Ramsey Mazda Sales Manager Jeff Falk Unlawful Practices Ramsey New Jersey
On Saturday October 1, 2005 my son and I looked at a used car Ramsey Mazda had on their lot, after test driving the car, the sales rep told my son and I that we could 'hold' the car with a $500 deposit until my husband could take a look at it on Monday. The sales representative said they were "not in the business of taking anyone's money" and that the $500 was refundable and the paper (contract) wasn't really worth them paper it was written on anyway.
Knowing that, by LAW, I had 3 business days to cancel ANY contract, I decided to hold the car until Monday. On Monday, October 3rd my husband and I visited Ramsey Mazda so he could look at the car. My husband decided at that point he did not want our son to have that car and we cancelled the contract with the sale person.
The sales manager Jeff Falk came over and asked us why we didn't want the car, we explained our reasons and he then got beligerant and said "why did you come here then?" he told us "I had my guys wash and wax the car and get it ready" - I explained that while my son and I thought it would have been a nice car my husband who was not with us on saturday has decided it wasn't a good purchase for him. Jeff then told my husband and I that we "needed to learn how to communicate better with each other"
(a saleman AND a marraige counselor all wrapped up in one nasty package) and as if that wasn't offensive enough he then said "Well I have $500 here that says you bought a car" ..... I lost it at that point and told him not to give me any of his salesman 101 B.S. and that I knew I was within my rights to cancel that contract.
We left the dealership, followed by Mr. Falk's sales rep who apologized profusely for his manager's bad behavior. The following morning I faxed a confirmation of this cancellation to their dealership.
SURPRISE!! Not really, to find out that they ran my credit card for the $500 the following day on October 4th. My husband just called the dealership and Mr. Falk has no memory of us and told my husband he needs to speak to a regional manager.
The saga continues .....
Kathy
Lyndhurst, New Jersey
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Michael
Barnegat,New Jersey,
U.S.A.
Getting your money back...
#2Consumer Suggestion
Fri, October 07, 2005
Getting your money back is simply a case of calling and calling and calling until they finally just give it back to you. It's not worth the $500.00 for them to have to put up with you constantly badgering them into giving it back. Ultimately they will return your money to you.
But to clear up this misconception, yet again, there is NO 3 day right of recision as it pertains to contracts to purchase automobiles. The 3 day recision only exists in the event someone comes to your home and sells you something. If you go to someone's place of business and purchase something, it's yours. The 3 day recision law was placed on the books to combat door-to-door salesmen preying upon housewives back in the 50's. The Kirby Vaccuum cleaner guy shows up and won't leave until the woman buys something. She buys it and hubby raises holy hell when he gets home. This starts a big row with the customers, the company, the salesman, and ultimately courts dealing with people trying to sue each other over a vaccuum cleaner. The law was passed to combat exactly this.
You going to a car dealership and signing a purchase order for a car is a completely different story. If you agreed to buy it, then the dealer can potentially attempt to force you to do just that.
That said, no dealership in the world is ever going to bother going to court to try to get you to sign the rest of the paperwork and forcibly try to make you take delivery. I would suggest simply calling the dealership and speaking with the General Manager or the owner of the store. Calmly (CALMLY!!!) explain the situation, that your husband isn't interested in completing the deal, and that you would like for your deposit to be refunded. Don't threaten this manager with law suits, court actions, picketing the dealership, or anything along those lines. Just explain everything in a poised and professional manner and they will most likely refund your money quickly with a swipe of your credit card (most likely you will have to go into the dealership for them to do this).
Car dealers, unfortunately, are a hard-bitten lot. If you approach them in an adversarial manner, they'll be more than happy to respond in kind. If you approach them matter-of-factly and in a relaxed manner, you'll get a lot further with them.
Again, I'm not saying this practice is right (my dealership doesn't take 'hold deposits' for exactly this reason), but I'm only trying to tell you the simplest way to get past this and move on to purchasing a car somewhere else.
Good luck!