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Dealer Problems... they want my tC back!

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Old 08-24-2004, 01:42 AM
  #21  
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Default Not your problem!

Tell them tough luck. And you have contacted the police, so they wont be towing anything. I don't think they have a legal right in the world. Then find another Scion dealer to give your service business to. Then call Scion customer assistance and let them know what's going on. Also tell the dealer how many Scion customers you will be telling about you're little problem. NAME NAMES brother!
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Old 08-24-2004, 01:44 AM
  #22  
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well, first off, you need to talk to them. unfortunately because of the demand of this car, you trying to play hardball with them is going to be a little less effective. talk to them, find out why. tell them you shouldn't have to pay for their mistake. shoot, call scion and ask them. they quoted you a price, and thats how scion works. so, thats what i would do. they are right though, the 400 college rebate only applies to customers that finance through toyota financial. that aside, it doesn't seem fair that you should have to pay, but unfortuantely you give up some of those rights when you sign paperwork. good luck.
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Old 08-24-2004, 02:00 AM
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Don't actually get a lawyer, but if they hassle you anymore about it say "Next time we talk, you will be talking to my lawyer". Always scares them. They don't like to hear that.

Originally Posted by JasonH
Oh, and to all you people saying "Get a laywer!": If he can't afford $400, he sure as hell has no business in a laywer's office. This isn't a personal injury suit we're dealing with here ("Free Consultation! We don't get paid until you get paid!")
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Old 08-24-2004, 02:15 AM
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Default So the crooks are out $400. Ha Ha!

I think guns are in order. Great big f*** off shiny ones with lots of lasers and tactical lights and stuff. Actions speak louder than words, er something.
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Old 08-24-2004, 02:47 AM
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Originally Posted by ShadyEye16
only make a fixed $100 on a tC
That's it? So what is my dealer's incentive to get me my car faster?
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Old 08-24-2004, 03:30 AM
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you could always tell them to refund you all ur money and you'll go buy a Mazda 3.
They sure as hell wont like the sound of that.

they might as well give up the 400 anyways cuz they technically cant sell the tC as "new" with as many miles as u probably have on it.
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Old 08-24-2004, 03:43 AM
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i work for an attorney in nj. reread all the copies of the contract that you signed, even all the fine print B.S. If you signed a contract stating that they would sell you the car for a a particular price (what you financed, not + the $400 extra they are asking for), they don't have a leg to stand on. they don't want that car back with "x" amount of miles on it because they'll have already lost all of the depreciation value of the car. use the paperwork you signed to your advantage, they'll eat the $400. if they really persist, you either have to pony up the cash or find yourself a slick lawyer......good luck either way.
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Old 08-24-2004, 06:07 AM
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dealer is screwed if you signed the papers. it's LEGAL now.. let them try to threaten you.. get a lawyer.. have a fun day on them for treating you like this.. and I wouldn't contact them again until you get a good lawyer to review this for you.. I've seen dealerships mess up and actually think someone is going to come back in to get screwed.. most of the time they don't come back in and tell them to take a hike.. the dealer screwed up and they'll have to eat the cost.. that's their problem.. not yours..
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Old 08-24-2004, 07:09 AM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by TCMaster
Don't actually get a lawyer, but if they hassle you anymore about it say "Next time we talk, you will be talking to my lawyer". Always scares them. They don't like to hear that.
I'm a manager for a big box retailer and my store makes over $50 mil a year...when people threaten me with a lawyer it doesn't faze me at all. that threat only works on newbies. if they keep insisiting on using a lawyer then I refer them to my legal department. simple as that. my company has literally thousands of lawyers, as does toyota.

I like the advice of ShadyEye16. they're the ones who made a $400 mistake, not you. I'd say call 'em back and be nice but firm. you don't need to threaten them. it's your car now, you signed the papers. if there are additional fees then it's too late (assuming you were 100% truthful when you filled out the paperwork.) you did all you were reasonably expected to as a consumer and no one can hold you to more.

remember, this is your car now. be firm.
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Old 08-24-2004, 11:47 AM
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Originally Posted by ShadyEye16
I work @ a scion/toyota dealership and maybe the laws differ by state, but in mine, if we dealer screws up, we take the hit. Once the customer is allowed to leave the dealership with the car (and after all the paperwork is signed) the terms of the contract are iron-clad. The $400 does need to be accounted for, but by the dealer, not by you.

When the college-grad program is offered, the dealership itself gives you the money and then Toyota reimburses the dealer that $400. So the dealership is out the money if they give it to someone who does not really qualify for it because when they submited the proper claim form to Toyota, Toyota told them that you didn't qualify and thus the dealer was out $400 dollars. $400 is not that much to a dealership who makes a few mil. a year, but the dealership will blame the mistake on whichever salesman's name is on the contract, and inform him that he now owes the dealership $400. Salesmen only make a fixed $100 on a tC (an extra $25 if they finance with Toyota, but you didn't ) so now he owes the dealership 3 times what he made on the car, sucks doesn't it? That's why we are so careful not to screw up, because we know its our a** and more importantly our $$$ when we do.

So basically, the salesman was not happy about having to give the dealership not only his comission back, but also pay $300 out of pocket; so he decided he would try to make you believe that you owed the dealership the money. And if you think this sounds crazy, it is, but I've seen much worse in this business, $ is everything to car salesman, and however nice you may think they were to you, at the end of the day it all comes down to the almighty dollar.

Don't let this guy try to scam you out of the $, I wouldn't ever call him back at all, and find another dealership for service needs. And if you still feel a need to call him back, tell him that he f***ed up and that you're sorry that he sucks at turning his paperwork in on time (you said you had to wait for a month to get your car so all his paperwork on your college discount should have been submitted by then).

Hope that helps and if you have any more ?'s post 'em here
Do you know if the dealers have a "boilerplate" that they have the customers sign in case there is a screw up? I can't seem to find anything on the paperwork that I have. But from what I remember, I signed more papers there than I have copies of. The sales manager, one finance manager, and two salesman all confirmed that I was going to get the $400 college rebate. This is one of the main reason's I got the tC, because it ended up being cheaper than my second option. I don't see how they can do this after 2 weeks.

Unfortunately I still have to take it back there to get the car serviced. I have some parts that still need to installed by them. :?
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Old 08-24-2004, 12:01 PM
  #31  
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Hey, if they sent you a VM, screw that. Wait until they send you something formal/in writing first. THEN, and only then, contact them. If they are a dealer of any merit, they will absorb the loss. Their mistake.

Good luck..

Kevin
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Old 08-24-2004, 12:18 PM
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Yep, seems like a contract to me. I would say the dealer is screwed and for them to eat the loss. don't get a lawyer, because it will cost you THAT much just to figure out if it's valid or not.

Just say f-you Scion dealer.....your loss.
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Old 08-24-2004, 12:54 PM
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Do the real damage..
1)tell us what dealer it is and
2)what salesman.
3)Review the dealer on scionlife.com

Call your bank where you got the loan through. THEY have the lien on the car, not you. The car is more the banks than yours, I'm sure a nice call from your bank to the dealership will make things all pretty again.
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Old 08-24-2004, 02:45 PM
  #34  
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your real problem is whether or not the deal has cleared through the bank you are financing with. if the contract was dependent on a 400 down payment that was never given then the contract could fall apart, even if you've already signed everything and driven off the lot. so if the bank hasn't given the final OK...you might be paying if you want to keep it.

not in defense of the dealership, but think of it like this. if you made $500 on a very rare car right now that you could easily sell pretty easily, would you take a $400 hit for a kid to be driving one? granted they made a mistake, but that really doesn't make them liable to pay. they thought that you qualified for something that you don't. there are lots of criteria that one has to meet in order to get the college grad discount. a kid bought one from me that for all intensive purposes qualified for the college grad discount. he had owned his own business for 2 years previous to graduating though and for that reason toyota said negative. does that mean i'm eating 400 for it? no.
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Old 08-24-2004, 02:59 PM
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Just call the DA in the county you bought the car in. They will hook you up with a lawyer to do 'Pro Bono' work for you.
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Old 08-24-2004, 03:03 PM
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Originally Posted by itimebomb
your real problem is whether or not the deal has cleared through the bank you are financing with. if the contract was dependent on a 400 down payment that was never given then the contract could fall apart, even if you've already signed everything and driven off the lot. so if the bank hasn't given the final OK...you might be paying if you want to keep it.

not in defense of the dealership, but think of it like this. if you made $500 on a very rare car right now that you could easily sell pretty easily, would you take a $400 hit for a kid to be driving one? granted they made a mistake, but that really doesn't make them liable to pay. they thought that you qualified for something that you don't. there are lots of criteria that one has to meet in order to get the college grad discount. a kid bought one from me that for all intensive purposes qualified for the college grad discount. he had owned his own business for 2 years previous to graduating though and for that reason toyota said negative. does that mean i'm eating 400 for it? no.
how do i know if the deal was cleared or not already. the bank gave me a draft check of about 13,500 and i put down about 5,000 which included the $400 college rebate. all of which the dealership has right now.

i had confirmed through the salesman and a couple of managers that I qualified for the college rebate. one of the main reasons i bought this car instead of another car was because of this extra $400 they were going to give me. shouldn't they have researched all the cirteria on this rebate before selling me the car. they did have more than a month to do this research. i still dont understand how 2 weeks later they want the money back.

so this "kid" gave you the $400 back? how long was it from the time he drove off the lot before you found out that he didn't qualify for the rebate?
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Old 08-24-2004, 03:36 PM
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Default I would say he is scamming you.

3 words Bait and Switch.

Years ago my wife needed to buy a car (before we were married) she picked out this loaded pontiac sunfire and the dealer really put the pressure on. We had signed the contract, he had handed us the keys, then they finance guy came out and said that the college rebate would only apply if we finance through them. Now if it had been my decision, I would have either said "____ off" and left with the car, or I would have said "____ off, give me back my check" and then just left. Bottom line, I don't think that this was a "mistake", either for my wife or for you. Your in a better postion though, I say call back and tell them that if they want the $400 that they can have the damn car back, but say that you will not accept any penalty for the 2k miles you put on in the last two weeks.
That should shut him up.

Or mumble something about Bait and Swtich, Better Business Bureau, the Scion 800 number and having your dad the lawyer take a look at the contract.
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Old 08-24-2004, 03:57 PM
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Default Re: I would say he is scamming you.

Originally Posted by Kickboy
3 words Bait and Switch.

Years ago my wife needed to buy a car (before we were married) she picked out this loaded pontiac sunfire and the dealer really put the pressure on. We had signed the contract, he had handed us the keys, then they finance guy came out and said that the college rebate would only apply if we finance through them. Now if it had been my decision, I would have either said "____ off" and left with the car, or I would have said "____ off, give me back my check" and then just left. Bottom line, I don't think that this was a "mistake", either for my wife or for you. Your in a better postion though, I say call back and tell them that if they want the $400 that they can have the damn car back, but say that you will not accept any penalty for the 2k miles you put on in the last two weeks.
That should shut him up.

Or mumble something about Bait and Swtich, Better Business Bureau, the Scion 800 number and having your dad the lawyer take a look at the contract.
It's funny that you mention that. For some reason I'm starting to think that this wasn't a "mistake" either. I have a feeling they intentionally did this. They had several people research this rebate since July 10th, when I had first told them I would be using the college rebate. I doubt a big dealership would make a big mistake like this. Especially since I had 2 salesman, 2 sales manager, and 2 finance managers working on this transaction. They acted like they had never given the college rebate to anyone before. They actually gave me a hard time about at first because I needed to provide more "proof" of my graduation which I did (dimploma and graduation transcripts weren't enough) , so they eventually gave it to me.

And about returning the vehicle I have a feeling it won't be that easy. I doubt they will give me my full refund back after I've had the car for 2 weeks now. Hmm... funny how they waited two weeks to tell me this... wow they did do this intentionally!!
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Old 08-24-2004, 04:01 PM
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Just call the DA in the county you bought the car in. They will hook you up with a lawyer to do 'Pro Bono' work for you.
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Old 08-24-2004, 05:00 PM
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Originally Posted by KnowledgePerformance
Just call the DA in the county you bought the car in. They will hook you up with a lawyer to do 'Pro Bono' work for you.
what's 'pro bono' work?
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