March 29th, 2001, 09:57 AM
This is going to be long so bare with me please! I have bad credit and in order to compensate for the bad credit I was asked a huge down payment of $10,000 on a 66k loan for a limousine by Automotive One. I was basically informed that since I had bad credit I would have to put down a large sum(which i understand is standard practice)and I was told that my loan would be approved.
I was sent the lease agreement overnight and was asked to dispatch first months payment of $1,600.00. I complied with the request immediately, signed the lease and mailed it to A.one. Two months passed and I didn't hear anything from Automotive one. I finally called and talked to Pete Nelson's(in charge of my financing) Boss Mark Israel, and asked him what the delay was? Suddenly I was informed that in order to be approved now i had to put down a total of 15k instead of the originally agreed upon amount of 10k. I informed Mr. Israel that I couldn't come up with the additional 5k and that they should refund my first months payment of $1,600.00 since they had held on to it for 2 months interest free.
I was informed by Automotive One that they had tried with several companies and without the new down payment of 15k couldn't get me approved. Because of this delay I had missed out on several opportunities due to lack of new limousine. I found a used limousine locally which was 43k and asked Automotive one if they could get the new limo financed with the original 10k down. I also told them that I wanted a lease NOT a financing. Pete Nelson of Automotive One tried to persuade me to finance instead of leasing the used limousine, I told him that I was only interested in a lease. Mr. Nelson informed me that he would draw the new lease papers and send his rep to get the papers signed. But when Mr. Nelson's rep showed up he had a financing agreement, not a lease. The financing agreement was also drawn in such a way that my 10k down payment was magically reduced to only 3k, they accomplished this task by inflating the actual price of the used limo. Since the contract was not a lease and they had reduced my 10k down payment to 3k even though I was still putting down 10k, I promptly refused to sign the agreement.
I faxed a letter to Automotive One and demanded that my deposit of $1,600.00 be refunded immediately. Instead I received a letter which stated that I had defaulted on the contract and they were not only going to confiscate my deposit of $1600.00, but also charge me a sum of $500.00 for sending a rep to my location and charge another $2100.00 in so called lost profit.
I was obviously furious at their cheap tactic, and faxed a letter stating that if within 10 days I do not receive a full refund, I would start legal proceedings and also file compalaints with the BBB, State attorney generals office in addition I will expose their shady business practices online. They sent a fax stating that they would issue a full refund of my deposit within 10 business. It has been over 30 business days since I received a fax from them informing me that the refund in full will be made, but still NO refund!
The fact is I never broke my original contract which was for the 66k limo with 10k down. Automotive One is the one in default since they changed the terms after I had signed the contract and agreed upon the 10k deposit. On the second contract which was for the used limo with 10k down, I refused to sign. After my refusal to sign the second contract Automotive One refused to release my deposit since I didn't agree with their terms. This was nothing short of blackmail, since the only choice they were giving me was to sign the new contract at their terms or loose the deposit even though I never signed the contract for this particular vehicle they illegally kept my deposit.
I will be starting proceedings against Automotive One in the small claims court. If their are any lawyers on these boards, I would appreciate any help or advice I can get in this matter.
choopra
I was sent the lease agreement overnight and was asked to dispatch first months payment of $1,600.00. I complied with the request immediately, signed the lease and mailed it to A.one. Two months passed and I didn't hear anything from Automotive one. I finally called and talked to Pete Nelson's(in charge of my financing) Boss Mark Israel, and asked him what the delay was? Suddenly I was informed that in order to be approved now i had to put down a total of 15k instead of the originally agreed upon amount of 10k. I informed Mr. Israel that I couldn't come up with the additional 5k and that they should refund my first months payment of $1,600.00 since they had held on to it for 2 months interest free.
I was informed by Automotive One that they had tried with several companies and without the new down payment of 15k couldn't get me approved. Because of this delay I had missed out on several opportunities due to lack of new limousine. I found a used limousine locally which was 43k and asked Automotive one if they could get the new limo financed with the original 10k down. I also told them that I wanted a lease NOT a financing. Pete Nelson of Automotive One tried to persuade me to finance instead of leasing the used limousine, I told him that I was only interested in a lease. Mr. Nelson informed me that he would draw the new lease papers and send his rep to get the papers signed. But when Mr. Nelson's rep showed up he had a financing agreement, not a lease. The financing agreement was also drawn in such a way that my 10k down payment was magically reduced to only 3k, they accomplished this task by inflating the actual price of the used limo. Since the contract was not a lease and they had reduced my 10k down payment to 3k even though I was still putting down 10k, I promptly refused to sign the agreement.
I faxed a letter to Automotive One and demanded that my deposit of $1,600.00 be refunded immediately. Instead I received a letter which stated that I had defaulted on the contract and they were not only going to confiscate my deposit of $1600.00, but also charge me a sum of $500.00 for sending a rep to my location and charge another $2100.00 in so called lost profit.
I was obviously furious at their cheap tactic, and faxed a letter stating that if within 10 days I do not receive a full refund, I would start legal proceedings and also file compalaints with the BBB, State attorney generals office in addition I will expose their shady business practices online. They sent a fax stating that they would issue a full refund of my deposit within 10 business. It has been over 30 business days since I received a fax from them informing me that the refund in full will be made, but still NO refund!
The fact is I never broke my original contract which was for the 66k limo with 10k down. Automotive One is the one in default since they changed the terms after I had signed the contract and agreed upon the 10k deposit. On the second contract which was for the used limo with 10k down, I refused to sign. After my refusal to sign the second contract Automotive One refused to release my deposit since I didn't agree with their terms. This was nothing short of blackmail, since the only choice they were giving me was to sign the new contract at their terms or loose the deposit even though I never signed the contract for this particular vehicle they illegally kept my deposit.
I will be starting proceedings against Automotive One in the small claims court. If their are any lawyers on these boards, I would appreciate any help or advice I can get in this matter.
choopra