The following is a copy of a letter I sent to American Honda Customer Service. I have never been contacted regarding this letter!
On 8/11/02 my husband and I purchased a Honda Accord at Showcase Honda in Phoenix. The following is a list of problems we had with our transaction:
Advertised Pricing
We chose showcase Honda because they had a newspaper ad for the 2002 Accord EX for $18,988. When we began negotiations with the salesman, Brent Walden, he said he had to charge us for the dealer options (Showcase Package) that were added to the car and for window tinting. After much negotiating we agreed to pay $19,400 for the car with $6,000 for our trade-ins (although the contract was written up with a purchase price of $19,600 and $6,200 for trade-ins). Before we went into the finance office, we were presented with a contract that included the usual tax, title, license and document preparation fees, in addition to a charge of $199.95 for Automate, which we never requested or were offered. When we asked Brent what Automate was, he said it was a paint protection plan.
We told him we did not want it, but he said we had to pay for it, because it had already been applied to the car once.
Although, we were not aware of it at the time of purchase, after doing some research a couple of days later, we discovered that the Better Business Bureau's Advertising Guidelines for car dealers states:
When a vehicle is advertised for sale, the stated price should be the full price you will pay for that vehicle. The only additional costs you should expect to pay are tax, title and license fees, and reasonable document preparation fees. You should not expect to pay more for such things as freight advertising or marketing assessments, any paint protection package, or any dealer options; these extra costs should be included in the price of the vehicle advertised.
In other words, we should have only paid the advertised price of $18,988 plus tax, title, license and document preparation fees. We should not have been charged for dealer options, window tinting or paint protection.
Monthly Payment Calculation / Contract Negotiation In the finance office we were told that our monthly payment was at $258. We were offered a service contract and theft guard for $700.00 or $12 more per month. We declined. We had already been there for almost 5 hours and just wanted to close the deal and go home. Then a manager came in, and offered us the service contract and theft guard for only $2 more a month, bringing our payment to $260. Of course, we thought this was a great deal for only $2 a month. Who wouldn't?
On Tuesday, September 13, I was looking over the contract and had noticed that we had actually been charged $1000 for the service contract and $500 for the theft guard. I calculated what our monthly payment would have been without these additional items, and found the payment would have only been $231 per month, not the $258 we were told. I called Showcase Honda, and explained to Adam that we were charged $1500 extra, not the $2 we were told, and that our original payment was only $231, not $258. He said I would need to speak to the manager that closed the deal and he would give him a message to call me.
The next day, Wednesday, September 14, I had not received a call from the manager yet, so I called Showcase again and was told that the manager would not be in again until the following Monday. I told the receptionist my problem and she transferred me to James, the Director of Finance. I explained the situation to him and he told me he would have to pull my file and get back to me. After waiting most of the day for him to call me back, I finally got a hold of him, and he told me that he had to stop all of our paper work from going out, and that I was correct about the monthly payment. He asked us to come back in to sign a new contract.
When I asked James why they had quoted us a monthly payment of $258, he explained that they quote your monthly payment as higher than the amount needed to cover the purchase price of the car, so that they can sell you a warranty for only a few dollars more than they quoted.By telling us that our monthly payment was $258, and not $231, it appeared as if we were getting the service contract and theft guard for a mere $2 extra.
James wrote up a new contract, in which we decided to purchase the service warranty for $1000 and the theft guard, which he offered to us at $71. He said he could not give us a better price on the warranty because it was so close to cost and they weren't making any money off of it.
I am thankful to James for listening to our problem and offering us a new contract.
Service Contract (extended warranty)
We were told by both Adam (on the day we purchased the car) and by James that if we never used the service agreement over the 72 month contract period, we would get a full refund, so we figured we had nothing to lose by purchasing the contract.
On 8/15/02, after speaking with my father, who couldn't believe that we could get a full refund at the end of the contract, I decided to read the fine print of the service contract and found that while you could get a full refund before 30 days, or a prorated refund minus $50 after 30 days, it did not say that if you never used the warranty, you could get a full refund. I called Showcase again to inquire about this and was transferred to Tina. I left a message on her voice mail, simply stating that I had a question about the warranty, and my name and number. Days went by and she never called back. At this point I have decided that I will cancel the warranty within 30 days for a full refund, and today I sent a certified letter to Showcase Honda stating this.
I have also discovered via the Internet that Honda Care offers a similar warranty for $930.00. We were never offered a Honda Care warranty.
Theft Guard
During our meeting with Adam on the day we purchased the car, we were told that the theft guard covered $4500 if your car was stolen and $2500 if the car was found within 30 days. Two days later, I noticed the contract provided only $3000 for the stolen car. The remaining $1500 would come in the form of rental car reimbursement, trip interruption reimbursement, etc. This is not how it was presented to us.
Honda Survey Bribe
Both Brent and Adam told us that Honda would call us for a survey. They said that if we gave them all 5's on the survey we would receive a free oil change once they received the survey results from Honda. Brent told us he would not receive a bonus if he didn't get a good survey.
On Monday, September 12, I called Brent and told him that I didn't feel comfortable giving all 5's on the survey, because he was not up front with me about the Automate paint protection. I felt that I should be somehow compensated for the extra charge. He said he would give me two more free oil changes, but only when he received the survey back with all 5's. A $200 charge for paint protection is not worth two lousy oil changes.
Anyhow, after all the problems we had, the last place we would take the car for an oil change is Showcase Honda.
I received my survey call from American Honda today. I told the girl everything I have outlined here and I did not give the salesman or the dealership high scores
Double Charge of Credit Card for Down Payment
Additionally, on the morning of 8/15/02, I discovered that Showcase Honda had charged my credit card twice for $3000. It should have only been one charge of $3000 for our down payment. I called and was transferred to Josie. I left her a voice mail, telling her the problem and asked her to call me back that day. She never called. I also called James, the Director of Finance, and let him know that this had happened. The next morning I called Josie again and luckily she answered the phone. She was very helpful, but didn't give me any indication that she had received my message from the day before. Josie agreed to look into it and called me back that afternoon to let me know my account would be credited for $3000.
Cargo Net
After test-driving the car, I asked our salesman, Brent, if the car came with a cargo net. He said that if it didn't he would get me one. After we purchased the car, he gave us the cargo net. Two day later, I discovered that there were no hooks or any type of attachments in the trunk for the cargo net. On 8/14 when we returned to the dealership and asked if a salesman could show us how to install the cargo net, he told us that only the coupe came with a cargo net, and that there was no place to attach it in our sedan. I don't know if this is actually true because I have seen a cargo net for the sedan for sale on two web sites. I would think that the salespeople should have a better knowledge of their product.
Documentation Fee
We were charged a documentation fee of $289.99. When I look at records from past cars I have purchased, the documentation fees were $85 and $150. Our salesman Brent claimed we were getting a good deal with the $289.99, because legally the state of Arizona allowed them to charge up to $320. According to the car web site, www.edmunds.com, $50 is a reasonable charge for documentation, $250 is not.
Hopefully, I will not have any further problems with Showcase Honda, and my $1000 for the warranty will be refunded without incident. It is unfortunate that Honda is represented by such a dealership. They are doing a great job perpetuating car dealers' negative reputations.
Thank you GREAT THORN for telling me about this website!
J.
Phoenix, Arizona
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