ComplaintsforMcKinnon Toyota & Nissan

• Initial Complaint

  03/05/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  A few weeks ago, my Fiancé saw on the NissanUSA website a new Pathfinder was being shipped to ******** Nissan. We contacted the dealership and expressed interest in purchasing the vehicle and was put in touch with a sales person. The sales person expressed ******** isn't doing what other dealerships are doing right now by charging more for vehicles due to the "chip-shortage" and would hold the vehicle for us to purchase if we gave a deposit. He verbally stated this deposit would be refundable. We agreed and did not sign any agreement for the deposit. I noticed a charge for $500 on my credit card on February 23, 2022. The pathfinder was delivered to ******** later that week with a MSRP of $42,490. After it arrived, the salesman informed my fiancé there would several packages that ******** are installing to the product and that the price would go up. When it was time to negotiate the price of the vehicle, the total cash delivery price was $48,120.19, making this vehicle unaffordable to us. We expressed we no longer would like the vehicle and that's when the manager told us our refund was no longer refundable. We made a deposit on a $42,490 vehicle, after the product was delivered to the dealership, they changed the product and gave a steep price increase. They then held my deposit hostage to try and force a deal with unfavorable terms. ********'s practice of scalping cars during a shortage and refusal of refunding deposits after agreeing they were refundable is absurd. We were never read any policy and there is no policy on their website. Their refund policy is essentially word of mouth and changes on who you talk to. I am seeking a refund of my deposit for $500 from ******** Nissan.

  

  Business response

  04/04/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/03/08) */ The dealership has had several discussions with ***** ****** and his fiancé ******** in regards to this matter. ******** was fully aware of the total price of the vehicle before leaving a nonrefundable deposit. She was also aware of all add ons to the vehicle before leaving the nonrefundable deposit. After the Pathfinder arrived at our dealership ******** tried to negotiate the already agreed upon price. The dealership did give an additional discount as this time. ******** then agreed to the new discounted price. After all paperwork was printed ******** then changed her mind again and decided she no longer wanted the vehicle. When she started demanding her deposit back our staff reminded her that it was a nonrefundable deposit. This policy is all over our website and we explained to ***** where he could find it. She then became very rude to our staff when she was not happy with our General Sales Managers answer. We explained to the customers why we require a nonrefundable deposit in the first place. It's a disservice to our other customers if we hold a vehicle that they might need and not sell it to the person we are holding it for. We have explained to them both that we are unable to refund their nonrefundable deposit. Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/03/08) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Your response essentially summarizes my entire dealings with your business, full of deceit, lack of basic morals, and lies. The only correspondence I have had with your business is an email sent to your Business Loyalty Manager trying to get a professional explanation as to why my deposit was not returned, and on this BBB forum. First let me address, ******** was not made aware of the total price of the vehicle until 03/01/22 and we placed a deposit on 02/23/22. Again, we placed a deposit on a vehicle priced from the factory of $42,600. Once the vehicle was delivered to your dealership, on 02/28/22, our salesman sent us a picture of the sticker price at $42,600. He also informed ******** the day it was delivered, that the dealer would be installing a bunch of add-ons to the vehicle which would increase the price. He did not give her an exact number as to what the total price would be of the vehicle, nor did he include what our taxes and dealer fees would be in total. ******** expressed we did not want the add-ons to keep costs low. To which he stated, the add-ons were mandatory to every vehicle they received. Again, this is after we placed the deposit. We had never agreed to a price, we simply put a deposit down on a vehicle being delivered to your dealership in hopes of purchasing. If you can not remember, reference the first bill of sale you sent us on 03/01/22. Which is six days after we placed a deposit. Being that I was the one on the bill of sale, and being the sole purchaser of the vehicle, I can attest to not agreeing to any scalped price your dealership has offered on said vehicle. To address ******** "demanding" her deposit back, we were under the impression that our salesman's word was good and that if we couldn't agree to a price we would receive our deposit. Your manager, David, did all but cuss ******** out for wasting his time and keeping a vehicle from other customers. Might I suggest if this is your business policy, please consider not accepting deposits as that is what they are intended to do. Regardless of who was rude to who, we placed a deposit down on good faith your business would honor our verbal agreement that it would be returned if we couldn't make a deal. My family of 6 could have really used said vehicle as well, which is the defense you continue to hide behind to refuse to give me back my $500. Your business is essentially taking advantage of those in need of a new vehicle by scalping prices then committing fraud by refusing to refund their deposits by making the price of the vehicle too high. Then, if they complain or want their money back, you post personal information on google or continuously address how rude they were. ******** received a link to conduct a Google Review Survey on your business as she hoped someone higher up than David would see the review and question as to why their staff was conducting business in this manner. To which, based upon the rhetoric and timing of the review, I can assume David himself replied to ********'s Google Review. In his Google Review reply, he essentially copied and pasted what you posted in response to my BBB complaint. However, he violated my FDIC and GLB Act rights to financial privacy by posting what bank I use on Google. This potentially increased my risk to further fraud by publicly displaying my banking information. Your lack to address our verbal agreement for a refundable deposit or address that you even spoke to our salesman confirms the fact that your business did agree to a verbal agreement for a refundable deposit. Furthermore, your deposit policy is absolutely hidden from the average consumer on your website. Your Business Loyalty Manger essentially had to walk me through where to find it. Which is hidden at the very bottom of the webpage when you click on an individual car on your new car list web page. For example, you would have to search your website for a new car, then scroll extensively to the bottom of the individual car's specific webpage to the bottom which gives a very vague policy. Your policy states, in reference to deposits, "...If a deposit is required on a vehicle said deposit is a nonrefundable deposit..." How do we the consumer know our deposit was required? We were told by a salesman our deposit was refundable and we never signed a contract or were told it was required. The legal definition of fraud is, "Fraud is a broad term that refers to acts intended to swindle someone. In essence, it's the use of intentional deception for monetary or personal gain. Thousands of people each year fall victim to it. Fraud always includes a false statement, misrepresentation or deceitful conduct. The purpose is to gain something of value, usually money, by misleading or deceiving someone into believing something that the perpetrator knows to be false." Myself and ******** as the consumer saw a product listed on the NissanUSA official website listed at $42,600 in transit to your dealership. We contacted your dealership in hopes of purchasing said vehicle to which we were put in touch with a salesman. He told us he would hold the vehicle for us if we were to place a refundable deposit down and if we didn't want the car once it got there, he would refund our money back. Once your dealership got ahold of the vehicle, it became unaffordable by the markup you placed on it. Once we finally saw the final price of the vehicle, I decided not to purchase the vehicle anymore. Your manager, instead of honoring his salesman's agreement, which most good companies do, got extremely irate and refused to give us our deposit back. In addition to the above, your salesman stated to ******** in reference to getting our deposit back, "My manager would laugh in my face if I asked him to return your deposit." This business practice is within the legal definition of fraud. Your business convinced me I would be able to purchase a car for the MSRP of $42,600 and if I placed a deposit, they would hold it for me. Instead, you marked the car price substantially above what was affordable to myself. When ******** asked for our deposit back, you stated, "your deposit is no longer refundable." As if it was refundable then you decided it wasn't to make a quick $500. The absolute least your business could do is to apologize and to refund my deposit for the headache your business has caused, fraud, and violation of my privacy rights.

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