Dealership changes mind, steals truck back, Stealership! Options

[JStrider]

http://www.newschannel5.com/content/invest...sp?q=BILL+HEARD

NewsChannel 5 Investigates:
Dealership Doesn't Like Deal, Takes Car Back
Posted: 7/17/2006 9:55:00 PM
Updated: 7/17/2006 11:23:17 PM

NewsChannel 5 Investigates:<BR>Dealership Doesn't Like Deal, Takes Car Back
Car dealers are often the butt of jokes. But one local truck buyer is not laughing about the deal that he got -- and lost. Consumer advocates say this case raises lots of questions about how a well-known auto dealer does business.

Earl Kieselhorst thought he owned a 2003 Chevy Silverado -- a truck that he bought from Bill Heard Chevrolet in Antioch.

Kieselhorst says he "paid cash for it. Made the deal. Sales manager signed off on it. Signed all the paperwork. And drove off."

He traded in his car and gave the dealer a check for $8,100.

"I have the keys," Kieselhorst tells NewsChannel 5 investigative reporter Jennifer Kraus.

But he doesn't have his truck.

Bill Heard does.

"I can't see any reason why this wouldn't be my car," he adds.

Just one day after he bought the truck, a salesman from Bill Heard called to say the dealership was having second thoughts about the deal.

He told Kieselhorst that if he wanted to keep his truck, he needed to fork over another $10,000 -- something he refused to do. After all, he says, they had a signed deal.

But the next morning, when Kieselhorst woke up, his truck was gone.

"And I was like I can't believe it," he recalls.

The dealership had come and taken it in the middle of the night.

"I've got a contract. This is a legal contract. I don't know what to say. I don't know what to say."

Metro police investigated and wanted to file charges against Bill Heard for stealing the truck.

Detective Ray Paris got a statement from Bill Heard, blaming a rookie salesman for what happened and calling it a mistake. (Read the statement given to police by Bill Heard.)

"They inadvertently sold the vehicle at a lower cost than what they should have," Paris says.

Kathleen Calligan says the Better Business Bureau has received literally hundreds and hundreds of similar complaints about the Bill Heard dealership -- more complaints by far than any other auto dealer in all of Middle Tennessee.

"Not only is this an unbelievable volume of complaints, most of them are unresolved," she adds.

Calligan says that, in this day and age, dealers know exactly how much a vehicle is worth.

And if a dealership truly does make a mistake, she says they'll take the loss -- rather than call the customer and demand he make up the difference.

"There is absolutely no reason for a sale not to be final when the customer walks out of the dealership," Calligan adds.

Yet even after Bill Heard had taken back the truck, the salesman called Kieselhorst again.

"He calls me back and offers to sell it to me for $11,000 more than I paid for it," Kieselhorst recalls.

Kieselhorst said no way.

And even though he still believes he is the rightful owner of the truck, when we went looking for it at Bill Heard, we found a customer checking it out.  It was for sale, the customer and a saleswoman told us.

"The whole thing has just gotten more and more ridiculous," Kieselhorst says.

And now the self-proclaimed largest Chevrolet dealership in the world is accusing Kieselhorst of "trying to pull a fast one" on them.

"This is the way this company does business," Calligan says. "They really thought they would be able to pull a fast one on their customer."

After we tried to get their side for days, Bill Heard faxed us a statement just before air time, saying that Kieselhorst "should have known" that the deal he got was too good to be true.

The company says:

"It is not reasonable or fair to expect for Bill Heard Chevrolet ... to be bound by a sale where a clear and material mistake was made, and the customer was aware that it was a mistake."

(Read Bill Heard's statement provided to NewsChannel 5.)

Kieselhort says he just thought Bill Heard was giving him the type of good deal they advertise.

As for the police investigation, the DA says this is a civil case, not a criminal case.  He says Kieselhorst is free to take the dealer to court -- something he's now seriously considering.

How is this not a criminal case... he bought the car paid for it, they came and took the car without his permission... sounds like Grand theft Auto to me...

and what kind of dealership wouldnt just eat the cost and fire the salesman... they are causing a bunch of bad publicity for themselves...

[schwab]

it says in there that this is a usual practice at that dealership, saying the salesman fucked it up is just a coverup to them trying to rip the customer off and trying to get them to pay more.

and yes, they should be in for grand theft auto, and that pisses me off that they ahvent gotten in shit yet

[Dogmeat]

If a dealership ever pulled that with me, I would personally beat the living shit out of the sales manager who signed off on it. Mark my words, I would.

I swear to god, you people have no idea whatsoever how much I fucking hate car dealerships...

I worked at Pollard Ford last summer and you cannot belive the kind of horse shit those assholes pull ....

[Jim]

If a dealership ever pulled that with me, I would personally beat the living shit out of the sales manager who signed off on it. Mark my words, I would.

I swear to god, you people have no idea whatsoever how much I fucking hate car dealerships...

I worked at Pollard Ford last summer and you cannot belive the kind of horse shit those assholes pull ....

Do tell stories, please

[woody]

so did he get his trade-in & 8100 back?

[kcroxyoursox]

doubtful

and i like how at first it was hey send us 10000 and then after he was like fuck no they called back and said hey send us 11000...

boycott bill heard!!!

[schwab]

doubtful

and i like how at first it was hey send us 10000 and then after he was like fuck no they called back and said hey send us 11000...

boycott bill heard!!!

fuck boycotting, sue them and get them shut down for shitty business practices

[chook]

The young guy car salesmen seems the worst, the old tired looking guy is usually the honest one, and has suffered from it.

[impala454]

i don't understand why he didn't just go up there and take his truck back... he had the keys and is the rightful owner.

[M1N10N]

http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=2197642

[rabble]

You've got a signed legal contract in your hand, fucking get a lawyer and get your truck back.

"It is not reasonable or fair to expect for Bill Heard Chevrolet ... to be bound by a sale where a clear and material mistake was made, and the customer was aware that it was a mistake."

this is an actual legal defense against a sale or contract, but it doen't work in their case. This little safeguard is to protect the innocent party from someone who knows better and is trying to screw them over, and it only applies when the party in question cannot have the oppertunity to know better and when the other party DOES know better and should have told them (I think legally obligated to provide information or something)

This doesn't work here because the guy who bought the truck has no idea what kind of price Bill Heard bought the car for so there is no reasonability for him to know if the deal is good or not. And Bill Heard did know how much they got the car for, repeatedly checked the deal through at least 2 different people who signed off on the deal and who are reasonably assumed to know if the deal is good or not.

If this shit happened to me I wouldn't let it go until everyone at Bill Heard was in jail for auto theft.

[chook]

they need some Hot Dickings by Dr Tran.

[M1N10N]

You've got a signed legal contract in your hand, fucking get a lawyer and get your truck back.



this is an actual legal defense against a sale or contract, but it doen't work in their case. This little safeguard is to protect the innocent party from someone who knows better and is trying to screw them over, and it only applies when the party in question cannot have the oppertunity to know better and when the other party DOES know better and should have told them (I think legally obligated to provide information or something)

This doesn't work here because the guy who bought the truck has no idea what kind of price Bill Heard bought the car for so there is no reasonability for him to know if the deal is good or not. And Bill Heard did know how much they got the car for, repeatedly checked the deal through at least 2 different people who signed off on the deal and who are reasonably assumed to know if the deal is good or not.

If this shit happened to me I wouldn't let it go until everyone at Bill Heard was in jail for auto theft.

if they guy knew the blue book value (which he should by todays standards) he would know 8k is a REALLY good deal for it and could be considered to have access to that knowledge.

But the other parts where two other people sign off on it and they didnt know the price would be BS too since that is the point of their job.

But i believe people said he got the car back, money back, and a $500 appology

[kcroxyoursox]

But i believe people said he got the car back, money back, and a $500 appology

people as in the magazine, or people as in some guys i know?

[impala454]

if they guy knew the blue book value (which he should by todays standards) he would know 8k is a REALLY good deal for it and could be considered to have access to that knowledge.

it wasn't just 8k, was 8k + his trade in (not sure what he traded in though)

[schwab]

it wasn't just 8k, was 8k + his trade in (not sure what he traded in though)

his car had payments worth the value of his car still on it

so it more or less canceled it out

[impala454]

his car had payments worth the value of his car still on it

so it more or less canceled it out

that doesn't have anything to do with what you pay for your new vehicle though, that affects how much you have to finance.

i.e. say if my old truck's blue book is $15,000, and I'm buying a new truck for $23,000, I owe the dealer $8,000 because they "purchased" my old truck for $15,000.

I have to finance the $8,000 I owe the dealer + whatever I owed on the old truck.

My guess on this lil story is some dumb salesman accidentally sold a 4x4 and/or diesel for a 2x4 and/or gas engine.