The Drama of Fighting for Principle

I got into a car accident. It was partly my fault for not paying attention, and partly the other guys fault for driving way too slow, and stopping on the highway without cause. As a result, my car was totaled.

His car was fine. Of course.

So my wife and I were put into the rather perilous and unpleasant position that we needed a new vehicle, and quickly. Thanks to our insurance, I was able to use a rental, but my time with that vehicle was limited.

Fortunately I work for a company that uses its business relationships to get discounts and incentives for its employees. And let me tell you, it's been a fantastic thing being able to use some great tools to help find a the perfect match, with the best pricing.

One of the things we did was visit some of the websites of some of the dealerships listed. We were excited and surprised therefore to find that with one of the dealerships the pricing listed on their website was actually BETTER than what was advertised through my corporate discount! The savings we were seeing were fantastic, and the ones we saw on this site were even better.

So we decided to make a direct inquiry to South Suburban Mitsubishi and spoke with the internet manager, Kathy who explained everything, mentioned that they could fed-ex paperwork, and have the car delivered to our front door. This was probably one of the coolest things we had heard, and looking back, probably what we should have done.

However, we felt it was a better idea to go and see the vehicle first-hand, and test drive it. We both took time off work, I had to use my last 4 hours of vacation, and still ended up with a point against me on my attendance. The drive in was very stressful, traffic in some places was slowed to almost a standstill. We had to pick the day they decided to clean the interstate, and reduce four lanes of traffic down to one. To make matters worse, we got a call from our sales rep on the way letting us know that the vehicle we were coming to see, the only one that my wife had written the information down for, was missing one of the features we wanted which was the Four Wheel Drive, so she would show us a version of that vehicle that did have that option. This was fine, we'd seen the site, and we knew that there were others in our price range, and that we would be able to get a great deal still.

When we got there everyone was very helpful, and accommodating, and we got to speak with our sales rep, Mimi, who was kind and pleasant, and eager to show us all the features of the car. This car had a few EXTRA features, she assured us, that she knew we would love, such as the keyless entry and ignition, and the back-up camera.

Aha, the infamous up sell. But that was okay, we were there to buy a car, we might as well see what we could get. The features were indeed fantastic, and the drive was very nice.

I felt a little odd though when we asked for the price, and her response was "We're not gonna give you the price just yet, we want to see if we can get you where you want to be with monthly payments."

And that's when I started to get a little suspicious, and when I realized that telling them how much we could afford per month might be a bad idea. In my head I thought, "they're going to just adjust the pricing and interest, and put us just on the mark where we want to be, even if they CAN get us a lower price, they know how far we've come, they know how badly we need a car, they know we don't want or intend to have come all that way, and spent all that time only to leave empty handed, and have it wasted. Certainly my wife in particular was feeling the stress of the day.

They came back with an interest rate and monthly payment that was bit above the amount that we wanted to be able to pay monthly.

That's when I really started to get suspicious. I kept wanting to say something, but my wife was so stressed out, and so worried about the possibility of leaving there and not having a car, which would mean that we had wasted the whole day, and we would STILL have to find a car somehow, that anytime I made any kind of negative statement she would glare at me with the heat of a thousand suns, (though she would deny that if you ask her now.)

So we bought the car. It was more than we had originally intended, and we would have to play around with the budget a lot, but my wife was happy, the car was fantastic (and still is,) and we were eager to get home.

We did. It rained. Traffic was horrible. We were so strung out by the time we got home we just wanted to fall into bed.

But out of curiosity I took a minute to get online and look up the car that I myself had seen, which was not the one that my wife had written down the information. It was still there, on the website. But I noticed that the MSRP was EXACTLY the same as the MSRP for our car. That seemed like an odd coincidence, so I checked the VIN against the one on our paperwork. It was identical...

...and the website had it listed $2,620 lower.

So there was a part of me that said that must be a mistake. There was another part of me that was thinking  "bait and switch." But I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt.

But I started by taking a couple of precautions. First I took a screenshot of the web page that listed our vehicle, making sure to show both the VIN, the MSRP, and the Sale Price. To be doubly sure, just in case someone tried to cry "Photoshop," I downloaded the HTML for the page.

Then the following day I started working on an email. When Mimi sent me an email, asking how everything was going I took that as the perfect opportunity to send the email I'd written.

Then I waited.

I sent the email on Thursday, but did not get a reply, so on Monday I gave them a call. I asked for Mimi, but she had apparently turned the email over to Dennis, the General Sales Manager. He called me back later that evening.

Now prior to this, being the paranoid cynic that I am, I researched the legality of recording phone calls. I wanted to be protected so that anything that was said, could be brought up later. What I found out is that some states require that one party be aware if a call is being recorded, including Iowa. So if I wanted to record a conversation where both parties were in Iowa, as long as I knew the call was being recorded, I could do that.  Illinois however is a multi-party notification state. All parties must be notified that the call is being recorded. Not give permission mind you, just notification.

So I told Dennis I would be keeping a record of our calls. He did not raise any objection.

During the call, he told me first off that he treats the deals on the website like a coupon, that we would need to print it off and present it so they can put it on file.This will be important later, so keep this in mind.

Next he went over the sale pricing and made note of different incentives that were supposedly put on there. I heard some of those he had mentioned, but I couldn’t recall the explicit details as he happened to call when I was in the car on the way home from work, so I offered to email him the information I had, a copy of the screenshot, and a picture of our final invoice.

He agreed, but tossed in that no matter what we paid, we already got a great deal on the car. 

This statement rubbed me wrong. My wife and I looked at a lot of vehicles during this whole process, prior to deciding this dealership, and this vehicle, and the PRIMARY reason we went with this dealership was the price. We had seen other vehicles from other dealerships and other manufacturers with similar features, and the pricing was very close to what we ended up paying. We didn't want a "Great Deal," or we wouldn't have had to make a nearly 350 mile round trip. But enough soap-boxing.

When I got home that night, I looked over the invoice, and made some very careful notes about the price we paid, and how exactly that was different than what was advertised on the website, I sent the pictures, and noted that I hoped this could be settled amicably.

It was then about a week or so before I got more than a cursory response from anyone at South Suburban Mitsubishi despite repeated calls and messages from me. When I finally did get a call from Dennis, which I got at work, and had to call him back, it was so that he could tell me that the pricing on the website included dealer incentives which were constantly changing, and that all sales were final.

I was pretty upset by this. I had been pretty sure they would see that this was just a mistake, and would want to correct it. To have them completely turn around and slam the door in my face was very very upsetting.

So I had to calm down, take some time and get some perspective. I searched the internet, and found that I was not the only one who had issues getting the pricing listed on the website. I did a Google search for Illinois vehicle advertising law, and found the website for the Attorney General of Illinois, and discovered two things:

1. It is an unfair or deceptive act to advertise, offer for sale or sell any motor vehicle without disclosing all material terms and conditions relating to the offer clearly and conspicuously at the outset of the offer so as to leave no reasonable probability that the offering might be misunderstood.

2. The availability of a limited rebate may be advertised if the terms of the limitation are clearly and conspicuously disclosed.  It is an unfair or deceptive act to advertise a price or amount of an installment payment in which limited rebates have been deducted.

So I checked their website, and while I did see mention of a customer loyalty rebate, which is something I would never have expected to get in the first place, I did not see any mention of any other rebates, other than the one we had received, which at the time was $500. I did however see a tiny little disclaimer that said "All applicable factory rebates applied and available to all consumers."

All consumers? Except those who don't know about them it seems.

Interestingly as I write this, I went back to their site, and noticed another small disclaimer that was added recently, and wasn't there when I made my screenshot nor when I downloaded the HTML file. It says: "Prior sales ineligible for advertised pricing. Dealer not responsible for type errors." Which means now they can claim that a price listed on the website was simply a typographical error, and that they're not responsible for honoring it. Which begs the question; Why even have prices listed on the website then? If you're not going to stand by your advertising, why even bother putting out ads?

The answer seems fairly clear to me. They want to lure you in with false promises on their website that they never intend to keep.

I've since filed a claim with the Better Business Bureau over this. The dealerships answer is predictable. Dealer incentives which change all the time, all sales are final. In the original complaint I mentioned the Atty. Gen. website, and the rules concerning disclosure, but he hasn't made any mention of that whatsoever. So now I'll be filing a complaint with the Attorney Generals office directly, and submitting reviews to several different car-buying websites, probably large sections of this blog post will be cut and pasted to write it.

But I wanted to pass along a few things I've learned, that I wish I'd known before starting all this:

1. If you see pricing listed on a website for a car, print it out and bring it with you.

2. DO NOT just bring one price for one vehicle. Bring several listings, and make sure they all have VIN numbers.

3. If you don't have print outs make sure you have a Smartphone with a browser that allows you to see the desktop version of a website. Chrome does this. That way when they show you the vehicle, and the VIN number you can compare that information to the information on their website.

4. BE PREPARED TO WALK AWAY. If at any time you feel you are being treated unfairly, no matter what the circumstances, thank them for their time, and walk out the door. They will try to stop you, but do not let them.

5. Know the Laws and Codes. Google the Attorney Generals website for your region or state, and read up on Motor Vehicle Advertising. Bookmark it on your smartphone if you have one.

I have no idea now whether anything is going to happen, or if I'm ever going to see anything from this. And honestly, I don't really care about the money anymore. I just get so upset thinking about how many people have probably been taken in by the too fantastic deals on the website, only to pay more than they were expecting, or more than the website claimed. So now I just want to let as many people as possible know about this place, and others like it, and how to protect themselves. If this keeps just one other person from falling victim to deceptive advertising tactics, I'll be happy.

And share this with anyone you know who is in the market for a new car, and looking online for the best deals. Even if they only look at the list, it will be better than the alternative.

Thanks!