ComplaintsforPrincipe's Auto Sales

• Initial Complaint

  07/15/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On June 6, 2024, I purchased a vehicle here with odometer reading approximately ******* miles. On or around July 10, 2024, I discovered that there was a discrepancy between the milage on the odometer and the actual milage of the vehicle. On July 15, 2024, I confronted the business with this information and was informed by ****** that the instrument cluster was replaced on subject vehicle, therefore the milage on this replacement cluster is in fact the actual milage for another vehicle and not the subject vehicle. The replacement odometer in the subject vehicle reads more than ******* miles less than actual milage of subject vehicle. I informed ****** that this information was not disclosed to me at the point of sale, and such being the case, this was nothing short of odometer fraud. I demanded they take the vehicle back and give me a refund, but they refused. I seek no less desirable outcome then that. Document attached shows where Principe's Auto Sales should have indicated said discrepancy by checking option 2.

  Business response

  07/31/2024

  Customer will receive 100% refund once the vehicle is returned in equal or same condition when purchased along with title in hand.

  Customer response

  07/31/2024

  I am rejecting this response because:   On July *******, I gave the business the opportunity to take the vehicle back and provide me a full refund, therefore it's confusing that a month and a half later the business is proposing the same solution that I offered to resolve the situation initially. This is no longer an acceptable resolution given the amount of time that has passed and the business's unwillingness to do the right thing. I have pursued legal action against the business for violation of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA). My current demands can be found in said legal action. 

  Business response

  07/31/2024

  Customer signed arbitration agreement.

  Customer response

  07/31/2024

  Correction to previous response I am rejecting this response because:  On July *******, I gave the business the opportunity to take the vehicle back and provide me a full refund, therefore I am confused that this is the resolution that the business is offering me now. This is no longer an acceptable resolution given the amount of time that has passed and the business's unwillingness to do the right thing initially. I have pursued legal action against the business for violation of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA). My current demands can be found in said legal action. I am open to a reasonable settlement offer before case goes before a judge.

• Initial Complaint

  01/26/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  -Date of transaction: 08/08/23 - Cash paid: $3500 -The business commited to sale me a reliable no maintence issue vehicle, I asked through instagram and in person if vehicle was in good condition and I was promised a reliable daily use vehicle.-The reason I want to file a complaint, is because the car overheated as soon as we took it home, i reached out to them and they gave me push back and did not refund me the money, the charged me for a title transfer and it never got done. They refused to refund me unless the vehicle was sold to someone else. -The shop where the vehicles are being sold reeks of marijuana and they are very unprofessional.-They advertise on **************** and Instagram, after doing reasearch i found out that this business has sold messed up card to multiple people and refused to do car sales properly.

  Customer response

  01/26/2024

  I attached screenshots of the conversation I had with them, I gave my feedback on ******** due to the bad service provided , as a consumer we are entitled to our feedback within a business. They gave me so much push back and here is proof i have been waiting since August to have this situation fixed but one of the owners posted a fake account that was made under my name to make me look bad because she didn't like my feedback about how they service us the consumers. I can also attach the screenshots of her posting unprofessional stuff on social media due to me sharing my review about their business.

  Business response

  02/09/2024

  August 8, 2023 ******* came to my place of business after informing her that we have a vehicle that we could sell to her for $3500 including title transfer / registration & taxes.

  August 13, 2023 ******* contacts me through my personal instagram account and informs me that the vehicle was having issues. I asked what issues was she having, prior we had no issues with the vehicle. She opened my message and did not respond. 

  August 31, 2023 ******* messages me again after leaving me on read for two weeks that she was going to return the vehicle and was expecting a full refund. Which I told her no. I made it clear that she did not respond to my last message. If ******* would have responded to my previous message then I would have done my best to resolve the issue in a timely manner. But the fact that she did not contact me again in between that time period, I assumed all was well.

  unfortunately I was wrong, 

  she informed me that she had to pay to get the radiator replaced. Which I then informed her that I could have taken care of that for her and that we have a mechanic in shop. I have a tax exemption on car parts, I had no problem getting the issue fixed. I let her know that she could come back to the shop and do a trade of vehicles. She asked if we were open for the weekend and I informed her that we were. I also gave her my brothers number (who I am in business with) 

  the vehicle then got towed to our location, which we paid for. We fixed the radiator issue that her mechanic fixed. Turns out, that mechanic did not put the part in correctly & with further inspection the bumper was damaged and zip tied back together, which was not how we sold her the vehicle. 
  We did not charge her for the repairs or towing because we wanted to make things right and move forward with this issue.

  now the real issue started when ******* refused to pick up her vehicle that she purchased from us. 
  I messaged her on September 22, 2023 that her vehicle was ready for pick up and she can come pick it up when she was ready. I was left on seen with no response given.

  For someone who was irritated about being without a vehicle and wanted a refund, she did not come to the shop once or contact me directly to my number. I never once ignored her when she reached out to me. 
  It wasnt until November 11, 2023 that we heard from her again, which was more than 6 weeks after I told her that her car was ready for pick up. 
  she sent her father and her mother to come speak with me instead of showing up herself.

  now I will say, the car was sitting on the lot for more than 6 weeks without being moved or turned on, so the battery was dead. We jumped and replaced the battery to ensure she wouldnt have any issues on that end. ******** mother expressed and said she would much rather just have a refund. We do not do any refunds, so I offered to put the car up for sale on her behalf in order for her to receive some kind of reimbursement. Her mother agreed for her daughter. So we cleaned it up and put the vehicle up for sale. 
  And because we did charge for title transfer and registration I went ahead and refunded her $500 since the title was not transferred yet. 
  ******* agreed. ******* also agreed to letting us sell the car for her since she wanted nothing to do with the vehicle. Again, I did offer for her to pick up the car and take it but she refused. 
  once we had a buyer for the vehicle, I told ******* the vehicle would be sold for $2800 instead of $3000 and she AGREED. 
  In conclusion, this customer got repairs resolved in September of 2023 and refused to pick up vehicle. We issued a refund of the taxes collected and title transfer on November 11, 2023 and then we came to the agreement and she received a second payment from us for $2800 which was given to her in full by January 23, 2024. I made it clear what she was receiving and she AGREED. 
  ******* is angry because the issue took longer than it should have and I completely understand, the lack of communication on her end is a big reason why all this took as long as it did. I fully believe that ******* felt entitled for things to go her way because she is unfortunately related to me. Family or not, we pride ourselves in helping our people out and selling used affordable vehicles, unfortunately in this industry nothing is for certain 100% even new cars come across issues, I tried my best to find a solution when spoken to correctly. ******* is known for her aggressive tactics and unfortunately her aggression and lack of communication is what escalated the issue further more than it needed to be.

  I noticed she used her mothers last name instead of her fathers last name, is that because she did not want to make it known that her last name is Principe like Principes Auto Sales. This whole complaint is a conflict of  interest. 

  Business response

  02/09/2024

  Additional screenshots of our conversation including when ******* failed to respond.

  Business response

  02/09/2024

  Additional screenshots of our conversation including when ******* failed to respond.

  Business response

  02/09/2024

  Proof of money being sent to Xiomara 

  Customer response

  02/09/2024

  I am rejecting this response because:  The Business is still not taking accountability for wrong car sales practices, they are very unprofessional. As business owners they are resilient to feedback. As a consumer, I would like to make others aware of my interaction I had with this business. 

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩