Dealership Apologizes for Having customer arrested

[pcm84]

Contract Law 101: Dealership apologizes for having customer arrested


Chesapeake Virginia, May 7 2012,

Man buys blue Chevrolet Traverse at Priority Chevrolet, takes
it back and trades it for the same car, a black Traverse with more equipment. The dealership
fails to pick up on the price difference. The contract is finalized and signed, reflecting the
lower price of the original blue car.

Next.. the dealership then realizes its mistake and has the customer arrested for theft.

Police realize there is no case and drop the charges. Customer sues. Dealership apologizes.

More to follow.

According to the lawsuits, Sawyer test-drove a blue Chevrolet Traverse on May 7 but ultimately decided to buy a black one. He traded in his 2008 Saturn Vue, signed a promissory note and left in his new SUV.

The next morning, Sawyer returned and asked to exchange the black Traverse for the blue one.

The lawsuit claims Wib Davenport, a sales manager, agreed to the trade without discussing how much more the blue Traverse would cost. (Dealership vice president, Stacy) Cummings disputed that, saying Davenport told Sawyer it would cost about $5,500 more than the black one and that Sawyer orally agreed to the higher price.

Regardless, the final contract Sawyer signed did not reflect the higher price, which Cummings said should have been in the area of $39,000. He blamed a clerical error.

"We definitely made a mistake there. There is no doubt about it," said (Dealership owner, Dennis) Ellmer.

After signing the contract - which listed a sale price of about $34,000 - Sawyer immediately left the dealership and returned with a cashier's check covering what he owed after dealer incentives and his trade-in.

A week later, Sawyer came back from a vacation to find numerous voicemails and a letter from the dealership, the suit said. In a phone conversation, Davenport explained they had made a mistake on the contract and sold the car for too little. He asked Sawyer to return to the dealership and sign a new contract.

The lawsuit claims Sawyer refused. Cummings said Sawyer initially agreed but never followed through.

When Sawyer did not return to the dealership, Priority staff continued their attempts to contact him via phone, text message and hand-delivered letters. They eventually contacted police.

On June 15, three Chesapeake police officers arrested Sawyer in his front yard and took him before a magistrate judge. He was released on bond after about four hours at the Chesapeake jail, the suit said.

Commonwealth's Attorney Nancy Parr said her office dropped all charges Aug. 23 after speaking with representatives of the dealership and determining there was insufficient evidence to pursue the case.

In an interview Tuesday, Ellmer and Cummings said their staff never reported the SUV stolen and never asked for Sawyer to be arrested. They said they called police only for help locating the SUV while they pursued the civil action.

After speaking with police Wednesday, however, Ellmer said he'd learned one of his managers, Brad Anderson, had indeed said the SUV was stolen.

Kelly O'Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the Chesapeake Police Department, said the officer told Anderson in advance he was going to secure a warrant for Sawyer's arrest.

[Vanilla_Coke]

That's hilarious, you go in and ask for new a new contract, they tell you to go **** yourself, they **** up on your behalf and they say you stole their vehicle, priceless...

I have no idea why people hate buying cars, or dealing with sales people.

[Zanardi.]

My question is, on what evidence and grounds did the police have to arrest this individual? Personally, I would work through this with the dealership just because it is the right thing to do morally, despite the fact he's probably not legally obligated. I would be less inclined to help though after they dealership got the police involved.

[stascom]

I hope they get sued out of business. I hate thieves, hasslers, and lairs.

[unleashedd]

it is the right thing to do morally

salesmen now operate under some moral code??? the bottom line is the only code they obey

[mikegilbert]

My question is, on what evidence and grounds did the police have to arrest this individual? Personally, I would work through this with the dealership just because it is the right thing to do morally, despite the fact he's probably not legally obligated. I would be less inclined to help though after they dealership got the police involved.

I'm curious about this as well. I'd push the police to file charges against the dealership for filing a false police report.

[MatchStick]

even if they "apologized" I'd proceed with my lawsuit against them. ruthlessly.

[Zanardi.]

salesmen now operate under some moral code??? the bottom line is the only code they obey

I speaking more about my conscience personally. I would prefer not to profit due to a typo; everyone makes mistakes.

[dopaz]

In an interview Tuesday, Ellmer and Cummings said their staff never reported the SUV stolen and never asked for Sawyer to be arrested. They said they called police only for help locating the SUV while they pursued the civil action.

After speaking with police Wednesday, however, Ellmer said he'd learned one of his managers, Brad Anderson, had indeed said the SUV was stolen.

Is 'Making False Statements to Police' a crime in Virginia?

Dealerships love to play the numbers game, it is fitting that the ineptitude of several employees (if they had actually been checking the contract before getting the customer to sign someone would have caught the mistake) cost them thousands.

[taymk2]

omly in va ....smh

[FACTORYBOOST]

even if they "apologized" I'd proceed with my lawsuit against them. ruthlessly.

Agreed, they had you arrested in your own front yard in front of your neighbors and family. They can apologize all they want, but it still doesn't change the fact that you were arrested and held for 4 hours.

[kimilein]

Isn't making a false police report a crime? The dealer lackey who called the police ought to be arrested and charged. Let him rot in a cell.

[BRealistic]

My question is, on what evidence and grounds did the police have to arrest this individual? Personally, I would work through this with the dealership just because it is the right thing to do morally, despite the fact he's probably not legally obligated. I would be less inclined to help though after they dealership got the police involved.

As was shown by the robo-foreclosures,.the police assume a business has already done due diligence before calling the police for assistance, so if the accused claims.false arrest they just assume they are lying (because most criminals initially claim innocence). But obviously that is not the case anymore.

And somebody mentioned filing a false police report.
I doubt the buyer.cares about criminal charges against the probably now fired salesman.
Civil court ahead full speed!

[ATL_Av8r]

Lock him up for frivolous lawsuits. And make the dealer sell Mitsubishis for their transgressions.

[kimilein]

And somebody mentioned filing a false police report.
I doubt the buyer.cares about criminal charges against the probably now fired salesman.
Civil court ahead full speed!

I wouldn't care either if I had my sights set on $2M. But the DA should be proactive in charging the assclowns who thought it was okay to use the police as a shake-down.

Lock him up for frivolous lawsuits. And make the dealer sell Mitsubishis for their transgressions.

sell Mitsubishis

That's a thing?

[BluMagic]

40k for a chevy traverse is theft

[fastinradford]

40k for a chevy traverse is theft

[BRealistic]

I wouldn't care either if I had my sights set on $2M. But the DA should be proactive in charging the assclowns who thought it was okay to use the police as a shake-down.

If they had a recurring problem with businesses filing false police reports,.then I could see
DA thinking it was worth the court time to charge them.
But for one case? IDK. And then you have to prove the salesman knowingly filed a false police report.
The defense lawyer could easily cast a reasonable doubt to the charge of intentionally filing a false report with so many people involved.

[freedomgli]

Way to treat a customer....

A fat cash settlement would be the only thing that could erase my memory of this apparent injustice if I was in the customer's shoes.

[MRVW00]

In 2002 or so, I was working at a VW dealer where the new sales manager sold a Passat GLX 4Motion for $18K....in reality, the customer had a legal contract and could've told the sales manager to GTFO.

[kimilein]

In 2002 or so, I was working at a VW dealer where the new sales manager sold a Passat GLX 4Motion for $18K....in reality, the customer had a legal contract and could've told the sales manager to GTFO.

Dealerships: contracts are binding if we like them. They're rubbish if we don't.

[freedomgli]

Dealerships: contracts are binding if we like them. They're rubbish if we don't.

Welcome to eBay!

[GTE77]

In 2002 or so, I was working at a VW dealer where the new sales manager sold a Passat GLX 4Motion for $18K....in reality, the customer had a legal contract and could've told the sales manager to GTFO.

Wut..

[BetterByDesign]

I dont know which is worse

- 40K for a Chevy Traverse
- incompent sales people
- incompent Chesapeake Police Department
- guy who takes back a car because he wants a different color

[Zstampe]

Agreed, they had you arrested in your own front yard in front of your neighbors and family. They can apologize all they want, but it still doesn't change the fact that you were arrested and held for 4 hours.

"Swat came into my house, disrespected my family"

[driveareliablecar]

Police should have called it a civil matter (contract dispute). I've seen them call stolen vehicles on private property a civil matter.

[Iroczgirl]

Way to treat a customer....

A fat cash settlement would be the only thing that could erase my memory of this apparent injustice if I was in the customer's shoes.

Totally. But I do wonder if there is more to this story. Did the dealer try to reason with the customer before calling the cops? Mistakes do happen. Not defending them though, this whole ordeal should never even have involved cops...

[NOLA_VDubber]

"Swat came into my house, disrespected my family"

[Jerico007]

"Swat came into my house, disrespected my family"

LMAO!!!

[..Derek..]

If they screwed some little old lady for an EXTRA $5,500 the dealership would be laughing all the way to the bank. Funny how they get their panties in a wad when they are on the loosing end.

I wonder if they will make aggressive attempts at hindering any warranty/repair claims for his car in the future.

[BRealistic]

I bet there is more to the story than innocent customer arrested by evil dealership.Did the buyer not notice the 5k in content difference?
Surely he knew the higher content vehicle wouldn't be the exact same price.
Otoh, the dealer should have reviewed the sales contract.


Didn't we have somebody in TCL that bought a car and later found out the contract was for a different vehicle than what they took home?

[VDub2625]

I wonder if they will make aggressive attempts at hindering any warranty/repair claims for his car in the future.

Illegal, of course (though we do know it's possible). But, if I were in his shoes, I'd jump for joy and gladly take my car elsewhere

Totally. But I do wonder if there is more to this story. Did the dealer try to reason with the customer before calling the cops? Mistakes do happen. Not defending them though, this whole ordeal should never even have involved cops...

They did try to contact him multiple times... he ust never responded, as he has a right to do.

[FACTORYBOOST]

"Swat came into my house, disrespected my family"

I never narc'd on nobody! I never narc'd on nobody!

[Aonarch]

[SconnieGTI]

even if they "apologized" I'd proceed with my lawsuit against them. ruthlessly.

This.

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