Acura Of Escondido

Review: I contacted [redacted] at Acura of Escondido regarding interest in leasing a 2015 RDX. after some back and forth interaction, he gave me a written offer on a lease deal via email. We made an appointment on Saturday, January 3 at 9:30am to close the deal. When I arrived, I was told the deal was no longer feasible due to a change of manufacturer incentives that ended on Friday. They then tried to sell the vehicle at a different and higher price. I have all the interactions and offers made documented on email, which I showed to [redacted]. Despite written agreement, Acura of Escondido continued to not offering a deal. I had driven 30 miles up for a deal that was a lie so shortly after, I went to Kearny Mesa Acura to close the lease purchase.Desired Settlement: Since both Acura of Escondido and Kearny Mesa Acura are owned and operated by Penske, I would like to request Penske to honor the written deal presented by Escondido and provide a refund on the new lease I signed at Kearny Mesa. It is dishonorable and unethical to make deals to customers on paper and retract without warning.

Business

Response:

Our salesperson asked the customer to come in on Friday 1/2/15, as the factory offer on the vehicle she was interested in (a 2015 Acura RDX) was expiring that day. The customer arrived on Saturday 1/3/15 and was told the deal could no longer be honored as the offer had expired. Please see the attached Acura bulletin regarding the vehicle she was interested in.

Our Client Relations Manager reached out to her with an e-mail as well.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

I have attached a copy of the email correspondence I had with Acura of Escondido. On Friday, January 2 at 4:59pm, [redacted] wrote about a deal that he wanted me to come in on Saturday, January 3 to close. This is highlighted below in red:Lucy:

I have a smoking deal for you on an AWD RDX. With the $800 due at

signing that you mentioned, I can offer this vehicle to you on a

36-month lease, with 10,000 miles per year, for the incredibly low

payment of only $358.37 plus tax! That’s lower than the previous price

you were quoted for a 2WD. Please let me know if you will be here in

the morning to complete the deal.

His reference of whether I will be at the dealership in the morning meant very clearly that the deal would still be upheld on Saturday. That prompted me to then reply that I will be at the dealership at 9:30am on Saturday to close the deal. All of these correspondences are documented in the attached email chain. [redacted] also acknowledged this when I showed him his email agreement on Saturday that he made an offer that cannot be upheld due to miscommunications about the expiration of an incentive. Per the Uniform Electronic Transaction Act (UETA) that California adopted in 1999, all email correspondences can be deemed as a legally binding contract. To provide a mutually accepting offer via email and over the phone on Friday night for me to come in on Saturday to close that deal and then retracting that deal when the customer arrives to the dealership is not acceptable and breaks the contractual agreement via email per the UETA.

Regards,

Lucy Curtin

Business

Response:

When my salesperson, [redacted], comes to work on Thursday I will reveiw with him. If indeed he says the deal was ok'd for Saturday, and [redacted] would not lie to me, I will look to make an adjustment. All know that if they lie to a customer to make a deal they can work somewhere else but if they make an honest mistake I will correct it and move forward. I will be contacting [redacted] after I speak to [redacted].

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

I agree that an internal discussion with [redacted] to understand intent is the right managerial action from a dealership perspective. However, from the email thread provided in my previous reply, it is clear that an offer was made in writing and that it was a deal that was set to be closed on Saturday, January 3. Regardless of whether the intent was a mistake or a lie, an agreement was breached and I expect a resolution for that breach. I will give you until Thursday to speak with [redacted] but I do not see how the intent of the action changes the result that an agreement was breached.

Regards,

Review: On June 15, 2015, Acura of Escondido offered to purchase my 2011 Acura MDX for $25,500. I singed papers and turned over the car to the dealership. They were to pay off my loan at [redacted] ($24,296.84) and send me a check for the balance ($1,203.16) As of today (July 31, 2015) the loan has been paid off, but the balance remains unpaid. I was told initially to expect 3 weeks before receipt of the check. I last spoke to [redacted], who represented himself as the manager of the dealership on Monday 7/27/2015. He apologized and said he'd check and get right back to me. Have heard nothing. I'm being stiffed by this dealership and believe they should not only pay me for my car, but be punished for their unprofessional behavior. Sincerely, [redacted]Desired Settlement: Acura of Escondido owes me $1,203.16, plus interest from June 15, 2015. Pay me. Additionally, they should be called out for their unprofessional behavior to a long time Acura owner and customer.

Business

Response:

I am very sorry that we did not get back to the customer. My sales manager should have followed up with his word to call back. He went on vacation but that is no excuse he could have left a message for someone else to call. We have mailed a check on the 28th. The reason for the delay was the time in receiving the title from the credit union. I believe we explained to the customer that we could not mail the check until we received the title. If the customer was told it would take three weeks again I apologize for that. We should never give information like that because we don't know how long it will take to receive a title. Our mistake was a communication mistake and again for that I am very sorry. Please inform the customer that he can call me at any time and that he should receive the check soon.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. We received the check for the balance yesterday, August 3, 2015.I did, however, check with [redacted] for the dates of the various steps from their records. Not surprisingly, they told a different story than Acura of Escondido. [redacted]'s records show the following: (Again, I turned the vehicle over to Acura of Escondido on 6/15/2015); [redacted] received payment from Acura on 6/25/2015; The DMV paperwork was sent to Acura on 7/4/2015. We won't be doing business with Acura of Escondido again. We're driving a [redacted] now.

Regards,