Village Honda backs out of Contract

[nissanK]

http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/calgary-de...ment-1.3090170

A Calgary woman says a local dealership changed its mind on a sale, under questionable circumstances, after she signed a contract and left a deposit. Kim Ruppe decided on a 2016 Honda Odyssey minivan for her growing family. She negotiated a price with the sales staff at Village Honda and was told it would take two weeks for her van to arrive from a location outside the province.

Ruppe signed the bill of sale and left a $1,000 deposit. PHOTOS Village Honda - Calgary Vehicles in the Village Honda sales lot in northwest Calgary A short time later, Ruppe called Village Honda looking for an update and was told her van’s delivery would take six more weeks and that she would have to pay an additional $2,500 to correct a financing mistake. While waiting for her van to arrive, Honda Canada sent Ruppe a questionnaire asking about her sales experience. Ruppe gave Village Honda low makes and mentioned that she would tell everyone to avoid the dealership.


The day after she submitted her completed questionnaire, Ruppe says she received an email from Village Honda’s general manager stating: “The deal was cancelled yesterday because every turn seems to be a terrible experience for you. And it appears we are not able to live up to you standards as a customer” “I filled it all out because you wanted that information and, yet, I was penalized for that,” said Ruppe. “We thought it was quite childish. We thought it was almost like a joke. My husband wrote back and said ‘No, we still want our product. Are you going to give it to us?’” “(The general manager) was dead serious. He cancelled it and he was ‘No, you’ve been refunded and you’re not getting it’.” Ruppe still wanted the minivan but the dealer maintained it was not obliged to sell it to her. CTV Calgary’s Consumer Watch reporter, Lea Williams-Doherty, investigated the legalities of the situation on Ruppe’s behalf. Williams-Doherty contacted Barry Jordan, Village Honda’s general manager, by phone and he confirmed he cancelled the deal because the customers were impossible to please. Jordan maintained the contract wasn’t binding as Ruppe had yet to take possession of the minivan or pay the full price.


Williams-Doherty reached out to AMVIC (Alberta Motor Vehicle Industry Council), the province’s auto regulator, looking for further clarification on when an auto sales contract becomes binding. In a statement, AMVIC said: "Generally speaking, a signed bill of sale between a buyer and a seller would be considered final. There is no "cooling off" period, so that means that once the contract is signed, in most cases, it is binding." Ruppe has since purchased a different van from T & T Honda for nearly $10,000 more than the price she had negotiated with Village Honda. A complaint has been filed with AMVIC.

Sounds to me like it was a done deal and everything was agreed to and signed off on. I would think that they would want to avoid such bad publicity by remedying the issue with the customer.

[LadyLuck]

Interesting, yet if the customer tried to back out of the contract, it wouldn't be that easy. Buncha children.

[bjstare]

Any lawyers here can correct me, but it sounds like that would be a slam dunk if the lady took the dealer to small claims.

I'd certainly try that.

[BokCh0y]

Originally posted by LadyLuck
Interesting, yet if the customer tried to back out of the contract, it wouldn't be that easy. Buncha children.

And that $1000 deposit....bye bye.

Also Kim is hot. That is all. Thanks.

[flipstah]

^ yup would hit.

Originally posted by LadyLuck
Interesting, yet if the customer tried to back out of the contract, it wouldn't be that easy. Buncha children.

That's the troubling part of this whole situation. Double standards suck.

[Masked Bandit]

There must be more to the story here.

I'm wondering about the customer survey, perhaps someone who works in the industry can chime in here. If the deal is cancelled and the transaction never actually happens, perhaps the negative survey results get tossed and it doesn't count against the dealership. They seem to take those things pretty seriously.

[rage2]

The surveys are serious business. They are a big factor in determining allocations across dealerships. High customer satisfaction means you'll get more high profit allocations, limited edition vehicles, compared to your competing dealership.

Back in the day, I've seen salespeople game the system by doing the survey themselves in exchange for gifts and free accessories and service to the car buyer. I think that practice has stopped now though with corporate busting dealerships for pulling that stunt.

[gwill]

with my Volvo the dealership they were very strict that any surveys they send out must-have all 5 stars on it or its considered a fail.

While my overall impressions of the dealership has been awesome I did respond a survey one time that wasn't 5 stars. In doing so I was scolded at the service counter about how that hurts their purchasing power and how it negatively affects them.

They went as far as to tell me if I give any negative comments that my future visits wouldn't go very smooth.

My survey response was pretty honest. Love my car, no major complaints but having to wait 6 weeks for a warranty issue was a bit extreme.

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by BokCh0y

Also Kim is hot. That is all. Thanks.

Yea, but also stupid as shit

Ruppe has since purchased a different van from T & T Honda for nearly $10,000 more than the price she had negotiated with Village Honda.

Fuck me, I wish I had that kind of money, "oh, the price went up $2500? Oh well. Oh, they don't want to sell me a vehicle? Meh, I'll go spend $10k more at the other dealership"



But it is funny how all sales managers seem to be immature manchildren. Like, who the f*&k does that to a customer?

[flipstah]

Using surveys as a threat mechanism defeats the purpose of it.

[asp integra]

They would have been better off to go on with the deal and loose a few grand, Im sure that will lose much more from the bad publicity.

[nissanK]

Originally posted by asp integra
They would have been better off to go on with the deal and loose a few grand, Im sure that will lose much more from the bad publicity.

My thoughts exactly. Why risk losing a single purchase from a potential customer by giving a big middle finger to a current customer.....

[asp integra]

Originally posted by BokCh0y



Also Kim is hot. That is all. Thanks.

Haha Ditto, I love beyond

[G]

When I bought my first Honda the sales guy told me to bring in the survey for a free tank of gas. Since the surveys are electronic now, every car I buy the sales guy says anything less than a 10 is a fail. The surveys are worthless to the customer and not really used to improve the car buying experience.

[ExtraSlow]

The surveys are used by the manufacturers as a big stick to control the dealerships. a couple bad ones in a row can absolutely ruin a dealerships month.

[Thaco]

note to self, use the survey as a bargaining tool.

[BokCh0y]

Originally posted by HiTempguy1


Yea, but also stupid as shit



Fuck me, I wish I had that kind of money, "oh, the price went up $2500? Oh well. Oh, they don't want to sell me a vehicle? Meh, I'll go spend $10k more at the other dealership"



But it is funny how all sales managers seem to be immature manchildren. Like, who the f*&k does that to a customer?

I assume she went from the SE to EX-L Navi or EX-L Res in order for there to be a $10k bump. Assuming say $1k down, and full 60 month finance, it'll still be roughly per month more over the course of that time plus interest.

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by BokCh0y


I assume she went from the SE to EX-L Navi or EX-L Res in order for there to be a $10k bump. Assuming say $1k down, and full 60 month finance, it'll still be roughly per month more over the course of that time plus interest.

I know, its not really the amount, just the "I can afford the payments" mentality.

I could finance a BMW M2 right now, but would I? F*&k no. It just surprises me is all, some people's attitude towards money (HiTemp wanders off and goes and drops $5k on the rallycar )

[HiSpec]

Originally posted by gwill


They went as far as to tell me if I give any negative comments that my future visits wouldn't go very smooth.

My survey response was pretty honest. Love my car, no major complaints but having to wait 6 weeks for a warranty issue was a bit extreme.

Aside from the warranty, has Volve tried to pull anything shady during your visits?

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by HiTempguy1


Yea, but also stupid as shit



Fuck me, I wish I had that kind of money, "oh, the price went up $2500? Oh well. Oh, they don't want to sell me a vehicle? Meh, I'll go spend $10k more at the other dealership"



But it is funny how all sales managers seem to be immature manchildren. Like, who the f*&k does that to a customer?

It's not like she's paying for it