Underriner Honda Of Walla Walla — Local services in College Place

I usually don’t write reviews (especially negative ones) but if only to warn other customers re: poor customer service or better yet, to improve future services, I would spare time from my busy schedule to write this. I am loving our 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited that we purchased through this dealership. Regretted though that I had to deal with BOB who happens to be the financing officer for them. Being a physician, I know a thing or two about CUSTOMER SERVICE. This guy probably needs to find another career as he has zero skills with regards to customer service. I texted him just to follow-up on my license plates 21 days after the vehicle purchase (purchase date 11/19/21, text message 12/10/21). Told him my concerns about not being able to use the Hyundai BLUELINK app which I expect he would understand as he owns the very same model of vehicle (his wife’s)… I get NO RESPONSE from him. My concern is that I would like to submit proof change of ownership to Hyundai so I can use BLUELINK app that is why I am following up the status of the vehicle registration and title. I don’t think that’s unreasonable at all given my concerns, and if it is, hey, I think I deserve a response at the least right? No, not from this guy. Gave him 3 days to respond then I messaged Zora on 12/13/21 with the intention of asking her to address my concerns but instead she forwarded my message to Bob so he would finally acknowledge my concern. I know the deadline is 45 days in state of WA that’s why my temporary plate is good until Jan. 3, 2022 but I am just following up but BOB doesn’t seem to care probably as he had already sold the vehicle to me. Zora happens to be the saving grace for this transaction as she definitely has better customer service skills than Bob in my opinion. I followed-up again via text a week before my temporary plates are set to expire as he mentioned when I texted him (on Day 36 after purchase) that the plates are at the dealership. God knows if he is planning on letting me know of this given above stated concerns. BOB claimed that he called me several times and left messages on my phone. Complete and utter lie. He called me ONCE and DID NOT leave a single message on my phone (Zora did text message me though). When I called on Monday Dec. 27th (Day 38 after purchase), he said in other states, license plates have 60-90 days deadline for dealerships to take care of it. Well Mr. Bob, you are in WA state now (not in Colorado anymore) and the magic number is 45 days (not 60-90 days) and I happen to be planning on driving this vehicle to Seattle on Jan. 7 so I am concerned that I won’t have a valid license plate and registration by that time and have to cancel my trip in the process. I ended up booking round trip flights for our trip and booked a rent-a-car instead just because this guy does not care. It seems that for every customer concern, he has an excuse for his lack-of-care that’s why I demanded to talk to somebody else who would care enough to address my concerns but he insisted he’d take care of it himself. He said it himself that it is unacceptable for me to ask for somebody else. Man, I hate to waste your time if you don’t care enough anymore for your PAST customer! I have bought quite a few vehicles, both brand new and used, (both in a 3rd world and 1st world country) and this is the first and only time that I was treated this way! If I was too panicky for this guy’s taste about my concerns, REASSURANCE would’ve helped but instead, he was being a “smart __s” about it (for lack of a more appropriate word to describe it). Action speaks louder than words. I don’t even think it’s incompetence… it’s LACK OF CUSTOMER CARE! Lack of care of a customer is unforgivable for the nature of business that you guys do! Actually it’s much much worse than incompetence! Needless to say, this will be the last time I will be dealing with your dealership, unless I deal with Joe, Zora or some other caring employee there in your...

I want to start this review off on a positive note. The staff, atmosphere, and overall demeanor of Walla Walla Valley Honda is extremely pleasant. My wife and I worked with Teya to get the price we wanted out the door on a used 2015 Toyota RAV4. No pressure, no commitment, and a staff that is very upfront with you when talking numbers and vehicle history.

That being said, I would now like to touch on the negative as an out of state buyer. We're from Oregon and have only ever purchased one other vehicle in state, so we're used to the idea that the dealership will contact the DMV and necessary agencies for titling and registration, plates show up in the mail and everyone's happy. Not so much the case here, but I felt we were led on into thinking that would be the case.

When presented with the write-ups for the out the door price, there were two fees. A dealer doc fee of $200 and an Oregon registration fee of $35. Great, we think to ourselves, they've got Oregon and anything else covered, it'll be just like when we bought our first car. Sign papers, everyone's happy. Well, in late April, still waiting on plates, we received a letter from OR DMV for a titling fee, with a late fee on it. Just wanting to get things rolling, I paid the $131 thinking that's all they needed to get things finished.

Six weeks later, I find myself wondering where my plates are. I contact WWVH and ask for a digital copy of all paperwork related to the purchase so that I can get to the bottom of this. That was on Sunday, and I was told paperwork would be emailed to me today, 6/3/24.

Fed up by this point, I go into the DMV today to learn that all I paid for in April was a title fee and that I needed to pay another $162 for my plates, totaling about $300 extra in fees I wasn't aware I'd be having to pay.

Had the team at Walla Walla Valley Honda done more than have me sign a paper stating that they will not collect the fees for registration and titling in Oregon, I wouldn't be so upset or feel so blindsided. All they had to say at the time of purchase was "Hey don't forget, you need to go to the DMV and pay these fees for titling and registration." and not call a fee for a trip permit in Oregon an "Oregon registration fee" on the write-up for the purchase.

Even though this detail had been mentioned during signing and paperwork, I'm sure the general public can agree with me that during a transaction at a dealership, emotions are high and the stack of papers to sign, date and initial seem endless so it's easy to gloss over something like this especially if this is your first out of state purchase experience. Even after the purchase had the team just reminded me that this was something I had to do via text or email, it still would've been better than the last couple months of stressing but I guess once you're out the door you'll get the regular formalities of "how's the car treating you? Great? Cool, have a great day!" and nothing more.

So here we are, out an extra $300 + a $200 doc fee because WWVH couldn't be bothered to do a little bit of extra leg work to help ensure we were properly informed on the process or seemingly make the state of Oregon aware of the transaction to avoid a late fee. I can't even think of any documents that cost them $200, to leaving my wife and wondering why our plates didn't arrive and then paying fee+late fee + another fee.

Whoever is reading this, contact me via email and try to make this right unless you value a few hundred dollars over customer loyalty and...

The experience of not just buying, but trading in a vehicle at this Walla Walla honda dealership was the best experience I've ever had- new or used- buying a vehicle.

I've been looking at vehicles for well over 3 years and had settled on the Honda Passport as more roomy than the CRV, but was still hesitant to go through the purchasing process.

Jason Dean has been keeping in contact throughout those years, periodically sending me vehicles he thought Id be interested in, and waiting patiently for me to feel comfortable going through with the process. He was never pushy, never trying to sell or upsell anything- just - hey we've got this in, let me know if you're interested.

More recently, when I decided it was just time to buy, Jason worked hard to find me a vehicle that was the color I wanted, and everything was done via text message, making it easier on me with my work schedule, and frankly, hatred of talking on the phone.

Then, when I went down to the dealership to finish the appraisal on my trade (for which they gave me more than KBB valued it, and more than any dealership in the area offered for it), showed me an in stock higher tier Passport package, letting me know that they'd have to order the color I wanted (orange), and if I wasn't completely set on the orange, could give me a great deal on the vehicle in stock, since they'd be saving money on transport costs for an orange one. With all of the upgrades in the higher tier package, losing the orange color was a fair trade.

Throughout the process, Jason was laid back, friendly, patient, and made me more comfortable buying because he wasn't trying to push me into anything, just giving me options and letting me decide what I wanted. It made me trust him in the process, and ultimately the dealership.

Even after the buying process was over and I drove off the lot, he's kept in contact answering various questions regarding registration and financing.

Highly recommend this dealership, and Jason...