Step One Volkswagen Fort Walton Beach

Ryan was an outstanding salesman! Rate his work ethic 10 out of 10! I would highly recommend this dealership and go speak to Ryan if you wanna buy the car!

EXTREMELY DECEPTIVE. BUYER BEWARE. November 4, Step One FWB Volkswagen dealer. I had totaled my previous car and needed to buy a new one. I had to buy a car that day or be without. I had chosen a 2023 Taos which I love. The sales guy himself was "ok" but the sales manager Mike, was distracting while the sales guy was going over the numbers with stupid chit chat, trying to distract. Red Flag #1. Then it comes to the paint warranty (permaplate) $544.00 Mike tells us that it isnt optional, they do it as a courtesy as soon as the car arrives at their lot they put it on because of the "hot florida sun" they always had cars come back with fading so this prevents that.(It cost them $29.00.) So of course I reluctantly go forth with this. Then it comes time to go to the finance room with Tristian Jefferson. Red flag's number 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10, First he starts off with the "We take pride in white glove treatment with our customer, you are our main focus, we want you to be completely comfortable, and trust us, in his soothing and reassuring voice, which obviously should set anyone on high alert. He goes into the mundane numbers part, getting more and more questionable. Then it comes to the warranty upsell........ He stated all the benefits of the key fob warranty, which cost me $1200.00 and cost them $230.00 and how my finance company required me to purchase said warranty. Then he goes into the tire,wheel, alloy warranty my cost $977.00 their cost $$580.00. and how my finance company required me to purchase that warranty also. then the paintless dent/ding repair my cost $739.00 their cost $0, and of course how my finance company required this of me also. I asked the question as did my husband 3 times, "My finance company requires this or I do not get the loan correct?" To which Tristan stated all three times yes, (BUT.. I could call after 45 days and cancel them and get a refund).for a total $3,430.00 in "finance company required warranties". Fine, I knew I was being taken advantage of but I needed a car as I was leaving town for a business meeting and I was already a day behind. I had to have it. Fast forward November 7th. I am back in town from business trip. I first call finance company to inquire about said warranties, to which they replied I am under no obligations whatsoever to purchase any additional warranties in order to get a loan. Shocking I know, I begin the motions of getting a refund on these warranties, come to find out, yes I can get a refund, however had I waited the required 45 days Tristan suggested I would have only gotten a small amount of a refund and had to have paid a fee to get said refund, go figure. So the wheels are set in motion, after 3 months of no answer I started tracking down answers... of course I would get the runaround from Tristan and then he just quit returning my calls, which is not surprising.. I did get in touch with a lady named Ann at Damage Control/Customer services who said she gets these calls all day long and the processing agent is inundated with the amount of claims she's processing. She eventually sends out an email to district managers to deal with me. Mark Morgan calls me by the end of the day. He is the new Manager of FWB Volkswagen Step don't. Super nice guy, I had to explain the whole story to him step by step, to which he said he would look into it and call back, and the next day he did. He apologized that it happened first of all, that he does not run a dealership that way and Tristan would be spoken to. Additionally he reached out to corporate and escalated my return. All of this was on January 27th. He never once dodged my calls or texts. He had informative answers to all of my questions. I finally received the refund on march 6th. I am relieved to be done with this. I am appreciative of Mark's efforts. I am still infuriated with the original situation of being scammed in the first place by Tristan Jefferson and Mike the manager. UNDERSTAND you do not need these warranties unl

Purchasing my car was a great experience; however once you sign on the dotted line, they seem to forget who you are. I had a question concerning a voucher from my bank that was never turned in by the finance department. After numerous emails to the person who sold me my car, there was just no response. To say, I am highly disappointed is an understatement. And to know that I have to deal with them in the future about other matters, I just don't have the confidence in this dealership. Even though, I appreciate the purchasing experience, I don't have any kind words to say about the aftermath. If this is the experience you're looking for, this is the perfect place.