Now I must admit, when I picked up the vehicle, I did question the Salesman I was dealing with about the additional
funds that it appeared he had forgotten to charge me. Upon his review however, he said no, there were no
additional funds required. More
than satisfied with his answer, I shook his hand, grabbed the keys, and drove
off in my shiny new Jeep, grinning ear to ear all the way home.
Now three weeks after the fact, and upon receiving
this odd phone message, I pulled all the paperwork out again and reviewed it
line by line to verify whether there was in fact money still owed. Unfortunately, there was. According to my math, the discrepancy
totalled $648. I immediately
called the Finance Manager back, but there was no answer. I left a message explaining that
despite his claim to the contrary, this was the first time anyone has
attempted to contact me regarding this discrepancy, but that I would stop by
the dealership the next day so that we could meet and get this sorted out. I’m an honest guy, and understand that
mistakes are sometimes made, but a deal is a deal, and I agreed to pay that money,
so I knew that going back and paying the remaining funds was the right thing to
do. So the next day I drove over
to the Jeep dealership expecting a quick five minute visit. Unfortunately, things didn’t play out
quite as I expected.
I walked into the dealership and explained that I
was there to pay the outstanding balance that I was called about. The guy who left me the message was off
that day, which meant I had to get the Salesman who sold me the Jeep to go find
the paperwork. When he returned, he took me over to the cashier’s desk, and
started to ring in the charge, but in the amount of $732. I stopped him right there, and told him
his dollar amount was incorrect, explaining that he’s charging me more than
what was shown on the Agreement of Purchase and Sale. Granted, in the scheme of things, the $84 discrepancy was
minor, but regardless, I didn’t want to pay more than I rightfully owed. Who would, right? So we went back to his desk, I showed
him my calculations, and he said he would go get this straightened out. I waited patiently.
When he returned however, he stated that $732 is
the correct amount owed, claiming that in addition to the $648 they forgot to
charge me when I picked up the vehicle, they also forgot to charge me an
$84 licensing fee. I started to
get annoyed at this point. I told him "I don’t care what other fees you forgot
to charge me, I’m here to pay what we agreed upon in the Agreement of Purchase
and Sale." He replied that the licensing fee is never included in the
Agreement, that it’s always owed after the fact, and that if I don’t pay it, it
has to come out of his pocket. Sorry, but that is not my issue. Again, I told him that I was there to pay the $648 that was
rightfully owed, nothing more, nothing less. I pointed him to the line on the Agreement where it clearly
stated “License Fee……. N/C”, and explained to him that the license fee had
already been contemplated, and that there was no charge to me for that fee as
stated. I told him that if he’s
going to sell cars for a living, he really needs to understand this stuff. Becoming increasingly annoyed at the situation,
I waited as we went to speak with his Manager.
Now the Manager’s “office” was nothing more than a
tiny cubicle that just happened to be raised up about a foot higher than all of
the Salesman’s desks, so I could hear the discussion very clearly. Without even reviewing the paperwork,
the Manager grunted “He’s got to pay the licensing fee! Get him in here!!”. With my feelings of annoyance quickly
turning to anger, I stepped up into the Manager’s “office” and sat down. Without shaking my hand or even
introducing himself, he asked me what my problem was, and demanded that I pay
the license fee. My blood started
to boil. I told him "The only reason I’m even here today is because I am an
honest guy, and want to make things right", to which he replied “Well obviously
you’re not, otherwise you’d just pay the fee!!”. That was the wrong thing to say to me.
I’m normally a very mild mannered person, and
anyone that knows me knows that profanity is not in my usual verbal
repertoire. I tend to treat
swearing like a fine wine, only to be brought out on special occasions, but
something about how this whole thing was going down and how I was being treated
just set me off, BIG TIME! I
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOST IT!!!!
I stood up and started yelling at him like I’ve never yelled
before. Oh, it wasn’t pretty. As we argued back and forth, the entire showroom stopped dead in its tracks. I made sure
everyone in the building knew exactly what I thought of this man and his
attempt to rip me off. A few
people from the Service Department even came over to see what was going
on. Potential customers’ jaws
dropped as I called the Manager a thief, and vetted my frustration so that all
could hear. “I’M NOT PAYING YOU A
PENNY MORE THAN WHAT THE AGREEMENT SAYS I HAVE TO PAY. HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A MONTH LATER AND
TRY AND SQUEEZE MORE MONEY FROM ME THAN WHAT WE AGREED TO. I DON’T EVEN HAVE TO BE HERE, THIS WAS
YOUR MISTAKE, NOT MINE!! I’M AN
HONEST GUY, I CAME HERE TO TRY AND MAKE THINGS RIGHT, AND HERE YOU ARE TRYING
TO SCREW ME!! WELL THAT’S NOT
GOING TO HAPPEN!! AND THEN ON TOP
OF THAT YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO CALL ME THE DISHONEST ONE?? GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK!!!! THIS IS HOW YOU TREAT YOUR
CUSTOMERS?!! WHEN I SIGN MY NAME
ON THE DOTTED LINE, THAT MEANS SOMETHING TO ME. APPARENTLY THAT MEANS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO YOU!!
Now you need to realize I’m really staring to enjoy
myself by this point. If swear
words were glasses of that fine wine I mentioned earlier, I’d be passed out on
the floor in a drunken stooper, so I just kept going…
WE HAD AN AGREEMENT, AND I’M PREPARED TO LIVE UP TO
MY END OF IT. THAT’S WHY I’M
HERE. APPARENTLY TO YOU THIS
AGREEMENT AND YOUR WORD CARRIES ABOUT AS MUCH WEIGHT AS THE PAPER YOU WIPE YOUR
ASS WITH!!! DO YOU HEAR THIS
EVERYONE??? {looking around at the other customers in the room} DON'T TRUST THIS GUY!! HE'S JUST GOING
TO SCREW YOU AFTER THE DEAL IS DONE!!!
THIS IS COMPLETE BULLSHIT AND I’M NOT GOING TO PUT UP WITH THIS!!! I WANT TO RE-TAKE MY CUSTOMER
SATISFACTION SURVEY!!! IF YOU WANT
MORE MONEY FROM ME, THEN SPEAK TO MY LAWYER!!!! I WILL MAKE IT MY MISSION IN LIFE TO LET EVERYONE KNOW HOW
THIS DEALERSHIP TREATS THEIR CUSTOMERS!!!
YOU MAY GET AWAY WITH FUCKING ALL YOUR OTHER CUSTOMERS, BUT I’M NOT
GOING TO LET YOU FUCK WITH ME!!!!
SO FUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! {as I
pointed my finger within inches of his face}
It was quite the spectacle, and extremely out of
character for me. At this point,
two other Salesman had to grab me by the arms and pull me out of the Manager’s
“office”, steering me towards the large corner office, claiming that the Owner
wanted to speak with me. They sat
me down with the hopes that I would cool off. A few moments later the Owner walked into the office, introduced
himself, and deeply apologized for the behaviour of his Manager. He asked what the problem was, to which
I offered my side of the story. I let him know that I’m tempted to just
walk out, and we can fight it out in court. "I did not appreciate the tone of the Finance Manager’s voice
message to me, where he made it sound like I’ve been avoiding him, and I
certainly do not appreciate the Manager’s attempt to make me feel like I’m the
dishonest one." How he missed the
exchange himself I’ll never know, but he called in the Salesman to ask if he
witnessed the whole thing, and whether my claims about what the Manager said to
me were true. Not only did the
Salesman provide confirmation, but also added assurance that he would never
have treated a customer the way the Manager had treated me.
The owner offered another sincere apology. I told him I’ll pay $648, he can
take it or leave it, and then I’m never coming back here again. “This dealership quite frankly isn’t
worth my time, and I’ll make sure everyone hears about how this place treats
people.” To his credit, he responded that he
doesn’t like the thought of me leaving there unhappy, and wants to make this
right, but then continued on, and encouraged me to use their Service Department for the routine
maintenance of my new Jeep. “Really? You’re trying to
convince me to spend more money at this dealership at a time like this? Really?”
He asked if I had just picked up the Jeep last
night, to which I replied, no, I picked it up three weeks ago! He was shocked! He couldn’t believe they hadn’t caught
this error until now, and even more shocked when I told him that at the time I
picked up the vehicle, I had specifically questioned the Salesman about the
amount owed, as I had suspected he wasn’t charging me the correct amount. After an uncomfortable silence, he
thanked me for my honesty, and for coming back in to take care of the
discrepancy.
At this point a man carrying the licensing fee
receipt walked in wanting to show it to me, and explained how the whole licensing fee works. I could clearly see that the dealership
had to pay the $84. I calmly
thanked him for showing that to me, but explained that it doesn’t change
anything. “With all due respect, I
don’t care what you paid for the licensing fee, that’s not my problem.” I showed him my Agreement, and pointed
out where it clearly says in black and white that there is no charge to me for
the licensing fee. It’s not like
it said that this fee was to be determined. It clearly said there would be no charge. It doesn’t get any clearer than
that. Upon seeing this for apparently the first time, the Owner reacted “Oh, you’re right! There should
have been a charge under that line item, but there isn’t. It looks like we made a mistake. What a mess. {shaking his head}” He deeply
apologized again, completely acknowledged their
error, and assured me that he would deal with the Manager immediately after we’re
finished. Now the Manager, who was
outside listening in, tried to storm into the Owner’s office claiming that the
$84 is still owed, to which I glared right into his eyes and loudly stated
“HEY, THERE’S MY BUDDY!! GONNA TRY TO FUCK ME UP
THE ASS AGAIN, ARE YOU?!!!” The
owner immediately yelled at the Manager “GET OUT!!! I’LL DEAL WITH YOU LATER!!!!”, before slamming the door on
him.
The Owner repeatedly apologized, and I told him
that "While I appreciate your apology, quite frankly this is no longer about the money. $84 isn’t a big deal, but I’m still not going to pay it purely out
of principle." He agreed, and asked
if I was still willing to pay the $648, to which I replied “yes”. I wasn’t happy about it, but a deal is
a deal, I was agreeable to paying it when I signed the deal in the first place,
and remain agreeable to paying it now.
I am a man of my word, so I went ahead and paid it. As soon as I left the Owner’s office,
he immediately called the Manager in.
As we passed each other, I looked him in the eyes and said “HAVE A NICE
DAY, FUCKHEAD!!”, and with that the Owner slammed his office door and started
ripping in to the Manager. It was
fantastic.
Have you ever had an experience where once it was all over, you replay everything in your mind, and start thinking about what you
SHOULD have said instead? For me,
this is a rare case where I said EXACTLY what I wanted to say! I have no regrets whatsoever, and
despite the fact that my outburst was quite likely the topic of discussion at
more than one dinner table that night, and I ended up at the dealership for my
entire lunch hour, not just five minutes, I still love my Jeep! As I drove out of the parking lot, I
exchanged a “Jeep wave” with another Jeep owner, reassured myself that this
unfortunate incident wasn’t going to tarnish my Jeep experience, and left my
worries behind. Or at least I
thought I did until I started writing this blog post!!! NOW I’M PISSED OFF AGAIN!!!!!!! Have a nice day J
Sounds like you handled it like a man. I don't think I would be allowed back on the property if that happened to me lol
ReplyDeleteThanks Andrew, I thought I did pretty well all things considered.
Deletewhat dealership?
ReplyDeleteFor a variety of reasons, it's best that I don't name them. My issue was really with one guy in particular more than the dealership as a whole.
DeleteYou handled it better than I would have.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone would have grabbed me by the arms, the police would have been called for assault.
Ahh, it was probably for the best. I was running out of things to say anyway :)
Delete{Jeep Wave}
ReplyDelete{Jeep Wave}
DeleteSucks that they did you like that. I think I probably would have been so pissed that I would have balked at the $648.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised the owner didn't just say "Let's zero this out, and I apologize."; if he had any sense, that's what he should've done.
ReplyDelete