Car Dealer Issues With Contracts - What Should I Do?

Lbizarredeal on 21/04/2016 - 11:35
Last edited 23/04/2016 - 11:43

Hi everyone,

Summary of the story:
- Went to a car dealer to purchase a car.
- Salesman printed out initial contract - signed and validated it and paid $500 deposit for a car costing $X.
- The warranty guy tried to sell me a ridiculous warranty, was not interested but was pestering me.
- Finally he said he can do me a deal for $2000. I told him I will think about it from home and get back to him.
- He agreed and asked me to initial the first page of the contract on a newly printed contract, however I did not sign the last page of the newly printed contract paper which was printed exactly 1 hour later. (The documents are timed)
- I had already organised finances prior.
- I am in possession of the original contract and the newly formed contract.
- I gave the details of the $X amount to the financiers.
- The car dealer issues the invoice to them with $X+2000.
- The finance guy has been an absolute help in this matter and says that since I hold 2 contracts they cant do this to me.
- The dealers are now saying I chose the warranty and therefore I need to pay up the latest amounts.
- I was not given a policy of the warranty nor does it say anywhere it is a warranty, instead it says protection plan B on the invoice with no other information.

Other points:
- They have been rude to me since then, the email correspondences show blatantly.
- I was hurried and rushed into initialing the front page of the newly formed contract.
- We agreed on the spot that I will go home and decide.
- The warranty guy tried to snatch the original contract from my hand and I was firm in saying I need this.
- They barely get in touch with me.
- The email correspondences were across all parties. But the salesman finally decided to email me saying he wants to help me and said he will talk to the higher management as he wants this car be sold. And since then no response too.

  • They have been dishonest, rude and treated a customer in many wrongs ways and now they are trying to force a sale of a so called warranty on me.

I am not backing down - and requested for the initial invoice to be issued so that finances can be sorted and I can pick up the car.

Could you guys please share your;
Thoughts? Opinions? Suggestions?
Is there anything else I could be doing?
I have also initiated a complaint letter to ACCC.

If there is anything else I can explain please let me know.

Thanks in advance.

————————————Latest: updated on 23/04/2016—————————————————

I phoned the Dept of Commerce and they had a specific automotive division who advised me.
- The second initial on the page does not form a contract.
- Ignore what they say.
- Get in touch with the dealer principal (GM)
- Take it from there, no resolution means I can write an official complaint to the Dept of Commerce with all the evidence.

So, following this, I called the GM and spoke to him (Thu 21st April). He seemed to be concerned at the point and conferenced called the after care manager.
He said he will get back to me the same day.
He in fact called me back COB the same day to say that if I do not wish to do business with them he is happy to cancel the contract and provide me with the refund.
I said I will call him the next day (22nd Friday) and inform of the decision. I called him the morning to accept his offer of walking away with the refund.
He said the finance guys will get in touch regarding the refund soon.

Friday 22nd I saw the car appear on car sales as I was looking at cars - this is moments after I called him. After a few hours the car was not available due to being SOLD.

Now I have the correct contract at hand and the car has been sold and I have not been informed of the refund yet.
I emailed him COB 22nd that I have not been contacted yet and looking to get the refund sorted ASAP.
Now awaiting on their response.

Automotive

Comments

  • psyren89 on 21/04/2016 - 11:43
    +2

    Tear up your contract and walk away. Whether you get your deposit back is another matter (check the contract before you tear it up).

    Do you actually want to complete your business transaction with them given what you've described?

    • bizarredeal on 21/04/2016 - 11:57
      • I would like the $500 deposit.
      • I would love not to complete the business transaction if I can walk away with 0 losses. But I would most definitely like to make a point and bring them out to the public and name and shame them.

      Thanks

      • npc on 21/04/2016 - 12:00
        +2

        How did you pay the deposit? If CCd - make their life more difficult and initiate charge back with your bank.

        • bizarredeal on 21/04/2016 - 12:02

          yep it was through my credit card.

          How can I do this?

        • npc on 21/04/2016 - 12:12
          +1

          @bizarredeal: Call your bank. Tell them that one of your transaction if not legitimate and you would like to initiate the chargeback. Tell them the truth that dealer charged you for something you don't want.

          Then it will be a dealer's pain to prove the validity of transaction.

        • bizarredeal on 21/04/2016 - 12:13

          @andyvolk: Ok I will get on to that as well. Thanks and appreciate your response.

        • bizarredeal on 21/04/2016 - 12:14

          @Cheap Charlie: Thanks, hope its along the lines of this. Will follow up.

  • Cheeper on 21/04/2016 - 11:50
    1. Talk to the car salesman first and ask for it to be sorted.
    2. If no joy then ask to speak to the dealership manager in person.
    3. If no joy then inform the car salesman that you are lodging a complaint with DOFT and do it.
    • bizarredeal on 21/04/2016 - 11:58
      1. Already spoke and awaiting his response.
      2. I will do this next.
      3. What is DOFT? I have heard of ACCC and they have sample templates for lodging complaints.

      Thanks

      • psyren89 on 21/04/2016 - 13:58
        +1

        Department of Fair Trading?

        • bizarredeal on 21/04/2016 - 14:17

          Thanks for that. It turns out to be Dept of Commerce that I need to get in touch with. They have a dept for automotive issues too.

    • bizarredeal on 21/04/2016 - 12:00

      Hi thanks for your response.

      I paid $500 deposit.
      How can the police help with this matter?
      I will try to get them to response.

      And yea no doubt I want to name and shame them as part of this. I have been belittled by them and the phone calls have been cut off while I am speaking to them. And the emails are as rude as asking me to pay up.

      • npc on 21/04/2016 - 12:01

        What is the problem with naming the business here? Afraid they will sue you for the damaged business reputation?

        • bizarredeal on 21/04/2016 - 12:03

          I have no issues at all, firstly I wanted to finalise my deal with these jokers. The dealership is Carbox - Morley.
          I can tell all their names and even attach the correspondence anywhere as I don't have much to lose.

        • bizarredeal on 21/04/2016 - 12:06

          Thanks I will inform the police regarding this in the form of fraudulent transaction to see if they can assist in anyway.

  • npc on 21/04/2016 - 11:54

    Do yourself a favour, don't buy 2nd hand cars from the dealers. There are plenty of offerings off the auctions with no useless pushy saleseman selling you virtual warranty - only you, vehicle and a lady to accept your payment.

    I'd write them a demand to return the deposit and void the contract based on that they violated blah-blah-blah (write something up) otherwise you're reporting them to (whoever is regulating stealerships).

    • bizarredeal on 21/04/2016 - 12:02

      I wish so too. Somethings are learned the hard way. I would like to walk away with my deposit at this point but definitely naming and shaming them however I can do this.

      • bizarredeal on 21/04/2016 - 12:12

        Thanks
        https://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/announcements/rockingham-car-…
        There has been warranty issues in the past as can be seen in this post.

        The so called "warranty" they are trying to push on to me is no where in the paperwork is called warranty and its called protection plan B which I don't even know if it covers what they said verbally it covers. They probably lied all the way to make the extra bucks on the transaction.

        • spackbace on 21/04/2016 - 13:15

          There has been warranty issues in the past as can be seen in this post.

          For one, different dealer, for another, that's someone telling a customer that they don't get Statutory Warranty, which is illegal to do. Please don't get confused between the 2 situations here.

        • bizarredeal on 21/04/2016 - 13:38

          @Spackbace: Ok will do. Thanks.

  • spackbace on 21/04/2016 - 13:02
    +11

    I'm a Perth based car salesman, not with that dealership though (thankfully!), with a major dealership backed by a major company, so hope I can be of some help here.

    Now there's a few ways you can go about it, really depends on whether you want to buy the car or not from them.

    First method (Don't want the car from them):
    You buy a car from another dealer, obtain finance, complete deal
    Go back to dealer A, say you can't obtain finance now, get deposit back

    (Side Note - I'd probably recommend not getting the car - if this was how they do business, I'd hate to see how their after-sales service is)

    Second method (want the car):
    You point out that the second contract isn't completely signed, therefore not legally binding.
    Tell them you're prepared to push this further if they like, but the law will side with you
    Say you want the car, not the warranty which was never agreed on.

    There's possibly other methods I can't quite think of right now. I wouldn't push for ACCC just yet, nor would I push a credit card chargeback just yet…

    Feel free to PM me and you can feel free to email me a copy of the docs if you like (I don't mind if you blank out your own details) and I can help.

    Side note, the dealer you bought from are a vehicle wholesaler, so they can be pretty ruthless and not exactly customer oriented. Their job is just to sell the car, regardless of post-purchase customer service.

    • bizarredeal on 21/04/2016 - 13:36

      Hi, thanks and really appreciate your response.
      I really don't mind getting the car from them because the car is a 2014 Corolla and it has a balance of manufacturer warranty until 07/2017. So I don't think I should be worried about the after sales.

      I was not aware of the first method. I will talk to my financier and see if he can help me with this as such I can go ahead that way and say the finance didn't go through.

      While I got you, they sold me a protection plan and was never really gave me a copy of the "warranty" or any other information so I don't know how valid their claim is.

      Thanks and will PM you the correspondence based on how it develops.

      At this stage I have said I want the car and not the warranty. The last email they say is that I will have to pay 15% of the entire cost which I don't agree to as I am still wanting to purchase the vehicle.

      Again thanks for your response Spaceback

      • spackbace on 21/04/2016 - 13:42

        the car is a 2014 Corolla and it has a balance of manufacturer warranty until 07/2017

        Surely there must be tons of those around? Was it privately owned or ex-rental/ex-fleet? Did you check the log books?

        While I got you, they sold me a protection plan and was never really gave me a copy of the "warranty" or any other information so I don't know how valid their claim is.

        That's fine, warranty paperwork gets drawn up just before delivery

        The last email they say is that I will have to pay 15% of the entire cost which I don't agree to as I am still wanting to purchase the vehicle.

        Sounds like they think you want out of the whole deal, hence pulling the 15% line.

        I just want to see the paperwork to see whether they dotted all their i's/crossed their t's :) Could be a simple way out if they haven't covered all their bases

        • bizarredeal on 21/04/2016 - 13:52

          It's an ex-rental from AVIS as they mentioned and all servicing is up to date on the log book.

          So is it fair for me ask for the warranty at this point?

          I have clearly stated that I want to purchase the car and not the warranty so yea.

        • spackbace on 21/04/2016 - 13:58
          +1

          @bizarredeal:

          It's perfectly fair for you to not purchase the warranty but purchase the car. The problem is that places like CarBox don't leave margins of profit in their cars. They purposely sell them for the cheapest possible, to beat out competitors online, to then make their profit from warranties and finance. Which is why they're being so ruthless now.

        • bizarredeal on 21/04/2016 - 14:15
          +1

          @Spackbace: Thanks spaceback, appreciate your response. At this point I want to be as ruthless as possible mainly because they have cut me off on the phone and been rude on the emails. I have proof of this.

          I spoke to the dept. of commerce and it seems pretty straight forwards from here. They asked me to get in touch with the Dealer principle and they also said to get a complain to the DOC when ready (i.e after informing them about it all).

          I would like to send you my correspondence to have a look but I cant imitate a PM as I am new (member as of today). I always knew of the awesome community here and benefited in many ways and never thought I will get help in this form before I could be of a contributor in the form of putting up deals.. :|

        • spackbace on 21/04/2016 - 14:26

          @bizarredeal:

          Try turning on your PMs in your account and I'll see if I can message you at least

        • bizarredeal on 21/04/2016 - 14:39

          @Spackbace: Cool done that. I still cant initiate though. Will see if I receive from you.
          Thanks

        • spackbace on 21/04/2016 - 14:40

          @bizarredeal:

          PM sent

        • bobbified on 21/04/2016 - 15:41
          +1

          @bizarredeal:

          I hope you know the risks of buying an ex-rental - although they're likely to have been serviced regularly, there's a very high possibility that they've been abused. They've been driven by lots of people with varying degrees of driving ability and care.

      • spackbace on 21/04/2016 - 13:40

        Spackbace, I recall you may have mentioned in a previous post in WA there is a cooling off period?

        Nope, I would've said there is none :)

        What did I miss? How did you conclude the above?

        OP named them - CarBox. I know of the dealership

  • CLoSeR on 22/04/2016 - 12:49

    They always try the hard warranty sell and paint protection crap after sale; sounds like the 2k covers some type of inhouse premium warranty.

    Talk to them, if you want the car but don't want the warranty be straight about it.

    They don't want to lose a sale over warranty, and you don't want to lose the deposit.

    • bizarredeal on 23/04/2016 - 11:25

      Thanks I have updated the post on the latest happenings. Cheers.

      • spackbace on 23/04/2016 - 11:28

        You have..? Or you're about to? :P

        • bizarredeal on 23/04/2016 - 11:45

          having some issues with internet today. haha its all good now.

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