Complaint Review: Mac Churchill Auto Mall

An employee at Mac Churchill Auto Mall forged 3 policy documents in my name worth $6,095 and sent them to my financing bank for reimbursement to the dealership. They also wrote $2000 dollars of "aftermarkets" into my Buyers Order (which they never gave me a copy of until 11 days after I signed for the car and only when I requested it). A total of $8,095 dollars in my financing contract over the negotiated price of the car packed with policies I did not want ( the policies were a Warranty, maintenance agreement for oil changes that I was told were "free" but are not, Gap Insurance, and a Tire & Wheel policy). I returned to the dealership several times and asked for these products to be removed from my contract as I never wanted any of these. They emphatically said No. So I started asking for the paperwork to all these products and I was given brochures. I returned to the dealership 4 days later and asked my loan officer for my "signed" policies to the Warranty, Maintenance agreement, Gap Insurance and Tire & Wheels policy and he gave me "fine print" to the contracts. So I left the dealership still with no "signed" policies for all of these products. Nobody wanted to give them to me at the dealership. Now we know why. I learned my bank had copies of all my paperwork as the dealership has to send copies of your paperwork to the bank in order to get paid for the car. I just called my financing bank and asked them to send me my paperwork. They sent copies of my Contract, Buyers Order, including my "signed" policy agreements immediately within days. When I received them, I realized I had never seen these policy agreements before and noticed right away that my signature was forged on 3 of the documents. For sure 100% not my signatures and never seen paperwork before now. I notified the fraud department of my financing bank and bank investigators called me back right away within days. I sent Certified letters of my complaint along with the forged copies of the documents to the General manager, Finance manager, and Department manager of the dealership and never heard anything back. Not even from the General Manager who you think you would. Never heard from him. To make a long story short, the Bank investigators were able to recover the $8,095 dollars back from the dealership on 7/15/16 and applied back to my loan. All of this almost 2 months after I bought the car. For further info about cancelling your Warranty, Maintenance agreement (oil changes), Gap Insurance and requesting a refund from the dealership, contact me on Facebook. Read below for further information. Go to Carbuyingtips.com and read up on the scams. I listed some of their tips below. Agencies to notify: 1.) OCCC ( Office of Consumer Credit Commissioners ) Consumer Assistance Hotline: 1-800-538-1579. If you go onto their Web site they will tell you " The department assists consumers who have experienced misrepresentation, fraud, and deceptive practices on the part of the businesses we regulate" This agency is kind of like the cops of the dealerships 2.) DMV ( Division of Motor Vehicles) 1-888-368-4689. Google "DMV complaint form" They regulate the dealerships Business practices and are an enforcement agency 3.) Texas Attorney General (click on Consumer Protection once on the website) 1-800-252-8011. On the web site they say "The Attorney General for the State of Texas protects consumers and the legitimate business community by filing civil lawsuits under the Deceptive Practices Act and other consumer protection statues" 4.) FTC ( Federal Trade Commission) they take consumer complaints. There is an online complaint form 5.) State Bar of Texas (Lawyer referral) 1-800-252-9690 If you want to cancel your Warranty, Gap Insurance, Maintenance, you must ask for a "Request for Cancellation" form at the dealership. It says right on the top of the form "Request for Cancellation" ( may be called something else at another dealership) Make sure it is filled out correctly with date and signature and very importantly get a copy for your records. Let me repeat, get a copy for your records. Request a cancellation before 2 months as the money starts to get prorated if the dealership does not fax the cancellation request to the administrators of these products. You will not receive a refund. You can call the administrators of the products yourself to see if the cancellation request was faxed over to them. Ask customer service if your paperwork was received. You can take the copy of the request for cancellation form and fax it yourself to these companies just in case the dealership does not. Also notify the dealership and administrators of these products your intention to cancel by sending a certified letter them asking for a cancellation with date and time, signature and take to post office and send it certified. ( when filling out the certified paperwork for your letter, say yes to receiving back the green card and keep for your records as proof). Keep records of sll your communication and the names of people dates and times. Also, it is a good idea that if you did want a warranty, maintenance agreement or Gap insurance, call the administrators of these companies after two months of your signing your contract to see that the dealership did indeed send your paperwork and money to these companies. If the dealership did not send the paperwork then you are not covered. Also, you must know exactly what you are covered for in the warranty. Don't just be "told" what you are covered for, you must have something to read that tells you what you are covered for. If the part of your car isn't listed in the paperwork that you want to be covered for, then you are not covered. You must be very careful what Warranty companies you choose as they are all not created equal. You may have to use original parts for your car when being repaired in order for your car to be under Warranty. You may also have to have all your timely service checks to be done or sometimes these Warranty companies will not cover major systems that break down. Make sure you have signed copies of these policy agreements with your signature. Make sure you are signing for a warranty on a used car if that is what you want. Make sure your warranty wasn't switched out for a maintenance agreement instead as this can happan with unscrupulous dealerships. Read everything carefully in the finance office as this is where things like "packing" your contract with unwanted products that will cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars. Always get a copy of your contract, and Buyers Order when you buy a car. Make sure you have the following paperwork before you leave the finance office or don't take possession of the car. 1.) Motor vehicle Buyers Order 2.) Motor vehicle retail Installment Sales Contract Do not leave the dealership without your paperwork. There are no excuses not to get your paperwork immediately when you sign. Don not ever sign a blank contract( even if it is late at night). If you asked to sign a blank contract then leave the dealership immediately. Once again, there are no excuses why you cannot have your paperwork you just signed!!! Ask to sign your Buyers Order first as this should contain the price of your car. You want to see the price of the car. That is the first thing listed on the Buyers Order. . Go over line by line the figures. Get your copy of this as soon as you sign. No excuses accepted as to ehy you cannot have a copy. If they don't want to give you copies, then just refer to my above complaint as to why that may be. If the paperwork from the Buyers Order is withheld from you, then don't sign the contract. When you sign the contract get your copy handed to you right then and there. Make sure there are no blanks in the contract, every line should be filld in.. Make sure your interest rate is correct and the amount of months you are financing is correct along with your monthly payments are correct And most i portantly make sure you see a Bank approval from the bank that you were told that just accepted to finance you. Do not take anyone's word that you are financed until you see the bank approval paperwork. The Finance Office is where everything can go wrong with your contract. Any Promises to fix your car, or anything should be written into your contract. If it is not written in your contract, then it isn't going to be repaired as the dealership is under no obligation unless it is written! Better yet, Don't buy a car that needs repairs. Look to make sure the Check engine light is not being covered up if it is on. Check your treads on your tires for plugs, your rims for cracks. Have the car put on a lift and check underneath for rust. Check floorboards to make sure your car is not wet or damp from flooding. Make sure everything works on the car before you buy the car if you are buying it as is. Don't buy a car that has rattles or makes engine or air conditioning noises. And most importantly run a Carfax report or an Autocheck report to check for accidents. Don't take anyone's word that the car was not in an accident. Get the VIN number from the windshield and do your own checking on the car from your phone. Have your used car checked by an auto mechanic independently before you buy it if you can. Walk away from a dealership that will not let an independent mechanic look at your car. It may save you thousands of dollars of undisclosed needed repairs. Take a copy of your driver's license to give to the dealership if they insist on having a copy of your license before you test drive. You run the risk of your credit being checked with your driver's license from an unscrupulous dealer. Most likely you will get pressured into signing a form that lets them check your credit, but what are you gonna do if they ask for this before you test drive? Make sure if they take your driver's license that you ask for it right back. You are in a better place of not being taken advantage of if you secure your own financing before you go to a dealership. Always know what your credit score is before you go to a dealership so you can compare it to the score the dealership pulls. You will avoid being told your score is lower then it really is. Also, if you pull your own score it will not lower your fica number like when a dealership pulls your score. All of this information is found from car buying tips and sites