Nationwide Auto World Kia

On Monday, 1/23/2012, I went to Auto World Kia about getting a car loan that they had been working on since 1/19/12. My salesperson was Luis **. They approved me for a loan for a KIA Ronto and said they needed $1500. My finance person was named Richard **. I had already faxed them pay stubs and proof of employment on 1/19/12. I told them I would sleep on it and bring in some of the deposit to hold the car on 1/24/12. Luis said he would be off on Tuesday, but Richard said he would be in the rest of the week. On 1/24/12 around 9:30 in the morning, I came with my 2-year old and 2 months old in the one car we have to write a check for half the deposit. A salesperson named Dimitri took the check and filled out the top part of the contract. I told him I would need the car by 6PM on 1/26/12, when I bought the other half of the deposit. He went back into the office and got the approval for the car to be ready on 1/26/12 and had me sign the blank contract.

When I came in 1/26/12 around 12PM to give the other half of the deposit, Dimitri said I could not write a check for the other half of the deposit if I wanted to pick up the car the same day and I would have to use a debit or credit card. They swiped my card and took out $750. Then he said they could not have the car ready for 1/26/12 because Richard Ortiz was off for the day. I asked for my money back and told them I had to be at work at 9AM in Queens on 1/27/12, that is why I asked for the car to be ready 1/26/12. He talked to the finance officer again and then said they could have it ready. We called Geico to add the car to the policy that my fiance and I are on and told me he would put dealer plates on it. He asked for me to bring in another more recent pay stub when I returned at 6PM to pick up the car. He also said to call before I come to pick up the car.

I came back an hour later at 2PM with my pay stub and said I would be back at 6PM to pick up the car. The finance officer and the manger Mark proceeded to tell me that they cannot give me the car on 1/26/12 because I have to go over the financing with Richard **. I told them I already did that on Monday and I already came on Tuesday about the car. I said if they could not give me the car, then they shouldn't have swiped my card, so they can just refund the card. Mark told me the girl that does the refund would not be in until tomorrow 1/27/12 and he refused to give me a refund on my deposit. I told him that I wanted my money back so I can go buy a car elsewhere. He became condescending and told me I might as well come get the car tomorrow if I'm just going to another car. I told him I wanted to speak to the person above him. He told me that there was no one above him and he is God!

I left the showroom and called Nassau County Police, who arrived in about 10 minutes. I told the officer that I had a receipt for the transaction for today and the check that I wrote Tuesday cleared today, and the manager Mark refuses to give me a refund. He went and spoke to the manager and came to tell me there is nothing he could do because it was a private business transaction and that I would have to make a civil complaint to the Better Business Bureau or complain to Kia. He gave me a piece of paper with number I could call. I told him I will take care of it. He said, "What did you say?". I said nothing. I asked one of the salesmen for the owner's name. His name is Joe Cantalinno, which I'm sure I might be spelling wrong. Mind you, this all going on in the rain, while I'm trying to tend to my young baby. The police also stayed in the lot until I left as if I wasn't the one who called them for assistance.

I left and called Kia corporate office, who took the complaint and then proceeded to tell me that they don't actually own any of the 800 Kia dealers and they can only document the complaint. After I picked up my fiance from work, we went back and he got some more names of the employees in the dealership. They refused to give him the last name of Mark and told him that the name is on the website, which it is not. I am a hardworking social worker and my fiance works two jobs, that is why we could not come back 1/27/12, 1/28/12 or 1/29/12. He works the weekend and has our car. I provide early intervention for children and therapy at the mental health clinic. I needed the car to get to work.

I believe that because I am a young mom of two young children, without a male with me, Mark felt he could discriminate against me. I was disappointed in the police officer who, instead of coming to the aid of me and my children, looked at me as a suspect. I am asking for your help to receive my money from Auto World Kia because I am sure they will not be returning my entire deposit tomorrow or anytime in the immediate future.

Summary: My wife and I were there misled by Nationwide Motor Sales Corporation, William H. S, President, Nationwide KIA store in Lutherville, MD. They purposely avoided noting we were buying a KIA Sorento SUV EX v6 front wheel drive and not the all wheel drive model we test drove. Three days later and 40 miles when the difference was discovered, they informed us they would make it right. After hours of negotiating, the best they could do was a trade in that would cost us $8,000 in difference. Additionally, this dealer made admitted to overtly false advertising in The Baltimore Sun newspaper and made numerous misrepresentations as discussed below:

Business Transaction - 4/6/10 we drove in our 1997 Audi A6 to this dealer and traded it on a 2011 KIA Sorento 2 front wheel drive 4dr demo model that we were mislead was a four wheel drive for a total purchase price of $30,499.92. A copy of this sales contract will be mailed to your office.

Details: (chronological order) 1. Tuesday, April 6, 2010, we went to visit Nationwide Motors Sales Corporation Store, Nationwide KIA in Lutherville, MD. We liked the KIA Sorento that was parked in front of the store, but it had two tone seats, which we did not like. The sales person, Omari **, told us that we could get a slightly lower grade model they had at a demo discount because a store manager had been driving it back and forth from home. It had about 3,600 miles. This was obvious as there was a child seat in the back of this car. While the demo was cleaned out, Mr. Omari suggested we test drive this first Sorento we saw with the two tone seats to see if we liked its performance. He told us the only differences of this Sorento car we were about to test drive test and the slightly lower grade model was chrome wheel covers, the GPS and two-tone seats.

We agreed to take a test drive and during this test drive we repeatedly asked Mr. Omari about the differences between this car and the car that we were considering purchasing (the demo). During this drive he pointed to the dashboard and showed us that the GPS wouldn't be there and that instead of the backup video screen, it would be located in the rear view mirror. He again mentioned the chrome tires and the two-tone seats would not be in the demo model. I pointed to the button on the far left of the dash board and I asked Mr. Omari what this was and he explained I could switch from 2 wheel-drive to 4 wheel-drive and encouraged me to keep the car in 2 wheel drive when driving as I would get better gas mileage. Next, I pointed to the compass in the rearview mirror and told Mr. Omari that I liked it. Mr. Omari immediately informed me that this would not be in the model that I was purchasing. During our conversation with Mr. Omari, he told us that we would receive a complete 100,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty on the car that was backed up by Nationwide. He told us that during all these maintenance visits we would be provided with a loaner car.

We returned to the showroom and the demo model was cleaned up and we took it for a quick drive around the block. We had no extra time as my wife had to get to her office. She asked if she could be driven home to get to the office on time and I stay to complete the paperwork. We offered to sign the paperwork the next day but they repeatedly told us there was no need to wait that, we will get you on your way in five minutes. They handed us the black leather bound KIA Sorento operating manual folder with a sticker handwritten 4x4 with booklets and our receipts. They did not give us the window tag. We noticed on the way home that the registration statement read that the car had 200 more miles than was actually on it. The car sat in the driveway for the next two days. My wife drove to the dealer in another vehicle to pick up the old cars license plates and asked if we could have another manual since the one we were given had pages falling out.

2. Friday, April 9, 2010. I got into the new Sorento for the first time since the purchase to study its instrumentation with the operating manual. That was how I noticed that there was no two wheel four-wheel-drive button on the dashboard; instead it was covered by a dummy switch button. I looked at the black leather bound operating manual folder that they had given us and it had hand written on the label 4x4 on the cover and on the inside. A copy of leather folder cover is being sent to your office. I immediately called the dealer and told him that this was not a 4x4 car and that we were told we were getting a 4x4 car. We checked all the paperwork given to us and there was no indication of 4x4 or 2x2 except for the labels on the black leather folder. The dealer said they never told us we were getting a 4x4 car but they would work something out for us and to come in on Monday.

3. Monday April 12, 2010. We went into the store and the General Manager Mike **, told us it was our fault that we didn't get a 4x4 car because we didn't notice that the car that we purchased did not have AWD written on the lower front of the driver's door. I told him that the only documentation I had indicating that the car was a 4x4 in all the literature they gave me was the black leather KIA Sorento operating manual folder. They told me this was the black leather KIA Sorento operating manual folder for another car as they had lost the booklet for the car they sold to me. The VIN # on this booklet turned out to be different from the VIN number on KIA Sorento car. The dealer had never told us they were giving us a booklet cover from another car.

I mentioned to the general manager of the store, Mike W, that we were pleased with the 100,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty that Omari had informed us about and Mike said Omari made a mistake that it was really only a 60,000 miles bumper to bumper. The 10year/100,000 is a drive train warranty. This is another point of misinformation that had been provided to us.

4. The Nationwide dealer said they could not offer this demo with 3,695 still less miles than the purchase price stated as pre-owned certified. They informed us it could only be a used model and no warranty could be made available thus they would only value a trade-in at $25,000. They worked up some numbers for us and said that we could get a four-wheel-drive version of our car for $3,250 additional dollars with dealership credits. They said it might take them a day or to locate a from another distributor. We told them for $3200 we would trade up to the 4x4 version. They reviewed with us several different models from other dealers and said that they would check what was available and even search for another demo 4x4 version. They wouldn't know the exact difference till a car was located but that we would be in the $32, 500 ranges.

5. Monday night after these hours of heated negotiations at the dealers location, we came home and reviewed the financial information the dealer had provided us the day before and realized that even though the cost of the 4x4 vehicle was in the $32,500 range the total financing was $8,000 more for the new 4x4 car with all of the associated fees and credits. Checking on-line for purchase prices of the 4x4 we realized that we were absorbing the entire costs of them misrepresenting and selling us the 2x2 model.

6. We received a call Tuesday, April 13, 2010; early evening to review the paperwork so there would be no surprises because they had located a car. We said the $8,000 additional cost was not a fair deal.

7. That evening, Tuesday, my wife went to the nationwide store on, to pick up all our documentation including registration and license plates for the 2x2. She noticed the documentation was still missing the odometer reading paper and they told her it was in the back room unavailable and they would mail it to her. She asked for the window sticker and was told it was not available and that they could not get it because of the car being a demo.

After my wife picked up the paperwork, I called up the general manager of the store, Mike W, asking again for the window sticker or some indication that we purchased a 2x2 not a 4x4. He reiterated that it was not available. He stated that the car was the first 2011 Sorento that they had received and it had no window sticker or owner's manual. As of April 19, 2010, we have not received the odometer statement or the window sticker.

False and Misleading Advertising by Nationwide Motor Sales Corporation In The Baltimore Sun newspaper of April 1l, 2010, on page 4 of the AUTOS section this same Nationwide Motor Sales Corporation, Nationwide KIA of Lutherville, MD had a full page ad offering, We will pay off your trade no matter what you owe (copy attached). I asked Mr. Mike at the end of our conversation cited in the preceding paragraph if he would credit our proposed trade up as per this ad. He pointed out the fine print at the bottom of the full page ad that reads, Dealer not responsible for typographical errors. Offer ends 03/31/2010". The point being that this ad was printed 10 days after its expiration date. He told me this was a great way to get people to come into the store but the ad is not valid. It's my lay impression that this is false and misleading advertising (a copy of this newspaper ad will be sent to your office).

Misrepresentation on Loaner Car - Wednesday, April 14, 2010, I received a call from Mr. L, he said he was waiting for me to come to the store to pick up the car that we had agreed to purchase two days earlier. Apparently his boss Mr. W had never told him that my wife came into the store the night before to pick up all the paperwork and license plates. I asked Mr. L about the maintenance program on the car and asked him to verify what both he and Mr. Mike had told my wife and me we would be able to get a loaner car whenever we took our car into Nationwide for maintenance under terms of their 10 year warranty. Mr. Omari told me that he would have to check and put me on hold. He came back to the phone a minute later and told me this was not true. He said that for every $400 I paid in maintenance I would get one coupon for one loaner car for a subsequent maintenance. This is just another example of the types of misrepresentations made by this store.

Conclusion - We were fraudulently misled by Nationwide Motor Sales Corporation. They made lies of omission, outright lies and deliberately published false and misleading advertising. We spent five hours in their store negotiating prices and were continuously deceived. We are aware a legal case would be our word against theirs despite us trusting their paperwork with a hand written 4x4 and no other documentation to differentiate the models and their false and misleading advertising. We never received any indication of the difference in models. We could only hope that your office can help us and that future consumers not be subjected to their unscrupulous practices. We would make ourselves available to testify in any present or future legal matters you may have with this dealership. The newspaper ad that is attached is a clear case of false and misleading advertising.

I was trying to finance a car, and Nationwide called me, went there to look at cars. I have a car that I was either gonna trade in or sell to Carmax, I told the Salesman that I WAS NOT GONNA SELL MY CAR UNTIL I HAD ANOTHER CAR. He informed me that he would be able to get me financed. I again stressed the fact the I will not sell my car until I am financed. He said they will be able to finance me and not to worry and thats what he specializes in. On Thursday Aug 8th, he told me to take my car to Carmax abd sell it to them, and then come to Nationwide afterwards to sign the paperwork.

Well I sold my car to Carmax, when I called the salesman to let him know I was on my way out there, he said dont come the Finance Mgr is gone for the evening and to come on Friday. I called on Friday and told them I would be there around 4:45. Well I called them at 4PM to let them know I was on my way. The salesman said that the Finance Mgr would be gone for the rest of the weekend. At that point I felt like I was being pushed to the side or that they are having a hard time financing me. Well on Monday I was told they could not finance me. Well at that point I was ****** off, had sold my car per their instructions and now I have no car because of that.

When I was talking to the Finance Mgr and I told him that, he said well it wasnt written down it was only a verbal agreement. I told him that it doesnt matter, they should have never guaranteed me that they would be able to finance me. So now I dont have a car, and then he said he knew some people and that maybe I could get a wholesale car. I told him that wasnt fair to me. I had a nice car that I sold to Carmax, why would I want to drive a old beat up car. Anyway, now they are telling me that if I could have another income added to mine that they might be able to finance me. I said does that mean I need a co-signer, he said no, just needed more income.

Well come to find out, I need a co-sgner, I told him if that was the case I could have done business with Carmax, thats why they couldnt finance me because I needed a co-signer. So now I am without a car and dont have a co-signer. Is there anything that can be done. They have really put me in a bind.