Lia Honda

Addendum to my original complaint: First, I never signed the extended warranty contract, and second, I never received the original extended warranty contract for my 2002 Volkswagen Beetle. Third, I assumed the warranty contract was with the Volkswagen manufacturer and not with Lia Honda organization. Also, Lia Honda Dealership stated that they did not have the required diagnostic equipment to assess and repair my 2002 Volkswagen Beetle.

My critical question is, how was this dealership able to place a NYS inspection sticker on my VW automobile when they do not have the required equipment to perform the inspection or repair process? So, my question is, why is Lia Honda selling an automobile and warranty contract that they cannot honor and has to be contracted out to a VW dealership? More human error or just plain disregard and dishonesty when dealing with consumers?

I purchased a 2002 Volkswagen Beetle in August 2010 with 11,079 miles. The dealership did not provide me with a warranty agreement which specifically described the terms of the contract and my warranty coverage. I was told by the salesperson Steven *** and Ryan *** that all my electrical components of the automobile would be fully covered. In February 2011, I had to write the company for my booklet, which specifically described my warranty coverage because I did not receive the booklet from Lia Honda at the time I signed up for the warranty coverage. As a result, I did not know the exact coverage of my automobile warranty coverage.

I also assumed that the warranty was through the Lia Honda corporation and that it would cover all the electrical problems of the car. Otherwise I would not have purchased the car or the extended warranty from Lia Honda. In May 2011 and June 2011, I experienced significant electrical problems with the car (trunk, engine computer problems) and my warranty did not provide any coverage after the sales rep emphatically stated it would, when I purchased the car. Also, they stated they did not have the diagnostic equipment to repair my auto so I was contacted out at my expense to Northtown Volkswagen dealership to repair my car. In May, Lia Honda reimbursed me 75% of the bill but in June 2011 they refused any monetary compensation and stated, "We have to draw the line somewhere" and even suggested I trade in the car for a new Honda. Breakdown of my expenses are: May 25, 2011 - $134.50, and June 22, 2011 - $801.09.

I found a new 2010 Honda Insight EX on Lia Honda of Williamsville web site listed for MSRP $20,374. I went in to see the car and was told that the price was wrong on the internet. The actual price was $22,400. Don, the salesman, told me that the internet price was human error. I check their site again before writing this and the car is still listed for $20,374 and have another Insight EX listed for the same price. Looks like they got human error on 2 cars. Ok, I thought maybe we can still make a deal. They offered me $12,500 for my 2010 Chevy Malibu trade in that had an original sticker price of $24,000. Seemed like an old bait and switch. I also didn't like the trade in value so I walked away and will never return.

After several weeks of looking, my husband and I found a 2006 Honda Element on the Lia Honda website for $11,900 and we were interested in buying. I requested an internet quote and was put in contact with a salesman at their Schenectady store ("MJ") who was very positive and professional. He said the car was in the Lia Auto Lot in Williamsville, but that shipping it out would be no problem, also, we could have the car by Monday. I gave him my driver's license number, insurance information and a $200 deposit in order to secure the shipping to the Schenectady Dealer. The time that the deposit was made on my credit card was 3:00 pm on Thursday afternoon (7/22/10). On Friday (7/23/10) at 1:00 pm, I went to the Schenectady Lia Auto plaza to sit down with MJ and figure out the final numbers for financing and I was shocked to find out that the car was already sold "that morning" and was "paid for with a credit card".

They kept me waiting for over an hour while they apparently tried to figure out what happened and then they tried to sell me a 2006 Honda Element that was sitting on their lot that had almost 40K more miles and the lowest price that they could do was $14,800. Bait and switch, big time. The entire experience reeked of dishonesty. On Thursday, everyone we talked to remarked about what a good deal this car was. Low mileage, low price. My husband called the Williamsville dealership to find out why the price was so low and they confirmed that the car was indeed $11,900 and that there was nothing wrong with the car. They said they were a volume dealership and that's why the price was so low.

Then on Friday, the Albany salesman said that the original car had been mistakenly priced at $11,900 (it was a 2 wheel drive vehicle with only 27K miles on it) and that they were supposed to have listed it for $13,900. Huh? This wasn't mentioned last Thursday by anyone, but it was listed on the internet for $11,900 so isn't there something that says they have to honor that?

Then, in another conversation around 1:30 pm Thursday with the salesman, Kyle, in Williamsville, he indicated that they would not be able to ship it to Schenectady and asked if I be interested in one of the cars on the Schenectady lot. I said, "no" ,but that I was willing to drive to Williamsville over the weekend, so he was going to have the sales manager, Mark **, contact me to set up an appointment. It wasn't even an hour later that the Albany salesman, MJ, called and told me that the car could be shipped to their location and I gave them the deposit and the information that they needed to make this happen. Makes you wonder. Again, if you put a deposit down on a car, doesn't that mean that they can't sell it out from under you?

All in all, I spent almost an entire day (Thursday) on the phone and the internet exchanging information with the dealership(s) and then I drove 75 miles (one way) to go to the dealership in Schenectady to meet with MJ and get the final numbers for the financing. I walked away feeling that they had either (1)pulled the car from the market so that they could increase the price later, if indeed it had been a mistake to list it at $11,900; or (2) that the dealerships were doing the classic bait and switch and the other car was a lure and I was now the target of opportunity.

Do I believe that the car was sold that morning? No. If everyone had done their job, professionally, then it would not have been possible to sell that car on Friday. The whole experience was very unprofessional and leaves lots of room to question the honesty of these used car salesmen. I would not recommend buying a car from this auto group.

We requested an internet quote for a Honda Odyssey from Lia Honda. The quote was $3,400 below MSRP. We emailed to confirm this was the price, with no other hidden costs, and they confirmed it was correct. We went to buy the car, and the manager would not sell it to us for that price. They claimed it was the fault of the internet salesperson, not them. They told us we could have it for $2,000 more than the quote.

We called the internet sales manager, and he claimed "human error". I asked if they could accept responsibility for their mistake by offering something else off the price (I told him I was not asking for thousands, just "something" since we drove 40 minutes to buy the car). He called the manager of Lia Honda, and said the only thing he could do was throw in some oil changes (and then said "I know that doesn't help you much since you are 40 minutes away").

He also claimed that he called Ray Laks Honda, a dealership near us, and said the absolute lowest they would go on this car was $30,200. He was offering $29,571. Later that day, we went to Ray Laks Honda, and bought the same car with a different color, for $29,900. The salesperson at Ray Laks said there wasn't a call from an internet sales manager that entire day. The bait and switch tactic and lies are ridiculous with these people. We wasted way too much time with Lia Honda (driving there and back, on the phone, etc).