TrailTorque
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This is true
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Horrible Jeep dealer experience...Wells Custom
- Thread starter Vawildjeep
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Zenk
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Vawildjeep
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I’m not sure how he was making the money he was to be honest. I’ve talked to several dealers who say he was selling way too cheap to make money, so I dunno. Volume and probably something from his vendors as well. He wasn’t screwing customers for 30 years though. Something went very wrong toward the end and we may never know what it was. It must have been very bad though to end things the way he did. A lot of people were hurt in this deal and I feel badly for everyone involved. Hoping for resolution and answers soon.
NVAJeep
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I totally agree with you.. I was a happy Wells customer and as I said earlier, still love my 2016 JK that he built for me and I got it at a great price - I regularly get comments on the precision of the mods. I have talked to upwards of 30 or so people that also bought Wells Jeeps that were equally as happy with their purchase and experience with Mike and are simply as baffled I am as to how these events turned so tragic in the last month that culminated with him apparently taking his own life. Based on the track record of Wells, there was no reason for anyone to doubt Wells was going to deliver their Jeep and no one could have possibly anticipated this sad and bizarre outcome. I am not going to speculate as to what predicament he got into with the new shop or new partners, etc. I doubt we will ever know the full sordid details, but hopefully those people that have their Jeeps stuck in the shop and/or had already paid some money get some satisfaction.
sbjk
New Member
I felt a bit compelled to join the site to post a response in this thread. I knew Mike pretty well, having purchased two JKU's from him in the last few years. We developed a pretty good relationship outside of these transactions as we talked regularly about Jeeps, the auto industry, and business in general. I can't say enough good things about Mike's true character. He was an incredibly nice guy, who was constantly working around the clock to keep in touch with his customers, and to keep them happy. Being in retail sales myself, I had never seen someone so passionate about pleasing his customers, and maintaining the image of Wells Auto, and himself. Mike Wells had over 350 5 star Google reviews for a reason-he passionately cared about delivering a truly unique purchasing experience, a Jeep built with the utmost attention to detail, and genuinely just pleasing people and making them happy. I would brag about my experiences with him to everyone, and would constantly refer people to him.
I'm still struggling to come to grips with what happened with Mike. For the record, he did not fire his employees at the end. Every one of his employees moved from Northern VA down to NC to stay committed to the company. He was only open for a couple of months in the new location, so it's even harder to comprehend what would have went wrong. I feel horrible for those of you that were in the middle of a transaction. I hope things work out in the end. In both of my purchases I never did more than a $1,000 deposit. I simply gave my deposit, got prequalified for the loan through Wells, and signed off on everything at the time of delivery. I did have the luxury of being local here in Virginia.
For those concerned about warranty-don't be. You own a Jeep. Take it to a Jeep dealer. Your warranty is still in tact, through Chrysler. The fact that you have aftermarket work done to your vehicle doesn't really matter in most situations, as the dealers have become a lot more friendly to this. If you're having an issue with an aftermarket item, simply contact that company and in most cases they'll provide resolution as long as it's within warranty. This is the case in almost any industry, not just the auto. I do understand that some dealers can be more nitpicky with the aftermarket mods, but they need to be able to associate an aftermarket mod to being the cause of the issue you may be having. Generally, they're not related, so you should be fine. Again, this is my experience after many years of modding vehicles in general, not only Jeeps.
Mike purchased his Jeeps from dealers outside of northern VA because our local dealers viewed him as direct competition. His prices were tough to beat. The dealers he purchased from gave him fantastic deals in most cases, because he purchased a large amount of them-it helped those dealers, and it helped Mike. He had direct connections with most of his vendors, and purchased in decent quantities, so he most likely received a deeper discount compared to your average performance shop buying one item. He had his ways of making money. Again, it's hard to comprehend what ultimately went wrong, and it's very sad, on many levels. I feel very sorry for everyone involved-customers, his wife and family, and all of his staff that moved from VA to stay with the company. I wish everyone the best in this situation.
I'm still struggling to come to grips with what happened with Mike. For the record, he did not fire his employees at the end. Every one of his employees moved from Northern VA down to NC to stay committed to the company. He was only open for a couple of months in the new location, so it's even harder to comprehend what would have went wrong. I feel horrible for those of you that were in the middle of a transaction. I hope things work out in the end. In both of my purchases I never did more than a $1,000 deposit. I simply gave my deposit, got prequalified for the loan through Wells, and signed off on everything at the time of delivery. I did have the luxury of being local here in Virginia.
For those concerned about warranty-don't be. You own a Jeep. Take it to a Jeep dealer. Your warranty is still in tact, through Chrysler. The fact that you have aftermarket work done to your vehicle doesn't really matter in most situations, as the dealers have become a lot more friendly to this. If you're having an issue with an aftermarket item, simply contact that company and in most cases they'll provide resolution as long as it's within warranty. This is the case in almost any industry, not just the auto. I do understand that some dealers can be more nitpicky with the aftermarket mods, but they need to be able to associate an aftermarket mod to being the cause of the issue you may be having. Generally, they're not related, so you should be fine. Again, this is my experience after many years of modding vehicles in general, not only Jeeps.
Mike purchased his Jeeps from dealers outside of northern VA because our local dealers viewed him as direct competition. His prices were tough to beat. The dealers he purchased from gave him fantastic deals in most cases, because he purchased a large amount of them-it helped those dealers, and it helped Mike. He had direct connections with most of his vendors, and purchased in decent quantities, so he most likely received a deeper discount compared to your average performance shop buying one item. He had his ways of making money. Again, it's hard to comprehend what ultimately went wrong, and it's very sad, on many levels. I feel very sorry for everyone involved-customers, his wife and family, and all of his staff that moved from VA to stay with the company. I wish everyone the best in this situation.
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periodicdesign
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I've been reading this thread, FB comments and the above article and finally decided to post to give some insight from a satisfied customer. I purchased a silver 2017 JKU in February 2018. Mine was already built with his base lift and wheel/tire kit. I added a few extras like power-steps, full Alpine stereo with back-up camera and a hard top. The whole process was pretty smooth. I put 20% down and financed the rest though Sun Trust Bank. Only reason I didn't take deliver the day I signed paperwork was because he had to put on the extra parts. Bev took care of all paperwork and they even got me vanity plates at no extra cost.
The only thing that seemed suspicious for me was a delay in title delivery to the DMV of Virginia. That eventually was sorted out as I stopped receiving letters from the DMV. The letters were more of a notification than I was in trouble.
Other than that, I stopped back in the shop because my sub was rattling. He fixed that, no questions asked.
I hope others are able to get resolve on their builds and I hope this doesn't come back to bite all previous buyers who don't have titles in hand (with the bank).
The only thing that seemed suspicious for me was a delay in title delivery to the DMV of Virginia. That eventually was sorted out as I stopped receiving letters from the DMV. The letters were more of a notification than I was in trouble.
Other than that, I stopped back in the shop because my sub was rattling. He fixed that, no questions asked.
I hope others are able to get resolve on their builds and I hope this doesn't come back to bite all previous buyers who don't have titles in hand (with the bank).
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Vawildjeep
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- #53
Just to update. Most everyone who had jeeps finished or near completion and had paid in full,have gotten thier jeeps, including myself. There are still many who paid and will never get thier vehicle bc it was never purchased by Mike and Bev. Probably never get thier money back as well. There still aren’t any answers, that I know of, about why mike ended his life and what led up to this who;e mess. Even tho I was involved in this whole mess, I truly don’t think mike was a bad guy. Something went very wrong along the way recently and th9ngs went bad quickly. FBI is involved at this point as well as state authorities. I hope more details and answers are released at some point.
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