Richard Chrysler Jeep Dodge Buyer Beware! Run, don't walk away from this sleezy Dealership! Saint Charles Illinois
July 14, 2008 we went to Richard Chrysler Jeep Dodge in St. Charles, IL to look at the new Dodge Challengers. We were very interested in purchasing one, however, they did not have any 2008's (first edition only Dodge only built 6400 and all were sold out) so we placed an order and put a deposit down on a 2009 Challenger. This dealership required a $5000.00 deposit, I thought that was a lot for a deposit and Bob Perri the Sales Manager explained the large deposit was because the car was expensive and they wanted to make sure that we were going to purchase the car. We wrote a check for $5000.00, when we received our receipt, Mr. Perri had written on the receipt that this deposit was non-refundable, stupidly we signed the receipt.
We really wanted a Challenger and all the 2008 models that other Dealerships had, were selling for $5000.00 to $15,000.00 over sticker price, this was too much for us to pay. We thought we would never be able to buy a 2008 without the inflated sticker price.
We were wrong, my brother in laws' brother, works for a Dodge dealership in Chicago and told us he would sell us a 2008 Challenger for just a little above sticker price. We went and saw this Challenger, fell in love with it and purchased it.
August 6, 2008 We called Richard Chrysler Jeep Dodge and spoke with Bob Perri to cancel our order for the 2009 Challenger, Bob informed us that our deposit was non-refundable but would speak with the owner of the dealership to see if we could get our deposit returned. We went out of town on vacation on August 8th, we were hoping that the dealership would call us while we were away. Wrong, no messages or calls from them.
August 20th we called the dealership again and spoke with Bob Perri who told us that the owner Rocco Masserelli refused to refund our deposit.
August 21st called and left a message with the owner of the dealership Rocco Masserelli to call us back. He never bothered to call us.
August 22nd, we called Rocco Masserelli again and left a strongly worded message to return our call. Later that day, he did call us back and flatly refused to return our deposit.
August 25th Called a left Rocco Masserelli a message informing him that we are filing a complaint with the Illinois States Attorney's Office and were also lodging a complaint against him with the Chrysler Corporation. Again, he didn't care and did not return our call.
The dealership was supposed to do a credit check on us and get back to us with a VON (vehicle order number) or a VIN (vehicle identification number) which would verify that Chrysler had accepted our order. After repeated phone calls, Richard Chrysler was unable to produce either of these numbers. This proved to us that our order had not yet been accepted by Chrylser and the car had not begun to be built.
Richard Chrysler was not out a penny! This made us very angry so we hired an Attorney to try to get our deposit back. This was way too much money to lose! We did manage to get $4000.00 of the $5000.00 returned to us, but we did have to pay an Attorney to get it back.
When we went to the dealership to pick up our check, we found out that it had been printed, but Rocco Masserelli did not sign it. We had to go back a few days later to pick up the signed check.
Richard Chrysler is a sleezy, filthy, dealership, with absolutely no customer service. This is the kind of business that gives car dealerships in general a bad name.
If you do happen to go in there, look around, please take note of the squeaky ceiling fan near the offices. When I was there, the toilet in the bathroom was stopped up and overflowing onto the floor!! It was gross!
If you are planning on buying a Chrysler, Jeep or Dodge, do not purchase a car from Richard Chrysler, run away from this pack of thieves!!!
I'm writing this to warn other potential Chrysler, Jeep or Dodge purchasers in Illinois to stay away from this dealership. We learned a very hard and expensive lesson and I hope nobody else gets ripped off by this company!!
Anonymous
Carol Stream, Illinois
U.S.A.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Red Neck
Glen Ellyn,Illinois,
U.S.A.
Maybe they deserve each other.
#4Consumer Comment
Tue, May 26, 2009
It looks like customer knew what he was pledging to when he made the unusually large deposit, and possibly wanted to renege on that pledge with no legal basis. On the other hand it looks like dealer had possibly not invested or committed anything at the point the customer wanted out, and it would not have hurt him to cancel the back order with Chrysler and return the whole thing or else eventually take delivery of the hot model car and sell it at the premium it was supposedly commanding. It may be salient that the limit for small claims court claims in Illinois is high enough that if there was something truly wrong in the deposit agreement, customer could have gotten his entire deposit back via small claims court without need to pay an attorney.
Karl
Clovis,New Mexico,
U.S.A.
Why a Deposit?
#4Consumer Suggestion
Tue, March 10, 2009
I've ordered cars before and pay absolutely nothing until the car arrives. I then pay for the car and drive home. It takes me 10 minutes to order the car and probably 20 to pick it up. Sometimes I order it by phone. I would never agree to a non refundable deposit in any case. The whole complaint falls apart when the buyer admits that he has a relative with a Chrysler dealer. Why didn't he check with him first? I can understand the dealer's request for a deposit but $5,000 seems a little high. The Challenger like the Camero and other retro cars have a strong buying surge at first and six months down the line will be sold at less than MSRP like everything else especially if it exhibits the Chrysler Corporation's historic lack of reliability. The buyer should have waited. Why is the Challenger considered so expensive according to the dealer? From what I can see it ranges from the mid 20's to to mid '30's. Certainly not a Bentley.
Rocco Massarelli
St. Charles,Illinois,
U.S.A.
Clarification of the Facts
#4REBUTTAL Owner of company
Tue, March 10, 2009
As the owner of Richard CJD (a family owned business for the past 30+ years) I felt compelled to respond to this review. Please note: I welcome all feedback from our customers and any constructive suggestions on how we can better our services always.
I am not going to rebut the accusations point-by-point, date-by-date, but simply state the facts:
1) Anonymous did in fact order a Challenger from us that needed to be built based upon his "unique" specifications. This would not have been a vehicle that we would have built/ordered to carry in our inventory knowing what the overall Challenger client base was buying/wanting at that time.
2) We were not asking them to pay $5k - $15k over MSRP (as other dealers may have been per their statement). We agreed to sell it at little profit OR an even better price depending on the program that would be going on at the time of their delivery.
3) Yes, we did ask them to sign a binding contract stating this deposit was non-refundable because if they had "buyer's remorse" or encountered a financial strain prior to delivery we would be the ones paying fees/finance charges on a vehicle that we simply did not want to have to carry and try to find "the right buyer" for this unique car.
4) We would never complete a Factory Order and accept a deposit without completing a credit application to begin with.
5) Clearly, while waiting a family member employed at a Dodge dealership elsewhere was able to sell them another vehicle. Why going to his brother-in-law's brother in the first place was not an option is not for me to know, but it does raise questions.
6) Once contacted by Anonymous' attorney we offered a very fair settlement: Once the vehicle was sold we would refund the remaining balance of the deposit less fees/floor plan interest, etc...which we estimated would be $1000. Anonymous was not willing to wait so we agreed to simply refund $4000 and provided him with his check.
As for the rest of Anonymous' recollection of the events I will simply state that I stand behind the legacy established by my father more than 30 yrs ago, am confident in how I conduct myself, how I and my staff strive daily to provide a pleasant and fair buying experience to our customers and provide excellent customer service throughout the entire dealership...and look forward to doing so for many years to come.
Respectfully submitted,
Rocco Massarelli