On Friday August 17 Jason who is my husband met with Harris Ford who contacted him about his BMW M5 that he was selling on Auto Trader. An M5 is a rare high end specialty vehicle. We have been looking to sell it so that we can lower our payment each month. He looked at many cars that day and few were able to accommodate the negative equity that would come with the trade in. It was down to a Mini Cooper and a fully loaded SUV that we already have.
After talking to me on the phone we felt that the Mini Cooper would suffice so he closed the deal. After bringing it home and driving the mini cooper some more we thought about it and decided that this was not a vehicle that would accommodate our needs in the future, especially when we have kids.
The next morning, not 15 hours after purchasing the Mini Cooper we returned together to the dealership to attempt to just get the M5 back. I had never been to that dealership and immediately felt that it was not a customer oriented dealership. We talked to the Used Car Sales Manager that Jason had dealt with the day before and he brought us straight to the Finance Manager. He sat us down in his office and proceeded to tell us that we had "remorseitis" about the car and that he sees this all the time. He said it like we had some sort of a disease, and that we would eventually grow to like the vehicle we had chosen.
He talked down to us, stating that it was not his problem that we had made a bad choice and that we had wasted his dealers/sales managers/finance managers time. (I sat there thinking to myself that if we had truly WASTED their time, why on earth are they in business? There are customers everyday across the US that deliberate for hours, even days before they choose a vehicle or not choose a vehicle.) He proceeded to tell us that we would get over it and that the lower payment would be good for us, and that the car (mini) would suit us well.
We continued to tell him that the Mini Cooper is not going to work for us and that since the financing had not even gone through due to the weekend, we wanted our car back. (Being that the original deal had happened after "banking hours" on a Friday night, it was impossible for the dealer to submit a loan package for approval until Monday morning. The only parties involved at this point were us and the dealership. No financing had begun).
He brought out the contract and said that there is no cooling off period for used car buyers and that the deal was done. I asked him what the options were and he said there were none unless possibly they could trade it out for another car on their lot. Jason asked why they could not just cancel the deal since technically it was not even done yet. He continued to say that a contract is a contract. Jason told him that we would just cancel our $3000 dollar check that we put down and he then began to threaten us saying that we don't want to go down that road with them, and that they would proceed to destroy our hard earned credit by sending us to collections.
I was really upset so I left the office and went outside and Jason followed me. We immediately got on our phones and began to call everyone that we knew who could help.
We called Bickford Ford located in Snohomish because we knew one of the Sales Representatives there. He had tried to help us a few months back in our situation and was unable to find a vehicle that would accommodate our reverse equity; he said that although there is no cooling off period, the dealership could easily drop the deal and let us have our car back. He said that is what they would do so that they could keep their reputation and do what is right for the customer, hoping for future business.
Several other dealerships were contacted, given the situation that we were in and every single one of them agreed with the viewpoint that the Bickford Ford dealership had mentioned. His exact words were "We would never dream of holding customer/potential customers feet to the fire over a single car deal." At no point during the 45 minutes that we were outside on our phones did anyone come out to talk to us. They were not backing down and refused to let us talk to the General Manager stating that he did not want to talk to us and that the deal is done and that is the way that it is.
We had been there a better part of the afternoon and still they were not willing to do anything so it was either buy our car back or we could look at other cars on the lot. Keeping in mind that Jason had done this the previous day. I could not believe that they were actually going to make us buy our car back so I decided that we could look at some other cars. Due to our negative equity they were limiting us to a certain few cars.
After spending two hours looking for cars, none we had chosen would work "numbers wise" for the dealer. I no longer wanted to do anymore business with these people. We went back sales manager and told them that we wanted our car back and the $3000 that we had put down. He said that he would work up the deal for our car (M5) and that our payments would be slightly higher than before. He then had the nerve to tell me that the $3000 was on the other car deal and it was done, and we could not get it back. I asked him how he sleeps at night and he said just fine. I then said that I could not believe that they were making us buy our car back. He said that he was not making us do anything and that if I kept it up he didn't have to do anything for us and we could drive home in the Mini Cooper.
I went outside because I was hysterical at that point. I could not believe that we had actually gotten to the point of buying our own car back for more than we owed before. The most shocking part was that the deal was not even finalized yet for the Mini Cooper and they had not found a lender to even take our deal in the first place and they wouldn't let it go. He actually said that he had wasted 6 hours with my husband the day prior and that he doesn't work for free.
I am a Store Manager for Starbucks and I would never treat or speak to a customer that way. My husband is a mortgage broker and he spends hours, days and sometimes weeks on deals that eventually fall through and that is just the nature of the job, and he would never dream of treating a customer that way either.
Ultimately the dealership bought the mini cooper back from us for $1,000 less that what we had paid, and re-sold us our BMW M5 for $1,000 more that they gave us on its initial trade in. That $2,000 dollars coupled with the $3,000 check we wrote to make the original deal work puts us out $5,000 plus licensing fees. My husband asked them why they were taking another $1,000 off each vehicle, and the sales manager said that no matter the condition of the vehicle they are legally bound to run the car through a 125 point safety inspection. He said the average cost for them to do that is $1,000 per car. My husband turned and walked away.
Finally they structured the financing deal for us to re-purchase out BMW M5, and my husband sat down to sign while I waited in the car. I did not want to be near them anymore. While my husband was signing, the finance manager who accused us of "remorseitis" mentioned to my husband that "your wife is really composed given the situation" My husband continued to sign and the finance manager went on to say that this has happened before and people have thrown pens and papers at him, swore at the top of their lungs at him and so on. My husband said to him: maybe if you did what was right for your customers and acted with some integrity it would not happen so much" The finance manager then proceeded to give my husband a document that stated the BMW M5 was sold as is and there was no warranty.
My husband had asked for the documentation that the car had gone through service and the finance manager said the car had not had a chance to go through service since we were well short of 24 hours that they had possession of the M5, which means that the $1,000 per car to run through service apparently did not apply to my car (M5) since it had not been done. Harris Ford had done no inspection to the BMW and therefore could not guarantee that the car was defect free, not too sure but this sounds like a legal matter should my brakes fail and I kill someone on the road.
Ultimately the Pierre Group and Harris Ford proved to me and my husband yesterday that they only care about moving inventory and a sale as opposed to good customer service. We will never be associated with them in the future, and we will continue to tell our story to our friends, family and their friends and so on so that this never happens to anyone out there.
Please contact us for more details if you are at all interested in our story. Apparently there is a buyers remorse period in Washington State that is 72 hours long in ANY binding contract. This was completely ignored by the dealer. At this moment we are seeking advice from the attorney general of the state of Washington, and other legal advice.
Jgraham
Lake Stevens, Washington
U.S.A.
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