Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/27) */
On 6/19 customer came in and bought a 2013 Nissan Altima. They worked with Jason [redacted] (salesmen) and knew what they were going to get for their trade and knew what they were paying for the new car. They signed off on what we call a "recap of...
customer proposal" saying they were purchasing the new car for $17,480 and they were given $5250 for their trade. Reid [redacted] (new F&I Rep) went through their paperwork and made an error and accidently put that they were going to have a $4000 down payment. When Reid [redacted] went over the paperwork he went through all of the lines of the purchase agreement. He said "we should be at 12,715.90 less your down payment of $4000 you would be at $8715.90 which is what I need you to write the check for today". Reid assumed that since $4000 down was put in the deal, the salesmen and manager had collected it. Customer signed and wrote 2 checks to make up the total of $8,715.90. It wasn't until the deal went through accounting (2 days later) that it was realized that no one had collected the $4000 down payment.
Reid called Amy three times over the course of the next three days. She never responded to any of the messages. After 3 days Reid sent an email to Amy asking her to contact him as soon as possible (I forwarded that email to you already).
Her boyfriend, who was not on the deal or title or any paperwork, called Reid and asked for Dustin (F&I Director) a few days later. He called Dustin's cell phone number and said - "it's not my problem that you guys screwed up on the paperwork, we paid the amount that he told me to pay and we wrote it in two checks and you cashed both checks and now this is your problem, not mine. And I am going to sue you for damages because my wife has drive 2 hours twice to title the vehicles and you aren't legally supposed to take the state sales tax." He also said, "the $4000 was my discount for paying cash is what Reid said". Reid did not say that nor is that our policy. Dustin offered to come get our vehicle, give him his money back. Customer's boyfriend said if you bring my trade back I will do that. Dustin said well our attorney will be in touch with you.
We had wholesaled the vehicle, but I was able to purchase the vehicle back for $500 more than I sold it for. So I went ahead and purchased the car back because the customer had indicated that they would just trade back and we can be done with this whole thing.
I have been trying to call the customer for several days and on Sunday 7/26 around 5:00 she called me back. I was not able to answer the call, but I called her back about 15 minutes later, she didn't answer. I got a call from her around 8:00 a.m. this morning. I told her I had her trade back and I would like to get this figured out so I can get our car back and we can undo this deal. She said she didn't want to do that she wanted to keep the new car. I told her then I would need $4000. She wouldn't agree to that. We went back and forth for several minutes. She told me Reid had screwed up so he should give me the $4000. I explained that he was new and it was just miscommunication and that was not an excuse, but we were not doing anything shady because she signed off agreeing to the purchase price and trade price. I told her I needed some compromise. She said she would pay $1000 if I sent her title today. I said I would overnight the title if I could get the money today. She gave me her credit card number and authorized me to put $1000 on the credit card.
I have done that and overnighted the sales tax to South Dakota as she had requested.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/27) */
On 6/19 customer came in and bought a 2013 Nissan Altima. They worked with Jason [redacted] (salesmen) and knew what they were going to get for their trade and knew what they were paying for the new car. They signed off on what we call a "recap of...
customer proposal" saying they were purchasing the new car for $17,480 and they were given $5250 for their trade. Reid [redacted] (new F&I Rep) went through their paperwork and made an error and accidently put that they were going to have a $4000 down payment. When Reid [redacted] went over the paperwork he went through all of the lines of the purchase agreement. He said "we should be at 12,715.90 less your down payment of $4000 you would be at $8715.90 which is what I need you to write the check for today". Reid assumed that since $4000 down was put in the deal, the salesmen and manager had collected it. Customer signed and wrote 2 checks to make up the total of $8,715.90. It wasn't until the deal went through accounting (2 days later) that it was realized that no one had collected the $4000 down payment.
Reid called Amy three times over the course of the next three days. She never responded to any of the messages. After 3 days Reid sent an email to Amy asking her to contact him as soon as possible (I forwarded that email to you already).
Her boyfriend, who was not on the deal or title or any paperwork, called Reid and asked for Dustin (F&I Director) a few days later. He called Dustin's cell phone number and said - "it's not my problem that you guys screwed up on the paperwork, we paid the amount that he told me to pay and we wrote it in two checks and you cashed both checks and now this is your problem, not mine. And I am going to sue you for damages because my wife has drive 2 hours twice to title the vehicles and you aren't legally supposed to take the state sales tax." He also said, "the $4000 was my discount for paying cash is what Reid said". Reid did not say that nor is that our policy. Dustin offered to come get our vehicle, give him his money back. Customer's boyfriend said if you bring my trade back I will do that. Dustin said well our attorney will be in touch with you.
We had wholesaled the vehicle, but I was able to purchase the vehicle back for $500 more than I sold it for. So I went ahead and purchased the car back because the customer had indicated that they would just trade back and we can be done with this whole thing.
I have been trying to call the customer for several days and on Sunday 7/26 around 5:00 she called me back. I was not able to answer the call, but I called her back about 15 minutes later, she didn't answer. I got a call from her around 8:00 a.m. this morning. I told her I had her trade back and I would like to get this figured out so I can get our car back and we can undo this deal. She said she didn't want to do that she wanted to keep the new car. I told her then I would need $4000. She wouldn't agree to that. We went back and forth for several minutes. She told me Reid had screwed up so he should give me the $4000. I explained that he was new and it was just miscommunication and that was not an excuse, but we were not doing anything shady because she signed off agreeing to the purchase price and trade price. I told her I needed some compromise. She said she would pay $1000 if I sent her title today. I said I would overnight the title if I could get the money today. She gave me her credit card number and authorized me to put $1000 on the credit card.
I have done that and overnighted the sales tax to South Dakota as she had requested.