Harrelson Nissan Price of extended warranty was different than discussed amd extended warranty and service plan was financed but was supposed to be interest free Ripoff Rock Hill South Carolina
I bought a 2007 Nisssan Altima from Harrelson Nissan on a Saturday night and they did not have the model and color I wanted so they had to locate one at another dealer. The price had been agreed upon and my wife and I had to go into the finance manager's office to sign paperwork. He wanted to finance for 60 months, but we told him we wanted to finace our amount for 48 months and he said it woul be $399/month. He than stated going over the extended warranty and service plans and said a 6 year, 100,000 mile warranty and service plan would cost us an additional $30/month. I told him I was not sure I needed the service plan since I changed my own oil, so he said if we dropped the service plan it would be $10/month less, but my wife wanted it so I agrred to keep the service plan. He than started getting us to sign the paperwork and they were blank so I expressed to him that I did not feel comfortable signing the papers since there were no numbers written in, since it was like signing a balnk check. He said since they did not have the car I wanted in stock and did not have the VIN, they would have to fill it in later and we coud go over the papers when I picked the car up. I mistakenly signed the papers. He also explained the extended warranty was through Nissan corporation and not a third party deal. When I got home I went to the Nissan extended warranty website to read about the warranty and noticed it was interest free and I also wnet to their payment calculator and entered the base amount I was borrowing and it showed my payments would be $386/month instead of the $399/month quoted to me by the finance manager. So I called the finance manager the next day to discuss this difference and he said we could discuss it when I came in to pick up car. When I went in to pick up the car the finance manager brought the paperwork out to me and gave it to me, instead of inviting me into his office to go over it, since it was blank when I originally signed it. He never offered to discuss the difference in quoted monthly payments until I asked. He explained that he had added the service plan and extended warranty to the selling price and that's how he came up with monthly payments. I explained that I had read on the Nissan extended warranty website that there was no interest on monthly payments for extended warranty and service plans and he indicated I was wrong. I thought well maybe I read something wrong. He seemed to be in a hurry to leave, so I told him I would read website again and look at paperwork and call him if I had questions. When I got home I looked at the website and sure enough I had read correctly that payments on Nissan extended warranties and service plans are interest free. I also noticed that the price for the extended warranty on the paperwork was more than quoted to me at signing. He told me the extended warranty alone would add $20/month to my payments, so since my payments were for 48 months that would mean the price of the extended warranty was $960 (48 x $20). The price for the extended warranty on the paperwork was $1400, $440 more that quoted. I sent an e-mail the same night I picked the car up explaining the increase and interest free warranty and asked them to call me, but they never did. During the buying process I called this dealer 6 times and left message and never recieved a call back. I called to talk to the finace manager and was told it must have been the other finance manager who would be in the next day, but he did briefly discuss the interest free warranty and said that was a separate Nissan warranty deal that required 10% down and payments over 18 months. I asked why this was not explained to me since I was told the extended warranty and service plan was through Nissan he said he didn't know. Can you imagine the number of people who have bought thes plans and did not know that they should have been interest free? I am very unhappy with my experience with this dealer, unless they make some effort to resolve, but even then their intergrity is very questionable to me. They knew there was interest free financing of extended warranty and service plans and did not discuss? And it appears to me $10/month dollars was added to the base loan amount on purpose.
Jerry
Belmont, North Carolina
U.S.A.
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4 Updates & Rebuttals
Jerry
Belmont,North Carolina,
U.S.A.
Rip Off Confirmed
#5Author of original report
Sat, January 13, 2007
I finally talked to the finance manager my wife and I dealt with. He called me a liar about having me sign paperwork that was not fully completed. That let me know for sure that they are a dishonest dealership, because I expressed to the man my displeasure about signing the paperwork that was not completed. He told me he did not offer me the interest free loan on the warranty and service plan because I would have had to pay it off in 12 months, making my payments higher. I told him I would would have opted for that had it been offered, so he just said to make extra payments to pay that portion of the loan off early and save some interest. H ealso denied inflating the original loan payment to make the extended warranty monthly payments seem less. He said I could cancel the service plan and extended warranty if I wanted to after I recieved tham in the mail. (Sure there is a penalty) I have been receiving muliple call from this dealer in the afternoons and they hang up after I answer and don't leave a message if I don't answer. Don't know what that is all about. I love the car, but will not buy a car from another Harrelson dealer. My original complaint was the correct explanation of the ripoff.
Jerry
Belmont,North Carolina,
U.S.A.
Correction
#5Author of original report
Sat, January 06, 2007
I have not talked to the finance manager yet, but after looking at the contract I understand that he did not add to the extended contract and service contract. There was something labelled "Security" fee for $500 dollars which was never discussed with me. So that is why the loan amount was 13 dollars higher than it should have been because he added the $500 security fee to the loan amount, but never told me about it. I originally thought this fee was the service plan but it was combined with extended warranty.
So instead of an additional $440 I first thought was added without discussion, it was $500 dollars. Worse than I thought. The contract has the following statement: "Notice to retail buyer: Do not sign this contract in blank. You are entitled to a copy of the contract at the time you sign. Keep it to protect your legal rights." It also had the statement: "You agree to the terms of this contract. You confirm that before you signed this contract we gave it to you and you were free to take it and review it. You confirm that you received a comletely filled-in copy when you signed it."
So I told the finace manager I did not feel comfortable signing a blank contract and if he had any integrity at all he would have reminded me what the contract said about not signing a blank contract; instead he said we can't fill iot out because we don't have the car yet. He knew what he was doing. I signed a blank check and he added $500 dollars. I was mistaken in signing it, but he was also wrong to not agree when I expressed concern about signing a blank contract, since he knew the contract warned agains it. He knew when I signed the contract I was lying about receiving a "completely filled in copy," although I had expressed my displeasure in doing so,
Mike
Radford,Virginia,
U.S.A.
Legroom...
#5Consumer Suggestion
Sat, January 06, 2007
That's the industry term for what they did to you. They said the monthly payment would be $399 without warranty, which was as you later found out, $13.00 higher than it really would be. So then they tell you that the warranty only costs $20.00 per month versus $399. Actually it adds $33.00 per month to the real payment of $386.
Of course, never sign blank paperwork. Fortunately it didn't bite you too bad here. Really it's best not to sign any paperwork until you've see and test driven the exact particular car you will be buying.
You can cancel the warranty for a refund; it may not be worth it unless it is a full refund. It will be credited toward your loan rather than paid directly to you.
Jerry
Belmont,North Carolina,
U.S.A.
I got an e-mail from the dealer and it reads as follows
#5Author of original report
Fri, January 05, 2007
Hey I got an e-mail from the dealer and it reads as follows:
Its JR at Harrelson Nissan again. I apologize that I did not see that you had purchased a car. Did you ask for me when you came in? Eather way I talked to our finance manager about your warranty. He says that their would have been no interest if it would have been done through Nissan Fin. However you where financed through another primary bank and that does not get you the 0% fin. If you have any further questions please contact Christopher Khole here at the dealership. If I can help further please let me know.
End of E-mail
Well the finance manager told me the warranty was though Nissan, but failed to inform me of the interest free option. I would not have turned down financing of the car and the warranty through Nissan financing. And the finance manager told me 2 days earlier that there was no such thing as warranty and service plan interest free financing.