Delivery of electric vehicle stalled for Sebastopol woman

SEBASTOPOL, Calif. (KGO) -- The purchase of a new electric vehicle generated lots of excitement for a Sebastopol woman. But that elation turned to frustration when weeks later, the promised vehicle was nowhere to be found. Her journey to get that vehicle involved a few wrong turns.

"I just bought a Bolt. I'm so excited. I love this car," said Marty Roberts of Sebastopol.

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Roberts shifts her car into reverse and takes her new Chevy out for a spin.

"Presto," she says with excitement.

Roberts purchased it from Platinum Chevy in Santa Rosa and received $15,000 in rebates under Sonoma Clean Power's EV incentive program.

The program proved so successful Platinum Chevy couldn't keep up with demand.

"Actually when I first went to look at cars, they said they had it on the lot. They didn't realize this particular car wasn't there," she recalled.

The car had to be shipped from Milpitas, but she said Platinum didn't tell her this until after she made a $5,000 deposit.

Roberts did not worry.

"I was expecting to get it any day," Roberts said about her Bolt.

Roberts checked every day to see if her vehicle had arrived at the dealership. One month later, Chevy had still not delivered.

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By this time, Sonoma Clean Power's rebate program was coming to an end. Roberts was told if she did not pay for the car right away, she would not qualify for the rebates. She took out a bank loan to pay for the car and waited.

"Day after day after day. 'Well, it's in Milpitas somewhere. But we don't know why we can't get it' and the dealer couldn't get anybody to tell me where or why or when it would come," Roberts said.

A friend suggested she contact 7 On Your Side. She did and we contacted Platinum Chevy.

The General Manager told us "I personally made two to three calls to our District Area Manager with Chevrolet to check into her vehicle. However he was getting the same information or lack thereof."

He acknowledged that somehow Chevy had sent Marty's car to the wrong dealership, but that took a while to figure out.

Marty says once we called Chevy things began to happen.

"Then I got a call that said, 'oh, your car's coming tomorrow.'

"Thank you so much for your help. I don't know how much longer I would have waited. I was getting really frustrated."

To compensate Marty for her troubles, Platinum Chevy and Chevy corporate agreed to reimburse her for her first two loan payments.

Take a look at more stories by Michael Finney and 7 On Your Side here.