jwracing

I’m an active member of the Corvette Forum and enjoy reading the opinions and experiences of other users regarding GM, Corvette dealers and the new Corvette Z06.

I had the strangest experience with Van Bortel Chevrolet Macedon. I would like to first mention that I purchased multiple cars from their other dealerships prior to looking at a new Corvette. I went there in 2014 to purchase a new Z06 Corvette and was told they had no additional allotment available for 2015 and to come back next year and purchase a 2016. Additionally, they mentioned they were offering anyone that belonged to the Corvette club of Rochester would be entitled to a significant discount on the car. I approach them about a week ago on a 2016 and told them I would meet the requirements for the discount and join the Corvette club. The salesman call me back and told me better no longer providing a discounts on Z06 through the Corvette club in a matter of fact condescending tone. I then called the owner of the dealership Kitty Van Bortel and she said they would honor the discount. I just sold my last Corvette and when I tried to join the club one of the club officers shared with me that approximately two weeks ago they had a meeting with Van Bortel Chevrolet and Kitty Van Bortel strongly expressed her issue with anyone that joins the Corvette club prior to buying a new Corvette and using the membership discount. The Corvette club said I needed kitty’s permission to join the club. I told Kitty about the Corvette club’s response and she reiterated and said it was unfair to her for someone to join the Corvette club prior to buying the car. I found out after the fact there was only one member of the Corvette club of Rochester that even owns a new Z06. This is complete ******** in the offer to provide Corvette members a discount is disingenuous at minimum. She then proceeded to tell me to buy the car from another dealer and she would be happy to service the vehicle. I have a current Ford escape from their Ford dealership that has taken over a year to repair the navigation system and was thinking of using Victor Chevrolet or Bob Johnson Chevrolet to service my new car anyway. Prior to this experience I looked at a Jaguar R coup and the salesperson told me that he would give me a $5000 discount off the car and an additional $2500 for joining the Jaguar club of America. There was no caveats and/or conditions other than joining the club. I am amazed that the Corvette club of Rochester would let kitty Van Bortel dictate how they do business.

Evolution

They probably want quality members that will participate in their group, instead of someone just joining to get a discount like you're attempting. Speaks to the group really, they just want good people to join that will participate.
Posting this in 5 different spots on the board is poor taste though, so don't be surprised if a Mod or Admin step in. Especially if it's a sponsor here on the board.
Sounds like your best bet would have been to join the club when you first heard about it, participate with them a bit, get the discount and be happy. You're simply complaining because they don't want you to use them.

jwracing

I was very active with my C6 Corvette and participated in many Corvette related functions including going to Watkins Glen several times a year. I'm surprised with your response especially since they mentioned the discount for joining the club in the first place. They made an offer and reneged on the deal which wasted a year of my time.

jwracing

I'm curious how many functions that are Corvette related that you participate in?

Evolution

But you didn't join their club a year ago, according to you. That seems to be the problem unless I'm missing something.

In regards to your second post, I didn't realize it was a measuring contest. But since you just obtained your blue stars as a Junior Member (half of your posts being this ordeal), I was trying to give you a heads up about you're posting. But you'll soon find out for yourself.

jwracing

I think you’re missing my point. I did not invent the offer that was presented which was you joined the Corvette club and receive a discount. The Jaguar proposal had no caveats or strings attached as it should be. She is using the Corvette club to build brand awareness and complaining about anyone taking advantage of her own offer. The point I’m making has nothing to do with the Corvette club but everything to do about the dealer’s disingenuous offer. This is not my first Corvette and planned on ordering a new corvette. There reason is to preclude me from joining the club (no current Corvette) is ridiculous. Rochester Corvette club is an independent organization and should not acquiesce to any dealer in regards to their terms and conditions.

jwracing

I've been a member of the Corvette Forum under different usernames since 2005 which is when I bought my C6 Corvette. I changed my username to the current username because I like Formula One racing. Therefore I've been a forum member longer than you have!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


(jcwf1racing)

Evolution

Pretty sure I got the point, and pointed out the problem.

Evolution

Sooooo, English is your thing, not math?

I wasn't going to respond, but said what the hell. You have no clue who I am or what I do. I'm not comparing myself to you or anyone else, and to do so in an attack on me is simply childish. You don't have to start a new account to change your username, so I'm thinking banned, maybe? For trolling like you did here, possibly? hmmmm

But keep on going, not going to feed the troll here anymore.

Steve Garrett

We are done here....JC, first of all, you cannot post this same thread in multiple sections of the C7 Section.

Second, this thread has already lowered itself to being more of a pissing match.

You've made your point.....THREAD CLOSED.

vettebuyer6369

Not seeing the point of this in Transactions Feedback. If the dealer in question wants to respond, we can reopen.

I will also follow up on the idea of multiple user names on the forum, which is against forum rules.

vettebuyer6369

PLEASE NOTE:

Member Nate@VanBortelChevy, a Premium Supporting Vendor, has sent me this message/ response to this thread posting. I have copied and pasted it here and will leave the thread open for the time being:

(please read message in its original format below) :

Nate@VanBortelChevy

Vettebuyer6369,

Thank you for sharing. I'm not sure why the paragraph spacing went away. I've posted my response again with correct spacing.

Hello,

We were made aware of a buyer beware thread, located here: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...er-beware.html
We are happy to provide a response. If you could please post the following on our behalf it would be greatly appreciated:

Dear Corvette Forum Community,
We are embarrassed to be associated in a forum thread of negative nature and we sincerely apologize to anyone who comes across this. Please know that we take great strides in providing an honest and warm buying experience. From time to time you will find that you just can’t please everyone, no matter how hard you try.

Please take a moment to read our response to the issue at hand.
On behalf of Van Bortel Chevrolet, I apologize for the communication error. I hope Mr. John Warren (jcwf1racing), will accept our apology for any wrong doing we are responsible for.

Between years 2013 and 2015, Mr. Warren has stopped by and called the dealership on numerous occasions; usually to check out our Corvette inventory or ask questions about the C7 Corvette. A common conversation topic, brought up by Mr. Warren, was how much our competition dislikes us.

Sometime in 2014 Mr. Warren inquired about a new Z06. He asked how many we would be getting and what our price policy would be. It was mentioned to Mr. Warren for model year 2015, we would be receiving 2 Corvette Z06s from Chevrolet and the price would be MSRP unless he was a current Rochester Corvette Club member, which would result in a price of $500 under invoice.

In summer of 2014 we pre-sold the 2015 Z06s that we would receive from Chevrolet.

In late fall of 2014 Mr. Warren made contact to tell us he purchased a white 2015 Z06 coupe through eBay.

About a week ago Mr. Warren made contact asking if we would provide the Corvette Club discount on a 2016 Z06. Mr. Warren was told that we would not be discounting the 2016 Z06 by one of our sales representatives and found this news dissatisfying.

The decision to not discount the 2016 Z06 model to Rochester Corvette Club members is because we will only get a few and there has been a strong interest at full sticker price. (Demand is much greater than supply).

After being told that a new 2016 Z06 would be sold at MSRP, Mr. Warren called the dealership president. I reviewed the issue with the dealership president and we decided to honor the Rochester Corvette Club discount for Mr. Warren.

I called Mr. Warren and explained to him that I spoke with the dealership president and that we would be more than happy to honor the Rochester Corvette Club discount as long as he is a current member in good standing. I also offered to discount a new 2016 Z06 at $2000 under MSRP if he was not a current Rochester Corvette Club member. Mr. Warren explained that he would call the Rochester Corvette Club and verify that he is a member.

A few minutes later Mr. Warren called me and said he had left a voice message with the Rochester Corvette Club. He also explained that he might have been mistaken, and that he is a member of a Corvette Club in Watkins Glen, NY. I explained to Mr. Warren that the discount only applies to the Rochester Corvette Club because we are the Club’s sponsor. He did not like that we would only honor the discount to Rochester Corvette Club members and not members from other Corvette clubs. He also explained that he found new Z06s offered at a discount at other dealers and that one of our local competing dealers is going to outsell us and has a lot of money.

I researched the market and found 90 Corvette Z06’s available within 500 miles, all but 3 are advertised at MSRP. The 3 that were advertised at a discount were only marked down a couple grand. The top 3 Corvette dealers in the nation all advertise their Z06s at MSRP. After my research I spoke with my dealer president and shared what I found.

The last time I spoke with Mr. Warren was about a week ago. Mr. Warren explained on the phone that he wanted to come in and order a new 2016 Z06. Mr. Warren then explained that he did not care for myself and the sales representative that he previously spoke to. I apologized and told him that disappointing him was not what we wanted to do and that we would be more than happy to provide a $2000 discount if he is not a RCC member. Mr. Warren said that he would stop by within a few days to place the order.

Immediately after I last spoke with Mr. Warren he contacted the dealership president, again. This time the dealership president told Mr. Warren that he was just too mean, and that she could not sell him a car.

Upon reviewing the Rochester Corvette Club Roster, Mr. Warren is not a current member and there is question as to if he ever was.

We have not heard from Mr. Warren since.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Sincerely,
Nate Chandler

firefighter911

I want to comment on Nate and Van Bortel Chevy. I purchased a 2008 Corvette from Nate about 6 weeks ago. I researched them with numerous call to existing customers. Only one word from them and that is golden.

Knowledgeable, no pressure sale, inside heated storage until spring pick up, warranty clock starts then. My car was loaded inside a covered trailer for the 1 mile trip to thier dealership and back for the dmv inspection.

Met Kitty and she was what I expected a respected business woman.

This story seems like a tangled web, No problems with Van Bortel

Nate@VanBortelChevy

You're correct. It does no good for the Club to have members that do not participate or contribute to the benefit of the club and it's charities. We offer an excellent benefits package to RCC members because it's a relationship that benefits each-other.

The Club's constitution states one must be a current owner of a Corvette in order to become a member. If one no longer owns a Corvette he may remain a member if he pays his yearly dues. Once he does not renew his membership, his membership expires and he may not become a member until he owns a Corvette.

The constitution was written long before Van Bortel became the sponsor.

Tom,

Thank you for the kind words. I appreciate you vouching for us.

bmacZO6

You gotta love the internet and the rants like this that show exactly what type of person the OP is. They think they are flaming the dealer, when in fact, the expose their true nature for everyone to see.

It sounds like VanBortel was far too nice and should have told the OP to pound sand a long time before they did. These are they types of customers you want your competition to have.

Etz2001sn

All,

I rarely post on the forum, but I thought it would be worth it as I had a good experience with Van Bortel Chevrolet.

I called VB Chevy around December 2013 telling them I had a C5 Z06 and I was looking to upgrade to a C6 Z06. I went over what I was looking for, what colors I wanted, budget, etc. A few days later they called me and had a car they thought I'd be interested in, and wanted to get a look at my trade. Since it was wintertime they drove out to my place (it was literally like 0F that day, and 75 miles from their place) to look at my car.

We were able to strike a deal and I bought the car site unseen. I was a little scared, but they literally sent me about 100 high res photos of the car. I drove out to the dealer to pay for it, and they had my new car tucked away in the shop under a cover and it was everything they'd said it'd be.

Later on that year I had some issues with the active handling acting up. They took a look at it once, and thought it was fixed, but it came back up again. The second time they took it back again, and were able to determine what it needed...resolving the problem. (knock on wood). Both times, I was provided with a loaner car and they fixed the car for free even though it was beyond the NYS used car warranty time limit (but under the mileage). I was initially concerned I dropped $40000+ on a used car with lingering electrical issues, but they made it right for free.

I'll also note I was looking for a car with 30,000 miles or less, and they found me one with 18,000 miles on it, and gave me good money for my trade (which needed tires & brakes).

I can't speak for everyone, but I was treated well.

vettebuyer6369

Vendor has responded; closing thread per forum procedure.