Hello Tony

We live in Utah and recently went looking for a new vehicle with a trade-in. We went on June, 10th 2007. The car was a demo car with 6,000 miles o n it. There was a scratch on the back hatch, some minor scratches and the plastic under the car on the front was loose on one side. The inside had not been cleaned either. They said they could have it ready to go with the list complete by Tuesday.

We haggled the price for the trade-in of the F350 Lariat and the Armada we were buying, and signed the papers. The Finance lady kept the papers to put in the Armada. I called the salesman on Tuesday around 11 a.m. and he told me it would be ready by 4:30 p.m., so I went in. Well, the Armada was not ready, they were having a hard time getting the scratch out, so they sent me home (50 miles away), stating that it would be ready the next afternoon.

Wednesday came and it never got finished. Thursday came, I called several times and they finally took a hatch off another Armada and replaced it. I went to pick up the Armada again at 4:30 p.m., the inside was not cleaned and I asked for it to be cleaned. The salesman finally had the customer relations man come and talk to me, I sent the vehicle back 3 times to have it cleaned.

On June 26th they finally paid the trade in off, then sent us a notice that we owed $150.00 for the remainder balance. They told us that they would have it paid off in ten days, (if I am right that is 16 days) before we could pick up the plates. We called several different people there to speak with and never got anywhere, some would not return our calls others spoke ignorantly to where you want hang up on them.

Is this something we have to pay if they told us that they would have it paid off in 10 days? It is not the matter of the money, but the matter is how we were treated. We went on vacation for a week on July 9 - 16, when we got back the Finance lady left a message that she only put sales tax at 6% and it should be 6.25% and we needed to resign papers. We signed papers, can they make us resign?

This whole deal has been horrible, we have received nothing but the run around, and I will tell everyone I know not to buy from Tim Dahle Nissan.

Thank you,

Misti from Utah

My Response to Misti . . .

Hi Misti,

It sure sounds like this car dealer can use some lessons in customer service, which should be the foundation upon which their business is built on.

You should go in there and talk to the General Manager or the owner. Don't waste your time with the salesman, the Sales Manager or the Finance Manager. I know it's a long drive, but one more time just to set the record straight. Express your dissatisfaction with the way they handled you. While you're there talk to them about your payoff.

As far as your payoff goes, when the dealer calls the bank to get the payoff they usually get a payoff that is accurate for 10 days. The payoff changes daily due to accrued interest. If they had an accurate payoff, and they just waited too long to pay it off it should be their problem not yours.

Tell the General Manager or the owner that you don't feel like you should be held responsible for their procrastination! If they had the wrong payoff from the start then you may owe the money.

As far as them asking you to re-sign the paperwork this is an unethical yet fairly common practice. It is possible however that the Finance Manager simply made an honest mistake on the sales tax. It's really hard to say.

It sounds to me like this dealership is suffering from a severe case of MDD (Management Deficit Disorder)!

All my very best to you Misti . . .

Tony Iorio