joenevins

Ok - need help on this one. I "custom" ordered a G37 and negotiated the lease payments/price (basically bank fee, 1st-mo, taxes up front so $2,700 out of pocket) and $430 a month for a Red G37 manual w/every option less spoiler. Anyhow, I gave the dealer a $500 credit card deposit to "find" the car for me (ie swap for it - there were "only 3 on the East Coast" supposedly.) The dealer actually called me two days before the end of the month (initial phone call was late Thursday) on a Saturday in February and said that I should leave a deposit to lock in the "pice" in case rates go up - I know sounds shady but I just wanted the car and thought it would be a formality and I would have a car within a week or two. Fast forward 7 weeks, the dealer kept telling me that the car would be here in 1-2 weeks initially, then it became 2-3 weeks and then finally he told me 2 weeks ago that the delivery date was April 18th! Yesterday came and went and I still don't have a car and I am getting fed up. I've remained patient as I don't really care to go through the process again if I will have my car in only a few days - what frustrates me is that they can't tell me at all where the car is (not to mention that its now obvious that he lied to me for 7 weeks (I also found out that they ran my credit score only last week (from credit reporting service) after I gave my Social Security # over the phone for the credit app 5 weeks back.

Basically, I could use some advice as to what my options are considering I haven't signed anything and I've already paid them via credit card the $500 "deposit". Can I walk away and argue for my deposit back? Do I just wait it out? Do I get nasty and go over his head and try to get some info on where the car is? Can I still negotiate the price if I just buy it outright or even renegotiate the payments since I haven't signed any agreement?

I think my situation is textbook for what not to do when leasing a car

gbest03

iTrader: (4)

Have them give you the VIN # for the car.
If the car has been produced and shipped, it will have a VIN.
No VIN, no car.

joenevins

forgot to mention - was given a VIN 3 weeks back...probably best bet is to wait it out but was wondering if I could walk either way....I did everything over the phone to avoid all of the bs in shopping around - I knew what I wanted and what I was willing to pay - but this dragging out into the warm weather is killing me...to be honest, their whole point was that there were no manual red G37's (loaded) around and I've been searching local dealer inventories and that seems to be true -

IP37

get all your money back and go somewhere else

paying them just to find a car is ridiculous

espperre

A) I would file a complaint with Infiniti headquarters and detail out your case as you've done here. Not only should you get your money back, but do so WITH INTEREST. I guarantee you that $500 wasn't just sitting around under a mattress; it's been collecting interest.

B) I would then take my business to ANOTHER dealership, even if you have to go out of state, and clearly inform the owner and the GM of the dealership that you're doing it and WHY you're doing it. Another dealership can find that car just as easily as any other dealership.

joenevins

I will call them tomorrow morning and give them til the afternoon to "locate" my car - otherwise, I will take everyone's advice and take my business elsewhere - and I will file every complaint that I can - Infiniti, town's better business bureau, etc etc...I will post an update - but hopefully I will be too busy picking up my car - I even have the G37 dust cover ordered and SanDisk extreme III 2 GB compact flash card sitting here.....depressing...

da mayor

iTrader: (2)

it is tough to find some cars... but you can get your deposit back if they don't find the car for you.

joenevins

they've "found" the car and I do have a VIN and its supposed to be here anyday - but I was expecting sooner, rather than later, especially after all the lies which I never called them out on- but I have all conversations recorded via my work phone system (trading desk for a major company)....soooo just impatiently waiting at this point and I'm not about to wait more than a day or two more for confirmation of pick-up....

Pennsylvania-G

What dealership is this? I've been waiting for three weeks now to get my deposit back from Infiniti of West Chester (Pa). I gave the dealer a check on Saturday, March 29th, and by Tuesday, April 1st the dealer told me that he would return my deposit. I've been given one excuse after another to explain the delay. Yesterday I e-mailed Infiniti Consumer Relations. I'll see what they can do for me. My next step is to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

aznutx

regardless. report the dealership like espperre said. after reading this , im sorry, but that is way beyond a time scope to "find" a car... finding the actual car probably will take a day or two, then "swap" "buy" or wutever the negotiations on the car shouldnt take more than a week, and after that... shipping the car shouldnt take more than a week, so ur lookin at 3-4weeks given i thrown in an extra week cus paperwork was lost ,

report them. and if not, ill report them for you. of course nothing legal will happen, but at least they can get a bad rating on the BBB and possibly will help some other guy that goes thru this situation.

joenevins

Pennsylvania G - I PM'd you the dealership - I'll keep it to myself just in case all works out tomorrow -

aznutx - thanks for the timeline - give me something to at least base my expectations off when I speak to them tomorrow - the thing is that I live in NYC and didn't really want the car until about 2 weeks ago so I wasn't p'd off until the past 2 weeks...I will certainly take all of the advice and report them if not resolved tomorrow...and I will def let you everyone know the parties involved so others don't have to go through this waste of time

GiGGaplease

why would you give 500 to a dealership to look for a car for you? shouldnt they do that for free? go to the dealership and ask them where is the car. if they do not answer you, ask for the deposit back.

joenevins

didn't pay to find the car - put a deposit down to "lock" in the price we had negotiated, which I was happy with - taking delivery was supposed to be a formality - a few weeks at best - dealer calls me with updates and called me 1st thing this am but anything short of me getting the car asap is not good enough at this point - again, I did it over the phone because I didn't have the time to shop around...nor did I care to - obviously not the right way to handle the transaction

greggv

how does one get ahold of Infiniti consumer relations? I looked on their websit to no avail.

Thanks in advance

ohsogood

iTrader: (5)

Dang way to bring an old thread back to life!

Here is what I got from the website.
Help

If further assistance is needed, please contact the Infiniti Consumer Affairs Hotline at 1.800.662.6200 (8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Eastern/Central/Pacific Time).