Complaint Review: Honda Cars Of Katy

What follows is the complaint (Complaint ID# 91094730) as I reported to the BBB in October 2008:

I purchased an Accord from this dealership in June, 2008. I was told that Honda had coordinated with XM radio and that there would be 3 months of free XM service as a promotion with purchase. A month and a half after I bought the car, the XM shut off.

I called the dealership but they could not explain why. At the beginning of October, 2008 my wife finally looked into purchasing a subscription package for the car's unique radio ID. In the course of doing this she uncovered that another individual was registered with this radio ID for the 90 day free trial and could see that individual's information online (name, address, phone, etc).

My wife spoke with XM about this on the phone and learned this other person had the 3 months trial activated for that unique radio ID by the dealer sometime in May 2008, 6 weeks or so before we bought the car. We've been trying to work with the dealer to determine what happened. Had someone else bought it and returned it?

I have previously been the victim of identity theft and this left me uneasy. After several separate communications the dealership verbally assured me over the phone that they had documentation showing that the car and the radio ID had not previously belonged to someone else. They indicated their records showed that the woman began the process of buying the car but it was never sold to her. They also promised to provide me that documentation but have yet to deliver on that promise. Phone calls and emails yield further promises from them that they will send me by the "end of the day" the requested proof that my car was not previously sold and returned.

I have not heard from them in over a week and they refuse to respond to any further emails. What I view as their purposeful failure to provde me with the promised proof that the car was indeed "new" leaves me now not only concerned that I may have been defrauded by this dealer by them selling me a used car as "new", but I am still fearful for being at risk for my personal information being publicly exposed.

In November after the above complaint was sent, the BBB contacted me to say that it took them 3 attempts to contact the dealer but the dealer had finally responded to say that they had just sent me the documentation. I waited for several days but never received the documentation. I indicated back to the BBB that the dealer's response was not satisfactory.

Today, December 18, 2008, I was again notified by the BBB that the dealer had responded. Their new response was that there is no documentation to provide to me other than the fact that this vehicle has never been titled to anyone other than me and that that proves the car was new.

I again indicated to the BBB that I was not satisfied with the dealer's response and provided them the following reason:

I do NOT accept Mr. Galik's response, nor his explanation. He is now indicating that there simply is no documentation to send to me despite that for months and months he insisted he had it and would provide it to me. He even went so far as to respond to you, the BBB, in his previous communication with you that he had indeed just sent me copies of that documentation...and now he says the documentation doesn't exist?? There is no dispute that it was the dealership that activated my radio for someone else ~6 weeks before I bought it. This activation could only have occurred when someone from his dealership activated it because the odds of someone else in the whole of the United States "accidentally" activating our ID for someone who ironically had an address just a few blocks from us, and within a mile or two of their dealership is absurd. When I discussed this with them, they agreed and then claimed to have found all the documentation that showed how that activation occurred and that it proves that my car hadn't previously been sold to someone else. The only reason for them to activate the radio is/was because someone had purchased, or was in the process of purchasing, that car. It is a ridiculous notion at best that there are no records of this, and an insult to me to insist there are none. The question now is why lie? There is ONLY one explanation why they would lie and NOT provide me copies of those records...they have something to hide. The only thing they could conceivably want to hide is that the car was in fact sold to someone else before me and their records show that.

When this tug of war for the records began, it occurred to me that there were signs I should have recognized that the car wasn't new off their lot. After purchase we executed an inspection of the vehicle with the salesman before we "took ownership" and drove off the lot. They'd just washed and cleaned the car and this had revealed to us a number of minor scratches on the body in multiple places and some dings and small cracks in several places on the windows. They kept the car to repair all this and called in a glass company to fix the windows. They stated that those little "marks" were just from the car sitting on their lot for as long as it had and having been test driven. I have the records and the "We Owe" cards they created to work those fixes to prove my statements. I also have records showing that the car did not have the original MSRP sticker and despite asking them for it, it was a battle with them to find it or get me a copy of it (they claimed that the salesmen were just always misplacing them). Isn't an original MSRP sticker required for the sale of a new car? Isn't it supposed to be fixed to the window? In hindsight, I probably should have just told them to keep the car after those issues, but my wife really loved the car and insisted these were all just "honest" mistakes and would all be taken care of. They did fix the scratches and cracks and eventually got me a "copy" of what is supposed to be the MSRP sticker. I should have followed my instincts, but allowed myself to believe they were being honest with me. That is, until we learned that the radio was activated for someone else well before we looked at the car. All of these things put together are too much to ignore.

The burden of proof is on them. Prove to me you did not sell me a used car as new, Mr. Galik. I am trying to resolve this in as reasonable a manner as possible, but I will not go away and will not accept any response other than one that provides me with copies of those records.

Frank
Katy, Texas
U.S.A.