A WTF dealer SCENARIO
 

Bought the wife a TRD tacoma the other day to do landscape chores:

Checked it out and agreed on a price, gave them $1000 cash for a deposit pending work to be complete....timing belt/water pump / tires and detail.
A female finance person (Debbie)gave me a $1000 cash receipt and documents for the balance and total owed when I return for the truck.

Went in to pick up the truck 3 day's later, awesome job on all the service and detail...I was pleased and ready to close the deal.

They sent me up to a male finance department guy (Steve), he greeted me and proceeded to pull up the deal on his computer....he asked for $13246.00 total sales price OTD, I claimed I put a $1000.00 deposit down on the truck prior and produced the cash receipt from when I initially payed a deposit, he then asked for $12246 after I produced the deposit receipt.

ok, moving forward: I gave him a 10K cashiers check, counted out $2246 cash in 2 piles of one hundred dollar bills + $246 in a third pile, I watched him count it back out to me....clear as a bell to me.

He left the room to take the cash somewhere down stairs, guessing to a cashier, he came back and shook my hand and said congratulations on the truck and started talking about skiing and sports. I asked for a receipt and final documentation, he mentioned they gave me the proper receipts and documents when you put your deposit down, I left with the truck...happy customer.

3 day's later I am getting phone calls saying the deal is short $1000.00, they are saying I only gave them $1246 instead of $2246, they are also saying they have a receipt saying I only paid $1246.

Why in the world would I be able to leave that dealership with my truck $1000 short on that finance guy's computer.... I say the finance guy pocketed my $1K cash and got caught.

Not sure what to do, they are calling my work / home and cell phone.

I know for a fact I gave that guy all monies owed on the deal that night and drove off with my new truck.

WWYD

Reason with them if you haven't done so already. Ask them to show video tape (they have got to have some). Tell them that anything buy or sell by cash is done so as is. You can't buy a car drive off and come back the next day saying its missing a wheel (st obvious) they can't sell you the car let you go with title and call back saying that you didn't pay enough (st obvious). Unless you gave them fake bills or they put the wheel on with glue then its fraud which you didn't do.

Tell them thay if they can't prove to you why they are missing the money because of you and still blaming you then you will call all the local news and websites to rat them out. If they don't back down and give you a receipt states no more cash owed then call. Worst case take them to court sue them for fraud and harassment.

Good luck bro

That is brutally scummy. If you were $1000 dollars short, they would not have let you leave without paperwork saying that you would deliver $1000 to them... I don't know of any business that would just let you leave with $1000 of "their money" with no documentation.

I don't know if they have security cameras inside the dealership that may have caught something, but it may came down to his word versus yours. The bad news is that if it comes to legal action, you will probably spend more than $1000 defending yourself... It seems that most scenarios will lead to you being out a grand (paying them, going to court, returning the truck for a refund). It might be worth going in to have a sit down with the general manager (not the finance guy) and see where it goes from there.

Best of luck, it's a shitty situation.

Ask to speak to GM of the dealership first and request a final receipt noting nothing is owed on the car. If he refuses, draft up a document of exactly what happened, ask him to sign it stating he is requesting $1,000 from you with a claim you did not pay it and send that letter to head office.

The fact that they gave you the keys to drive off without getting you to sign anything saying you owed more money is either an indication that you paid it all or their own employee incompetence which they need to deal with internally.

Good luck in any case.. I can't believe this stuff still happens.

yes, this is real shitty situation for all involved.
I really like my sales guy, hopefully he has nothing to do with this.

Spent over 100K in 2011 on Toyota cars/trucks....have 2 on special order currently.....and these PeeOn afterthought finance ass hats that make all the money in the business are messing with me on 1K.

I actually bought my very first brand new Toyota 4x4 at this same dealership in 1986 !!

Thank you very much for your input, I will let you know how it all turns out. They would like to do a conference call tomorrow to go over the details, guessing they will hammer me on memory of funds submitted, as they already have.

My wife say's I am too nice.....

Oh, one more thing....that finance guy left me a VM yesterday. He mentioned "ask your girl friend or wife that was with you if she remembers counting out the money"......I WAS ALONE !!

Wow Wtf.

Shady mofos!

go back to the dealership, confront the finance dude in front of his manager, get that dude fire if you have to.....nice guy finishes last, remember that.....

Any news?

If they give you any more push back, Id contact a lawyer and subpoena their security tapes before they have a chance to wipe them.

If you have the title and truck then its yours. The deal is done.

If they keep harrassing you then tell them you'd record their calls and that you will report them to the BBB, or state attorney generals office.

Also you should have records of YOUR cash and check withdrawals as proof that you at least took that money out.

Again, if you don't have the title, then you'd have to sue them and that's no fun.

all the finance people (3 of them) were going to gang up on me yesterday on a conference call, they didn't call.

I called the GM of the store today, briefly mentioned the deal; he had no idea what I was talking about.

I typed everything out within a word document and forwarded them exactly what happen.

I have not heard back from the GM, I will keep you posted.


on another note: my wife's FR-S will arrive in 2 weeks...:-)

Wow, best of luck to you sir. The purchase of my FRS will be my first official dealership purchase, so hopefully i dont go through the mess you have on your hands. Hopefully it all works out for you.

That's interesting, my guess is that they "found" the missing money and now feel like idiots.