Lee Volvo; Lee Preowned; Lee Imported Cars, Inc. abused & mistreated; false promises Wellesley Massachusetts .....
On Monday, March 31, I entered the dealer showroom at Lee Preowned, met Fred Stoudemire, and inquired about a Volvo wagon with all wheel drive and a 3rd row seat. Fred assured me that a 3rd row seat could be added to any Volvo wagon and he had a few on the lot.
I test drove a 1999 V70XC AWD and began the price negotiations with Fred. When we agreed on a price including the addition of a 3rd row seat, it turned out to be the same price as a similar 2000 model. I told Fred I liked the 2000 but wanted to show my wife at home. He suggested I take the car home to show her and I did.
Later, when I returned the car, I said I would take it for an additional $490 discount. The sales manager agreed if I promised to “take delivery” no later than Wednesday, April 2. I agreed as long as they would assure me that the car would be ready at that time and they did. I left a deposit of $2500 and set a time of 10am on Wednesday to pick up the car.
On Wednesday at 10am, I arrived at the dealership along with my wife and 3 year-old son. I was greeted and ushered into the finance guy’s office (Kevin Sallese). I signed all of the pertinent documents and left a check for the balance with Kevin. After waiting an additional 15 minutes, Fred returned and stated that the additional seat was not installed. He suggested we take a loaner car and he would deliver our new car later that afternoon. We were very disappointed but agreed and proceeded to load the child’s car seat into the loaner sedan and left the dealership.
Later that day, Fred called my wife and told her that the seat was not ordered at all and that it would be another day before the car would be ready. After hearing this, I suspected that the dealership had no intention of installing the seat until the car was paid for in order to cover themselves in case we backed out of the deal. My suspicion was confirmed when I called the dealership and spoke to another salesman (said his name was Jeff) who stated that “well, sometimes people cancel the deal after leaving a deposit.” I then spoke to Fred who said the seat would arrive by UPS at 11am on Thursday, April 3 and would take three hours to install. He made arrangements to call my wife Thursday afternoon to coordinate delivery of the car to her.
By 4:30pm on Thursday, no one from Lee Preowned had called. I called Fred to see what was going on. He put my call on hold to check, then without notice, transferred me to the Service department. I then spoke to Matt who said the seat arrived at 2:30pm and his people were working on it but couldn’t be expected to work late to finish the job. He said that they would try, but made no guarantee and didn’t sound very confident. At 6pm, I called the service department at Lee and was transferred several times and disconnected. I then called Fred in Sales and told him to find out the status. He said he would walk over to the Service department and call me back. Fred called back to say the job was “half finished and no one was in the Service department.” Resigned to the fact that I would not have my new car for another day, I told him to call me as soon as he knew when the car would be delivered.
On Friday morning at 8am, after several attempts, I finally spoke to someone in the Service department who said the car would be ready by noon. Fred finally delivered it just after noon.
I understand the reasoning behind waiting for payment before modifying the vehicle. However, I would have gladly provided a non-refundable deposit to cover the cost of the modification if the parties involved would have only been up-front with me. The result was the creation of a good deal of stress and a major inconvenience for my family.
Richard
Stow, Massachusetts
U.S.A.