Strickland's Automart Stratford

Saved Thousands $ Stricklands seems to have a great selection of one year old cars, with better prices than all the other Dealerships around Stratford, London and Kitch Stricklands seems to have a great selection of one year old cars, with better prices than all the other Dealerships around Stratford, London and Kitchener Waterloo. I was looking for a one- two year old car with fairly low mileage. Every model i was considering, Hyundai, VW and Mazda- they had them all in Stratford. When I compared them to similar Year and options and km's, Stricklands had the lowest prices. We inquired, set up an appointment, the vehicle was pulled up front to test drive. It was easy to deal there and all the paperwork was in order when we picked it up. More

Great place!! Went to buy a Ford Escape and was helped by a sales manager named Matt because all the sales staff were tied up. The receptionist got me a tea while I Went to buy a Ford Escape and was helped by a sales manager named Matt because all the sales staff were tied up. The receptionist got me a tea while I waited for Matt to find my escape. I got to hit a gong and spin a prize wheel after my purchase. I will defentially recommend them to everyone. More

Scam artists - Told lies to not return promised deposit. I visited Stricklands to view a Ford Escape on behalf of my girlfriend. Met with Wyatt Bowman who allowed me take it for a test drive. After the test I visited Stricklands to view a Ford Escape on behalf of my girlfriend. Met with Wyatt Bowman who allowed me take it for a test drive. After the test drive I spoke with him about what I was doing there and what I was looking for. My impression was that he was not too knowledgeable but was willing to help (at first). Since it was never me purchasing the car I told him nothing would be done that day. He requested that I leave a deposit ($250) for the car and my girlfriend could come look at the vehicle later that week and sign if she liked it. To be honest, we were more or less just inquiring but he asked that we do so. Unfortunately, there was a change of plans and we couldn’t proceed with the car from Stricklands. We still arrived on the scheduled date to let them know we did not want the car and to retrieve the deposit. Wyatt had no sympathy and turned very unprofessional. Looked for pity saying he will get in trouble if we don't purchase it. (Hey Wyatt, sorry but I am not spending $30k so you can “not get in trouble”). He would not listen to anything we said. We even brought up that Oakridge Ford in London price beat them on the same vehicle with added features. Therefore, even if we wanted a car it would not be their car. They went to search the Oakridge Ford Escape and claimed that the vehicle didn't exist at Oakridge. At that point I lost respect. Do not assume we are fabricating a story because Oakridge hadn't updated their website. That will NOT get a sale from me. From what I understand the vehicle had just arrived and was understandably not on their website yet. We desperately just wanted our deposit and to leave as our next stop was the hospital as my girlfriend had to get looked at so we were beginning to get aggravated. Nothing was getting accomplished with Wyatt. We stood at the front of the sales office in awkward silence over and over trying to explain we did not want to vehicle. He ignored every last thing we said and kept complaining. Wyatt then went to speak to his manager for the 3rd time as he was incapable of doing anything else. The manager Greg came over and confirmed I would get the deposit right away. Although he was respectful, he said that I would have to come back for a cheque for the deposit. Stating that an accountant had to issue the cheque and it had to be signed by the owner. My red flags went off right away and I just didn't want to deal with him any more. I made the deposit with a credit card so the situation did not need an accountant, the owner, and a cheque. Does Stricklands think all their customers are idiots? If I left a deposit with a credit card, I get it back on the credit card. No need for an accountant or the owner. I decided to try and play their game so the next day I called both Wyatt and Greg ~9 times to confirm the cheque was available. To my surprise I was ignored even though I was told both were working. I am pretty certain they were screening and ignoring them. Wyatt later TEXTED asking what we wanted so we let him know we wanted to know if the cheque was ready. No response. The next day we planned to drive to Stricklands to get the deposit back. We finally got through to someone on the phone before arriving, Blake, who confirmed a cheque was not needed - only the credit card. Best part was that we finally received a response text from Wyatt saying the “accountant” was “on vacation” and that we would have to wait a few more days for the cheque. What a load of bs…Blake, the only knowledgeable one it seems, already confirmed a cheque was not needed. As agents of Strickland both Wyatt and Greg were fabricating a story while trying to withhold MY money that was already guaranteed to be returned to me by them. We arrive at Stricklands and our good friend Wyatt was the first one at the door. He reminds me that the “accountant” is gone. I tell him to get a manager right away because we don’t need an accountant. He tells me to wait but I follow him to the office. I overhear the manager just outright say, “What? Just refund it on the credit card….” AWESOME. So they were making up the cheque part. So now to get the refund, OH WAIT. They destroyed my record so Wyatt couldn’t even find the paperwork. I would love to see how the “accountant” would issue a cheque with no paperwork. Waited for Blake to give Wyatt the necessary information to issue a refund via credit card. He proceeded to refund me in front of his bosses, which allowed me to ask about the “accountant”. Utter confusion was their response as neither of them knew what I was talking about. Super unprofessional. Lying to someone over $250 when I even said we would come back when we sold our car. Great way to keep business! Also fairly brave for Wyatt to TEXT these lies even though he knew what profession I was in (law). So good job Stricklands, way to push away a young lawyer and nurse from the area who will be sure to tell all our colleagues and friends about the hideous, disrespectful, childish treatment we received there. And I would advise you to ensure your employees are not engaging in any illegal activities such as, you know, misrepresenting certain facts to a consumer about the refund they are owed; have to appreciate the misrepresentation being done through text messages though, bravo. We do have certain laws under the Consumer Protection Act to prohibit that activity by the way. And for what it's worth, I saw people on here stating Stricklands does a 1-key scam. I, too, was only offered 1 key for the Ford Escape. More

Poor Management = Irresponsible practices Despite having connected with a salesperson and confirming that 2 vehicles that we wanted to test out were on the lot, they were no-where to be found. Despite having connected with a salesperson and confirming that 2 vehicles that we wanted to test out were on the lot, they were no-where to be found. An additional vehicle in our price range was also strangely missing. I saw with my own eyes that all 3 vehicles were in the computer as being in the Stratford location. An hour was wasted at the dealership while staff went on searches for the missing keys/vans. Not to mention the wasted hour driving there and back. When given the opportunity to discuss the situation with Management instead of taking ownership for the problem and discussing how they would take steps to ensure it wouldn't happen again they blamed the salesperson I had connected with and claimed he had misled us on purpose to up-sell us. This dealership claims honesty and hassle-free transactions, this was NONE of those things. They did offer to reimburse us for our gas, however we had to ask again for that reimbursement after one of the vehicles we were looking for was 'found' at the Toyota dealership, but again, was not actually there. The one good thing was Stan Olech, who tried his hardest to find us something that would work for us and was entirely apologetic for all of the issues. Avoid this dealership, Management does not seem interested in fixing their internal issues. More