Having purchased a 2003 Nissan Xterra 8 months ago from Planet Nissan, when my husband and I decided the vehicle did not suit our driving needs, we returned to Planet Nissan to see about trading it in. Hindsight being 20/20, we felt that what we were paying on the vehicle wasn't worth what we were getting. Planet Nissan stuck us with a disreputable finance company who lost our first payment and despite showing documented proof the company cashed our check, it took the threat of legal action to get them to actually credit our payment five months after they received our funds! But THAT is another rip off report to add to the already long list for Long Beach Acceptance Corporation in Orange, CA.
Planet Nissan was a new dealership, less than a month old, when we purchased the Xterra. We did receive very friendly service and were not plagued with the horror story of getting a phone call a week later telling us we needed to put more money down. While we were overcharged for the vehicle and written up with a lot of extra fees and charges, we did sign the paperwork and silently congratulated Planet Nissan for making suckers out of us. We went into that deal blindly (by not knowing the value of our trade or the value of the car we were purchasing). Now, eight months later and armed with knowledge about our existing vehicle and the one we wanted to purchase, we felt that there were no tactics Planet Nissan could take to sucker us into another bad deal. A little kindness goes a long way, so despite the after the fact realizations we had about the Xterra sale, we decided to give Planet Nissan another shot at our business.
The salesperson we dealt with before, Lester Patton, was now a manager. So we were assisted around the lot by a different salesperson by the name of Austin Wang. We had originally gone to the dealership to look at a used GMC Yukon they had advertised on their website, only to be informed that the vehicle (which was nowhere to be seen) was not available because it was subject to a pending sale. It happens, we supposed. We began to discuss the trade in value of our 2003 Xterra. The vehicle was inspected and a Kelly Blue Book value run. We were informed that they would allow us $14,100 for our trade. A ludicrous number for the condition of the vehicle! We were actually offered a better trade in value at Land Rover Las Vegas on West Sahara (out of all of our dealings, this is the only dealership which was professional, courteous and HONEST. Unfortunately, we were unable to come to a deal on the GMC Yukon we were looking at there). I immediately balked at the ridiculous offer on our trade, and Lester asked me to please wait and rushed off to a back office. When he returned a few minutes later, he agreed to up the value to $16,500 beating Land Rover by $500. So my husband and I agreed to check out their inventory. We looked around and decided to test drive a 2001 Dodge Durango with an asking price of $19,998. We test drove the vehicle, received no over the top sales pressure at all during our experience. Everything was so far, so good. We returned to the sales floor and determined that our trade in value, the asking price of the vehicle and taking into consideration our negative equity, we were unprepared to make a deal right then and there. We were told to expect a down payment of $1000 and possibly the requirement of a cosigner because of poor credit. We told Lester that we would call him the following day after we worked out whether or not we could come up with that amount for a down payment.
The following day, my husband returned to the dealership. Although it would be tight, we did like the Durango and would deal with the loss of $1000 of our income over the next month in order to get this car. Because of the negative equity in our Xterra, my husband was informed by Lester that the bank would only allow $20,100 in financing. So in what we thought at the time was an incredible display of excellent salesmanship, Lester took $4100 off the asking price. However, the $1000 down payment we were quoted the night before became a $2500 down payment to cover the excess created by the negative equity versus the amount they would give us for the trade. My husband called me at home to inform me of this news, and was chided by Austin Wang, the salesperson, about my husband being the head of the family and why was he calling his wife when he should be the man and make the decision on his own. My husband looked at him and said don't even go there, and Austin backed off of his sorry attempt at on the spot sales pressure. With the down payment now being more than double what we originally thought, we had to delay the paperwork so we could work out whether or not we would be able to come up with this kind of money on the spot. At this time, Lester informed my husband that since we had purchased a car there before, they wanted our repeat business and would accept a post-dated check for three weeks to ease the burden. He also said because of my husband's low credit rating, we would require a cosigner.
For the next two days, we desperately scrambled for a way to come up with the $2500 in the three week time frame. We were able to determine that, while it would be tight, we would be able to do this. Unfortunately, however, we were unable to find a cosigner. I called Lester to find out if the $2500 was the final, definitive amount and how to work around the lack of a cosigner. My calls were immediately taken and answered. I was also told by Lester that if we bought a newer vehicle, the financing would be easier because banks were more willing to cover negative equity on the trade on a newer car. I told Lester that we couldn't do that Nissan didn't have any new vehicles we wanted.
Separate from the car sale, Lester had decided to let my husband, a computer expert by trade, build him a killer $2500 personal computer system. Lester was to come over one evening to discuss what he wanted and work out a plan to buy the parts. Lester never arrived. I called the dealership the following day to ask another question about the sale, but was told Lester was not available. I did not leave my name or telephone number. When my husband called later the same day from his job (with caller ID there would be no way for Lester to know it was my husband calling), Lester had said he'd forgotten about the previous night. No harm, no foul (little did we know this was Lester's first avoidance of the deal he verbally represented) my husband then made arrangements with Lester the following evening to finalize the vehicle sale. Lester also said we could make the deal without a cosigner, although the interest rate would increase. We decided this was a small sacrifice.
The following day, around 4 pm (two hours before we had arranged with Lester to finalize the sale), I received a call from Sergio at Planet Nissan stating he was returning my call from the other day. The call I did NOT leave a message for, nor had ever identified myself or the purpose of my call. I merely told the receptionist I would try again at a later time but eventually didn't need to because my husband was able to reach Lester when he called from work. The only logical explanation for this is my husband's name and phone number appeared on the caller ID at the dealership and Lester intentionally avoided my call. Sergio wanted to verify that I was the person who called (and not my husband), asked me for my name and my husband's name. He then called me back not 5 minutes later and said if I or my husband had any questions to talk to him. Again, Lester is trying to avoid us! I told him we had plans to meet Lester around 6 pm and Sergio said Lester was here earlier today, but I am not sure he is around now. I thought nothing of this until later, because Lester had made arrangements (or so he told my husband) to be there when the deal was to go down.
We showed up at the dealership at 6:00 and Lester was nowhere to be found. Our paperwork had also mysteriously disappeared. After waiting an hour for Lester (who never showed), we had no other choice but to return the following day.
My husband went alone the following morning. He spoke with Lester who said the paperwork had been lost. My husband, still wanting to make this vehicle purchase, cast aside this set back and said we could give them $500 cash that day and would postdate a check for $2000. Lester disappeared to the back office. When he returned, he said they would only do it for the full $2500 cash down payment THAT day completely opposite of what we'd been informed just days before.
Planet Nissan had conspired against us and at this point, we finally realized it. When they figured out that we would not fall for their new car upsale, they did everything they could, including deception and personal and professional lies, to avoid making the deal that was discussed, agreed upon and approved by management. My husband's last words to Lester were ok, I get the point. The point being Planet Nissan would do everything they could not to honor the verbal agreement. Lester's response, tinged with attitude, Do you?
Oh yes, Lester, we do. Planet Nissan is a disreputable auto dealership (along with the many others I will be writing rip off reports on in the next two days including Courtesy Kia/Isuzu on West Sahara who renigged on the agreed upon sales price of a 2004 Isuzu Ascender, Chapman Dodge on Boulder Highway/Sahara who baited and switched us by informing us that the Durango we wanted to see had the features we were seeking and that working around our credit issues would not be a problem, Gaudin Ford on East Sahara who had unfriendly salespersons and TWO mechanically inferior Ford Expeditions and Towbin Dodge at the Valley Automall in Henderson who above the rest demonstrated multiple deceptive sales practices and tried to cheat us on the value of our trade) who will not honor their agreements when they are unsuccessful in taking advantage of car buyers and coercing them to make purchases of new cars the buyer doesn't want.
Take it from me avoid Planet Nissan and Lyin' Lester and all of their cronies at this dishonorable dealership. You have been warned don't waste your time like they wasted ours. Know the value of your trade and the value of the car you're interested in and if at all possible, bring your own financing but read the sales agreement VERY carefully!
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