Please do not take these Rip-off stories lightly. I truly wish I would have researched Sonny Manny Auto BEFORE I purchased a Chevy Trail Blazer. Long story short, my husband and I were severely scammed!
My family went to Sonny Manny Auto early February with our Tax Return to put a down payment on a new vehicle for our family. Needing a safer more reliable vehicle due to having an infant we were glad to find an SUV we could manage to afford in this tough economical time. We put more than the minimum down payment and was paid ahead the first month about 4 days after we put the down payment on it. We always paid ON TIME!
The trouble started when we made a trip to Texas then drove back to New York... The dinky little "1 month, 1,000 mile warranty" was up and the bearings went out on the front tire. We were also about 100 miles overdue for an oil change after our trip. They wanted the money up front for the repairs and oil change... About $300 and with an infant to care for that kind of money is hard to come up with on the spot. So we asked them not to do any services that day and let us come back when we had the cash. The 'manager' basically threatened us by saying that we were 'not abiding by the contract' since we were SLIGHTLY overdue for an oil change and could lose the vehicle. 100 miles is not going to hurt anything.
Now in the beginning of March due to a family emergency we moved down to Texas to help my family. Not knowing how long we would be staying here we both looked for jobs. We called EVERY week and made the necessary payment to keep ourselves from having any issues. Since we were staying for an extended period of time we decided to let them know we were currently in Texas and needed to know what they wanted us to do with the registration and insurance. Both needed to be renewed this May.
The "manager" RUDELY claimed we just violated the contract by leaving and we either had to return the vehicle to them or move back to New York or pay the remaining balance IN FULL! Neither of those options were going to happen. He said before moving we were supposed to get a written agreement to allow us to leave the state.By the way it is on the contract but it is HIDDEN in the fine print ON THE BACK OF YOUR CONTRACT! It is NOT in plain sight and the salesman did NOT discuss that particular information with us. Otherwise I WOULD have gotten that statement in writing!
Then they tried to tell us how previous buyers supposedly ran off with vehicles and stopped paying and they lost the vehicle. Well if that was my "master plan" I wouldn't have called the last 4-5 weeks making payments by phone! I also had talked to the 'manager' and got a verbal agreement from him stating that they would overlook the fact we didn't tell them PRIOR to moving and as long as we made our payments on time we would be okay.
The same week we made that agreement over the phone I Priority mailed a Money Order from my bank to them. I have Delivery Confirmation that they received it on April 4 at 1:45pm. My payment is due on Saturday... The day it arrived! They said they didn't get it! I have proof they did and yet on Monday they most likely cashed it... Going to confirm that at my bank on Monday when they are open again. And then Thursday they call a recovery company here in Texas to repo my SUV!
So about 5am I get my daughter back to sleep for the 3rd time that night and go back to bed myself. Shortly after I fall asleep my husband's rushes in to tell me that either the truck was stolen or repoed! I immediately call U-SAVE AUTO to find out if they repoed it... Cause if they hadn't I needed to call 911 to report it stolen. The 'manager' gave me the worst attitude in the world stating that it was 7am and he's not getting paid right now and therefore isn't being paid to talk to me and I need to call him back during normal business hours! So I WAIT for a whole hour to call him back to find out what is going on.
My husband tried everything to get them to give us our vehicle back. We were actually going to call them THE DAY IT WAS REPOED to make 2 weeks worth of payments to get us ahead AGAIN!
Long story short... These people are just scamming you! They had to tell my husband that they would call back when they realized they had messed up. I was smart and had DELIVERY CONFIRMATION with that Money Order I mailed them on Wed. And it arrived on Sat. The due date. I paid over FIVE BUCKS to make sure they would get it by Sat. And they knew it was coming.
When they called back finally the 'secretary' said they hadn't received our payment for 4/4/09. And I told her they did and I had delivery confirmation proof. Then she said, "Well they still don't like the situation" so I asked her what she meant and she said she didn't know so I asked to speak to the manager. She said he was busy and I said I would hold basically cause he had already AGREED to allow us to keep making payments and live in Texas for the time being. So I wanted to ask him what there was to dislike as long as we made our payments we were in aggreeance. She said "hold on" then said "ARE YOU HERE?"!!! I laughed and told her he was obviously standing right there if she had to ask him if he was there. She didn't even cover the mouthpiece to the phone! Then she got all upset and told me to not laugh at her and I told her I wasn't I was just laughing at what she did. Then I heard the 'manager' say he didn't want to talk to me if I was being sarcastic and they hung up on me which that place has done to my husband and myself a million times!
So please just stay away from sonny manny auto and u-save auto aka aamco in binghamton on front street!!!
I really regret putting the time and money into that vehicle. I am just glad that I had gotten the baby's carseat out the night before or we would have really been screwed!
We are now taking them to court and trying to fight this. We will also be reporting this to anyone that can help shut them down or at least make buyers aware of the dangers this company is putting on the population of Binghamton and surrounding areas.
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