When we first see TikTok creator Ariel B (@the_arielb) in a recent clip, she’s holed up in the ladies’ room at Greenway Kia East car dealership in Orlando. She’s not happy at all.
The main issue is Ariel has become dissatisfied with the dealership’s inability to carry out all the terms they agreed to in a previous visit. And now, the sales manager has the keys to her Chevrolet Tahoe and has resisted giving them back to her.
Aside: For details on why car dealers take control of a customer’s keys prior to closing a deal, check out this Daily Dot story.
“The car salesman and the manager offered a certain deal on paper that financing can’t offer. So now I’m getting talked down to… ‘We’ll help you pay your first car payment.’ I don’t need your help. I just want the deal that was offered. So I’ve tried to cancel my deal,” she said.
She’s here trying to buy a new $94,000 Kia EV9.
“I’ve already paid my $5,000. I’ve done my three things, and the three things they’re supposed to do, they can’t do. They promise a lower payment. They’re not offering that. They promise lower interest. They’re not offering that. Then they try to tell you, Oh, we’re giving you a $7,500 rebate. Actually, the state of Florida is giving me that $7,500 rebate, not you. That is something legally that you have to offer me going from a gas car to an electric.”
At the end of the clip, which has received over 300,000 views, she’s venturing back out onto the dealership floor like a soldier headed into battle again, armed with her cellphone recording everything.
She confronts them on camera
In the follow-up clip, which has over 800,000 views, she’s greeted by a trio of dealership staff including the salesman who she says talked down to her while in an office and tried to rework the dealership’s end of the sales agreement.
While on camera, we hear the salesman telling her the deal she originally agreed to will be honored, and it’s her time to sign the paperwork.
“That should have been offered when we were in there, when you were talking to me crazy behind closed doors, not out here in public, while two other men look in my face and now you speak politely. But when we were in there behind closed doors, and you were saying you were helping me make my payments, and that we were doing trade for trade with no gap because you’re so difficult for your $800, that’s when you should have been polite. Not now, out in public.”
A cut late in the clip makes it unclear if Ariel signed the deal or not but since she’s leaving with the keys to her Tahoe it certainly seems like the dealership has an EV9 on the lot that was expected to be sold and on the road.
Why she speaks out
In her final volley with the salesman she reminds everyone dealing with questionable sales tactics that there’s a definite advantage to having a large online audience like the 1.2 million followers of Ariel’s TikTok account.
“The only difference between me and every woman sitting in this lobby, I will ruin you online. You picked the wrong girl. So thank you for trying to take advantage while I sat in there and correcting yourself in public.”
Commenters on the original clip were offering plenty of encouragement and words of advice for Ariel.
“I would 100% call the cops. They have no right to keep your keys!” one wrote.
Another advised to pull back the $5,000 down payment. “Put a stop payment on that check asap for your deposit if it was a check,” they wrote.
@the_arielb ♬ original sound – The__Ariel_B
And another said the dealership may have inadvertently done Ariel a favor. “I use to be a Kia technician, and honesty stick with your Tahoe, the EV9 is still needing lots of tweaks to be fixed,” she added.
The Daily Dot reached out to Ariel via direct message, and the dealership via online contact form.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
