New sled NIGHTMARE!

[flatlandguy]

As some of you know, I have been shopping for a new sled. I have a thread under the brand forums, in Skidoo, where I asked if anybody knew of any dealerships that have a new 09 Summit 800 / 163. Well several guys responded and gave me names of dealerships and even in some cases the name of the salesman to talk to. Thanks to all who provided this info.
Yesterday (Wed. Feb 11/09) I did some shopping of my own via BRP dealer locator and searched some web sites.I came across an ad. on the site of Civic PowerSports in Westlock,AB.
This ad. lists exactly the sled I am looking for and says in big bold print
" INCLUDES FREIGHT, PDI & 2nd YEAR WARR + $300 E.START "
Sale Price $11,199.00
Now until March 31, 2009
Well I made a few ph. calls to other dealerships, was told by several that the 2nd year warranty is $550.00 and e-start models would be another $300 - $350.
So I phoned Civic Powersports and talked to a salesman named Jamie, told him what I was looking for. He said that they had just such a sled sitting in their showroom. We talked about price and I told him about the ad. on their web site. He looked at it and said "well that sure is what it says, the gal who enters these ads on the site must have made a mistake because the e-start should be in addition to that price".
I said " Well that may be, but thats what the ad says".
Jamie said " So I guess I have to sell it to you at that price or its false advertising".
I said " I guess so, I think I'll take it".
Jamie said " I'll need some kind of a deposit to hold the deal, how would you like to pay for that? A credit card payment of $500.00 would do".
I said " Ya, I can do that".
So I gave him my Visa # and he charged $500.00 to it.
I asked him to fax me a copy of the contract with the sled serial # and particulars along with the Visa receipt. He said that he would.
We agreed that I could pick up the sled today.
I was pleased with my purchase and decide to phone my buddy Sumx54 in Whitecourt and told him that I had bought a new sled that he was going to have trouble keeping up with. I thought that seeing how as I was going to be in Westlock any way, I might as well go to Whitecourt for this weekend and take in the activities.He gratiously invited me to stay at his place and ride with him Fri and Sat. and so the plans were made.
I went back out to my shop to work for the rest of the afternoon and thats when the nightmare started!
About a half hour later Jamie phones me from Civic Powersports and says
"Sorry man, but I been going over this deal with my boss and we can't do it."
I said " but we had a deal, you took my deposit."
Jamie said " Ya I know, but the boss says no".
I pressed him a bit further but he insisted saying that we had nothing in writing and that he was going to credit my deposit back to my Visa card.
What was I to do?
Later when I went into the house for supper, it got really bizzar!!! On my fax machine was a copy of a contract signed by Jamie with serial # and the whole 9 yards. There is a place for my signature to send it back to them
There is also a copy of the debit of $500.00 from my Visa and another page with a copy of a $500.00 credit to my Visa.
WHAT DOES A GUY DO ????????????
I have attached supporting documents, They are upside down but I don't know how to rotate them, but they're there so you all know I'm not BSing!

 

[Slamnek]

I would print that out and go talk to the "boss" and say here it is in writing.

 

[rknight111]

Fixed it for you, and hope you get the deal worked out.

 

[gforce]

go and ask for the owners contact info..tell them you need it for your lawyer to get in contact with them:dthey might just start to sing a different song

 

[fargineyesore]

Contract law works this way, someone makes an offer, unless the offer is time sensitive or is revoked, if it is accepted before the expiry of the offer, is a binding contract. I'd sign the fax, send it back to them and pursue the deal.

 

[enis750]

looks like its a deal to me
how far do you live from whitecourt?

i would also be phoning there asking for "the boss" and start by explaining why he has to sell it to you for that price
if he still thinks he doesnt have to, then tell him "well that's unfortunate . Which number is best for my lawyer and the better business bureau to get a hold of you, for false advertising?"

see if that tunes him in a little

 

[Murminator]

I would call him and say I faxed to my lawyer and he said it looks like a deal/contract to me

 

[Iron Horse Racing]

The one thing I dislick more then people or business that do this is " Lawyers"

I would go face to face with the boss / owner and find out what there real objection is and try to work it out....

You are negociating from a postion of power has you have the contract in hand....you collect more flies with honey attitude, be polite and firm at the same time. Tell him your there to buy a sled not cause problems blah blah blah.....

Showing intent to play fair wil only help if you have to get the devil involved later.....Just remember I wont want to be taking that sled back to a dealer that I forced to sell it to me....

If they choose not to play nice maybe you should just go else where.....

 

[flatlandguy]

go and ask for the owners contact info..tell them you need it for your lawyer to get in contact with them:dthey might just start to sing a different song

I've thought of doing all these things, my concern now is...do I want to deal with these guys under any circumstances?? I am finding out that there are a lot of sleds out there so I don't expect that the deals will go away soon.

 

[2003Summit]

Before I called a lawyer, I would may contact the local BRP rep. I do believe they are in contract with you at this point as well.

 

[shiznitt100]

from personal experiences, sometimes it is not worth making a huge deal about it, you are in the right but they hold the ball. if you piss them off badly enough who knows if they will do something to the sled and you have a lifetime of problems on your hands, just one thing to think about,split the difference with them or continue to fight and hope it works out in your favour.
but you are in the right, you have signed contract and a deposit, they can also take their sweet a#@ time to deliver to you aswell. take some muscle down and get your sled lol

 

[magnet]

depends how bad you want/need thesled. the way things are going i think that their may be a hole lot of newbies for sale come fall for really good deals

 

[H2SNOW]

signed sealed delivered...

 

[416magnum]

That sucks what happened to you, but my brother just bought the same sled almost 2 weeks ago at pines in prince albert for $10,000.00 even plus the taxes with e start with 154 track.

 

[flatlandguy]

That sucks what happened to you, but my brother just bought the same sled almost 2 weeks ago at pines in prince albert for $10,000.00 even plus the taxes with e start with 154 track.

I have heard of deals like that too, buddy of mine got same sled with 146 out of North Battleford for 9300.00 From what I have been told BRP did what they called a yard sale.. cleared out a bunch of sleds that they took back from US dealers who were in trouble, too much inventory, poor economy etc. etc. Anyway BRP sent a notice to all their dealers that they had a bunch of sleds available at serious discounts. Limited numbers, limited time offer. Well the dealers who had sales for the right models ordered them and passed on the savings to the lucky guys. The dealers who are sitting on a bunch of inventory are pi---d off because BRP sold sleds cheaper than what they had to pay for them and are not coming up with a dealer rebate to level the field. Sounds like another BRP special deal for Canadians!!! Last year when the dollar was at par all kind of hell was going to break loose if any US dealers got caught selling to a canuck. Now the dollar is back and they're bailing out US dealers and the next thing we'll hear in the news is that the Cdn. taxpayers are needing to bail out Bombardier because they're loosing money and some poor French folks in Quebec might loose their jobs.
Might just look at something from MN.

 

[Modman]

.... if you piss them off badly enough who knows if they will do something to the sled and you have a lifetime of problems on your hands, just one thing to think about,......

If they ever even considered this....wow. You have no idea what kind of trouble they would be in. Seriously, they could be looking at criminal charges. Say they tamper with the motor and the new ownder goes ripping down the trail, motor seizes and rider goes over the bars, off the road, whatever and is seriously injured or worse. A criminal investigation would likely determine that the dealership was negligent and charges would probably be filed under criminal negligence causing bodily harm or death. If they were malicious in their intent it could potentially be bumped to manslaughter. Even if nothing happened to the rider, if anyone found out what they did, say goodbye to the dealership, no one would buy from them or take their stuff there and no reputable manufacturer would want them representing their products. I hope that there is enough integrity left in this world that someone would have the decency to realize that losing their dealership and livelihood is not worth the cost of losing a sale.

As for the sale, I would just go in and talk to them, but this is classic sales BS. The floor guy cannot actually make any decisions, the "owner" makes all the decisions. Floor staff get to chose whether or not the extra cash lost in the sale comes out of their commission, dealership still gets the base price they paid for the sled + all the BS fees. "Owner" probably told Jamie, "you can sell the sled for that price, but the difference for the E-start price ($250 or whatever the difference is) is coming out of your commission." Jamie didn't like that idea so he says "Boss won't let me sell it for that price." Good cop, bad cop. Bossman says - "Don't worry about it, some other guy will walk through the doors tomorrow and will buy the sled without haggling about it and you will earn your full commission, there's lots of suckers in AB with wayyy to much money right now. In the meantime, have that ad pulled and changed."

Then they both laugh and the boss offers Jamie a $45 cuban cigar from the box on his desk...... OK, now I'm being a jerk.

Seriously though, they agreed to the deal and are now backpeddaling on it. Verbal or not, an agreement was made in good faith by both parties with the same understanding. If Jamie overstepped his authority by agreeing to the sale without consulting his boss....too bad for Jamie, it can come out of his pay or off his commission, but it should not be included in the deal. This was an error on their part not yours, explain that you really want the sled but under the original deal.

If they won't move, and it was me - I would walk away. But if you want the sled badly enough, this might be a very hard option to do. And in the end - will it be worth it to have your $500 decision and not the sled? I don't know, only you can answer that. I won't be treated like a doormat. If they are reputable, they will stand by their verbal agreement and do the right thing, which is honour the original sale as agreed to by you and Jamie.

"A man's word is his bond", right?

 

[-Swede-]

sooo.... he says you don't have anything written when he phones you... and then that's exactly what you found in your fax?

sounds to me lika jamie is f*cked



no seriously, that is a binding contract, if they won't sell it to ya now, you could hire the shittiest $5 hooker as your lawyear and still win the case...

/Swede out!

 

[Grinny]

same sorta thing happened to me when i bought my truck, but it wasn't the salesman or the manager that tried to screw my deal over. it was the finance manager at the dealership. i just stuck to my guns and waved the deal in her face and she finally relented. dealerships (no matter what they are selling) are shady...period.

 

[posnick]

same sorta thing happened to me when i bought my truck, but it wasn't the salesman or the manager that tried to screw my deal over. it was the finance manager at the dealership. i just stuck to my guns and waved the deal in her face and she finally relented. dealerships (no matter what they are selling) are shady...period.

i take that personally grinny as i am in sales and my company is FAR FROM SHADY! where do you get off putting everyone in the same boat because some people do have bad experiences. sometimes there are unforscene circumstances and it causes issues. this does not mean a dealership is trying to screw the customer. Sometimes they are crooked. Don't say that all dealerships are crooked. in this case, price was advertised and deposit was taken. its a deal. end of story. if he pushs the matter he will get it but his service will suck.

 

[papajake]

leased a ford from calgary dealer got smoking deal saleman got fired over it returned truck after lease ran out only to learn that they rewrote the agreement and added 2500 to the buyout showed them the original and the lease manager almost crapped felt like suing the dicks now drive to highriver to do my truck buying