Awesome dealership # 3487

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jeffie7

Wrong Whole!
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Chevy Dealer Errs in Sale Price, Has Customer Danny Sawyer Arrested for Theft | ABC News Blogs - Yahoo!

When Priority Chevrolet of Chesapeake, Va., mistakenly sold Danny Sawyer a new Chevrolet Traverse for less than it had intended, the dealership tried to get Sawyer to sign a new, more expensive contract. When Sawyer refused, the dealership's staffers reportedly called police and had him arrested, accusing him of stealing the vehicle.
The charges were ultimately dropped, but Sawyer, a 40-year-old registered nurse from Chesapeake, Va., has filed a $2.2 million lawsuit, the Virginian-Pilot newspaper reported.
Dennis Ellmer, the president of the dealership, last week acknowledged his staffers erred, first when they undersold the car and then when they reported Sawyer to the authorities.
"I owe Mr. Sawyer a big apology," Ellmer told the Virginian-Pilot last week.
Ellmer, Sawyer and Sawyer's attorney, Rebecca Colaw, did not return messages left for them today by ABC News.
According to the lawsuit, a copy of which was posted on the Virginian-Pilot's website, Sawyer went to the dealership on May 7 and traded in his 2008 Saturn Vue for a black 2012 Chevrolet Traverse, though he came back to the dealer the next morning to exchange the black Traverse for a blue one instead.
Sales manager Wib Davenport agreed to cancel the sale on the black SUV and sell Sawyer the blue Traverse, the suit said, adding that the contract price on the blue 2012 SUV was $33,957.55.
Sawyer took the car home later that day and left for a cruise the following day. When he returned from vacation on May 15, he had numerous voicemail messages from the dealer's staffers on his home and work phones, as well as a letter in his mailbox from Davenport, the suit claimed.
When he spoke with Davenport, the manager told him that the staff had made a mistake in the contract and the blue Traverse was worth more, the suit said. According to the Virginian-Pilot, the blue Traverse should have sold for about $39,000.
The suit claims Davenport asked Sawyer to come in and sign a new contract reflecting the corrected price. Sawyer declined, saying he had already paid in full.
According to the suit, the dealer's staff continued to call Sawyer's home and job for several weeks after, and on June 15, police came to Sawyer's home and arrested him. He was held for four hours before being released on bond. Having no car, Sawyer had to walk the five miles to his home.
The suit also claimed that Davenport continued to ask Sawyer to sign a new contract even after the charges were dropped.
Among other things, Sawyer's lawsuit alleged malicious prosecution, slander, defamation, abuse of process, negligence and fraud.
As a result of his experience, Sawyer has suffered emotional distress, shame, loss of reputation, sleeplessness, nightmares, fear of arrest and other consequences, the court papers added.
 
nightmares? :lol:

geebus. what a shitty dealership. and who the fuck gets nightmares from buying a car?
 
Funny, this happened at my dealership about a month ago. Rather than hounding the customer, they simply explained the situation, but still ate the cost. Funny how that works.
 
Funny, this happened at my dealership about a month ago. Rather than hounding the customer, they simply explained the situation, but still ate the cost. Funny how that works.

Happens all the time. I've heard of so many underwater contracts and they just have to grin and bear it and Hope they buy another car down the road from them.
 
just another dick head customer who feels entitled to more than he deserves.
dealerships make mistakes. I'm sure the customer knoew all along the other traverse was worth more.....hell the dealerships wasn't obligated to "swap" from one to another just because the customer changes his mind. A dealership will loose a little money to keep a customer but to loose thousands for a simple mistake that can have easily been corrected is absurd. The guy was just being a total tool


I hope he losses his case and still gets stuck with the loan.
 
just another dick head customer who feels entitled to more than he deserves.
dealerships make mistakes. I'm sure the customer knoew all along the other traverse was worth more.....hell the dealerships wasn't obligated to "swap" from one to another just because the customer changes his mind. A dealership will loose a little money to keep a customer but to loose thousands for a simple mistake that can have easily been corrected is absurd. The guy was just being a total tool


I hope he losses his case and still gets stuck with the loan.
He signed the contract and left. Mistake or not, that's how the deal was written. That was what the customer agreed to. The dealership is at fault here. It's absurd for them to demand more after the fact. They won't go under for losing a few grand. Explain to the customer what happened. Tell them you will still get it at the price that it was written up at because that was the deal you signed, and hopefully you will earn repeat business and referrals for being an honest and customer friendly dealership.
 
Don't get me wrong, the customer is probably a dick too, But by the letter of the law, he is in the right here.
 
just another dick head customer who feels entitled to more than he deserves.
dealerships make mistakes. I'm sure the customer knoew all along the other traverse was worth more.....hell the dealerships wasn't obligated to "swap" from one to another just because the customer changes his mind. A dealership will loose a little money to keep a customer but to loose thousands for a simple mistake that can have easily been corrected is absurd. The guy was just being a total tool


I hope he losses his case and still gets stuck with the loan.

I couldn't disagree with you more. Dealership made the mistake here. They're stupid for trying to throught a contract. How is he a tool? He didn't reneg.


Sounds like you got hosed a few too many times by bad customers to polarize your opinion this much. I know you're in the business, but c'mon. Have a sense of decency. The loss would hit the p & L but this publicity is going to HURT them 10x more for their bonehead decision.
 
so what happens is the dealership writes up contract for more than the agreed price and the customer doesn't see it until a few days when he looks over his buyers order again?

should he take call it a loss since it's a contract and abide by it? Nope, didn't think so. company won't go under because of it but a mistake needs to be corrected. this guy just wanted to fuck the dealership and it cost him to get arrested. He knew all along what he was doing.
 
I couldn't disagree with you more. Dealership made the mistake here. They're stupid for trying to throught a contract. How is he a tool? He didn't reneg.


Sounds like you got hosed a few too many times by bad customers to polarize your opinion this much. I know you're in the business, but c'mon. Have a sense of decency. The loss would hit the p & L but this publicity is going to HURT them 10x more for their bonehead decision.

I'm in the business and know all too well how it works. just the other day I sold a used car that I had to eat $400 off gross because of my stupid mistake but I made it right by ordering the part I told them it had even though it didn't come with it. I didn't have to do it. I could have said it was my mistake and but yes you are correct in publicity....my word and reputation means more than a few bucks. so i made it right.

the point here is that all could have been handled if the customer would have been honest and reasonable about the matter. he was called on multiple times and what not.

Would my dealership have done that? most liely NOT but that doesn't mean all dealerships should just loose just because. trust me....that dealership didn't want to get the cops involved. that amount was too large to loose.
 
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damn I need to learn how to type :lol:

going back to edit.....
 
I don't get defending the lack of due diligence of the dealership.
You have integrity in your sales. These guys obviously do not.


Suck up the loss, fire the sales guy and admin team that didn't check this, and move on. Calling the police because the customer wouldn't void the contract is idiotic. Their name is signed on it next to his.
 
i'm sure there is more to the story but the fact that he's now suing for frivolous crap just solidifies the fact that he just wants to screw someone.

papers get agreed upon before going to the finance office....meaning the sales person may have screwed up but those numbers still have to go throught the sales manager and finance manager. how this was overseen is a big question......that big of a money issue just doesn't happen everyday.

i've messed up before....we're human....but damn not this bad. On the other hand this is why I prolly wouldn't work at another dealership if I left this one. We're more of a family than employees. We're small but with over 100 years of business behind us.
Other dealserships could care less about you and what you do unless you make them lots of money.

mehhh.
 
so what happens is the dealership writes up contract for more than the agreed price and the customer doesn't see it until a few days when he looks over his buyers order again?

should he take call it a loss since it's a contract and abide by it? Nope, didn't think so. company won't go under because of it but a mistake needs to be corrected. this guy just wanted to fuck the dealership and it cost him to get arrested. He knew all along what he was doing.

By the letter of the law. The customer signed a contract. Would any dealership realize the mistake and say, "Oh well, you signed it", no. But there is a difference in the situation because one is a buyer and the other is the seller. Sellers need a good reputation. Buyers just want the lowest price.

At my dealership the contract is looked over by at least 4 people (including managers) before the customer finally signs it. As far as I'm concerned, the dealership had their shot to correct it. The moment that customer drove away, they lost it.

However I do agree with you about the lawsuit. He'll probably get a little something for the wrongful arrest, but he won't, or at least shouldn't, be making millions for his woe is me.
 
once again they did tried to correct it and called and I'm sure emailed.....he ignored because he's a giant dousche.

so the dealership should get screwed just because they were the sellers, am I right?
 
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