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Dealership messes deal up, cusomer is now screwed.
#1
07-30-2006, 06:39 AM
Dealership messes deal up, cusomer is now screwed.
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/...p?q=BILL+HEARD
NewsChannel 5 Investigates:
Dealership Doesn't Like Deal, Takes Car Back
Posted: 7/17/2006 9:55:00 PM
Updated: 7/17/2006 11:23:17 PM
Car dealers are often the butt of jokes. But one local truck buyer is not laughing about the deal that he got -- and lost. Consumer advocates say this case raises lots of questions about how a well-known auto dealer does business.
Earl Kieselhorst thought he owned a 2003 Chevy Silverado -- a truck that he bought from Bill Heard Chevrolet in Antioch.
Kieselhorst says he "paid cash for it. Made the deal. Sales manager signed off on it. Signed all the paperwork. And drove off."
He traded in his car and gave the dealer a check for $8,100.
"I have the keys," Kieselhorst tells NewsChannel 5 investigative reporter Jennifer Kraus.
But he doesn't have his truck.
Bill Heard does.
"I can't see any reason why this wouldn't be my car," he adds.
Just one day after he bought the truck, a salesman from Bill Heard called to say the dealership was having second thoughts about the deal.
He told Kieselhorst that if he wanted to keep his truck, he needed to fork over another $10,000 -- something he refused to do. After all, he says, they had a signed deal.
But the next morning, when Kieselhorst woke up, his truck was gone.
"And I was like I can't believe it," he recalls.
The dealership had come and taken it in the middle of the night.
"I've got a contract. This is a legal contract. I don't know what to say. I don't know what to say."
Metro police investigated and wanted to file charges against Bill Heard for stealing the truck.
Detective Ray Paris got a statement from Bill Heard, blaming a rookie salesman for what happened and calling it a mistake. (Read the statement given to police by Bill Heard.)
"They inadvertently sold the vehicle at a lower cost than what they should have," Paris says.
Kathleen Calligan says the Better Business Bureau has received literally hundreds and hundreds of similar complaints about the Bill Heard dealership -- more complaints by far than any other auto dealer in all of Middle Tennessee.
"Not only is this an unbelievable volume of complaints, most of them are unresolved," she adds.
Calligan says that, in this day and age, dealers know exactly how much a vehicle is worth.
And if a dealership truly does make a mistake, she says they'll take the loss -- rather than call the customer and demand he make up the difference.
"There is absolutely no reason for a sale not to be final when the customer walks out of the dealership," Calligan adds.
Yet even after Bill Heard had taken back the truck, the salesman called Kieselhorst again.
"He calls me back and offers to sell it to me for $11,000 more than I paid for it," Kieselhorst recalls.
Kieselhorst said no way.
And even though he still believes he is the rightful owner of the truck, when we went looking for it at Bill Heard, we found a customer checking it out. It was for sale, the customer and a saleswoman told us.
"The whole thing has just gotten more and more ridiculous," Kieselhorst says.
And now the self-proclaimed largest Chevrolet dealership in the world is accusing Kieselhorst of "trying to pull a fast one" on them.
"This is the way this company does business," Calligan says. "They really thought they would be able to pull a fast one on their customer."
After we tried to get their side for days, Bill Heard faxed us a statement just before air time, saying that Kieselhorst "should have known" that the deal he got was too good to be true.
The company says:
"It is not reasonable or fair to expect for Bill Heard Chevrolet ... to be bound by a sale where a clear and material mistake was made, and the customer was aware that it was a mistake."
(Read Bill Heard's statement provided to NewsChannel 5.)
Kieselhort says he just thought Bill Heard was giving him the type of good deal they advertise.
As for the police investigation, the DA says this is a civil case, not a criminal case. He says Kieselhorst is free to take the dealer to court -- something he's now seriously considering.
Transcript oh what dealer told TV station I cannot copy and paste it since it is in a PDF file
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/...Hstatement.pdf
I think that the dealer should just eat the cost as in the end this is going to make them look really bad.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates:
Dealership Doesn't Like Deal, Takes Car Back
Posted: 7/17/2006 9:55:00 PM
Updated: 7/17/2006 11:23:17 PM
Car dealers are often the butt of jokes. But one local truck buyer is not laughing about the deal that he got -- and lost. Consumer advocates say this case raises lots of questions about how a well-known auto dealer does business.
Earl Kieselhorst thought he owned a 2003 Chevy Silverado -- a truck that he bought from Bill Heard Chevrolet in Antioch.
Kieselhorst says he "paid cash for it. Made the deal. Sales manager signed off on it. Signed all the paperwork. And drove off."
He traded in his car and gave the dealer a check for $8,100.
"I have the keys," Kieselhorst tells NewsChannel 5 investigative reporter Jennifer Kraus.
But he doesn't have his truck.
Bill Heard does.
"I can't see any reason why this wouldn't be my car," he adds.
Just one day after he bought the truck, a salesman from Bill Heard called to say the dealership was having second thoughts about the deal.
He told Kieselhorst that if he wanted to keep his truck, he needed to fork over another $10,000 -- something he refused to do. After all, he says, they had a signed deal.
But the next morning, when Kieselhorst woke up, his truck was gone.
"And I was like I can't believe it," he recalls.
The dealership had come and taken it in the middle of the night.
"I've got a contract. This is a legal contract. I don't know what to say. I don't know what to say."
Metro police investigated and wanted to file charges against Bill Heard for stealing the truck.
Detective Ray Paris got a statement from Bill Heard, blaming a rookie salesman for what happened and calling it a mistake. (Read the statement given to police by Bill Heard.)
"They inadvertently sold the vehicle at a lower cost than what they should have," Paris says.
Kathleen Calligan says the Better Business Bureau has received literally hundreds and hundreds of similar complaints about the Bill Heard dealership -- more complaints by far than any other auto dealer in all of Middle Tennessee.
"Not only is this an unbelievable volume of complaints, most of them are unresolved," she adds.
Calligan says that, in this day and age, dealers know exactly how much a vehicle is worth.
And if a dealership truly does make a mistake, she says they'll take the loss -- rather than call the customer and demand he make up the difference.
"There is absolutely no reason for a sale not to be final when the customer walks out of the dealership," Calligan adds.
Yet even after Bill Heard had taken back the truck, the salesman called Kieselhorst again.
"He calls me back and offers to sell it to me for $11,000 more than I paid for it," Kieselhorst recalls.
Kieselhorst said no way.
And even though he still believes he is the rightful owner of the truck, when we went looking for it at Bill Heard, we found a customer checking it out. It was for sale, the customer and a saleswoman told us.
"The whole thing has just gotten more and more ridiculous," Kieselhorst says.
And now the self-proclaimed largest Chevrolet dealership in the world is accusing Kieselhorst of "trying to pull a fast one" on them.
"This is the way this company does business," Calligan says. "They really thought they would be able to pull a fast one on their customer."
After we tried to get their side for days, Bill Heard faxed us a statement just before air time, saying that Kieselhorst "should have known" that the deal he got was too good to be true.
The company says:
"It is not reasonable or fair to expect for Bill Heard Chevrolet ... to be bound by a sale where a clear and material mistake was made, and the customer was aware that it was a mistake."
(Read Bill Heard's statement provided to NewsChannel 5.)
Kieselhort says he just thought Bill Heard was giving him the type of good deal they advertise.
As for the police investigation, the DA says this is a civil case, not a criminal case. He says Kieselhorst is free to take the dealer to court -- something he's now seriously considering.
Transcript oh what dealer told TV station I cannot copy and paste it since it is in a PDF file
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/...Hstatement.pdf
I think that the dealer should just eat the cost as in the end this is going to make them look really bad.
#3
07-30-2006, 12:11 PM
RE: Dealership messes deal up, cusomer is now screwed.
wow that's messed up. If the dealer doesn't have their junk together, they shouldn't even be selling cars. That's one serious mistake on the dealership's part, but that's no way to treat a customer, especially after making the deal! I can't imagine how many customers they will lose now.
If he makes enough noise, this will cost them more than the 11,000 they undercharged him.
If he makes enough noise, this will cost them more than the 11,000 they undercharged him.
#4
07-30-2006, 07:09 PM
RE: Dealership messes deal up, cusomer is now screwed.
In the end it doesnt matter, its a signed contract that constitutes a legal and binding agreement, based on that the guy who bought the car regardless of the cost of the car owns it based on the contract that was signed. Then on top of that, it isnt a civil case, it turns into a case of car theft which is at the very least a misdemeanor. On top of that if he has a slip saying how much he paid already and how much it was to cost him, that is tied to the contract that they both signed. The fact that there a crap load of cases that havent been sorted out against that place just makes me glad i dont live in tennesse ^_-
#5
07-30-2006, 08:14 PM
Been Around A Long Time Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: In The Desert ( Sahara ? )
Posts: 4,754
RE: Dealership messes deal up, cusomer is now screwed.
I am sure that there are a few lawyers HECK all the lawyers , licking their chops ready and willing to take this case ........
#6
07-31-2006, 01:53 AM
RE: Dealership messes deal up, cusomer is now screwed.
Theres a very, very big mistake from the dealership. If you ever want to stay in business, you should know the customers that can make you rich can just as soon make you poor. If they would have simply realized they made a mistake and dealt with losing a minimal $10k, they wouldn't be being publicized as criminals. More than likely that company will be taking some big loses in sales in the future.
#8
08-02-2006, 11:53 PM
RE: Dealership messes deal up, cusomer is now screwed.
alright who was the peroson who voted "the dealership is right" ?
#9
08-05-2006, 12:06 AM
RE: Dealership messes deal up, cusomer is now screwed.
I don't agree at all with what the dealership did. Really I'm not suprised. I would be interested in finding out how many people have had a great car dealership to buy cars from where they haven't been cheated. I did want to add that in the state of nc a contract can be voided within three days after the signing of the contract. Maybe Tenn. has the same regulations.
#10
08-05-2006, 01:55 AM
RE: Dealership messes deal up, cusomer is now screwed.
the buyer can void the contract within 3 business days, not the seller