Group 1 Automotive was founded in 1995 in Houston, Texas.
Group 1 Automotive sells new and used cars, light trucks, and vehicle parts, provides vehicle financing, sells insurance and service contracts, and offers vehicle repair and maintenance services.
The company owns and operates more than 150 automotive dealerships, has 193 franchises, and has 37 collision centers in the United States.
These are mostly concentrates in California, Texas, and Oklahoma.
In addition, Group 1 Automotive also has operation in the United Kingdom and Brazol.
The company trades publicly on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GPI, is #307 in the Fortune 500, has 12,000 employees, and had $9.39 billion in revenue in 2013.
Group 1 Automotive
Group 1 Automotive was founded in 1995 in Houston, Texas.
Group 1 Automotive sells new and used cars, light trucks, and vehicle parts, provides vehicle financing, sells insurance and service contracts, and offers vehicle repair and maintenance services.
The company owns and operates more than 150 automotive dealerships, has 193 franchises, and has 37 collision centers in the United States.
History
These are mostly concentrates in California, Texas, and Oklahoma.
In addition, Group 1 Automotive also has operation in the United Kingdom and Brazol.
The company trades publicly on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GPI, is #307 in the Fortune 500, has 12,000 employees, and had $9.39 billion in revenue in 2013.
Mr. Blohm,
My name is Steven Newhausen and I am/ was a new sales associate at Rivertown Toyota in Columbus GA. I retired out of Ft Benning 3 years ago do to medical problems and now a permanently disabled Veteran.
I have been at store 261 now for close to a month and I want to start by saying some of the finest sales people I have ever been around.
I’ve received little to know training until week 3 when John Hopkins (GM) got an email from the head office stating I needed to get the online training done which I did. I continuously asked about these modules and received no assistance what so ever until group 1 sent the email. The issue I’ve had from my start date is when ever I would ask for some training or how something was done administratively I would get negative feed back which I will provide examples here in.
Mr. Charles Flakes interviewed me for the position and at that time I told him I can sale anything but I’m new to car business. He said don’t worry we will train you.
Austin Fox absolutely refuses to help with the CDK software we use for customer leads and follow up process. At one point he said he didn’t know much about it and i would have to wait until next month when the trainer from the region came out. Those were his words and very hard to believe.
I spoke to John Hopkins about the issue ands Johns initial response was “ I don’t know what it is about you retired Soldiers and I will let Austin know that you are sensitive.” I was a loss for words as I have been in 4 wars, had many of my Soldiers killed in combat and this was not a “sensitivity issue.” Truly insulting.
Things got better for a day or two and then Austin was of no help again with the same attitude.
It got to the point where he would say, “ what do you want man” and each time getting more hostile (keep in mind I don’t know the process and just trying to learn it). Now I understand some people are disgruntled In nature so I chose to sit back and just observe for the time being. What I seen from Mr. Fox was with other employees he was pleasant and accommodating even beyond his job scope which he stated later when I finally asked him if we could talk in private.
When we met in the break room I asked him if there was something about what I was doing that caused him to treat me different. He began with I got so much “sh##” to do. Every day people are asking me where keys to vehicles are and an array of other things. I told him I’ve seen this and you bend over backwards with a good attitude and I would never ask you for something as silly as that but will ask you about how to navigate the computer until I learn CDK.
My payroll was set up wrong and I went to the comptrollers office and she confirmed there was a problem and to get with Chris Blaylock who is even more difficult to speak to. I went to Chris with the form Nita gave me and said there is something wrong with my pay. In a room full of sales personnel and John and without even looking at the form he said there’s nothing wrong. I said it can wait until after the meeting.
My first customer I had that I sold a car to was about two weeks ago. It was 6pm at night. No one in the finance department as they had left for the evening. The used car sales manager (Tron) came out and said finish the paper work, let them take the new car and we will complete finance tomorrow so I did this.
Saturday February 16; I had a customer come in by the name of Dr Ken Brown. He wanted a Tacoma. I asked him to walk the lot with me he said just give me one at about 400.00 a month I have a trade with some positive equity. We started pulling off the Rivertown Toyota of Columbus Website and found one. Didi the paper work, took it to Scotty (Harper I believe is his last name- Used cars). Scotty ran the numbers and I went to get the keys out of the key box. The keys were not there. I went out to find the truck and it was not on the lot. We didn’t have it. I pulled another truck up top show him which he liked and then went to Scotty. This is where things went south. Scotty lost his temper and changed the menu and submitted to the bank the new vehicle. Then he found the original vehicle in detail (it had just come in apparently and was already on our inventory but not on the lot). I don’t understand the whole process but that seems unintelligent to put it on our site and its not on the lot.
I went down to detail as directed by Scott and pulled the original vehicle up next to the second choice. The customer still wanted the second vehicle. Scotty presented the new menu he agreed and Scotty then said do the rest of the paper work and we will finish up tomorrow when he brings the trade in (he didn’t have the trade in with him) I said ok.
I completed the paper work with Dr Brown and told him we would see him Monday. I took the two trucks back to detail. Now I had walked 14000 steps this day. My vehicle was close to detail and decided to drive back to Toyota. It was around 6 pm and slow. I pulled into the front of Toyota in my Personal vehicle and Scotty was standing in the front. As I attempted to pull into a parking spot he banged on my passenger door. I sopped, rolled the window down. He said where is the customer? I said he will be back Monday per your instructions. He said no one leaves without going through finance. IO said last week my first customers did per Tron’s directions.
I d had enough. I did tell him I’m done and that this place was toxic. I cleared out my drawers. When I got home my wife was in the yard and she asked me what happened to the truck. I got out and on the passenger side there was /is a big dent in the door where Scotty hit it.
I have filled a police report as this vehicle is a rental from enterprise which had no mark on it at the time of inspection. My daughter was involved in an accident last Monday where she was rear ended by an 18 wheeler and her car was totaled so it was cheaper to let her drive one of my cars and cheaper for me to rent for me instead of her (she is 23).
I may not have been selling cars long but I am a 53 year old man who has been in combat 4 times. The comments from your GM and your management team (minus Joey) were just mind blowing. The fact that one of them damaged a rental car which by the way had 9,000 miles on it and was basically brand new and rented 3 days before the incident happened then had this dent after my encounter with Scott who violently hit the door as I was still moving in the vehicle is mind blowing. I will tell you this. If this does not get fixed I am going far beyond the internet with this. I have 5 people buying cars from me this week but it doesn’t seem any of those deals will probably go through as they are buying because they liked me. Some one from the cooperate office added to a post I put on group 1 web site and it says “former employee Feb 2017.
This is not really even about me. Most of the sales associates have issues and if you care to know I can elaborate.
I know that your office had rescently responded to some issues a RT and I’m here to tell you they are accurate. An investigation is warranted here and I will await your response before considering other options.
Respectfully
Steve Newhausen
706-761-XXXXX
Sterling McCall Ford service department is the worse service I have ever received in the 6 cities that I live in. I just received my car back after 3 different times over 3 weeks and my car now operates worse than before when I took it in. I told the manager this, and my response was, “hmmm, weird.” I did not get a full refund either. Everything done to my vehicle had nothing to do with what was wrong with it. They did not fix anything. My car turns off while driving. My check engine light is now on and also my air conditioner goes in and out. I am pregnant and they didn’t offer to fix this either! What is wrong with these people?! The technicians should be fired. I never complain about people’s jobs, but this treatment I received is horrendous. The first time I dropped it off, Mike (assistant manager (somehow)) never returned my calls or did anything he said he would do. I have no clue how he is the assistant manager. The actual manager is nice, but didn’t address my concerns or seem to care that my car still isn’t fixed. It’s worse! The third time I dropped it off, Doug was kind enough to actually keep me in the loop. However, I am extremely upset with this whole process and I need someone to make it right.
I work for Rivertown Collision in Columbus Ga. My manager is the worst manager ever!, He treats his employees and customers with such disrespect. He constantly tells employees they are going to be written up or fired. He curses his service writers and he is loud and rude to everyone. He makes derogatory statements which is very unprofessional! I tried to overlook him because I needed my job, It was a daily struggle working with him, not knowing his mood, or knowing when and who he was going to threaten with a write up or being fired. Several employees have left because of this hostile work environment. When he reprimands you he does it in front of other employees which is very unprofessional to say the least. My breaking point was last Thursday when he told me he was going to write me up for something that had nothing to do with me, and the General Manager was going to fire me. I was upset and I went to HR. and HR called the HR Manager and I spoke with him via speakerphone. Once I left HR I went and spoke to my General Manager and explained to him what had happened. I went home after leaving his office.
I spoke with the HR Manager the next day and he said that he spoke with my manager and he was not going to write me up, (probably because he realized he was wrong to begin with). According to HR it is perfectly fine for my manager to to threaten us daily and create a hostile work environment. ” Professionalism” is one of Group1’s core values, if this is professionalism I don’t want any part of this company. FYI, 3 employees have left Rivertown Collision in 2 weeks, this should throw up a red flag and should be addressed by corporate to see what can be done to prevent the manager from running another good employee off.
To Steve Beasley or Earl Hesterberg Jr. ————– I have sent a hand written letter to Group 1 Automotive about my problem,I have not heard a word back from anyone ! The lady who oversees your mail told me they would take my letter and give it to Mr. Beasley . I really don’t know if he has seen this letter or not because I have not heard a word from anyone YET!! All I’m asking is just do what’s right,this deal has been a hard pill to swallow.Where do I go from here? I don’t really know ! But I’m going to keep trying until I find someone within your company that’s willing to help one of their customers out.Can I count on you Mr. Beasley,Mr. Hesterberg. H.[334]297-XXXXX C [706]527-XXXXX WALTER ADAMS 07/19/2017
Niine days ago today, I spent over $46,000 for a vehicle at Sterling McCall Nissan. I have a problem with the vehicle that I need to speak with someone about. I called all morning to speak with a manager and was referred to General Manager Chris Anderson, I have left several messages…….. No return call. I then called my salesperson Kingsley Ezeadum, he passed me off to manager Korey Williams……Still no call back.
I need to have this problem rectified as soon as possible.
Carolyn Henry
832-368-XXXXX
I will start by saying I am appalled by the management that group 1 puts in place in its businesses. I have never worked in a more hostile environment in my life. The manager at the BMW of Mobile collision center is the premier example of setting a hostile work environment. He curses at technicians, makes lewd and discriminatory remarks, and spews racial remarks at every turn. Yet group 1 does nothing. I walked out of my job 2 weeks ago because Craig Rowley decided he wanted to start cursing me in front of other technicians. The “anonymous ” line has been called on him several times, and when he found out, he pulled technicians in his office to try to find out who it was for repercussions. Someone called me for an “exit interview” only to find out not 10 minutes later he knew everything I had said. I plan on filing a formal complaint with the better business bureau on group 1 and it’s actions of its managers that they do not hold accountable for any of their actions. It is clear that this corporation is only interested in numbers and not ethics.
You should file a complaint. You wouldn’t be the only one nationwide right now. I think many people have had the careless behavior they have towards employees. Research how to complain through EEOC or OSHA website – they handle a lot more than you would think as far as covering current or former employees of not so caring employers.
Greetings,
Just curious, did you get the matter resolved or get a response from a Group 1 Representative or the BBB? I am currently considering taking similar steps. My husband works for the company and after working at two different dealerships we are experiencing similar acts of unprofessionalism and unethical behavior. I am appalled that a company so large can have such bad image and does not do anything to rectify the situation. The only solution that I have saw so far is alienation to force employees to quit.
Thanks in advance.
One of the HR representatives called me back and my husband was able to resolve the matter with his supervisor. I pray that they keep their word to alleviate further escalation.
Ira Toyota of Tewksbury GM STEVE DALSIVA is so unprofessional. He should be removed because of the way he treats people and talk to people. He kicked me out of the store after I was giving my two week notice and never paid me