I looked at a vehicle that was for sale and expressed my concerns and hesitation with the salesman. To ease my mind, he agreed to have some additional repairs done on the vehicle if I would put a deposit of $500 down to hold the car. I clarified that if I should decide not to purchase the vehicle, I would still be able to get my deposit back. The salesman was made well aware of my hesitation and that is the reason he offered the deposit option as well as a second opinion after his shop went back and steamed the engine, passed emissions and put a new battery in it. The condition of the vehicle he was trying to sell wasn't terrible, but for $3000.00, it could have already had these things done. Having felt assured with the security of a deposit of $500.00, after being given a "receipt" that was written on a blank sheet of company notepad paper, I left. The next day, about 2 hours before I was to pick up the car, something came up and I not only decided but was more or less unable to purchase the vehicle, according to law, and there was no way I could change that. I am not a licensed driver in AZ, my license was revoked and I am in the process of reinstating it. Unfortunately, when I informed the gentleman of the situation, he was immediately upset at me because of all the time and money he lost as a result of me not purchasing the vehicle. He attempted to deny me a refund of $500. I expressed my apologies and offered to give him $40 for his time since the situation was out of my control and he offered to give me 1/2 of my deposit back. He told me that the deposit was only refundable if he failed to make the repairs. This was not how he positioned it the day before, otherwise I would not have given him a dime. After he argued with me for 5 minutes, he agreed to give me $400 of my $500 deposit back.By this time I felt terrible and agreed because $400 is more than the $250 he attempted initially, saying his time is worth more than $40, as if to say by that logic, my time is worth -$40. He gave me the $400 cash but only after I gave him his "receipt", which I have already photocopied, and I left the establishment. I feel like this guy just strong armed me out of $100 that I worked extremely hard for, not by scamming struggling single mothers trying to find a deal on a used car. The guy doesn't realize that I lost money traveling all over town spending my time to look at a car that wasn't even clean inside and was burning oil inside the engine and needed a battery. I thought $3000 would have been plenty of money to buy a vehicle with a decent battery in it.
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