Car Salesman Saga

This most recent event solidifies my distrust of car salesman. It's a good little tale where the little guy wins (kind of) so you wanna read on!

Sat. July 18th we went into a car dealership knowing exactly what we wanted. And we wanted to utilize the CARS government rebate system where you trade in your "clunker" and get $4500 toward a new car! We agreed on a car and price. We stated that we needed to have the car quickly because I was at home without a car and more importantly I was planning to drive it to Michigan to get to my family reunion (family I haven't seen in several YEARS and none of whom have seen Ella!) The salesman (We'll call him Joe) stated that the government program would be up and running Friday and we could reasonably expect the car Mon or Tues. Fabulous. We put money down and signed.

Friday, the government program was not working so smoothly, no fault there. But the troubles began Friday. Joe never called us back and then when Jason finally got a hold of him, he stated that he could now give us no timeline as to when our "clunker" information would even be submitted to the government. He said he'd keep us updated. We didn't hear from him Saturday, and Monday he wasn't in.

We started to call around to see if this was the norm with this program or if Joe just A)Didn't know what he was doing. B)Was in over his head or C)Was just totally unprofessional.

We heard from two friends who had gone in on Saturday and driven home with their new vehicles. And we found several dealerships that would guarantee us that our information would be submitted the same day we came to the dealership and we'd have our vehicle in 24-48 hours.

Jason called the dealership back and said essentially, "It just seems like you guys are in over your head and don't have this whole rebate system worked out. We know other places that can get it done. Can we cancel the deal?" The associate told us that we could cancel it right over the phone. We decided to do the right thing and wait until Joe was in on Tuesday and talk to him first.

We didn't hear from Joe Tuesday and when Jason finally got a hold of him he had YET to even submit our "clunker" information to the government. Not only that, but he ALSO LIED to us! He told us he had submitted it and we knew he hadn't because he hadn't even contacted our insurance agent to verify that we'd had coverage for a year (and he'd had 1 1/2 weeks to do that at this point). When confronted with that he backtracked and said it was "started" and "in process".

At this point Jason essentially said, "It's Tuesday, you said we'd have the car by now. You haven't even submitted the paperwork. And you're acting unprofessionally in lying! We want to cancel the deal. Please return our deposit." To which Joe replied, "No." Yeah you read that right! HE REFUSED! He then went on to say that we could not cancel the deal if he didn't deliver the car by a certain time. We could only cancel it if he didn't deliver the car for the agreed price. He said not only, would he not return our deposit but he was going to continue to push the deal through so we couldn't go elsewhere! I am LIVID just recounting the story! The gall! The audacity! I have no words!!!

There was then apparently many a word exchanged and much round and round discussion which ended in Jason getting nowhere, Joel continuing with the deal and Jason so mad he was shaking. At which point Jason was resigned to the fact that there was nothing we could do and we just had to wait and hope he gets it done.

Enter Sarah....UH HUH! OH NO YOU DIDN'T! You DO NOT treat me or anyone in my family that way! You DO NOT walk all over me! You DO NOT force my hand! There is NO WAY I was letting it stand at that. There was NO WAY I was giving this man my business. And there was NO WAY I was letting him keep our deposit. After a night of fitful sleeping I was so upset I woke with new resolve.

Today I spent Ella's entire morning nap contacting:
~The Better Business Bureau
~The NH Attorney General's Office
~The NH Auto Dealership Association
~The Federal Trade Commission and
~The National Auto Dealership Association

I then called Mr. Joe when he got in at 12pm and had a little chitty chat with him. I will not recount the details of that conversation. But let's just say he continued to be unprofessional, take no responsibility for his actions and try to run me in circles. Sorry, buddy. You can't run Sarah in circles. I mean business.

Our deposit will be returned to our bank account promptly. The End.