From: sanh@ios.Convergent.COM (Son Anh)
Newsgroups: ba.general
Subject: RESULTS of: Need Advise on one hassle deal at Capitol Honda
Date: 7 Jan 93 00:19:40 GMT
Reply-To: sanh@ios.Convergent.COM (Son Anh)
Distribution: ba
Organization: Convergent Technologies



    Last time I wrote:

   >--------------------------------
   >I am looking for a direction or how to get started to file a complaint
   >against a car dealer.

   >On December 28 1992, my fiancee and I went to Capitol Honda in San jose to
   >buy a car. We had a deal done on a green honda accord lx with the
   >interest rate 5.9 that is financed by Honda Financial Incorporation. We also
   >had the Purchase Agreements that has been signed by my fiancee and the 
   >dealer. But they did not have that car in their stock, so we had to wait
   >for them to order the car.

   >On last Saturday (1/2/93), we called to ask whether they had the car.
   >The saleman said that they made a mistake, they thought that the car
   >was grey(gr) not green (gr), so we would not have the car this weekend.
   >Also, we have to pay the car with different interest rate not 5.9 as
   >we agreed before, because the car will be delivered to us after the day of
   >5.9% rate which would be  ended on 1/3/93. We came to talk to the sale
   >manager, and we got the same answer. 

   >I don't think it sounds right at all, and we want to complain to Consumer
   >Affairs.  We also  want to hear any advise from you so that I can solve 
   >this problem legally or peafully. Some questions that I want to know:

   >- How should I start from here?

   >- Is it worth to file a law suit? if yes, will we win?

   >Thank you in advance any advise from you
   >------------------------------------------ 


    This time I'd like to let you know the result of this deal which is favored
    to us.

    First of all, I'd like to thank very much to all of you who wrote to
    me how to deal this problem. One day after I sent out mail to the nets
    to ask for help, I have received more than 30 mails responded from netters.
    The info and advise that you sent to me are very useful. It helped me
    to finish this deal without hassle.

    I'd like to summarize the advise that I received.  Some of you may use
    that in the future if this kind of problem hit you.

    - Most of you suggested me to bring this problem to Consumer Affairs,
      Better Business Bureau, or the Action Lines of Mercury News in San Jose

    - Some of you advised me to call American Honda Company, and 
      one netter sent to me one detail and helpful info: 
    > Aref from Stanford  Wrote:
    >
    >Several months ago, I had gotten into a situation with a Honda
    >dealer in Houston, TX over a faulty repair job that was done a while
    >ago. Because of that faulty repair, the car had developed problems which
    >cost about $1400 to fix. Over the phone, I recovered half of that amount.
    >Of course, a local Honda dealer certified the faultiness of the repair job.

    >I called American Honda Customer Relations in Torrance, CA (outside LA)
    >and talked to them. They were very helpful and directed me on how to proceed.
    >They are at 310/ 783-2000. In addition, every dealership is supposed to have 
    >a "customer relations manager" who deals with such issues. I think if you
    >call this person as well as American Honda and *yell*, you might get results.
    >American Honda has a system of keeping tabs on their dealers and rating
    >them on customer satisfaction/complaints. This rating is a factor in the
    >volumes of cars they get, the timing of orders, factory discounts, etc. No
    >dealer wants to see their rating decline. So you might want to remind them
    >of the potential loss of business they could face. As I understood, I could
    >have recovered the full amount if I was a local (living in Houston). 

    - Some of you suggested me to tear up the contract and go to other dealers
      in Bay Area. We already thought of this way. But before to cancel this
      deal, I called other dealers and the price was 400-500 more than the one
      that we had ( I thought that because of the 5.9% rate, alot of people 
      wanted to buy honda, so they did not enough car to sell and the sale 
      price was higher). Also, we already gave Capitol Honda the down payment,
      and they cashed it out a day after. It also was too late to cancel the
      contract because at the time we got back to them was 5 days later after
      the contract was signed. So we had to stick with the Agreement Contract
       

    After  we got enough information from people in the company and advise
    from netters, my fiancee started to call BBB. The BBB said that what the 
    dealer did was not right, and asked us to send them the copy of the 
    Contract and the complaint form signed by her.

    Not very long after that, a person from Capitol called my fiancee and
    nicely introduced him as a general manager.  First of all, He wanted 
    to start the deal over again, she said she wanted to call me before she
    start the deal.  He called back he said he would give us back the down
    payment. My fiancee said no because we spent so much time to shop for a
    car, we spent time to call them or time to wait for them to call us back
    for the car ready. And when we drove back to Capitol to talk to a sale
    manager, he treated us almost as beggars because their cars were sold
    very hot.  Then she threatened him that she was filing a complaint to
    BBB (it worked as some of you suggested).  He nicely asked how much she
    want him to reduce the price on another color except green. She asked
    for 200 less with the same 5.9% rate, because we paid  extra
    money as we selected the green. He agreed. 
     
    We came back to sign another contract and picked up the car, not the
    color that my fiancee really wants, but 200 less with the same rate.
    Some said that we must have asked for more because they caused us
    some trouble ( I don't know because of the car or weather, my fiancee
    still has flu). I think it is fair enough because I want other to be 
    fair to me. This time they treated us as "Customer is King", but we 
    did not buy that. 

    I am glad the problem is over. The experience shows that write down
    all options of the car on the Contract, check every single lines before
    you sign. In our case, at the worst that we have to bring to court,
    they still can say that we wanted GRey in stead of GReen because no
    where on Contract has color option. 

    Again I'd like thank you very much for your concern and your advise to us.  


    Son Anh
Newsgroups: ba.general