Complain about a product or service

Robertson Honda

Palmdale, CA

M. of Lancaster, CA, writes:

After a major car accident involving somewhat serious injury, and as I was healing enough to purchase a newer vehicle, I had heard a lot of good things about Hondas. I called a team leader named Dave Elliott who agreed to pick me up and drive me to his dealership. That was good. I explained to him that I didn't want to play salesman games and he seemed to understand. He introduced me to Dennis as my salesman. Dennis picked me up in a Honda CRV. He seemed to have made up his mind that the one he was driving was the one I would buy. Soon after, I decided that I would purchase that vehicle. He started to play "let's fill in the first five lines and we'll see..." when Dave came back and said we weren't going to do that here. He said they were going to be straight up. He helped by watching over Dennis and things went well. Dennis said that by buying a "certified" car, I would have a better warranty.

Seven years and 1000 miles, no deductible. I asked him to find out what the difference in cost of a CD player (instead of a cassette) would be. He came out and said "Guess what! We can put in both a CD and cassette player!" (Notice there was no mention of cost.) When I got to the finance manager's office, I learned (on crutches, at 8:30pm - hurting and exhausted), that the "cd and cassette" was over $800. I also learned the "better warranty on a certified car" was another $1495. A kit that does a better "scotch guard" was $450. Somehow they "immerse the fabric into the car" and it is guaranteed for the life of the car. There's more. I signed the contract, but pointed out that I was unsure of the items in the contract and that the "no buyer's remorse" was bogus. It is not worth the gold they printed it on. They said this was a "working contract," meaning I could look around and see if I could find a better interest rate. The next morning I called my credit union. The rep said it looked good, and that he would let me know the next day.

When he did not call me back, I tried twice to call again, but eventually he called and said that "this contract was already bought at a higher rate." This sounded like a little behind-the-scenes manipulation to me. I went back and made my point about the $800 CD player and other items and the finance manager agreed, after one failed attempt to hold me to the original contract, to rewrite the contract at the rate I would have gotten as a Wescom member. He said he looked to the Wescom, because he knew I was a retired telephone employee. How did he know Wescom was a telephone employees credit union? It beats me. Nothing in the name implies Telephone Employees Credit Union as it was once called. I would like to know what a "working" loan is and if they track one's requests during the seven day time period that s/he attempts to get a better rate. This seems to be the case. I don't think this happened because I was a telephone employee at all. Is this legal? I think it was because he watched my credit history and made a better offer to the facility I questioned.

While Dave Elliott, the team leader for Dennis was within earshot, Dennis was sounding pretty good...except not disclosing that the "better warranty" was really an expensive service policy. I think Honda should be prohibited to encourage people to buy thinking of this great warranty. It should be disclosed up front. That was his major pitch. I felt embarrased, as knowledgeable as I am with snaky auto salesman, that I missed that. I went to a restaurant because I explained that I had not eaten since before noon, and had to have a waiter go out to my car and get my crutches because I couldn't walk one more step. Meanwhile, the salesman boasted to his team leader that if I bought the CRV, he would take me to get some food into my stomach bailed. I feel manipulated with the "working loan" and feel this type of loan should be investigated. The economic consequences were about $1500 for the "better warranty than comes with a new car." I don't mind that too much as I would probably have bought it anyway, but his tactics were shameful.

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