Summit Truck Group - Be Careful !

Recently bought a struck from these people. Some good some bad.
Looked on TR for information about them but there was none. Couldn't find anything 'out there' either so this is a reference point for someone searching for some info before plunging.

I got backed into a corner in Tupelo, MS in the first couple of days in August. The nightmare started in mid July in Alexandria, LA and then dragged on to Illinois finally reaching break point in Duncan, SC.
I limped to Tupelo and basically broke down in an International dealer called Summit with a view to getting the truck fixed.
I juggled the numbers and factors and decided to explore buying another truck. New or 2nd hand I didn't know. They let me camp out on their yard while I worked through this.
Got a salesman and sadly rejected the idea of a new truck. He found a used one that ticked the boxes with me at another location.
Problem was that he inflated the price of the new truck by $8,000 and then told me that they had 'inspected' my truck and they would give me $8,000 for it part exchange.
LIAR.
So I grabbed my car and went to Joplin MO - where the truck was. Turned out it was actually in Springfield. Salesman took me there and it checked out AND it was $8,000 cheaper.
There were a couple of problems though.
Nothing serious except for one thing. There was an orange MIL light on all the time. It stands for Maintenance Illumination Light. It doesn't mean that the apocalypse has arrived but just that something is a little off center.
Truck drove fine and I could find nothing else wrong. Only thing that caused concern was an Onguard installed which members of this forum explained how to circumnavigate. It has posed no problem thanks to you guys.
Returned in a week and picked up the truck. 70 miles down the road and the effing light came back on.
I had no choice I had to go on. I had lost 2 months money and buying the truck had cleaned me out. I HAD to make money.
In the end all was well though, no thanks to Summit Truck Group.
In 2 days I was in Freightliner N. Little Rock. They fixed it permanently and taught me a bunch of stuff. Thank you FL Little Rock.
The bill was $769 for a sensor. Turned out there was a $700 deductible !!! Which I had to pay !!!
So I did and started making money and turning things around.
I called and wrote Summit and they ignored me to begin with. Then said send the receipt. I did saying that this was something unforeseen and I would split the deductible with them.
Deadly silence.
I have been ignored, pushed to one side and deliberately forgotten about.
Finally I got all my ducks in a row and was able to pay off the finance bank. I asked them about a $450 'set up' fee that Summit had charged me.
Bless 'em they got that back and I completely settled the balance. I own the truck outright now just waiting for the title.

So what is the take away here?
Summit Truck Group are composed of liars and like to cheat you out of unnecessary fees. They are also quite keen on ripping you off right out of the gate on warranties. So you have been warned and Truckers Report now has a reference point for these 'people'. I would not recommend them.

The up side is that I am happy with the truck. Oh and I nearly forgot - I sold that old truck for $5,000 cash money. Yes the truck that the slug in Tupelo tried to cheat me out of. One more thing, said Tupelo slug said he would charge me $4,000 to swap my APU from old to new. Got it done for $1,500 and $1,300 in parts - it runs like a top.
I hope my experience helps someone else.

 

I’m a Summit customer myself at their Lowell, AR location and have nothing but good things to say about them. My salesman in Lowell has been outstanding.
I’m a little confused by your story though.
Did you buy a new truck from them or used?

You say you limped the old one to Tupelo, right? I’m assuming that means it was not in good working condition. Is it not reasonable for a dealer to shuffle prices around to make something out of a non-working truck?

When you picked up the new truck, the light was off which means they fixed it. It came back on later and you had to fix it again. It sucks but, if they can’t make the problem happen while they’re testing it, there’s not much they can do. You have to catch it while it’s doing it.

As far as the APU, they are a truck dealer and do not mess with APUs. As a result they’re going to charge more because whoever is doing the job is going to be figuring it out as they go, which will generate considerable labor hours than if you took it somewhere that is experienced with them.

Their silence regarding the sensor is understandable as I said earlier. They fixed it, most likely did a test run and it didn’t light up on them. To their knowledge it was fixed.

You were in a bad situation to begin with and I think that has made the whole process a bad situation. Summit has done very well for me. I sold them my last truck, bought a brand new 2018 from them, and bought and sold my old KW through them I had a company guy in. The old KW I bought from them had problems and cost me lots of money but they were problems that Summit would not have been able to discover. I don’t let that get in the way of their otherwise good treatment of me.

 

I don't get it, you read what a lot of us say to do but then you did an impulse buy and blame the sales and dealer for this?

Maybe I look at it all wrong ... ???

 

I didn't even make it all the way through your post. It was ridiculous. All the information you need is in the original post. Read it.
You obviously buy many trucks from them clearly you are going to be treated with a lot more respect than a single guy.
Now go and read my post again. You obviously didn't absorb a single word of it. Read at the end as to what happened with the old truck and yes they did manipulate the price. I saved $8,000 from the crook in Tupelo and another $5k on the sale of the old truck. The APU switch was a pure piece of thievery.
READ THE POST AGAIN.
BTW I found out that the guy in Tupelo got caught embezzling funds in another job. So think on buddy.

 

Yes you look at it all wrong.
An impulse buy?? WTF are you talking about?

 

Words fail me! I had the same experience when in 2013 I had my battle with the Russian crooks in Florida. That was somehow attempted to deflect back on me. The thread became polluted with stupid comments.

People come onto the thread and apparently can't critically think through the post. Maybe English is not their first language. The number of virtue signalers and "if they'd only listened to me" types on this forum never ceases to amaze me.
Stop trying to blame and try understanding the post. The blame is, YES, on the truck dealership.
The guy in Tupelo tried to get my old truck for nothing - he lied to try and do that. I sold it for $5,000. He is a cheat, a liar. The people in Missouri also lied and provided no after sales service. These idiots didn't even know that warranties can have deductibles. I would have thought that was the kind of information a truck sales company would want to know.
IF they give a !@#$. These people do not.

 

It isn’t written well and I have a hard time wrapping my head around what exactly they did that was so bad is all. I don’t buy lots of trucks. I’m a one truck guy running my own authority. I had two trucks but ended up selling it and going back to one truck.

 

The dealer in Tupelo inflated the price of the truck at their Springfield location by $8k and said they’d give him $8k for his old truck. He went to their location in Springfield MO and bought the truck for $8k less than what the salesman in Tupelo said it was. Tupelo also quoted him $4k to swap his APU onto his new truck and he got it done elsewhere for $2800 total. Then there was something about him wanting the dealership to pay for a sensor, but it’s a used truck that I’m assuming he bought as-is so I can see why they’re ducking his calls on that issue.

 

It isn't just summit ...most dealers these days are only motivated by the quick buck .
The kw dealer in Omaha that was family owned for ages and had a great rep recently sold to MHC and is now disliked .
Parts guy there told me mhc stands for " money hungry ####roaches" .
Most dealerships anymore suck and are a last resort for me .

 

AND why not try to cash in, they see people looking for trucks all day long, they know that people are willing to piss money away by taking what looks and acts good to them and know that once it gets financed, it is out of their hands and they get their commission.

 

Yeah that's true ...i miss the old days when ethics meant something and lifelong business relationships were developed.