Business ProfileforJohn's Trailer Sales, LLC

In August 2021, I called John's Trailer Sales at their main office in Temperance, MI to inquire about a NEO 7 Round Top Snow Trailer. The price listed was $6,450.00. When I called, I spoke to John's son Brian. He told me that they didn't actually have that advertised trailer on the lot, but it was due to be built the second week of November and that the price of this trailer increased by 30% due to an increased cost of materials. If I wanted to "lock in" the new inflated price, I had to choose features/options that I wanted on the trailer and put down a deposit by August 17, 2021. Once I chose all of the features, colors, upgrades, etc., the final cost came to $9,937.00. I then called again on August 17, 2021 and spoke to John, the owner, as Brian was unavailable. I told him that I wanted to pay the deposit on the above trailer. John took my debit card payment of $200.00 over the phone and said that he would text me a copy of the bill of sale. John did text me a copy of the bill of sale, but it had incorrect amounts on the breakdown of charges. Brian had quoted the final price at $9,937.00 and on the invoice that John texted me, it had a grand total of $10,068.00, for a difference of $131.00 that I was being over-charged. I called John about this right away and asked why the amount differed from the agreed amount that Brian gave me. John stated prices inflated. When I told him I didn't understand how this could be when we already agreed upon a dollar amount, he agreed to remove the $131.00 inflated price and texted me the new bill of sale, with the correct final price of $9,937.00 and wrote "copy your invoice balance is $9737". (Please see attachments) The next contact I had with John's Trailer Sales was a voice mail message I received on December 6, 2021, stating that the trailer was ready to be picked up at their Middlebury, Indiana location. On December 7, 2021, my husband called the Middlebury location to let them know we would be picking it up, we just didn't know the exact date yet. He was advised that it just had to be picked up by December 19, 2021. On December 15, 2021, my husband ***** and I arrived at the Middlebury location around noon to pick up our new trailer. When we arrived, the lady working at the desk was on the phone and when she got off the phone, she complained to me about the customer that was on the phone having a question about their trailer. She received a second telephone call while we were there from another customer and when she got off the phone, she complained to me about that person too. I told her we were there to pick up our new trailer and she got a ziplock bag off the wall that had our paperwork in it. She gave me an amount of $10,234.00 to pay. However, she did not go over the charges with us, nor did she show us the paperwork. I wrote her a check for $10,234.00, not realizing that the amount she told me to pay was incorrect as it had been 3 months since I last talked to anyone from this company. My husband went outside to hitch up the trailer and the lady handed me the ziplock back with the paperwork in it. The bill of sale was covered by the 'Certificate of Origin For a Vehicle' (Please see attachment). Shortly after we left, while we were still driving home, I opened the ziplock bag and was looking at the papers. The bill of sale was a modified, faxed copy of the original. John had added a line item of 'surcharge' with a cost of $497.00. It can clearly be seen at the bottom of the bill of sale, that he modified the original price to an increased price of $10,434.00 minus our $200.00 deposit, leaving a remaining balance of $10,234.00. (Please see attachments) As soon as I saw this, I called John's Trailer Sales at their main office in Temperance, MI and asked to speak to John. The girl that answered the phone (which I think was his daughter), said that John wouldn't be in until later in the afternoon. I asked her to have him give me a call as there was a charge on the bill of sale that we were unaware of and that had not been discussed with us. When I told her it showed a 'surcharge' amount of $497.00, she said that due to inflation, they had to charge that. I asked her how this could be charged, when that wasn't part of the original agreement and finalized price. Her response was "you didn't have to take the trailer". A short time after this, John called me, while we were still on the road. When I asked him about this surcharge that was added to our bill, he immediately got defensive and was very rude. I have never had a business owner speak to me the way John did. It was difficult to have a conversation with him because most of the time he was yelling and talking over me. When I was able to get him to listen, I asked him why this surcharge of $497.00 was added to our bill of sale. He said it was because the price of everything has gone up. I asked him what that has to do with the sale of this trailer back in August when we were given the final price and placed the deposit to "lock in" the price? He said that only "locked in your spot" ( which makes no sense because I chose the options/features for how this trailer was to be built and put a deposit down) and that he has it posted all over his office that the prices could go up due to inflation. I reminded him that we have never been in his office and this sale was all conducted over the phone and no one has ever told us that the final price could go up. His response was "I'm sorry, then I forgot!", meaning that he "forgot" to tell us that the finalized price could go up due to 'inflation'. He then said "you still have the trailer hooked up right? "BRING IT BACK!" He then belittled me by saying that if $500.00 is "gonna break you that much, bring the trailer back!" He repeatedly told me to bring the trailer back and he would buy it back from me and give me $500.00 more than what we paid for it. When I told him that the trailer is not the issue, it's the $497.00 surcharge he added to the bill of sale that is the problem, he said everything has gone up in price, groceries, tires, etc. and that he has another customer that he called and told them that he was adding $2,500.00 in surcharge to their bill and they agreed to pay it. I asked him what all of that had to do with this sale? And that we have never received a call telling us that our bill could go up. He said that he is only making $700.00 on this sale. I asked him if it was good business practice to add $497.00 to a customers bill unbeknownst to the customer? He continued to yell at me and then told me to turn around and bring the trailer back and he would give me $1,000.00 more than what I paid for it. I told him the only thing I wanted was the $497.00 returned that he added to the bill without our knowledge. I told him that I would be filing a complaint about this. He then said "you hate me!, put a bad review on my website!" I tried to tell him I'm not interested in putting a bad review on his website, but I couldn't get a word in as he kept yelling over me. When he finally stopped, I told him that it's obvious this conversation is going nowhere and that I would be filing a complaint with the BBB and would be contacting an attorney. He then ended the call by hanging up on me. At 4:30pm, which was 2 hours after John hung up on me, he texted me a picture of the bill of sale, that once again had more modifications done to it. He wrote on it what the factory had assessed him in "surcharge" and out of that, he only charged me $497.00 of that. Again, we had already agreed on a final price in August. He also attached a partial piece of paper that talks about surcharges, however, this is the first time I have seen this. I believe that he stapled it to that modified bill of sale to cover what he did because he knew I would be filing a complaint. I also feel that the text message he sent with it tries to shift the blame on me for not knowing he added the bogus 'surcharge' to our bill. I also want to note that John did not keep telling me to bring back the trailer and that he would pay me more money for it out of the goodness of his heart and to try to make anything right with us. He only wanted it back and to pay us more for it so that he could resell it to someone else for an even bigger profit. However, we never said we wanted to return the trailer. The trailer wasn't the problem, it was the "surcharge" he added to our bill of sale that no one informed us about. I did not respond to his text message. (Please see attachment & images of text message thread) I am asking for the 'surcharge' of $497.00 that was wrongly assessed to our bill of sale be returned to us by John's Trailer Sales. Thank you for any assistance you can provide to resolve this matter. If you have any questions or need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. We look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, ******* ********