In July 2009, I began researching my lease options and I stopped by the Nissan Dealer Nemet Motor Group located at 167-19 Hillside Avenue in Jamaica Queens. For quite some time, I had my eyes on Nissan Murano and I was curious what would be my monthly rates be if I decided to lease it. The first time around, I have learned that for as long as I am not committed, I will get the price off the top of the representatives head, which is not what I was looking for. The representative took my details and he said that an accountant will talk to the bank and then we will see. So the second time around, I came equipped with willingness, money and patience determined to leave the Nissan dealer with a car.
In the meantime, I have done a research of my own on the Nissan website and I decided to lease Nissan Rouge since the price was significantly lower. It was just around the time when 2009 model was on sale for advertised $199 per month and no money down. When I arrived at the Nissan dealer on Hillside avenue, I made few general mistakes that derived not from my stupidity, as I originally thought, but from my complete ignorance. I have admitted that my credit may not be ideal but I have money from my recent divorce settlement and I am reliable and it will be my very first car and I know nothing about buying cars so I need a little help.
If stupidity had wings I would be, probably by the end of my last word, levitating above the clouds. When I finally sat down with a so called accountant, I was informed in full confidence that there are microphones in his cubicle and the management is listening to every word he says. I thought he needed a serious psychological evaluation if he really thought that I buy into it since surveillance is illegal in this country. But after waiting for an hour, I had no choice but sit with him and listen to this nonsense. I was told that because of my credit, the bank cannot offer me a better option but they will give me a different car, supposedly cheaper and everything should work out.
So at the end of the day, I was told that the Nissan Rouge version that I have selected is not available but they have in stock an upgraded version with sports tires, hands free phone system and the roof deck for slightly more. I was wondering how is it possible that a bank that believes that I am not reliable would allow me to lease a more expensive car? But I didn't say anything since I wasn't familiar with the procedures. The next thing I learned was the price: $587.70 monthly for the next 36 months. When I asked what happened with the advertised price, I was told that the bank didn't agree based on my credit which wasn't bad at all and I have paid off all my credit cards after settling my divorce few weeks earlier. The accountant reassured me that my lease will automatically go down by $100 within the next three months when my payments will be resembled on my credit record. I wasn't convinced at all but after sitting with the sleazy accountant for almost an hour and finally being asked on a date (which was utterly disgusting), I dreamed of nothing else than to get out of the Nissan dealer.
Shortly after this unpleasant experience, I have came to a realization that I was fooled and the Nissan dealer at 167-19 Hillside avenue employees are just a bunch of crooks that should be forever deprived of the license to represent and sell Nissan cars. There was no bank involved in this transaction. I was paying directly to the Nissan Corporation so I was lied too from the very beginning. My lease didn't get any lower automatically because as I have read on the internet, it is a marriage for 36 months and it is not changeable, which means that my contract should have been revoked because it was illegal. In the face of the law, any contract that involves money and is based on intentional disinformation and taking a financial advantage of one of the party entering into a contract is illegal and then voidable.
Whoever heard of my lease was laughing at me and was wondering what am leasing because in this price, I could have easily lease Mercedes not Nissan! On the top of it, when two years later I have lost my job and I found myself in a very difficult financial position unable to continue such a high lease, no one wanted to buy my lease given it's insanely high price. My own friends leased Murano for $260! While I was paying double this amount for a smaller and cheaper car. On the top of it, a few months later, it turned out that on papers, I have purchased a different car than the one I owned. It took few months to undo the mistake but now it makes me think if it wasn't intentional to rise the price
Given my difficult financial situation, I came back to Nissan dealer on Hillside avenue and I spoke to **, I guess, the manager of this questionable establishment. I informed him that I want to break the lease and return my car. When he heard the price I was paying for the lease, he couldn't believe it. He apologized to me for this situation admitting that it wasn't a fair contract and he told me that he wants to help me and give me an opportunity to exchange my car for a different car for a much lower lease to save my credit. I thought that I have nothing to lose after all, I planned on returning the car. But after this visit, I haven't heard anything from him. I have returned two weeks later and the situation has repeated itself. This time, however, I was introduced to one of his coworkers who was suppose to get my information and talk to the bank.
I was sitting there already for quite some time while Mario's employee pretended to be talking to the bank so I have left him my contact information and I went back to work. After I haven't heard anything from him, I e-mailed ** wondering what kind of stupid game they are playing. ** called me back and told me to come to the Nissan dealer the next day. When I came back to the Nemet Motor Nissan Dealer the following day, he told me that they were talking to the bank and he will try to give me another car in the $200 range, which would be Versa Sedan. Unfortunately, his accountant wasn't there that day and we have agreed that I will bring my car two days later and finally settle the deal that would help me maintain my good credit score. Mario told me that he won't be in the office that day but his accountant and his coworker will take care of me.
Two days later, his accountant told me that given my credit I can get Ventra for $500 a month. If I was able to pay $587.70, would I bother to come back to the Nissan dealer and exchange my car for the smallest car for almost the same price? Versa is the smallest car produced by Nissan. If my friends leased Murano for $240 and I leased second biggest car for $590, how come I was given an offer of $500 to pay for a car that costs $10,600? After 36 months, Nissan would collect $18,000 which is way more than the price for the car! In a similar advertisement sent to me by Great Neck Nisan, new 2012 Nissan Rouge was advertised by $159 monthly! Why would the manager ** allure me into buying a smaller car for less, waste my time just to put me on the same lease that was a vividly illegal rip off? Wouldn't anyone figure out that after making one mistake, I have already learned my lesson and I am not that stupid to make it again?
All this back and forth, stress, time off from my new job just to hear the same old story based completely on false premises? False advertising I have received in mail a flyer from the Program Coordinator of Nemet Auto Group, ** informing about payment reduction program for 2009 Nissan Rouge, it looks like it didn't apply to my 2009 Rouge and one would imagine that false advertising is punishable in this country by law. I haven't said anything when I leased my car for the first time. I thought that my complete lack of knowledge contributed to this unfair treatment. But when the situation has repeated the second time around two years later, I have realized that Nissan representatives not only took advantage of my vulnerability but intentionally led me into signing a contract that was financially harmful and by all means illegal because it was based on false premises.
Such a behavior is disgusting, unethical and I strongly believe that in order to protect future customers, the Nissan Nemet Motors Group on Hillside avenue in Jamaica should lose their license. Their behavior is beyond despicable and the competition on the market should stimulate each dealer to provide an excellent customer service instead of hunting for victims and alluring them into signing illegal contracts that would financially benefit the Nissan car dealer.
