Can you get your money back after placing a deposit for an RV?
June 27, 2011 4:29 PM   Subscribe

Saw a perfect RV at a well respected lot a week and half ago, put half a deposit down, did the paperwork, gave them the rest of the deposit 3 days later when we did a test drive. Spoke to them a day later. Now they won't return any of our phone calls for a week and we need to figure out what to do next.

We 'bought' it at a "Super-Sale, come one down!" type of event at a dealership that has an A+ rating with the BBB, and has received some awards. They offered to install a satellite system for us, written into the sales contract. Unfortunately they misunderstood, thinking we needed a television satellite system when we actually need an internet system (which costs much more). No problem, we would just add the balance onto the financing.

One problem is that their service department is unfamiliar with this type of system and had to research it. We don't even know if they are able to install it. I would imagine they need to do that before they work the rest of the financing.

I spoke to financing once and they said it was no big deal, it would just be an extra $xxxx added on to the bill. But we never got a confirmation on how much exactly it will be. We also don't know if they can even put it on. We don't know if they have started the financing process. We don't know anything at all, really, for the past week.

Everyone we have spoken to says that they will call us right back. They don't. At this point, there is another dealership with the exact same rv, who know about internet access satellites as well. The price might be a bit more, but I would be happy to just go and give them my money.

So, my question is what to do next? Is there a way to get our money back? Or, what is the best way to escalate this so they actually put the deal through (hell, maybe it has gone through and we have no idea)? Who is the person to speak to next? (I have left messages with managers, etc.) What is the most effective way to get these people to move one way or the other? (or even just call us back!)

Or, is this just normal?

Any advice would be appreciated. We just feel really frustrated, going into feeling like we are being taken for a ride at this point.
posted by Vaike to Travel & Transportation (10 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Can you show up at the lot and talk to them in person? It's much harder to give you the brush-off that way.
posted by brainmouse at 4:33 PM on June 27, 2011 [3 favorites]


Yeah...I hate to echo the obvious here, but you've just been calling for a week and you have exactly how much money riding on this? Go back to the damn dealership.
posted by Roman Graves at 5:01 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]


What is the most effective way to get these people to move one way or the other?

Show up in person.
posted by holgate at 5:04 PM on June 27, 2011


Call the police from the dealership if you don't get satisfaction when you show up.
posted by rhizome at 5:15 PM on June 27, 2011 [4 favorites]


Best answer: IAAL, IANYL. Don't go to the dealership, unless it's to pick up keys. Carefully create your record. Send them an old-fashioned letter to the General Manager. You know, the kind where you tell them politely, very politely, but firmly: These are the issues: 1. xxx, 2. yyy, and 3. zzz. I first telephoned about these issues on date a, then again on date b, and once more on date c. Each time you promised to return my calls, but I have yet to hear from you. When you did not call me back, I assumed that you no longer wished to sell the RV. Therefore, please send me a check in the amount of $nnn and I will consider the matter concluded. If I do not receive your written response by [some reasonable time frame, e.g., 10 days], I will pursue alternative means of obtaining my refund." Or whatever. Keep it brief, no more than one or two pages. Keep it polite and reasonable. In fact, write it as though you intend on showing it to a judge or other decision maker who will appreciate your brevity and draw conclusions about your character from it.

Cc it to whichever manufacturer they most represent, if any.

And if you do think about calling cops, whatever you do, do not threaten to do it--just do it. Threatening to call the cops to gain advantage in a civil dispute is a crime in most jurisdictions.

You'll probably get your phone call and an apology based on your letter. You may get into a better negotiating position or some kind of offer to resolve the situation. If they don't respond, don't bother with the cops. Call an attorney.
posted by Hylas at 5:26 PM on June 27, 2011 [16 favorites]


Response by poster: Thanks! Naturally, they just finally called right after I hit post with a tale of our paperwork getting into the wrong hands, etc., etc., but the advice is still good. I am going to document all the interactions with whichever dealership we go with from here on out. It's a good lesson to remember.


(now the problem is they are saying that the rv we want is too old for most banks to finance, as if they didn't know that already...yeesh.)
posted by Vaike at 5:44 PM on June 27, 2011


Best answer: Based on your latest update: Walk away from these guys. They really sound like it's just going to be one thing after another during the entire process.
posted by BlahLaLa at 6:10 PM on June 27, 2011 [2 favorites]


The Attorney General's Office of your state is a good place to seek help.
posted by theora55 at 6:56 PM on June 27, 2011


(now the problem is they are saying that the rv we want is too old for most banks to finance, as if they didn't know that already...yeesh.)
...
Based on your latest update: Walk away from these guys. They really sound like it's just going to be one thing after another during the entire process.

Yep. Get your refund and bail. They either don't know what they're doing, or they're playing you. At the very best, they are wasting your valuable time. Take thy business elsewhere. Good luck!
posted by Hylas at 10:02 AM on June 28, 2011


Response by poster: Final update: We did walk away from Mike Thompson RV. That was a ridiculous nightmare. I think they must be having a pretty serious internal breakdown. Topping it off was that our original salesman called about two weeks later (while we were in the process of getting a refund), to see if he could interest us in a different RV. We hadn't heard from him up to that point. Funny thing is, I told him two people had told me he had been fired (which they had), so then the general manager calls me up extra nicely and wants to ask me questions about who said what, etc.

Yeesh.

(for anyone curious, we went with Metro RV, and they were nice and normal, got us very close to the financing we wanted, repaired things after the sale that they didn't even need to repair, a hole in some siding, replaced a faucet)
posted by Vaike at 8:37 AM on July 30, 2011


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