King Lincoln-Mercury-Kia, Inc.

Review: I never gave this company the permission to check my credit rating. In fact I specifically requested them not to and they assured me they would not. I had gone to this location to purchase a part for my daughters 2008 VW EOS. Finding the part more expensive to buy than online, I was approached by a salesman on the way out. I was not happy with VW's so the salesman and I looked at KIA automobiles next to this VW dealership. Both appeared to be owned by the same dealer at the same location. The finance lady on duty seemed perplexed that the VW EOS was not paid off even though I never discussed it nor was asked. What also was very disappointing was the price of a trade in was only $7500.00. All other dealers had written trade in amounts of $10,000.00 or more. She said it was because the VIN bar code on the door jamb looked like it had been purposefully disfigured. It was news to me that the barcode with the VIN was even located on this part of the car. I showed her where the VIN is located below the windshield. She said that in Maryland everyone uses the barcode on the door. Having in the recent 72 hours had the car appraised by four other reputable dealers I contacted them to see if they had noticed this disfigurement of the door jamb VIN #. None of the dealers involved with previous appraisals had a problem with the doorjamb VIN barcode and will be more than willing to come forward if I need them to have them validate its condition. So, other than the illegal credit check I believe it must have been the King dealership that disfigured the doorjamb VIN barcode in there outrage of finding out there is still money owed on the VW EOS and an extremely profitable deal they assumed was not what they were going to have.Desired Settlement: 1) a written apology for the unauthorized inquiry on my private credit history

2) a retrieval of the unauthorized inquiry from all 3 credit bureaus

3) either fix damage to door jamb VIN barcode or reimburse expenses to have it done elsewhere.