Audrey McKnight says she only wanted an oil change...
Jstas
Posts: 14,806
...when she steered her 2006 Hyundai Sonata into a Clive auto dealership last month.
But the 77-year-old Carlisle woman says she left eight hours later with a 2008 Hyundai she didn't want and couldn't afford.
McKnight said a saleswoman pressured her to "try out" the 2008 Hyundai Azera with promises that she could return it the next day.
A sales manager at Holmes Hyundai secretly checked her credit while she waited for service on her car, McKnight said. The sales team also allegedly suggested that she could afford the newer car if she stopped paying on her Medicare supplemental insurance.
"I told them I cannot do a bigger payment," McKnight said. "I just kept telling that. They didn't care."
The accusations came to light in a Polk County lawsuit.
Max Holmes, who owns the dealership, disputed McKnight's version of events and said his lawyers will respond to the accusations in court.
He said his lawyers were trying to reach McKnight's lawyer to resolve the situation.
Holmes, in an interview Friday, said his dealership "tries to be straightforward and honest" and had been portrayed unfairly by the lawsuit.
"The important thing to me is that, since the day after she purchased her car, we've been working with her to try to accomplish her objectives," Holmes said. "We still will, and that's really our first and only objective here to end up with a satisfied customer."
McKnight's lawsuit would have been much more difficult to file, if not for a state law that took effect on July 1. The consumer fraud law, hailed by consumer advocates but opposed by many business groups, allows Iowans to collect legal damages and attorney fees from businesses that commit fraud.
State lawmakers passed the law in April with near-unanimous support.
Iowa became the last state to adopt such a law, although the version lawmakers passed contains stronger provisions than similar consumer-fraud laws in other states, said Bill Brauch, a spokesman for Attorney General Tom Miller.
Consumer advocates have said the Iowa law offers too many exceptions for businesses. The exemptions include insurance companies, banks, lawyers, cable TV providers, doctors, veterinarians and architects.
McKnight's lawsuit is the sixth private claim filed in Iowa since the new law went into effect, Brauch said.
For now, McKnight drives to her job in West Des Moines in her brother-in-law's 1999 Buick LeSabre. The first payment on her new car is due Dec. 16.
McKnight said she arrived at the dealership around 8:30 a.m. Oct. 21 for an oil change.
A saleswoman approached McKnight while she waited, and asked about her interest in a car. McKnight said she had only come for the car repairs, and could not afford a trade-in.
The saleswoman "was persistent in her request that (McKnight) look at cars with her" until McKnight agreed, the lawsuit alleges. Sales employees continued to push cars on her for more than eight hours, McKnight said, until she left the dealership with the 2008 Hyundai Azera. She said she made excuses to leave, but was ignored.
McKnight said she accepted the car because she was tired and wanted out of the situation. She said she called the dealership the next day to tell them she had no interest in the new car.
The salesperson allegedly told McKnight that someone could pick the new car up at the West Des Moines Hy-Vee where she worked, if she still didn't want it. McKnight said she called early the next morning, and was told she had traded in her 2006 Hyundai and could not undo the deal.
McKnight said she owed $7,600 on her 2006 Hyundai, with 21,000 miles. Her $329 monthly car payments are set to increase to more than $400 per month with the new car, and will continue until she pays off the $26,000 she now owes.
"I feel like they're trying to take anybody they can," she said. "I feel like they were very aggressive."
Yes, it's for real. She's suing Hyundai 'cause they "forced" her to buy a car.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009911300323
I don't know how fraudulent the dealer was but strong-arming someone like that is not exactly kosher. But, at the same time, a 77 year old woman is still in control of the hand she uses to sign the paperwork. I really don't know how she could have been forced through a high-pressure sales tactic to sign a paper like that. It all seems fishy, I have lots of questions that won't get answered. I just found the story both silly and intriguing at the same time.
But the 77-year-old Carlisle woman says she left eight hours later with a 2008 Hyundai she didn't want and couldn't afford.
McKnight said a saleswoman pressured her to "try out" the 2008 Hyundai Azera with promises that she could return it the next day.
A sales manager at Holmes Hyundai secretly checked her credit while she waited for service on her car, McKnight said. The sales team also allegedly suggested that she could afford the newer car if she stopped paying on her Medicare supplemental insurance.
"I told them I cannot do a bigger payment," McKnight said. "I just kept telling that. They didn't care."
The accusations came to light in a Polk County lawsuit.
Max Holmes, who owns the dealership, disputed McKnight's version of events and said his lawyers will respond to the accusations in court.
He said his lawyers were trying to reach McKnight's lawyer to resolve the situation.
Holmes, in an interview Friday, said his dealership "tries to be straightforward and honest" and had been portrayed unfairly by the lawsuit.
"The important thing to me is that, since the day after she purchased her car, we've been working with her to try to accomplish her objectives," Holmes said. "We still will, and that's really our first and only objective here to end up with a satisfied customer."
McKnight's lawsuit would have been much more difficult to file, if not for a state law that took effect on July 1. The consumer fraud law, hailed by consumer advocates but opposed by many business groups, allows Iowans to collect legal damages and attorney fees from businesses that commit fraud.
State lawmakers passed the law in April with near-unanimous support.
Iowa became the last state to adopt such a law, although the version lawmakers passed contains stronger provisions than similar consumer-fraud laws in other states, said Bill Brauch, a spokesman for Attorney General Tom Miller.
Consumer advocates have said the Iowa law offers too many exceptions for businesses. The exemptions include insurance companies, banks, lawyers, cable TV providers, doctors, veterinarians and architects.
McKnight's lawsuit is the sixth private claim filed in Iowa since the new law went into effect, Brauch said.
For now, McKnight drives to her job in West Des Moines in her brother-in-law's 1999 Buick LeSabre. The first payment on her new car is due Dec. 16.
McKnight said she arrived at the dealership around 8:30 a.m. Oct. 21 for an oil change.
A saleswoman approached McKnight while she waited, and asked about her interest in a car. McKnight said she had only come for the car repairs, and could not afford a trade-in.
The saleswoman "was persistent in her request that (McKnight) look at cars with her" until McKnight agreed, the lawsuit alleges. Sales employees continued to push cars on her for more than eight hours, McKnight said, until she left the dealership with the 2008 Hyundai Azera. She said she made excuses to leave, but was ignored.
McKnight said she accepted the car because she was tired and wanted out of the situation. She said she called the dealership the next day to tell them she had no interest in the new car.
The salesperson allegedly told McKnight that someone could pick the new car up at the West Des Moines Hy-Vee where she worked, if she still didn't want it. McKnight said she called early the next morning, and was told she had traded in her 2006 Hyundai and could not undo the deal.
McKnight said she owed $7,600 on her 2006 Hyundai, with 21,000 miles. Her $329 monthly car payments are set to increase to more than $400 per month with the new car, and will continue until she pays off the $26,000 she now owes.
"I feel like they're trying to take anybody they can," she said. "I feel like they were very aggressive."
Yes, it's for real. She's suing Hyundai 'cause they "forced" her to buy a car.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009911300323
I don't know how fraudulent the dealer was but strong-arming someone like that is not exactly kosher. But, at the same time, a 77 year old woman is still in control of the hand she uses to sign the paperwork. I really don't know how she could have been forced through a high-pressure sales tactic to sign a paper like that. It all seems fishy, I have lots of questions that won't get answered. I just found the story both silly and intriguing at the same time.
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Post edited by Jstas on
Comments
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Regardless of the veracity of her story, this is not good publicity for the dealer. I submit that the dealer wore her down: 8 hours in the dealership for an oil change?!?
I would like to see the security tapes to reveal more of the story... -
...when she steered her 2006 Hyundai Sonata into a Clive auto dealership last month...
The accusations came to light in a Polk County lawsuit.
Yes, it's for real. She's suing Hyundai 'cause they "forced" her to buy a car.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009911300323
I don't know how fraudulent the dealer was but strong-arming someone like that is not exactly kosher. But, at the same time, a 77 year old woman is still in control of the hand she uses to sign the paperwork. I really don't know how she could have been forced through a high-pressure sales tactic to sign a paper like that. It all seems fishy, I have lots of questions that won't get answered. I just found the story both silly and intriguing at the same time.
'fess up... you were Googling Polk and happened upon this coincidentally... -
She's too old to be driving and old enough to know better.CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
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Having grown up in the Des Moines area and living there until 2001, I can say that this is just one in a long list of issues with the Holmes dealerships. It's pretty unbelievable, however years ago a female friend of mine called me to stop over to a Holmes dealership because the sales manager wouldn't give back the keys to her car and was intimidating her to sign a trade-in deal she had said no to for over an hour. It got a little ugly.DKG999
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years ago a female friend of mine called me to stop over to a Holmes dealership because the sales manager wouldn't give back the keys to her car and was intimidating her to sign a trade-in deal she had said no to for over an hour. It got a little ugly.
That's when I would call the cops. It's easy to say she's at fault for signing any paperwork or taking the new car home with her but harassing and confusing a 77 year woman to do so is pretty low even for a car salesman. -
I'd be yelling at my own mother if she did something stupid like this. You had to sign on the dotted line somewhere!
I've seen these practices first hand and it's been going on for decades. Caveat Emptor.~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~ -
This happened to my father and I one day. We were looking for a new car for my mother and my dad saw a cheap monthly note add and decided to investigate. We looked at some cars and were offered to drive one. My dad wanted to see how it drove so they took his license to photocopy (first mistake). After about 10 minutes my dad asked where the guy was and the musical salesman game started. We ended up wasting over 1 hour in that dealership when my dad lost it and they had to call the police on us. The only bad thing is they did not know my dad was a cop as well. They found his license really quick and repeated apologized for the MISUNDERSTANDING.Polk SDA 1C's
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I personally witnessed this type of thing while waiting for my car in service at a Nissan Dealer in Georgia. An old lady was just waiting for her car to be serviced, and this sales guy kept asking her if she could afford 200.00 more a month in payments, and he could "upgrade" her to a newer Maxima. The lady kept saying no...what do I need a newer car for?
If you ever run across the movie "Suckers", give it a rent...it sums up Car delaerships pretty well IMO and it pretty funny. -
These salespeople need sensitivity re-training in a pool of crocodiles.
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I traded in a a car once at a dealership in Arkansas. State law at that time (now it might be Federal) was that you couldn't sell a car that had been totaled. And you couldn't sell any car that had been wrecked without mentioning the wreck.
I traded a Elantra for a Civic.
A week after the trade, the electrical started failing; windows not rolling up, or rolling down on their own, lights going our, door locks un-locking, weird stuff. I started poking around the car and started noticing where it had been repainted. And where there were bloodstains left uncleaned... Completely untouched. And I found a picture of what I assumed was a previous owner behind the glove box.
I had let the dealer show me the CarFax report, and it was pretty clear... But I did my own CarFax report and found a different story. It had been not only wrecked, but totaled. And the title was supposed to be a salvage title.
I went back to the dealership and began talking to another sales guy about a brand new Toyota. We got all the way to the point where our credit was being checked (my wife was with me) and we were getting ready to sign. Then I asked for what we put down on the honda and the remainder of what we owed and they could take the car off our hands.
They balked. I showed them pics of the bloodstains, the copy of their carfax and the one that I looked up and reminded them of Arkansas lemon law.
And we walked out the proud owners of a new toyota for under $5000.
Dealerships with no scruples are ****. I know the value of a car, and it's not worth jailtime.
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I went in to see what I could get a new WRX for back in 06. It was their year end sales event and I liked the car so let's talk numbers. They came back saying my 01 integra was worth 1700 when it booked out at 6500 and they had the new car for full msrp. I said "I've been in sales a long time, you get one more shot to make a deal. Make it good or I'm out.". They came back with 250 off the car. I said I needed my keys back (they wanted to see the interior for value reasons) and told them I'm done. He kept saying "well hold on". After a second time of being denied my keys, I asked for a business card which he gave me and it had their address on. I said thanks as now I have the address to give to tv police for keeping me hostage. He chuckled untill he heard me dial 3 numbers on my phone and heard a dial tone. I wasn't bullshitting. He gave them up in a flash so I hung up and proceeded to yell at him for a good couple minutes about how he's a piece of **** human being and the worst salesman I've ever seen. To this day I tell everyone that story if they even mention their looking at a subaru. F-em.Never kick a fresh **** on a hot day.
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you know how in the Star Wars universe how Jedi mind tricks work on the "weak minded". this plays here, they leaned on her because they knoew she would crack and sign paper.
the **** side of me says shame on ya for being weak minded and this is a reason why you shouldnt be weak minded. People suffer for there stupidity on a daily basis and this poor lady is unfortunatly no different.
the side of me that hates people praying on the weak wants to take that salesperson and help him/her with some dental work courtesy of my elbow.
I've seen dealers prey on people in this fashion. It works on some poeple, which is why they do it. if they did it to the wrong person it would be an ugly scenario..........and dealers like this are usually good at knowing who it will work on and who it wont from the get go.Living Room 2 Channel -
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