Consumer complaint received 2024-06-02
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Getting a loan or lease — Changes in terms mid-deal or after closing
Company: MECHANICS BANK (AZ)

XX/XX/XXXX I submitted a complaint about this dealership to the AZ Attorney General 's office when I uncovered the multiple acts of deception, omission, redirection and outright lies incurred doing business with XXXX XXXX, however, disappointingly I never received ANY response. I made 1 follow up phone inquiry months later, to which I was told to keep waiting. XXXX XXXX was the AZ Attorney General during this time. It was the Attorney general 's office that ordered XXXX XXXX and another XXXX XXXX in the XXXX to reimburse customers for low-life sales tactics and just flat taking advantage so I thought that I had a chance at getting heard and people were urged to submit reports if they had experienced anything similar and I was definitely one of those people In XXXX of XXXX I shopped online for a used vehicle through XXXX and after getting preapproved for financing with XXXX XXXX , I went to XXXX XXXX in person to finalize the transaction. 
Very clearly from the beginning I informed XXXX XXXX that I had financing in place and I wanted a 48-month loan for the XXXX XXXX. 
I made a down payment of {$2000.00} and my apr was 8.25 %. As he was handing me the keys, I noticed a large gap between the rear fender and the bumper where the pavement was visible beyond the damage. I exclaimed Oh! What's THIS? the damage was so significant that it would have been a deal-breaker from the get-go if I had seen it before then. XXXX then told me somebody from the dealership would be contacting me at a later date to bring the vehicle back and have that fixed. Foolishly I trusted him. I did return to the dealership a couple of weeks after that thinking that I was going in for that very appointment to have the damage fixed however I only met with XXXX and the finance gal named XXXX who presented me with another another contract to sign even though I had already signed a contract. XXXX finally spilled the beans that I wasn't actually going to have any work done on the car that day that I have to bring it back yet again, and since I was already in a hurry to leave I went ahead and signed it and I asked why I was signing a new contract and they both said we saved you some money so I didn't bother to read it but I did receive my copy in the mail about a week later and I stuck it with a bunch of other papers and didn't even open the envelope. I was confused that I was leaving without getting my car fixed but it was just a trick to bring me in there to sign another contract. When I finally nailed him down on the actual nature of the repair and the fact that he had acted like it was good not going to be a big deal to get it taken care of he started wiggling away from the responsibility and finally decided when I did go back in to have it repaired, that it was too expensive to fix and I left the dealership upset. Sometime possibly a couple of weeks after that I contacted XXXX XXXX again and let him know that it was not acceptable and that I was not interested in having the car unless it was fixed. I even took it to a different XXXXXXXX XXXX in XXXX and had it appraised, which they told me it was going to be between XXXX and {$4000.00}. 
When I went back to the dealership to talk to XXXX about what were going to do to remedy this they offered me a different car. I was very preoccupied that day as I had a family member that had been arrested in XXXX XXXX and my biggest concern that day was to get to XXXX XXXX to post bail and get my relative out of jail. XXXX XXXX and all of the staff involved in this transaction that day completely took advantage of the fact that I was not paying very much attention and I ended up going from the original contract which was 8.25 % percentage rate for 4 years all the way up to 17.99 % percentage rate for an ADDITIONAL 18 MONTHS TACKED ON TO THE LOAN! Also, they stopped my extended warranty refund to the down payment, which I was not informed about until I called the finance company later to ask about the refund. Predators!!! XXXX knew exactly what those line items were and he made sure I didn't talk to anyone in finance every time I tried to. 
When I sat down and figured out the huge difference in the principal, the interest and the length of the loan I just about lost my head, so I requested a meeting with the sales manager XXXX XXXX who had contacted me a couple of times with auto-generated fluff previously about my purchase via email. I also wanted to speak with somebody else in finance at the meeting. When I arrived at XXXX XXXX to have this requested tell-all session about the predatory, warped-beyond-recognition, horrible contract that I ended up with, nobody showed aside from XXXX. Therefore, my finance questions were not answered. In fact, he told me he didn't know what all of these line items that I was questioning were. So then I requested to talk to another woman there. Her name was XXXX XXXX and she dismissed me on XX/XX/XXXX when I didn't make the phone call on time due to the fact the charging port in the XXXX had a blown fuse and wouldn't charge my cell phone. I believe that she was protecting the sales staff from the get-go and she continued to do that. She wanted specific information that was in the contracts ( 4 total contracts.each one less favorable then the last ) that I didn't have with me and inferred I was somewhat incompetent for not retaining the exact numbers in my head without a reference to give her. 
As I was working on a large remodeling project in XXXX XXXX I didn't have any discretionary time to do follow up on this and figured I would contact her when I did have the time. In the meantime, my car wasn't driving well when I used the freeways and it was making me nervous about safety. When I finally contacted somebody about the unstable performance issues I was having, a diagnostic was discussed and XXXX said they would cover it. The car is a XXXX XXXX XXXX and my first issue was that the XXXX ( and everyone else ) claimed that this car had never been in an acaccident. But it was obvious that it had, because there was a bad repair on the rear driver 's door and there was touch up paint on the bumpers and when I asked for the diagnostic ( which XXXX had told me at first was going to be paid for by XXXX XXXX but it wasn't so I went ahead and paid for it myself and after giving them {$160.00} ) I learned from the techs at XXXX XXXX that the only thing that was wrong with my car was it needed the transmission fluid topped off and that all four wheels were bent from impact. I must stress that the impact was not from me. The fog light that had been knocked out of its socket and burned a hole through the bumper was also part of the damage from the accident that was never reported it included on the XXXX XXXX report. The car wasn't driving right and it felt unstable and unsteady and the steering wasn't really true. There was a lot of play and the tires didn't feel like they were gripping the road right. When I later delved into the financial portion of the contract I learned that they did not use the financing that I brought with XXXX XXXX. Instead they made multiple hard pulls and later on XXXX FLAT LIED and told me that when they ran my credit through XXXX that day that I was denied which is an absolute lie because I spoke with XXXX later and he completely confirmed that I had been approved for a loan and that there was no reason for anybody at XXXX XXXX to go any farther looking for a lender because XXXX had me, unwaveringly. I went from paying around {$2500.00} in interest to over {$7000.00} in interest in the final insult contract. They also took the money that was financed in with the original XXXX for a extended warranty ( that I chose not to adopt on the second car ) and put it toward the down payment of the XXXX which I never agreed to! If I signed a paper, it was rushed in passing in front of me and nobody explained it in finance about what it was because those line items were conveniently not explainable by XXXX either. He just said he didn't know. Then XXXX from finance was never available after that so I couldn't ask her and my phone calls to her just went to voicemail and I never received any phone calls back. 
This whole car deal and all dealings with XXXX XXXX were handled abominably by their staff and the trickery and deception involved should definitely qualify me for some kind of XXXX citizen protection from the Arizona attorney general 's office because I don't think that anybody should accept that when they walk into a used car dealership that theyre going to get screws put to them if they're not 100 % prepared for slimy tactics by the sales and finance team unless bring a personal fiduciary arsenal along with them. 
When I confronted XXXX with the internet article that I had found that outlined the illegal sales practices and just morally wrong ways that they took advantage of people and that they were ordered to pay back over a XXXX dollars to different customers that year, I thought I would definitely have a place in that group. Unfortunately, the Attorney General 's office never returned my communication that is why I am filing with you today. 
The car that I ended up buying does not suit my requirements as far as being able to carry things in it because it's a four-door sedan and the original one that I wanted was a hatchback. I made a hasty decision due to the fact that I was under duress when I went back into the dealership to pick a new car and I was prevented from seeing any of the people at the dealership that would have been able to answer questions that I had about the contract and the damage to the car. By now, i have had the rims welded because they keep cracking due to " impact '' XXXX from the last owner! also lied about the article that I was presenting to him and told me that if I had read it closer that it was from almost 10 years prior which was a flat lie. I really don't know how he can live with himself or why he's still employed there or anywhere where he could take advantage of people. 
The icing on this very bad cake was that I contacted XXXX XXXX, who is a another sales team member, about a XXXX sport wagon that was on the lot for sale because I got pre-approved for yet another auto loan during this time and I was interested in the XXXX because it was a lower price and it would serve my needs as far as being able to haul things. Interestingly, on my way to the dealership ( he knew I was coming ) he called and told me that it had been sold!! Yet it was still up on the website two and three weeks later so I believe that I was bait & switched and or illegally LED away from the car that I actually would have been able to use and utilize and not get screwed on and I believe that's illegal! Please let me know what you think. I know it's been 2 years but it's not something I've been able to let go and I don't abide by just expecting to get completely dragged through a keyhole when you go to buy a car from a used car dealership like everybody else seems to think you deserve if you don't walk in with an arsenal to protect you. I've got 3 years now left on this loan that should have only been 2 more. And the lied saying it was the same deal just a different car. But I'm paying an entire year longer than I agreed to do. Nothing was further from the truth! 
I'm am attaching screen shots of emails to XXXX XXXX. If i missed a section, please inform me and I'll send it. I've got duplicates for sure bc I'm trying to give the whole conversation. The last two attachments document the dealership from a forum online and the dates i copied them. There is an order where the dealership had to compensate customers for their practices and dishonestly. Please look it's up. Thank you, a very unhappy consumer.