Riverside Mitsubishi sold us a wreck; kept our extended warranty money. Rip-off! Auburn Massachusetts

We bought a 2001 Suzuki XL-7 from Riverside, and purchased an extended warranty for an additional $1500. We were told the car was a "program car", used for the salesman to let potential buyers test drive, and that the factory warranty would still be in effect. In May 2004, we used the remote start to start the car while my son sat in the back seat, and the wiring harness caught on fire! We immediately shut off the car, but the fire ate all the way up into the dashboard, we were told. We assumed that the factory warranty would cover the damage; it didn't.

When another Suzuki dealership looked at it, they told us that it had been wrecked before! Since our insurance determined that the fire may have been caused by previous damage (that we knew NOTHING about!), they told us to use the extended warranty coverage. That's when we found out that the policy had never been bought! Riverside had simply kept our money -- $1500! After many, many hours of research and dozens of phone calls, Suzuki was kind enough to give us the $800 wiring harness, but we were stuck with $1200 in labor charges to install it.

Riverside Mitsubishi is now out of business, the Attorney General is seeking charges in at least two states against them, I believe, but we're stuck with a wreck, a huge credit card debt, and an indescribable sense of violation though this victimization.

Kim
Marlborough, Massachusetts
U.S.A.