What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?
California
Last month I was car shopping and decided on the model and options that I wanted. When asked, I told the salesman that I would agree to purchase the new car in question that day if the options I wanted could be added. The car is a 05' Infiniti G35 Coupe. The options the dealership agreed to add in exchange for my down payment was a spoiler and a sunroof. There was the usual haggle business and it was determined that in order to have my payments in my acceptable range with the options I wanted to have added to the car, I would need to put down an additional $2k on top of the $5k I previously agreed to. To recap, I agreed to purchase the new car with the understanding that the "optional sunroof" and "optional rear spoiler" would be added by the dealership at a later date.
The day of purchase was Thursday, May 19th 2005. I dropped my new car off the following Monday May 23rd, 2005 for the installation of the optional equipment. I drove the car home that night. I brought it back to the dealership the following Monday morning, signed the service agreement which outlined the work to add the options, and I was given a loaner car to drive while they did the work. This work, I was told, would take a couple of days and the dealership would call me when the car was ready. By Thursday of that week, I had not heard from the dealership so I called to get an update on how things were going. The service department employee I spoke with said that my salesman should have called me to explain a problem they were having installing the aftermarket sunroof. This was the first time I heard the term "aftermarket" in reference to the sunroof to be added to my new car. There had been no discussions on the warranty for neither the sunroof nor the operation of the sunroof. I was lead to believe that the "optional" sunroof package to be added to my new car would look and act in the exact same fashion as a car that was shipped from the factory with a sunroof. There was no distinction made between the two. I made it clear that I was not properly informed and asked to speak to the salesman. The salesman was not in and neither was the sales manager. The service department person I was on the phone with told me that he would leave a message for the salesman, the sales manager and the manager of service to call me that day when they got in to explain what was going on. I did not receive a call that day. The following day, Friday May 27th, I called back and spoke with the service manager. He explained to me that if the car did not come from the factory with a sunroof, then an aftermarket sunroof would be bought and installed. The issue they were having was finding a sunroof and an installer. The curvature of the car's roof provided some problem. Again I expressed my concern that this information was not shared with me prior to the purchase of the car and since the sunroof was a selling point for me, I would not have chosen to purchase the car had I known it was "aftermarket" and not warranteed fully through the manufacturer. I was promised a call again by my salesman and/or the sales manager that afternoon. Again, I did not receive any further communication from the dealership that day. The next day I received a call from the sales manager. He explained again the policy of aftermarket sunroofs and continued to explain the issue they were having locating a sunroof/installer to do the work. He said that they had contacted several installers in the San Diego area and none of them had the sunroof to fit and could not do the work. I told him that was not acceptable so he said that on the following Tuesday he would call one more place that he was sure would be able to do the work and he would call me that afternoon. I received no communication from the dealership that Tuesday or the following Wednesday. I called late Wednesday afternoon and the sales manager was not around, neither was the salesman or the service manager. I called again Friday June 3rd. I demanded to speak to a manager and spoke with the service manager. I wanted to know the status of the sunroof installation. I was told the sales manager would call me. I received a call that afternoon from the sales manager stating that he had called the installer and left a message inquiring if they could install a sunroof of my liking but had not yet heard from them. He promised to call me no later than 9:30am the following Monday morning. The following Monday morning at 9am the sales manager called and told me that he still had no answer from the installer company so he was going to call them that morning. I did not hear back from the dealership until Thursday morning. I was told the sunroof company would be able to do the install but the work wouldn't begin until the following Wednesday. I asked if I could come down to the dealership and pick up the car to have over the weekend and was told they would have it ready by noon.
Thursday at noon, I went to the dealership to pick up my car. It was not there. They sent a mechanic and a service person to some warehouse where my car had been housed before the original attempt to install a sunroof. After an hour and a half I was told I could take my car. The car was filthy, dusty and dirty and smudges all over the pedals on the driver side. I asked that the pedals be cleaned before I took the car and then noticed gouges on the leather paneling on inside of the driver side door. I pointed them out to the service representative and he acted surprised. Well yeah. They were not there when I inspected the car 3 weeks prior. I told the service rep that I was not going to accept the car at this time and I asked to see the sales manager. The sales manager inspected the damage with me and said that they would warranty the door and replace it. He mentioned making up for all the trouble I've been through by discounting future car services. I had reservations about taking this car at all at this point but upon the sales manager's request, I was going to give them a chance to "make it right". I left the car there and went to lunch. I decided that I need some assurances from the dealership in order to proceed down this road so I called the dealership back and made an appointment with the sales manager for the following day. The next day (Friday June 10th) my girlfriend and I attended the set appointment with the sales manager. He reiterated that they would warranty the damaged door, get a "better than factory" sunroof installed the following week, and for my troubles he would have the car Teflon coated and warranteed(the Teflon coating) for 4 years. Again I expressed strong reservations to this. My girlfriend asked what if I was not happy with the sunroof after install. What would the dealership do? The sales manager told us he and the dealership were committed to customer satisfaction and said that he would do whatever it takes to make me happy. My girlfriend asked about the possibility of just finding another car that matched the agreement, with the agreed upon options, and re-working the deal. The sales manager said that "un-winding" the deal was a possibility but he didn't want to address that until after the sunroof was installed. But if that's what he had to do, he would do it. Once again, I agreed to give the dealership the opportunity to "make it right".
Thursday June 16th I received a call from the service manager who stated that the sales manager asked him to call and explain that the sunroof install would not go forward because the installer feared they would damage the car. They didn't have the proper kit or tools to do the work right. I was told the sales manager would be calling me that afternoon. That afternoon I received a call from the sales manager and he explained the same thing the service manager did that morning. I told him that I no longer wanted the car and I wished for the dealership to take it back and "un-wind" the deal. The sales manager asked that I first come in and speak with the General Manager of the dealership. I met with the General manager and sales manager the next day, Friday June 17th. The General manager said this was the first he had heard of any of my issues and asked me to recount the entire story to him. Which I did. Then he asked what I wanted and I said I either wanted the car I agreed to purchase, with the equipment I understood to be purchasing, or I wanted my money back. He said that he was going to investigate the sunroof issue and call the company in Japan that Infiniti uses to do factory installs. He would call me the following week.
That night, I submitted a complaint to the BBB of San Diego. I received no communication from the dealership until I called on Wednesday looking for an update. I spoke to the sales manager who said he would go and talk to the General manager and call me back. That was my last communication with them until this morning. I called and spoke with the General manager. He had no news on a sunroof package from Japan and could offer no status. I offered that I would take the car, as-is today, with no sunroof and would be complete with this entire ordeal if they would refund me $5k of the $7k I put down. The General manager repeated my refund request, said thank you and hung up with no further word.
I wanted a new car. I am now the owner of a car that is not a reflection of the contract or the agreement and I am not happy. I was lead to believe I was getting something I would and could not get, and still have not gotten. This obviously has not been a happy new car buying experience. I get that no one ever promised me that. However, they did promise goods on which they have not delivered. My question is do I have a sufficient cause to enact legal action against them?
I appreciate the time you spent reading this drama and look forward to a response.
Thanks.
California
Last month I was car shopping and decided on the model and options that I wanted. When asked, I told the salesman that I would agree to purchase the new car in question that day if the options I wanted could be added. The car is a 05' Infiniti G35 Coupe. The options the dealership agreed to add in exchange for my down payment was a spoiler and a sunroof. There was the usual haggle business and it was determined that in order to have my payments in my acceptable range with the options I wanted to have added to the car, I would need to put down an additional $2k on top of the $5k I previously agreed to. To recap, I agreed to purchase the new car with the understanding that the "optional sunroof" and "optional rear spoiler" would be added by the dealership at a later date.
The day of purchase was Thursday, May 19th 2005. I dropped my new car off the following Monday May 23rd, 2005 for the installation of the optional equipment. I drove the car home that night. I brought it back to the dealership the following Monday morning, signed the service agreement which outlined the work to add the options, and I was given a loaner car to drive while they did the work. This work, I was told, would take a couple of days and the dealership would call me when the car was ready. By Thursday of that week, I had not heard from the dealership so I called to get an update on how things were going. The service department employee I spoke with said that my salesman should have called me to explain a problem they were having installing the aftermarket sunroof. This was the first time I heard the term "aftermarket" in reference to the sunroof to be added to my new car. There had been no discussions on the warranty for neither the sunroof nor the operation of the sunroof. I was lead to believe that the "optional" sunroof package to be added to my new car would look and act in the exact same fashion as a car that was shipped from the factory with a sunroof. There was no distinction made between the two. I made it clear that I was not properly informed and asked to speak to the salesman. The salesman was not in and neither was the sales manager. The service department person I was on the phone with told me that he would leave a message for the salesman, the sales manager and the manager of service to call me that day when they got in to explain what was going on. I did not receive a call that day. The following day, Friday May 27th, I called back and spoke with the service manager. He explained to me that if the car did not come from the factory with a sunroof, then an aftermarket sunroof would be bought and installed. The issue they were having was finding a sunroof and an installer. The curvature of the car's roof provided some problem. Again I expressed my concern that this information was not shared with me prior to the purchase of the car and since the sunroof was a selling point for me, I would not have chosen to purchase the car had I known it was "aftermarket" and not warranteed fully through the manufacturer. I was promised a call again by my salesman and/or the sales manager that afternoon. Again, I did not receive any further communication from the dealership that day. The next day I received a call from the sales manager. He explained again the policy of aftermarket sunroofs and continued to explain the issue they were having locating a sunroof/installer to do the work. He said that they had contacted several installers in the San Diego area and none of them had the sunroof to fit and could not do the work. I told him that was not acceptable so he said that on the following Tuesday he would call one more place that he was sure would be able to do the work and he would call me that afternoon. I received no communication from the dealership that Tuesday or the following Wednesday. I called late Wednesday afternoon and the sales manager was not around, neither was the salesman or the service manager. I called again Friday June 3rd. I demanded to speak to a manager and spoke with the service manager. I wanted to know the status of the sunroof installation. I was told the sales manager would call me. I received a call that afternoon from the sales manager stating that he had called the installer and left a message inquiring if they could install a sunroof of my liking but had not yet heard from them. He promised to call me no later than 9:30am the following Monday morning. The following Monday morning at 9am the sales manager called and told me that he still had no answer from the installer company so he was going to call them that morning. I did not hear back from the dealership until Thursday morning. I was told the sunroof company would be able to do the install but the work wouldn't begin until the following Wednesday. I asked if I could come down to the dealership and pick up the car to have over the weekend and was told they would have it ready by noon.
Thursday at noon, I went to the dealership to pick up my car. It was not there. They sent a mechanic and a service person to some warehouse where my car had been housed before the original attempt to install a sunroof. After an hour and a half I was told I could take my car. The car was filthy, dusty and dirty and smudges all over the pedals on the driver side. I asked that the pedals be cleaned before I took the car and then noticed gouges on the leather paneling on inside of the driver side door. I pointed them out to the service representative and he acted surprised. Well yeah. They were not there when I inspected the car 3 weeks prior. I told the service rep that I was not going to accept the car at this time and I asked to see the sales manager. The sales manager inspected the damage with me and said that they would warranty the door and replace it. He mentioned making up for all the trouble I've been through by discounting future car services. I had reservations about taking this car at all at this point but upon the sales manager's request, I was going to give them a chance to "make it right". I left the car there and went to lunch. I decided that I need some assurances from the dealership in order to proceed down this road so I called the dealership back and made an appointment with the sales manager for the following day. The next day (Friday June 10th) my girlfriend and I attended the set appointment with the sales manager. He reiterated that they would warranty the damaged door, get a "better than factory" sunroof installed the following week, and for my troubles he would have the car Teflon coated and warranteed(the Teflon coating) for 4 years. Again I expressed strong reservations to this. My girlfriend asked what if I was not happy with the sunroof after install. What would the dealership do? The sales manager told us he and the dealership were committed to customer satisfaction and said that he would do whatever it takes to make me happy. My girlfriend asked about the possibility of just finding another car that matched the agreement, with the agreed upon options, and re-working the deal. The sales manager said that "un-winding" the deal was a possibility but he didn't want to address that until after the sunroof was installed. But if that's what he had to do, he would do it. Once again, I agreed to give the dealership the opportunity to "make it right".
Thursday June 16th I received a call from the service manager who stated that the sales manager asked him to call and explain that the sunroof install would not go forward because the installer feared they would damage the car. They didn't have the proper kit or tools to do the work right. I was told the sales manager would be calling me that afternoon. That afternoon I received a call from the sales manager and he explained the same thing the service manager did that morning. I told him that I no longer wanted the car and I wished for the dealership to take it back and "un-wind" the deal. The sales manager asked that I first come in and speak with the General Manager of the dealership. I met with the General manager and sales manager the next day, Friday June 17th. The General manager said this was the first he had heard of any of my issues and asked me to recount the entire story to him. Which I did. Then he asked what I wanted and I said I either wanted the car I agreed to purchase, with the equipment I understood to be purchasing, or I wanted my money back. He said that he was going to investigate the sunroof issue and call the company in Japan that Infiniti uses to do factory installs. He would call me the following week.
That night, I submitted a complaint to the BBB of San Diego. I received no communication from the dealership until I called on Wednesday looking for an update. I spoke to the sales manager who said he would go and talk to the General manager and call me back. That was my last communication with them until this morning. I called and spoke with the General manager. He had no news on a sunroof package from Japan and could offer no status. I offered that I would take the car, as-is today, with no sunroof and would be complete with this entire ordeal if they would refund me $5k of the $7k I put down. The General manager repeated my refund request, said thank you and hung up with no further word.
I wanted a new car. I am now the owner of a car that is not a reflection of the contract or the agreement and I am not happy. I was lead to believe I was getting something I would and could not get, and still have not gotten. This obviously has not been a happy new car buying experience. I get that no one ever promised me that. However, they did promise goods on which they have not delivered. My question is do I have a sufficient cause to enact legal action against them?
I appreciate the time you spent reading this drama and look forward to a response.
Thanks.