent days over a dealership's treatment of a Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 customer. In short, it looks like the dealer sold the car out from under an active-duty servicemember while they were deployed, defamed him, and then lied to Dodge about what it had done. Don't worry, things end well, but the path to this happy ending is a shining example of why car dealers are so widely distrusted.

The story begins at Mac Haik Dodge in Flowood, Mississippi. Previously, we have covered the Mac Haik dealer network for its price-gouging on limited-run performance cars like the Chevy Corvette Z06. With the Dodge Challenger exiting production, and the 1,025-horsepower SRT Demon 170 sending it off, Mac Haik evidently expected a payday from the strictly limited-edition Challenger.

As outlined in videos from drama YouTuber "Butter Da Insider" and a story from StellPower, Mac Haik in Flowood took an order for a Demon 170 in F8 Green from an unnamed servicemember at a $50,000 markup. One video includes a photo of a Monroney sticker with a blurred-out name, alleged to belong to the servicemember who ordered the car. Their Challenger was scheduled to be delivered while they were overseas, so they reportedly arranged to have it picked up by family members this month.

At some point though, this same Mac Haik franchise allegedly promised another Demon 170 customer a car in Triple Nickel. But that car had allegedly been sold to someone else already, so when this customer showed up after driving eight hours to see the car, the dealer offered them the pending-delivery F8 Green car for more than what the servicemember agreed to pay. A deal was struck, and the happy new owner went to Facebook to share their excitement for their new purchase. However, the servicemember who originally ordered the car was in the group where this boast was shared, and the two quickly figured out what had happened. Rest of article.

Check out the rest of the article to read the very cool ending to this story. Lemonade out of lemons.  

49 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not surprised at anything that dealership would do.

Anonymous said...

Everybody comes out happy and looking good, except that slimeball dealer.

Anonymous said...

This what happens when companies are no longer locally owned.

Anonymous said...

I’m not getting that “great Mac Haik feeling.”

Anonymous said...

@9:39AM Mak Haik is from Meridian and went to Ole Miss, so although he grew his dealerships after building on his name in the Houston area, he's practically local. (I'm not defending the dealership here - this seems scummy - but it's not because of some nameless corporate entity.)

Anonymous said...

Pretty sure Mac Haik playe football at Ole Miss!

Anonymous said...

Seems dodge should stop providing highly sought after special edition cars to scummy dealers like Mac Haik, that would discourage this type of greedy self dealing. I think I’d be tempted to sue the dealership if they sold my already purchased car to a higher. All the manufacturers should switch to a Tesla style direct to consumer model.

Why do we call them stealerships said...

It's like the Mac Haik peacock shit on Barbra Streisand's head, and then the internet found out there's video.



Can't wait to see the delivery by Jay Leno.

Steve said...

10:41

Nice idea but our esteemed legislature already put the kabosh on that idea.

Steve said...

10:41 You are correct along with the Houston Oilers. Now….WTF does that have to do with the story?

Anonymous said...

Car dealers always have been and always will be crooks. All of em.

Anonymous said...

Good job to the head of Dodge. Also nice to see so many others stepped up to try and fix it.

Anonymous said...

Everyone should remember which dealerships added to the MSRP during covid and refuse to buy from them in the future....I certainly won't
Maybe this topic should be it's own thread

Anonymous said...

This is a microcosm of the car business. Friend of mine signed on to a local dealership's sales force. When he confided to another, veteran salesman at the dealership that he was uncomfortable with what he was being told to do, the old dude told him, "Listen, son. If you're going to sell cars, you need to ask yourself every morning when you get out of bed, 'Who am I going to screw out of a bunch of money today?'" From multiple personal experiences, I believe my friend.

Anonymous said...

I had the opportunity to keep someone from getting royally f--d by a Ridgeland dealership this week.

The service departments are out of control.

Anonymous said...

The CEO should have gone further by giving the serviceman victim the car for free, otherwise it is just virtue signaling.

Anonymous said...

If this was my dealership the first person fired would be the manager. It starts at the top and shit rolls downhill.

Anonymous said...

"...sold the car out from under AN active-duty servicemember while THEY WERE deployed..."

Not clicking on a website which uses woke pronouns.

And I will point out that those buying airtime in the local market, know that Mac Haik's obnoxious earworm jingle has trained locals to only watch TV with the remote in hand, in order to hit 'Mute', before commercial breaks (even with sneaky segues designed to allow noxious jingles to infect the brain, before people realize commercials are coming). Advertisers KNOW that nobody will hear their commercials, thanks to Mac Haik (OK, and Honda, whose 2-note jingle is equally hated).

"You have to get your product message across, entirely visually, in the Jackson market, because people do whatever it takes, to silence those TVs." This, I heard at a dinner party. One buyer of air time, was coaching a new peer.

But I find it impossible to muster any sympathy for someone who'd buy one of those skuzzmobiles - particularly one with "Demon" in the name. Did I read, "FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLAR MARKUP" correctly? Frankly, anybody earning enough to pay a 50k MARKUP, should know better than to do so.

One of the more memorable images from 'Great Mobile Homes of Mississippi', was a pic decrying a big yellow street sign, in front of a mobile home, proclaiming, "SLOW CHILDREN". That's the market for those silly "Muscle" cars: little boys who didn't get proper nutrition, and who didn't get enough attention - little boys who grew up to drive the automotive equivalents of the tricked-out bicycles preferred by the little boys you had to teach your own kids not to ridicule.

Anonymous said...

When the service "advisors" and mechanics get paid on commission, you know you're going to get screwed. I bought an F-150 out of state during covid and paid MSRP. Took it to MacHaik for the three free oil changes and have never been back.

Anonymous said...

I bought two Challengers and a RAM from those shit heels. I thought buying a car was a nightmare by design for years as a result of it. When I traded the RAM in on a Ridgeline RTL at Bob Boyte Honda just a couple of years ago and had a terrific experience, I discovered that Mac-Haik was a shit show. Fuck those guys.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for running this KF. Also, thanks to the other commenters who have shed light on Mac Haik. It's helped explain my experience there with their service department. I had no idea "service advisors" were paid on commission. Explains why he wanted to sell me so many "services" I didn't need at such an insane markup. Ended up getting work it did need elsewhere for literally half what Mac Haik wanted. Still had to pay them over $400 just for the diagnostic. Then was told, after declining their "services", that they don't typically work on F150s over 15 years old. Maybe I'm old, but they should stand by their products for life. Anyway, my take away was to never do business with them ever; and never step foot in there again.

Anonymous said...

12:18 - jealous much?

Lee Iacocca said...

I saw nothing in the article that indicates the dealer suffered any ill effects from this incident, but hopefully word of mouth will take care of that.

Anonymous said...

@12:48,

The days of decades worth of manufacturer support for their vehicles ended long ago.

You would probably be better served by finding a skilled local independent shop for a vehicle 15 years old or older. It's not easy to find a skilled independent,

Unless you are a baller customer of the dealership they really don't GAF about keeping you on the road in an older vehicloe. On the other hand, the mechanics with lots of experience may like working on your vehicle as flat rate rewards them for jobs they know inside out and aren't a real PITA like many repairs on the 'new improved' modern vehicles.

Like they say, "Automotive engineers at the OEMs will walk over a thousand naked virgins just to f*ck one technician".



Plus, the only thing the good dealership techs hate more than working flat rate on crappy new vehicles is working warranty claims on crappy new vehicles.

Anonymous said...

Good ole boy, Cory McDonald, the GM of Mac Haik Flowood,*UPDATE*. They have since disabled the "staff" section on their website so you can't see them anymore. I'm curious why. Pretty detailed video below should help. If interested, search TK's garage on you tube for the full spill.

Clay Edwards, you're always promoting this fine specimen. What are your thoughts?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AD6ZpmA6eU

Anonymous said...

Some sleazy antics from the Sales department, but my experience with the Haik Service department in North Jackson has been much better than anything detailed here. I might buy a car there if they sold cars other than Mustangs, but I don't see that happening. I'll likely trade my Ford in for a Japanese or Korean model.

Anonymous said...

We have some really crappy car dealers in the Jackson Metro.

I thought I had found a good one and had been an exclusive customer of theirs since 2004. Wife's car, my car, wife's car, my car. On first name terms with the GM.

It was time to trade in my car and they tried to pull one on me. Added $5k to a price that was not only quoted to me the same morning, but the car was listed at on several online sites. When I pointed this out, they came back with the car for the right price, but had reduced my trade in by $5k.

In the GM's defense, he was pissed and apologized but I was annoyed and went to Birmingham to purchase.

Anonymous said...

12:18 Lighten Up Francis!
Go gather around a cold glass of milk with all your “Cool” friends and brag about how good of gas mileage you get
in the old Family Truckster
You need to remember “There is no replacement for displacement”

Anonymous said...

Well, imagine that, Mac-Haik of Flowood screwed somebody.
Their standards of practice was formulated by a guy named Ben Dover.

Anonymous said...

Mac has some serious damage control to address - I hope he is up to it instead of just saying the manager of the local dealership screwed up.

Anonymous said...

Imagine, the legislators are in the dealerships corner. Figures doesn’t it? Two peas in a pod

John Candy said...

Eugene Levy selling Clark Griswold the Wagon Queen Family Truckster is all you need to know about 95% of auto dealer sales people. It can be a brutal experience for naive or first time buyers.

Anonymous said...

This is terrible. Dealership should be ashamed.

Anonymous said...

January 5, 2024 at 12:18 PM
How far off the right wingnut cliff are you? "Woke" because "THEY" was used? This is common usage when one is not at liberty to disclose another's identity.

And you sound like a disgruntled advertising salesperson who did not get a buy!

Anonymous said...

Direct to consumer model can't get here soon enough.

Macy Hanson said...

Take it from someone who represents consumers in these types of disputes: there is a reason that there is a stack of papers a foot high loaded with fine print and arbitration clauses (no jury trial) for the transaction documents. I just bought my wife a Volvo from the local dealership and they tried to stick us into commercial arbitration rules in the closing documents. Which would mean we would have to pay $2,000 and half of the arbitrator fees just to bring forward a dispute.

What you were told does not matter. The only thing that matters is what is in the agreements you sign or electronically sign. Read every word.

Anonymous said...

How does someone in the military afford a $90,000 car?

Anonymous said...

Only thing worse than a used car salesman is a new car salesman.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for bringing these slimeballs out for consumers to avoid KF. This is a newsworthy story but I’m sure the local channels are too scared to cover it due to the annoying commercials they run. They have that great mak haik feelin.

Anonymous said...

I seriously would like to hear what clay edwards says about the guy that he has been constantly promoting on his radio show. The now former GM of mak Haik of flowood. I mean at least make a statement. You talk about being upfront and is what it is. Is it?

Anonymous said...

@ anonymous asking about how someone in the military being able to afford the insane mark up price for the car, I would Imagine most people in the military probably couldn’t afford to buy a car that expensive but there’s many factors that go into that. Depending on where the service member resides cost of living can be far cheaper or far more expensive than other areas, & the pay or compensation earned by those in the military is the same regardless of local cost of living. Those involved in this situation seem to live in the Mississippi area which has a pretty low cost of living. A soldier in a place like New York would be paying multiple times more in regular expenses compared to a soldier in Mississippi.
We also don’t know which branch of the military they(yes “they”, in response to the commenter who got angry about the choice of pronouns used, because it could be a man or a woman) work in, or their rank, or their age, or their family background.
They could be a career service member, the longer the career the higher the salary, or they could be serving in a branch that’s typically on reserve allowing them to work an additional & possibly more lucrative job. It’s also possible they have been saving for years, or have a spouse with a high income, or they could be from or married into a wealthy family.

Without a whole bunch of additional information it’s impossible to know really how/if they can afford this over priced vehicle.

Anonymous said...

How could direct to consumer sales (eliminating dealer requirement) happen after the RINO State Legislature passed a bill banning that? That is, they passed a bill preventing TESLA (owned by Elon Musk) from selling directly so that George Soros-owned (his fund bought McLarty Group that had bought Grey Daniels) Grey Daniels, the LARGEST dealer network in that state, was protected. Our folks are sending money to Soros and no one will bat an eye, cuz their brother works there and, gosh, it's just capital and you ain't a commuhnist are you? Well, what is Soros? This is in the record. https://www.autonews.com/article/20151109/RETAIL/311099939/soros-invests-in-u-s-dealership-group https://fortune.com/2015/01/29/why-george-soros-warren-buffett-and-bill-gates-want-auto-dealerships/

Yet folks here howl about a person buying over price a limited edition car? I don't get it.

You have China owning 88 acres of farmland, but they howl about that and ignore Bill Gates being the largest holder of farm land in Mississippi (17000 acres). He wants us to eat bugs instead of meat as he dines with the filthy rich and is a leftist.

No, you don't have a local owner because Billy Bob went to OM and played fewtbawl there decades ago.

And you don't have honest conservative elected officials because they say they are Republican and conservative (look at toll road approval, this car dealer protection bill for Soros, etc, etc)

Unknown said...

And he still wanted the car? Hope he has somewhere to get it serviced.

Anonymous said...

Get one of your grandchildren to teach you how to 'Google' (used as a verb). Bring up Mac Haik lawsuits in Texas and spend an hour reading.

Haik came to Madison County six years ago dressed in all black from head (seriously) to toe. Demanded, and got, all manner of special treatment regarding county ordinances. It helped that his attorney was Herring. Herring was also the Board president's attorney.

From Madison County, he spread out in an ongoing attempt to control the entire market area.

There are two possibilities: Haik either THINKS he is Elvis Presley or Haik IS Elvis Presley.

Set, hut, Haik! Don't fuck with Haik.

Anonymous said...

www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/2019/04/19/mac-haik-truck-lowes-woman-steals-back/3508679002/

Anonymous said...

https://www.ncconsumer.org/news-articles-eg/dont-be-too-hasty-to-agree-when-a-car-dealer-service-department-recommends-services.html

Anonymous said...

Will Mr Edwards cover for his homeboy or will he admit this was a lot of “FAFO”? Guess we’ll find out Monday.

Damn! Did You Actually Say VOLVO? said...

Macy Hanson - You neglected to tell us whether or not you signed the arbitration agreement. If one declines, does the dealer thank them for their visit to the showroom?

Anonymous said...

@7:04. How someone affords something is no one's business. My dad had a saying: "Never try to count another man's money." This person could have saved, inherited, or won a lottery. Or maybe he just financed a car like most of us do.


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