Your voice has a chance to be heard now! scamion.com - we bring changes together.

report scam

Hyundai of Asheville


Country United States
State North Carolina
City Asheville
Address 860 Tunnel Rd
Phone 1 828-298-4911
Website https://www.hyundaiofasheville.com/

Hyundai of Asheville Reviews

  • Jul 26, 2018

On Friday, July 6th at approximately 2:40pm EST, my 21 year old nephew and I arrived at Hyundai of Asheville on Tunnel Road. I had called ahead and spoke with Tiffany Davis, a sales rep, and asked her to have 2 separate cars ready for us to see, as my nephew works 12-hour days and only had a 2 hour break from work.

I picked him up at his job and we drove directly to Hyundai. Tiffany had parked the 2 vehicles side-by-side, and my nephew almost immediately ruled out one of them (in under 3 mins). He preferred the VIN number listed on this paperwork, although he really did not like the color of the vehicle. We test drove the car, with Tiffany, for about 10 mins and my nephew said he liked it, but not the color, but that the car could work and he would take it, if he could make the payments work.

Knowing he did not like the color, I asked him several times if he was ok with it, and he, in all honesty, did respond with a nod. We were rushing immensely, as he had to be back at work by 4:30pm, and he really needed a car.

At that point, it came to haggling price. We were already preapproved through Capital One, so I told Tiffany we had our own financing. She then explained that they preferred to do their own financing, because "they could probably get us a better rate". I explained that we did not want alternative financing and I made an offer on the car of $16,500, with $6,000 in cash as a down payment. The lnternet price is $18,134, so I felt that $16,500 with $6,000 in cash down was a fair value.

She had my nephew sign an Offer to Buy paper (single sheet), with our offer hand written on it. She drew a line with an X, next to our offer, and had him sign.

She then left and went to talk to her manager. She returned and had a written offer for us, from the manager, of a little over $20,000. I honestly do not have the exact amount, because I didn't even bother looking at the exact number, as it had gone ABOVE the price on the Internet. I immediately said no and commented that the price they offered was more than it was listed for on the Internet, and I showed her the Internet listing. She explained that was their Internet price, but since we were not taking their financing, the cost was higher. I argued this, then she handed me a printed document with all the features of the car, and the fair market value of the car. We haggled about this for a while and then I said, "Listen, we have $6,000 in cash with us, we are preapproved already, and our final offer on this car is $17,500 with $6,000 down."

Again, Tiffany filled out an Offer to Buy paper, and wrote our offer on it in her handwriting, then drew a line with an X, and had my nephew sign it. The paper said, in her writing, "$17,500 with $6,000 cash - WILL BUY TODAY". So, still in negotiations, my nephew signed it.

She went back to her manager and returned again, with a paper saying, "We are close!", then it had a handwritten amount of, I think, $17,895 (but I may be off a few dollars on that). I told her, "No, he cannot afford that, $17,500 is our final offer." She argued and argued me, saying that she doesn't make commission and $400 dollars is not much, and they had not sold a car yet that day. I explained that none of that was our concern, and my nephew could barely afford the deal at $17,500, and we had not even seen yet what Tax, Tags, Title, and Doc fees they were going to add on. So after more haggling, she took the same offer of $17,500 back to her manager.

She returned, stating she was black and blue from being so beat up by us, then said her manager agreed to the deal. By this time, it was 4:15 and my nephew had to be back at work at 4:30pm. We explained we would return in the morning to go over the rest of the deal (presumably to purchase, if the numbers came out ok in the finance office), but we had to leave to get him to work. I did not want them rushing the deal because we needed time to see all the numbers before signing any contracts.

At that point, the Finance Manager, Rick Anderson, came out of his office and said he was working on the deal. We explained that we had to leave and made an appointment to return at 9am the next morning. We literally had our keys and belongings in hand, and were walking out the door. Rick then said, "Well, how about you come in my office real fast and put a deposit down?" I told him we had to go, and he said, "It will only take 2 mins, then we can get the other papers ready to review tomorrow."

So, we stupidly agreed, and we walked into his office to put down a deposit. I counted out $6,000 in cash and handed it to Rick. We had nothing signed, no contract, no receipt, nothing at all. He said he would be in at 9 to go over the paperwork.

Well, my nephew worked until midnight Friday night and, in the mean time, we were contacted by his insurance company, who told us that they made a mistake and misquoted us the numbers on the Tucson. They were only quoting liability, not full coverage, which made his monthly payments skyrocket.

I spoke to my nephew about this the next morning, and he told me that he had spoken with a friend of his, who agreed to sell him his older Honda Civic, which made his insurance much less and he would have had no car payments. We were driving in to go talk to the people at Hyundai and get our $6,000 back, since we then knew he was not going to buy the Tucson.

When we arrived, I told Tiffany that he was getting a different car and we would not be buying the Tucson, so we were there to collect our deposit. She then told us their dealership had a no refund policy on deposits. I immediately stated that this was unacceptable, and demanded to speak with the manager. I vehemently stated that I was calling the police and it was theft.

She sent one manager out, who again told us there were no refunds. I argued with him and stated we were not leaving without our money, as we never bought a car and never signed a contract, furthermore, it was never disclosed anywhere that there were no refunds on deposits. I explained that we signed NOTHING on that car, and it was illegal for them to keep our money. Then they sent out another manager, who said the same thing. Then, a third male came out, again repeating no refunds. I kept to my side the entire time, stating it was never disclosed to us and we never signed a contract, and they all just kept saying it was their policy. I asked, "Where is this policy? Where is it written on anything we signed? Where is it disclosed in your dealership? It is not hanging on the walls or in any paperwork we signed."

Then, the man that collected the money, Rick Anderson, came out. He said that it was never disclosed to us that we WOULD receive a refund. He specifically said, "This isn't Walmart, you can't just return things and expect your money back." I then said, "I don't expect our money back for something we are RETURNING! We never BOUGHT anything!!!"

I then said, "So you are telling me that if we leave this dealership right now without a car, you are keeping our $6,000??!!!", and Rick and the General Manager, Billy Hill, both said, "Yes, that money is ours." I again said, "With no purchase order, no contract, and no bill of sale, on a car we never took delivery of, you are keeping our money??" Again, their answer, "Yes, we have a no refund policy." I again said, "Where is the policy, I want to see it in writing! It is not on your website or anywhere." They never answered this question.

I then started really screaming at them and pulled out my phone and turned on the video camera. I started filming the General Manager, Billy Hill, and I said, "So, I am here now at Hyundai of Asheville on Tunnel Road and I am with the manager. (I then explained on camera the whole situation, and I said to Billy....) Are you telling me, right here, right now, that you are keeping $6,000 in cash that we deposited on a car that we are not buying, and on a car that you have no sales contract or bill of sale, or anything in writing to commit us to that car?"

At that point, Billy said, on camera, that he did have a written agreement, and pulled out the Offer to Buy letter that my nephew signed the day before (the one handwritten by Tiffany). He held the paper and said, "This is his contract to buy and this is all I need to win in court, believe me, I've done it. I am upholding my end of this paper and you are the one's backing out, so we can legally keep the money." I explained to him that the paper was merely an Offer to Buy to come to agreeable terms and it was not a contract, as we never sat in the finance office and signed anything. We never even got so far as to discuss any financial terms of the deal, other than a $17,500 price plus tax, tags, title, etc., with $6,000 down. I went to reach for the paper and he snatched it and held it way up in the air above my reach. I asked him if I could read the paper again to see if it said anywhere that it was a binding document and there were no refunds. He said that the paper did not need to say any of that. I asked again to see it and he continued to hold it out of my reach.

At this point, around 6 men and one woman were all standing there fighting myself and my 21 year old nephew, who basically did not say a word, as it was his first experience with a dealer.

I then said I was calling the police, the news and my lawyer, and Billy Hill told me to leave the property. I told him I was within my rights as a citizen to make a phone call, and he said, "Not on my property, get off. Go across the street for all I care, but get off my property." I said, "Oh, so when I say I am bringing the law here, you kick me off your property??"

I then told him I would leave, but I was not leaving without the money and I would fight him to the highest extent of the law, as he was stealing. I will be honest, I did get loud and I did say it was bullshit, but that is the worst language I used.

Billy then said, "I will give you $5,000 and I'm keeping $1,000 for our trouble and Tiffany's commission." (Note above, Tiffany told me they don't make commission.) I told him again that I was not leaving without the money, and he said, "Well take it or leave it, I don't have to give you anything." I argued and argued him, and he would not budge, saying he was keeping $1,000. I repeatedly told him this was not right, nor legal, and he kept insisting he was well within his legal rights to keep ALL the money.

I told him we were only there less than 2 hrs, had our financing already worked out, and only asked to see 2 cars, that was not worth $1,000. He said, "I don't care, it isn't up to you to decide what our time is worth, I don't have to give you a red cent. You should be grateful I am giving you anything."

After being so exasperated from arguing all those people at once, I really felt like we were not going to get the full $6,000 back, because they said so over and over again. At a complete loss for what to do, I told Billy we would take $5,500 home and they could keep $500, BUT it was literally extortion because I absolutely did not want to agree to that, and I felt it was still robbery, but my nephew had to get to work and the dealership management was in full bullying mode, with 7 against 2.

Billy then immediately said, "Fine, give them $5500 back.", as an order to Rick Anderson, the Finance Manager. I told him I was still not happy with that and he again reiterated, "I'm not being a d***. I don't have to give you anything, so you should really learn a lesson from this. I am doing you a favor."

Of course, they then said they did not have the cash and we would have to come back on Monday to get a check. I asked him for a letter stating that, so he drew one up and had my nephew sign it. But before he agreed to sign it, he stated that the only way he would sign the letter and cut the check is if I deleted the video I took earlier, right in front of him at that moment. He literally said he wanted to watch me do it. The letter stated we agreed to accept $5,500 to unwind the deal and that both parties were in agreement to this settlement, but the truth is, we were not in agreement with it, and I did not want to delete the video, yet we were under absolute duress and felt we had no alternative at the time. So, I deleted the video in front of his eyes, and he signed the paper.

In legal terms, duress is pressure exerted upon a person to coerce that person to perform an act they ordinarily would not perform, and this situation certainly fit that description.

I picked up a check on Monday, July 9, 2018, for $5,500, per the letter my nephew signed. They had the check written out to the wrong name, so I had to go back in and have them reprint it.

I do realize that we should not have given them the cash deposit to hold the vehicle, but we truly and honestly did not believe, under any circumstances, that the deposit would be kept if we did not buy the car. I personally worked for Paramount Kia in Asheville and they ALWAYS gave a full refund on deposits if the deal did not go through. Additionally, I personally put a deposit on a car years ago with another dealer, and then ended up not moving forward, and got all my money back, so it just never occurred to me that they would attempt to steal $6,000 for a deal that was never signed or completed.

My nephew has worked since the age of 13, taking side jobs, summer jobs, work study programs, and now works every double shift he can as a chef at Ichiban in Asheville. He is a good kid, responsible, good grades, and highly respectful of everyone. He's never been in trouble, and he's worked 12-hr shifts, 6 days per week for years to save that money up. The fact that this car dealer, who deals in millions of dollars per year, would treat us this way and truly attempted to outright steal this money, when there was no signed contract and no disclosure of their policy, is abhorrent, at best.

I filed a complaint with the NC Dept of Motor Vehicles Theft and Fraud division, and they opened an investigation. The officer who spoke with me was extremely helpful and stated that if I had called the police from the dealership, the dealership could have been charged with a FELONY. He explained that he was filing Misdemeanor charges against them, due to the lack of providing appropriate paperwork (which is what I said over and over to the employees of Hyundai). I spoke with the officer, and within 24 hours, we received a message from him saying that the additional $500 check to my nephew was in the mail! Thanks to the NC Dept of Motor Vehicles Theft and Fraud Division in Asheville, NC - JUSTICE WAS SERVED!!!

Even though we did get our full deposit back, I want to warn other potential consumers out there. NEVER put a deposit down at any car dealer until you have their terms about refunds in writing! Also, if you ever find yourself in a position like ours above, please CALL THE POLICE from the dealership and file a police report, and also let them know that you will be filing charges with your area's DMV Theft and Fraud Dept. You can also tell them that you will file against their SURETY BOND, and file with the BBB. Finally, USE YOUR VIDEO CAMERAS! I firmly believe that if I had not had certain moments caught on video, I would not have even gotten them to agree to the $5,500 refund. They could have easily said they never received the cash, which was my own stupidity for not obtaining a receipt, but we were rushing so much to get my nephew to work on time (no excuse).

This outrage, thankfully, was eased due to the dedicated work of the officers who serve at the DMV fraud division, but it could have been far worse, had I not pursued the channels I did. There is no way those people at Hyundai would have returned our $6,000. They said it flat out, many times over. They literally would have stolen it.

BUYER BEWARE OF HYUNDAI OF ASHEVILLE ON TUNNEL ROAD. You would be safer in a pit of venemous snakes, sadly.

Write a Review about Hyundai of Asheville