I have written emails to Dave the Manager at Falls Church Motors, and Chris Maher the owner over this situation, and they have ignored my calls and emails. They have refused to do anything to make good on the lemon they sold us, and have instead, demanded we pay out more money, and refused to turn over our tags so we can turn them in to DMV.
We now have no transportation over this fraud, and my husband has lost BOTH his part time jobs, and my son almost lost his. I have had to use the bus to get to work, and am away from home over 12 1/2 hours daily due to commuting time. We have no money to purchase another car, and paid Falls Church Motors over $992.00 plus $275.00 in Insurance, not to mention hundreds in cab and bus fares over their taking advantage of our financial situation and placing us in the position of not having transportation, and nothing to show for the money we have paid them.
On April 24, I purchased a 1996 Mazda 626 from Falls Church Motors.
I financed the vehicle with Falls Church Motors, paying a $500.00 down payment as they requested, and agreed to make bi-weekly payments of 130.00.
Approximately 10 days after purchasing the vehicle, it would not start one morning on the way to work and drop my kids off at school. After my husband opened the hood and checked some of the wiring, the vehicle started, and did not fail to start again for about 2 weeks. The vehicle
then failed to start 3 more times, and after each problem, moving around the wiring under the hood seemed to take care of the problem.
Then, on a Sunday morning the car would not start again. Repeated attempts and moving wires around did not help. The battery finally got so weak it would not turn over. My son missed a day's work at his job, and my husband missed his day at work and was fired for not coming in.
We called Falls Church Motors on Sunday and was told there was no one to help us, and there was nothing they could do, despite the vehicle being only 3 weeks old. On Monday, my husband spoke to Dave, the Manager who refused to tow the vehicle the almost 50 miles to Falls Church unless we paid for it.
Since this was our only mode of transportation, and my husband had already lost his one part time job from not being able to get to work on Sunday, we had the car towed to a local shop. They charged the battery and the car started. We picked the car up, after my getting an advance on my pay from my employer, and paid the $117.00 tow and charging bill.
We again called Falls Church Motors and they asked us to drive it in there and promised to check it out. We had already informed them via Email that the problem had happened before, and that each time the "Check Engine" light came on, and the "OD OFF" light was flashing.
My husband took off from his remaining part time job and drove the car to Falls Church Motors on Wednesday, May 24. On arrival at the dealer, Dave, the Manager, came out to the car, plugged a diagnostic computer into the port and read the existing code generated from the Check Engine light which was still on, as was the OD OFF light flashing. He said there WAS a code but that "He didn't know what it was and would have to look it up". About 1 1/2 hours later, the mechanic checked the vehicle with another diagnostic computer (A Red Snap On Tools Device he claimed cost $10,000.00 and would pick up any existing codes). He said there were NO CODES and if Dave found one he must have cleared it.
The car started fine, and he said if the Check Engine light came on, to drive the 47 miles BACK down there without shutting the engine off so they could check it.
The next day, the car would not start again, and finally did after several tries. Then on Monday, May 29 after purchasing gas, the vehicle would not move. Eventually it did move slowly but with a "jerking" motion, then stopped altogether. We pushed the car back to the service station and the mechanic checked it and said the transmission was "gone". He asked me if I had had any problems, and I informed him the only thing my husband or I had noticed was that it seemed to shift rough when accelerating at highway speeds to enter the Intersate or when passing. He said the transmission would need to be replaced, and he estimated the cost would not be worth it, since the car already had over 130,000 miles on it, was 10 years old, and that Mazda's were known for having bad transmissions.
My husband called Dave again on Monday evening when we finally got home on several buses with my daughter, and hitchhiking. Dave said there was nothing he could do because it was too late, but that he would start the process and look into what could be done on Tuesday.
My husband called him on Tuesday, May 30 and Dave said they would need to get the car there to look at it, and they would either fix it for us or just do another contract with a different car if that one was not worth fixing. He asked where the car was, and we gave him the address and phone number to the service station.
Dave said they would check the vehicle and see what the problem was and call us with options, which he, for a second time, said included repair OR REPLACMENT of the vehicle. He said he understood the dire situation we were in, and would work to resolve it ASAP.
We did not hear from Falls Church Motors on Wed, 5/31. My husband called him in the morning on Thursday, 6/1. Dave said they were still checking the car, and he would get back to us in the afternoon, to see how to proceed.
On Thursday afternoon, June 8, Dave called my husband, and reported the transmission was indeed shot, and could not be repaired. His attitude was completely different than in previous converstations. He informed us that our ONLY options were:
PAY them an additional $1200.00 in cash to cover our HALF of the alleged cost of $2400.00 to replace the transmission, or, should we not have the money to pay this amount, to continue to pay the finance agreement at $130.00 bi weekly until paid in full, for a car that would not MOVE and that we did not even have possesion of! Mind you, this vehicle was ONLY in their possesion because we told them to come tow it to fix it. We had no way to pay for this tow, and no way to get there. Our payments were up to date and the Insurance was valid as was the tags.
Dave refused to offer any other solutions. No replacement vehicle, no offer for us to make payments on the repairs, nothing. Either pay Falls Church Motors another $1200.00 CASH, OR just pay Falls Church Motors for a vehicle that we did not have and was NOT drivable!
Dave further took the position that the "Check Engine" code he retrived from the car on 5/24 was "not transmission related", even though he never looked up the code, told the mechanic, or myself, and shielded the device from my husbands view so he could not see the code for himself. My husband told him it was simply not credible that a transmission would go from 100% ok to 100% failed and un-driveable in 5 weeks had there not been something wrong with it to begin with. Dave alleged that was the case, and that he had driven the car and found nothing wrong with it, and that as unbeleivable as it was, that is what happened and it was not their problem, that "folks have to pay to fix things when they break".
On Friday, June 9 we wrote to Falls Church Motors via EMail, and sent copies to not only Dave the Manager, but Chris Maher the owner, the salesman, Tracker Finance, and 3 other EMail addresses they had. We demanded they either fix the lousy vehicle they sold us under fradulent pretenses or refund our money so we could get another one. We also asked that our tags be returned. They did not respond in any way via email or phone, or by calling me at work. They have still not returned the tags to us.
To top it off, they have a "special gift" on their web site, where they intenionally make you beleive they are God fearing Christians that would never rip you off! Since then, after contacting the BBB I discovered they have MANY complaints. They stole from us, and are refusing to EVEN GIVE BACK the tags or make good on their hollow promises.
These guys are fradulent and not worth your time no matter how desperate you are. They take advantage of people that need help. Stay away!!!
0 comments