Complaint Review: Auto Gallery Imports - Westbury New York

I am from North Carolina.  I really needed a car and trusted my husband to point me in the right direction.  Bless his heart, he felt he was doing the right thing leading me to Auto Gallery Imports.  He thought we would get "more for our money" by dealing with these guys.  He saw a great car for the price of $28, 900.  Pretty good mileage, still covered under factory warranty, everything looked pretty good. I have never purchased a vehicle before.  This was my first time and unfortunately, I had no one else to trust in this situation.  I am not a trusting person, which is why the following events really make me upset. 

My husband made contact with a salesperson named Rene.  He spoke with Rene about all of the details about the car, had a family member in NY go check out the car for us and set up a time for us to come pick up the car.  Rene told my husband that because his credit is not good, and I was unemployed, we would need a cosigner.  I asked my grandmother to co-sign on the vehicle.  She agreed, knowing that I needed a car, and desperately wanting to help me out.

We went to New York to pick up the car and complete the paperwork.  We arrived in New York at 6:00 p.m.  Rene greeted us, had me to go look at the car, while my Grandmother stayed inside and he went over the paperwork with her.  I quickly checked the car out so I could get back to her side.  When I got back inside, he was having her to fill out the paperwork.  She asked him why I was not filling out anything and asked him to confirm that she is a co-signer on the car.  He informed her that she was going to be the primary and I would be on the loan as well because the interest rate was lower with her.  He told us that after 3 months, the car would come out of her name and be solely in my name.  She agreed to those stipulations and proceeded with the process.   They asked us for $5000 down on the vehicle.  We had $4000 on us, and wrote a check for the other $1,000.  

While Rene had my Grandmother to sign the paperwork, the finance officer, Sam came and got my husband and me to collect the money.  We asked him about the terms in further details and he said that Rene had the paperwork with him and he would put it together once my Grandmother was finished. The car was covered under factory warranty at the time, but would fall out of that warranty shortly.  We asked about an extended warranty, in which Sam told us the warranty would be $3500. We told them that we needed the car payment to be in the $400 range if possible, he told us the best he could do was $395. He said that the car payment would be higher ($595) for the first 3 months until we could change the vehicle into my name.  We finished everything. They said to give them a few minutes to place the tag on the car.  Once they placed the tag on the car, they informed us that our paperwork was in the glove compartment and everything is good to go. They immediately closed up and we left.

Once we rode the car home, we discovered a rough ride. We took it to the local manufacturer dealership to have it checked out.  It was discovered that the wrong tires were on the car.  Auto Gallery apologized and said to forget about the $1000 check we had left for the rest of the down payment since we had to buy new tires.


So here we are: The car price was $28,900.  I put $4000 down on the vehicle. We purchased an extended warranty for $3500.  28,900- 4,000= 24,900+3500= $28,400. The tax rate is 2.083 ($591.57) percent (per the contract) ... I got into the car, looked at the papers and saw that the final price was $35,973!!!! I did not see the paperwork with the breakdown of charges, or the receipt of the down payment.  They were closed the next day, so I called on Sunday and let them know the paper was not in the glove compartment.  They apologized and said they would get that right out to us.  Needless to say, I never received that paperwork after asking numerous times.  I also asked for the breakdown over te phone and salesman Rene told me Sam would have to walk me through this.  We have been through months of phone calls and no answers.  I still have not even received the extended warranty that I paid $3500 for! I call every day to be told the dame answer: " "Oh... you should have received that by now! Let me check with Rene and see what's going on. I will call you back in 5 minutes."... If its Rene I am speaking with he says, "let me speak with Sam and I will give you a call back."

No one seems to have answers and I am at a complete loss! I have a car payment I can not afford to pay. My car needs service and I do not have my extended warranty that I purchased! I am so upset at myself for this...  but disgusted that people could do this to someone else. I thought they took advantage of me because of my personal situation. They knew I had just buried my mother (my grandmother's daughter) and that I needed a car because I needed to return hers. I am saddened (but relieved) to find they have done this to others.  In light of the circumstances of the documentation, it would be difficult to prove this happened.  Certainly, with this occuring with others maybe we stand a chance at getting justice. This dealership needs to be shut down.  I urge you, never do business with people like this.  If you see the names Auto Gallery Imports, Gallery Rides, Sam, Rene... RUN!!!!