Fraud Conviction Against Dealer - Acura of Denville (NJ)
Sambura
story (and I have the documentation to prove it).
In November, 1998, I tried to buy a new Acura 3.2TL from Acura of
Denville (Denville, NJ), owned by Gerald Lustig of Parsippany, NJ. I
gave a $1,000 deposit on a full MSRP contract (it was a very hot car
last year) and the contract delivery date was supposed to be by
31-Jan-99. It was then delayed to February, 1999. Come February, they
still had no delivery date for me and when it was never delivered, and
the dealer wouldn't return phone calls, I finally cancelled the contract
(in writing) and demanded my deposit back.
When the dealer continued to ignore me (and still didn't deliver my new
car), I had to call my attorney. The dealer/owner ignored phone calls
AND letters from my attorney so I finally had to file a lawsuit. The
dealer never responded to the court summons and the court issued a
default notice to the dealer. Apparently, after receiving this notice,
the owner (Mr. Lustig) finally called my attorney and told him he was
ready to give me my deposit back. When my attorney told him that it had
gone beyond that now, the owner said he wouldn't pay another dime.
Following the dealer/owner's default on the summons, I had to go to
court. During the course of the hearing, I overheard the judge comment
about 'delivery refused' so I can only assume that the dealer/owner had
refused to take delivery of the court summons when it was issued (it
required a written answer to the court within 20 days).
The judge in the case reviewed all the documentation and found in my
favour and awarded me my deposit back. However, the second count of the
summons accused Acura of Denville of breach of the NJ Consumer Fraud
Protection laws. The judge found that the facts of the case certainly
violated the spirit of those laws as well. As a result, the judge
awarded me Treble (triple) damages PLUS all attorney's fees AND court
costs.
If you're wondering what customer service at Acura of North America
(Honda?) had to say about all this, I got them involved starting in
December, 1998 (when things didn't seem to be going too smoothly) right
up through February, 1999. All they had to say was that Acura of
Denville was an independant dealer and there was nothing they could do
about it. Talk about Customer NO-Service.
So for those of you who are researching buying a new car and are
concerned about after purchase customer service, remember this
experience and think really hard before you hand over your hard earned
money to Honda or Acura.
Best of luck to everybody out there.
PS: I finally received a check from Acura of Denville (it appears to be
signed by Mr. Lustig) covering the treble damages and my attorney's fees
(so much for them not paying 'another dime' above my deposit). However
the check received did not include the court costs so I guess I'll have
to send another demand letter to the dealer. In the mean time, there is
still a court judgement outstanding against this dealer and it won't be
released until they pay in full.
billk...@hotmail.com
> PS: I finally received a check from Acura of Denville (it appears to be
> signed by Mr. Lustig) covering the treble damages and my attorney's fees
> (so much for them not paying 'another dime' above my deposit). However
> the check received did not include the court costs so I guess I'll have
> to send another demand letter to the dealer.
possibly he had to pay court costs directly to the court. If you haven't paid court
costs up to this point, i wouldn't worry about them. The court willgo after him. If
you have paid, I would go down to the court clerk and ask for your refund.
conANDave
news:37BF395E...@mindspring.com...
: So for those of you who are researching buying a new car and are
: concerned about after purchase customer service, remember this
: experience and think really hard before you hand over your hard earned
: money to Honda or Acura.
Although I've never ordered a car (imo, there isn't a car you absolutely
need to buy at a certain time.), I agree with Acura of North America
(ammitedly, the first time I've ever seen Acura referred to in that way. Oh
well.). Acura of Denville is an independant dealer, and since their actions
regarding exact sales procedures are theirs alone, AHMC really has no pull.
And there are always a lot of very honest dealers. My local Acura of
Pleasanton took a deposit from my cousin on a 3.2TL (that's them, not me.)
for delivery in sometime around October and returned it when they decided to
go for the Volvo S80 Turbo.
Then there are always dealers who don't take deposits on cars. Perhaps,
those who are researching buying a new car and are concerned about after
purchase customer service, think really hard before you hand over your hard
earned money to Mr. Lustig's Acura of Denville and his automotive group.
Richard
of the buildings, the dress of its employees, the tools and parts in stock,
etc. The dealers sued and the US Supreme Court held that VW did not have the
right to control the behavior if its independent dealers. In other markets
the relationship between dealer and distributor may be different.
<billk...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:37BF9B...@hotmail.com...
Sambura
after I cancelled my contract and was trying to get answers from anyone at the
dealership, one salesman told me that Acura of North America refused to deliver
anymore cars to them because they had too many unsold cars on their lot - they
were over their quota. I was told my car was actually sitting in port Newark;
Acura North America knew it was there and that I was anxious to take delivery
and yet they did nothing for me. All my calls to the local and regional Acura
sales and distribution representatives (employed by Acura of North America) were
ignored, as were calls to them by my attorney.
It turns out that ~2.5 weeks after I cancelled my contract, my exact car arrived
at a different, nearby dealership AND it was available. The chances of the
exact car - down to the navigation system (which was rare and unusual) showing
up at a dealership without them already having a customer who wanted it was
pretty slim. Of course by this time there was no way I was going to do business
with Acura - even if it was a different dealership.
People should keep in mind that there really is no such thing as an independent
dealership (except in the minds of the manufacturer maybe). I could not call
Aura North America directly and order a car - I HAD to order through their
dealers. The legal term for it is agency agreement - between the manufacturer
and the dealer - and the manufacturer has some responsibility to deliver a car
that has been contracted for (especially if they know it is already under
contract to be sold). As far as I was concerned, Acura of North America should
have also been named in my lawsuit but my attorney was afraid I wouldn't be able
to prove all the facts and I'd be liable for their attorney's fees. That really
would have been a case of David and Goliath and I wasn't prepared to take the
risk so we only went after the dealership.
Based on my whole experience (9 months long), I stand by my original
recomendation to everyone to think very carefully before doing business with an
Acura or Honda dealership. Remember, they have no product or service without
that which the manufacturer provides or enables to them - both before and after
taking delivery of a new car.
I have learned a few things and I have finally ordered another new car - NOT
Acura or Honda (a BMW) - and the dealer was happy to put my deposit ($500) on my
American Express card. Now, if anything goes wrong (which I know it won't),
I'll have the muscle of Amex with me to get my money back.
billk...@hotmail.com
>
> Actually, I do fault Acura of North America as well. During the first 2 weeks
> after I cancelled my contract and was trying to get answers from anyone at the
> dealership, one salesman told me that Acura of North America refused to deliver
> anymore cars to them because they had too many unsold cars on their lot - they
> were over their quota. I was told my car was actually sitting in port Newark;
Haven't they heard of a dealer swap?
When I bought my 91 Accord coupe, my local dealer didn't have one in my color
choice. They just swapped a coupe from their lot for my choice from a dealer about
40 miles away.
Sambura
cancelled my contract and I doubt they were doing anything, or wanted to do anything,
to try and turn around a bad customer relationship. There was no finance manager, no
sales manager, the owner was never around (or if he was, he wasn't talking to
customers) and the salespeople who were still there were not allowed to give out the
name of the owner. This seems pretty crazy to me. If that's how Gerald Lustig wants
to run a business, the public should know so they don't get sucked into these
problems.