My question involves a consumer law issue in the State of: Texas
Texas being rather strict on bait and switch should make dealerships vigilant about pricing practices. My basic question is common, but the circumstances surrounding it are rather unique. The base question is - Should a dealership be required to honor an advertised price? In most cases (like an internet, newspaper or magazine print error) even I agree the answer should be and typically is no. In cases where the price is so far below what the ACTUAL price is ie. $999 vs $9.99 again, it's an obvious error and a consumer should not expect it to be honored.
My situation involves Black Friday and a visit to a dealership on terms unrelated to Black Friday or a new vehicle. My reason for being there was a vehicle brought in for service. The estimated service price was so inflated that my wife suggested looking at something new and using that money as downpayment. She then exited the service area, went out on the lot and began looking at new vehicles. When she came back in excited that she found a really good price on one, I went out to see for myself. All the vehicles including the one with the price she liked were locked and had two stickers on the window side by side - one with the standard equipment and original sticker price, and a second sticker with the price you would pay. While every car around it had the second sticker price HIGHER in common, the one she found had a LOWER price on the second sticker. While the price was lower, given the time of year there's no reason to believe it was an error due to timing (Black Friday) and the salesperson constantly stating how crazy the deals had been lately on the 2015 makes of this model. One in particular he exclaimed was sold recently over $6000 off sticker. When we inquired about this particular one at first, I provided him the stock number only and asked what was the deal for this one. He went out to it for info came back and said - Oh they really wanna get rid of this one! After that response I told him the price posted in the car AND went back outside with him to verify it. After seeing it for himself we told him we wanted to move forward with the transaction on this vehicle. He came back with a starting price even higher than the original sticker! I pointed out the price error at which point he said that it was probably a mistake. My response was - not my problem.
We requested the manager come out to see the issue. He hurriedly unlocked the car, removed the sticker - balled it up and said he wouldn't honor the price because the mistake was obvious. I disagreed with that assumption as dealerships routinely run advertisements boasting 5-10k off sticker. He retreated to his office where I followed and asked what he planned to do about this? He beckoned me in to show me the internet prices...but I responded this has nothing to do with internet-we did not come here because of an internet ad, we didn't even come here with the intention of buying a new car. My wife went outside just to look at the prices, found this one but you refuse to honor it....That's illegal. He replied no it's not. I said I think the courts would disagree. He replied - Ok, get out...you said courts...get out of here, we have nothing further to talk about!
Side note: There is video proof of all of it.
Texas being rather strict on bait and switch should make dealerships vigilant about pricing practices. My basic question is common, but the circumstances surrounding it are rather unique. The base question is - Should a dealership be required to honor an advertised price? In most cases (like an internet, newspaper or magazine print error) even I agree the answer should be and typically is no. In cases where the price is so far below what the ACTUAL price is ie. $999 vs $9.99 again, it's an obvious error and a consumer should not expect it to be honored.
My situation involves Black Friday and a visit to a dealership on terms unrelated to Black Friday or a new vehicle. My reason for being there was a vehicle brought in for service. The estimated service price was so inflated that my wife suggested looking at something new and using that money as downpayment. She then exited the service area, went out on the lot and began looking at new vehicles. When she came back in excited that she found a really good price on one, I went out to see for myself. All the vehicles including the one with the price she liked were locked and had two stickers on the window side by side - one with the standard equipment and original sticker price, and a second sticker with the price you would pay. While every car around it had the second sticker price HIGHER in common, the one she found had a LOWER price on the second sticker. While the price was lower, given the time of year there's no reason to believe it was an error due to timing (Black Friday) and the salesperson constantly stating how crazy the deals had been lately on the 2015 makes of this model. One in particular he exclaimed was sold recently over $6000 off sticker. When we inquired about this particular one at first, I provided him the stock number only and asked what was the deal for this one. He went out to it for info came back and said - Oh they really wanna get rid of this one! After that response I told him the price posted in the car AND went back outside with him to verify it. After seeing it for himself we told him we wanted to move forward with the transaction on this vehicle. He came back with a starting price even higher than the original sticker! I pointed out the price error at which point he said that it was probably a mistake. My response was - not my problem.
We requested the manager come out to see the issue. He hurriedly unlocked the car, removed the sticker - balled it up and said he wouldn't honor the price because the mistake was obvious. I disagreed with that assumption as dealerships routinely run advertisements boasting 5-10k off sticker. He retreated to his office where I followed and asked what he planned to do about this? He beckoned me in to show me the internet prices...but I responded this has nothing to do with internet-we did not come here because of an internet ad, we didn't even come here with the intention of buying a new car. My wife went outside just to look at the prices, found this one but you refuse to honor it....That's illegal. He replied no it's not. I said I think the courts would disagree. He replied - Ok, get out...you said courts...get out of here, we have nothing further to talk about!
Side note: There is video proof of all of it.
Sales Agreements: Not Internet or Typo but Sticker Tag Inside the Vehicle-Should It Be Honored
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire