My boyfriend and I bought a 2008 Nissan Sentra from Rolling Hills Auto Plaza on May 24th, we gave them $1000 as a downpayment, signed all the paperwork and left with the car, thinking everything was fine. On June 4th, Charlie, (sales manager-I think), called my boyfriend and said we had to bring the car back to them by 7 pm or they would come to get it and charge us towing fees, needless to say we were shocked. They said the loan was not approved. My boyfriend called HSBC bank (the lendor listed on our paperwork) to see why the loan was not appoved and spoke to three different people who all said the same thing-the loan was approved and they were just waiting for the dealership to send in the final paperwork. My boyfriend called Rolling Hills back and was told by Charlie "There is no loan!" My boyfriend said "What do you mean there is no loan, I signed the paperwok in your office, stood up and shook your hand and you handed me the keys." Charlie said very rudely "I did not shake your hand, nobody here shook your hand." Well, we were looking right at the loan agreement and just got off the phone with the bank/lendor who said the loan was approved. It didn't make sense. My boyfriend made several attempts to speak to someone at the dealership by phone only to be transferred to voicemail every single time. The car was taken back by the dealership sometime that evening between 11 pm and 11:30 pm. The next day my boyfriend called the dealership again several times only to be sent again to voicemail every single time. We called HSBC bank again and were told again the loan was approved and we could go to another dealership and to just pick out the car and tell the new dealership we had the financing approved through HSBC. My boyfriend finally called an attorney who told him the dealership had to return our property and the full $1000. My boyfriend called one last time and got transferred again to voicemail and left a message saying we were on our way to get our personal property and our $1000 back and to have it ready in half an hour. When we got to the dealership, there was not one single customer in the lobby, but several salespeople and other workers standing around, which makes me believe they were purposely ignoring our phonecalls. My boyfriend walked to the office, they handed him a black plastic bag with our personal property from the car and a check already prepared for the full thousand, offered no explanation as to why they took the car back, why they wouldn't send in our paperwork to HSBC-nothing other than "There never was a loan." The sales manager, Charlie, actually smiled at me and tried to shake my hand, I was appalled, and said absolutely not. However he made no attempt to shake my boyfriends hand, my boyfriend said to him, "Is my hand not good enough for you to shake." The sales manager looked like he had been caught and quickly said "Oh, no I'll shake your hand" and he came back and shook my boyfriends hand.
I want to reiterate that we did not even have a payment due until July 7th on the car, had all the signed documentation saying the loan was approved, confirmation from the lender that the loan was approved and paid 1000 down and had had the car for almost 2 weeks when the dealership decided to take it back and say the loan didn't exist. I do not understand how or why they did this but I do know it was very unfair and our attorney agrees with this. I don't accuse anyone of discrimination lightly, I worked as a compliance and ethics officer for several years and I know discrimination and racism when I see it, and I believe this was racism. My boyfriend is Mexican and I am white, it is not the first and probably won't be the last time we experience this type of ignorance, but people need to be aware of it so that anyone else looking for a vehicle knows what to watch out for if they make a decision to buy a vehicle at Rolling Hills Plaza. My boyfriend is a former marine and he spent four years serving our country, he does not deserve to be treated so disrespectfully.
We left that horrible place went to another dealership who treated us with respect and we got the same car, only with some updraded features and they got us a much lower APR, which will actually save us over 7k in the life of the loan.
I would caution anyone looking for a vehicle to avoid this dealership and their unethical, dishonest and illegal business practices.
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