My first mistake was thinking this was a dealer I could trust because I bought a car from them in 2003. My second mistake was not taking a man with me. Apparently the old school of thought still applies to single females being cheated at dealerships.
My daughter and I went to this dealer on Saturday Oct. 6th to look at PT Cruisers. I owned a 2003 previously and loved it. I had traded that Cruiser in on a 2007 Chevy HHR in Dec. 2006 and was never quite as happy with it and missed having a Cruiser.
I told the salesman who greeted us about my having a cruiser before and missing it. My next words to him were that I didn't know if it was possible to trade in for a new Cruiser since my HHR was less than a year old and that I didn't want a base model Cruiser because my HHR had quite a bit of extras on it.
The salesman then took us over to a yellow 2007 PT Cruiser Touring Edition and proceeded to show us all the extras on it. We took it for a test drive and it was just as fun as I remembered with my old cruiser. The car had cruise control, map lights, keyless entry, compass, tempurature, miles per gallon etc. Features on it.
When we arrived back at the lot the salesman asked what I thought and I told him I wasn't crazy about the color but otherwise I liked the car. He asked what color we might like and we told him Blue. I again told him I didn't know if this was doable because of my trade in being so new and he said "Lets see if we can locate the color you want and then we can find out about the financing".
While we waited out on the lot looking at the yellow one he went inside the dealership. He came back a few minutes later and said they had located a blue one on the other side of the state.
Once we went into the dealership a bunch of other people became involved because it turns out the salesman was new, he'd been there 3 days and was still in training. The main player was the manager Mark Ogden and then someone named Japp and the finance guy named Tom. I think they used confusion all day by introducing me to almost everyone who worked there.
They dragged things out for most of the day but all during everything I kept asking the same thing of everyone I talked to " Are you sure the car you located is the same as the yellow one"? I was repeatedly assured it was.
At one point my daughter and I decided to leave because the payments were higher than I wanted to go and they pulled the old stunt of not being able to locate the keys to my HHR. We went outside to wait for them to locate my keys and Mark Ogden came out and said we sure would like to be able to make a deal how about if we can make the payments only about $ 15 more a month.
Third mistake... We went back in. From then on it was a lot of confusion and distracting tactics. I was never shown a printout of the car they located and the finance guy told me they could start the paper work using the yellow car as refrence. I still continued to ask if the car they found was the same as the yellow one and the smart* finance guy even told me " Oh yeah and I think it even has a chrome muffler tip". I signed papers. Still trusting them.
The car was supposed to be picked up and brought to the dealer on Monday. Monday came and I was told they were delayed in getting it. It supposedly got there to late Monday for us to get it and they were going to put window tint on it for me. Then on Tuesday I was told it would be ready that night after the tint was put on.
It ended up being almost dark Tuesday night when we went to get the car and when we got there I was taken to an office to sign more papers. No one took us to see the car or to go over the features on it. But I signed more papers.
It was dark, it was almost time for the dealer to close and I had my daughter and two foster kids with me and we were tired and ready to go home so we got in the car and drove away.
It was on the drive home when we switched drivers, as my daughter wanted to drive it that we first discovered there was no cruise control. Then I started looking over the interior in the dark and noticed how much was missing. They had sold me a bottom base Cruiser with nothing on it.
I immediately called my salesman when I got to my house and he acted shocked. I told him I was bringing the car back. He said no no he would e mail the manager since he was off the next day and let him know what happened.
To make a long story somewhat shorter they refused to make things right. They offered to put cruise control on it and that was it. I also on looking over the papers discovered they had charged me for extra warranties for an extra thousand dollars and I swear those were slipped in between papers and the signature is not direct.
I tried talking to them for a week. I called Chrysler and filed a complaint. I filed complaints with BBB, FTC, Consumer Protection and Chrysler again. I didn't even know who financed the car because it wasn't on the contract. When I tried to find out who financed the car that was when they stopped answering my calls or calling me back. Mark Ogdens response to the BBB was I was shown a printout of the car[lie] and that I had changed my mind after a few days about the trim package I wanted[lie].
It took me a week to find out who financed it. I thought maybe it was Chrysler Financial because they financed the 2003. It turned out to be Chase Bank and I immediatly called them, by now it is Oct. 17th and that is when I got the next bit of bad advise. The person at the bank told me to take the car back to the dealer. She did not explain to me that I would be responsible for any money left after auctioning the car off.
I took the car back to the dealer and handed the keys to my salesman. He told me he was just sick about the whole thing and that he couldn't work for people that did this kind of stuff. I'd like to believe him. I know he doesn't work there anymore.
Since then the car was auctioned of on Jan 24th and now they want $9,419 and my credit is ruined. Previously my credit score was 801.
I went to see a lawyer and paid her to write some letters to the bank and the dealer. The dealer ignored the letter and the bank said basically tough luck and we will get the money from you no matter what.
In theory I can deal with the bank and then go after the dealer, but I can't afford the fees. We are talking $15 thousand just to pay the bank and file the suit and if I lost I would be out even more because the dealer could make me pay their court costs.
This is why they get away with this kind of business because people can't afford to fight them.
In the meantime I am a driving advertisment because I have written on my present car windows "Do Not buy cars from NSB Chrysler". I can still have freedom of speech and opinion. But I wish I could find a lawyer who would take this on because they should not be allowed to get away with this.
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