02/27/08: Day One

Wednesday, February 27, 2008, approximately 10 pm. 

Purchased 2008 Honda Odyssey EX from Ourisman Honda in Bethesda MD. We’re repeat Honda buyers, and did not even look at competitors vehicles as we’ve had nothing but positive past experiences with Hondas, and consider ourselves to be loyal Honda customers.

My husband and I made the final decision to purchase the car that particular evening due a matter of our personal convenience, since our two small children were being cared for by a sitter and we didn’t want to take them to a dealership to fill out all the involved paperwork, etc. We went to Ourisman Honda because of the three Honda dealerships closest to us, Chris LaPorte at Ourisman was the only sale person to quickly respond to my email and phone inquiries. Hersons Honda was our preferred dealer, but confident in the Honda name, we decided to go ahead with Mr. LaPorte’s dealership instead since he was clearly the most involved sales person we had dealt with. Mr. LaPorte advised us he would not be able to complete the sale himself, but left us in the care of hid colleague, Omar Deem. After we waited for nearly 90 minutes for financing to complete the sale so that we could go home (we were left just sitting in the showroom for 90 minutes; it was 2.5 hours all told between agreeing on price and leaving dealership), we started to get frustrated and second guess our decision to purchase the car at Ourisman Honda. In retrospect, I wish we had changed our mind at this juncture and gone to another local Honda dealership, as our experience at Ourisman has been thoroughly dreadful and has completely shaken our confidence in the Honda product and name.