Compass Dodge/Chrysler Racial Discrimination because I am White Orange, NJ New Jersey

 In addition, it is not illegal to feel as though I am racially discriminated against, but it IS illegal to call someone a racist

- Funny you just spent the entire paragraph before that saying that it wasn't because they were black and you were white.  What is even funnier is that your title didn't say you were ignored..it stated in no uncertain terms that they were racist and nothing that you "feel" discriminated against.  So you can be in your own little world and think what you want, but the fact is before you start thowing around terms such as slander and libel you should probably look at your own words.

Oh and getting back to your original post on just how you felt discriminated against perhaps you can explain a few things.

I called the dealership a few times and waited on hold for several minutes each time. After the 4th call I finally got in touch with a salesman, Jean.

- So in the first 3 calls can you please explain the discrimination.  Just how did they know you were white when you called?  Do they have video phones?

 I decided to give it a shot anyway. Orange is also know to be 75% African American and 13% Caucasian.. I assure you this information is relevant to the story.

- Oh well since you assure us it is relevent.  Interesting how you just happen to point out it is 75% African American and also is a high crime area..umm trying to tie something together?

Regardless of being ignored I decided to lose my turn in line and look at the cars on the lot anyway

- Wait a minute there was a "line".  So I guess everyone else in this "line" was white as well? 

 How can it be okay to depict a car in good condition and sell a car that should be in a junk yard?

- But according to you since they are racist, can you please explain how the car would have been in better shape if you were black?  Did they see you coming and hide the bumpers on you?

By the way did the add depecit the car in "good" condition?   Seems like a 2 year old car with only 43K miles and based on what looks like blue book values about 1/2 of it's actual value.  Seems pretty obvious that any person would know that there is something wrong with this car.  Or are you going to say that they gave you the "white" ad and only put the true condition in the ad's that African Americans read?

I really don't know why you are still this upset after 5 years..perhaps it is time to move on.

I think you’re missing the point. When this happened, 5 years ago, I was not upset that I was ignored by black people. I was unhappy at the fact that others were acknowledged when I was ignored. So clearly you misread what I was writing. I am not entitled, do not feel entitled, and do not act entitled. I work very hard for everything I have.

In addition, it is not illegal to feel as though I am racially discriminated against, but it IS illegal to call someone a racist. This is slander and libel, and you sir, are doing it in a public forum.

I advise you to know the story before commenting on something. 

 Im NOT buying that YOU were discrimated against. You even state they were busy. Odds are that the gentlemen who came in HAD AN APPOINTMENT. Which means they were expected. You then truly show the depth of your self entitlement BY INTERUPTING!!!!! Who the hell do you think you are? You had NO RIGHT to interject yourself in any way shape or form into that converstaion. What you did was rude and considered to be one of the WORST things you can do. It DID NOT concern you, but since YOU had determined that YOU had waited long enough, YOU interjected yourself into the conversation. See what I mean by self-entitled??

YOU are blowing the entire situation out of proportion because YOU WANT SOMETHING FOR YOUR TROUBLES. Well I can tell you that they are not going to give you anything. YOU did not read the disclaimers on the ad, and there are ALWAYS disclaimers. YOU made an assumption as to the quality of the vehicle and it did not meet your expectations. There were PLENTY of actual customers who WERE there ahead of you. YOU are the racist, because YOU think its perfectly alright to be white and self entitled and INTERUPT those that YOU think are less then yourself. Im betting if it had been a apir of WHITE people you would have respected thier space. But since it was a pair of black gentlemen, you felt that YOU HAD THE RIGHT to interject. Well you dont. People like you only go to show the subtle racism that ALL white people have.

Because YOU were being "ignored" by the BLACK PEOPLE, YOU took it upon yourself to remedy what YOU thought to be a injustice. All you had to do was WAIT and you couldnt even do that. YOUR RACISM SICKENS ME!! They had CUSTOMERS to finish taking care of and YOU had to wait. BOOHOO!!!! Im going to forward this post that YOU have made up on to them. You know since they are BLACK PEOPLE. Maybe a nice civil suit since you seem feel its perfectly ok to make up allegations ONLINE, will help you to SEE that in the end, its YOU who are the RACIST. You have assigned YOUR hang ups on them.

I certainly hope after they read your nice little post that they do go after you in civil court. People like you truly need a lesson in WHAT discrimination is. You having to wait for assistance IS NOT discrimination. What YOU have done IS. You have assigned motives to thier actions that are not supported by ANY evidence. You have done this ONLINE. THAT was the mistake. The web is considered a MEDIA OUTLET. This means that you can be sued for WHAT you put out on the web. And more and more companies and individuals are now doing that. Lesson is you cant run your mouth and expect that you will be safe from repercutions. The web IS NOT anonymous. All it takes is a court order and they can prove it was YOU who wrote this pack of lies.

Listen, I'm going to make this very clear since I'm born and raised in Orange, where you had visited to purchase the vehicle.

First off, with all due respect to my hometown, I know for a fact that I personally would not buy a car there.  When purchasing a vehicle from a dealership or from anyone, not only do your homework on the dealership but also the town it's located in.  If you already knew this about Orange, NJ, and judging by your name "Dominic" you're an Italian who most likely is from Orange originally or just knew about it through friends or through the Auto Trader.  Whatever.  The point is, yeah the town does definitely get a bit racial, but on both sides and though I was not a witness to your situation, I know exactly what you're talking about.

I love Orange but I've had experiences being called "Snowflake" and names like that because I'm white but I'm Italian so those comments don't bother me, there's a difference.  PLus, I'm born there so it doesn't scare me one bit.   Aside from the racial comments, you were most likely DEFINITELY treated with horrible HORRIBLE customer service, for that I am sure.  And the two guys who walked in after you and got immediate service, most likely were return customers or drug dealers looking for a new throw ride since that place is known for those types of deals.  Hey listen, I tell it how it is - that place is a dump.  Don't ever go there again!  Consider yourself warned and also lucky that they didn't take any money from you on the way out for acting all out of pocket.  You didn't realize but not even a block down the street is a warzone and you were just in the wrong part of town.

Best of luck.  PA has enough car dealerships and people selling, fixing, whatever all types of cars - stick with PA.  That's my comment and it's a good one too.  Stay outta Orange, if you can't hang with the Orangatangs then don't come through; Orange, New Jersey, harder than bamboo.  "You can take the boy out of Orange but you can't take the Orange out of the boy!"

You pretty much got hoodwinked without money taken from you.  Just consider it a loss on gas, energy, time, and whatever it took you to complain.  They probably didn't even care.  I would never go to that junkyard.  You should've known better, esp. the price and shape and model of vehicle in magazine.

Later, God bless with your next purchase.

I am not saying that this is not a case of a mis-leading advertisment, but it does not sound like there was anything done just because you were white.

First did they only put that picture in the paper that white people see? Of course not that ad was in something that everyone could see.

When you arrived there you stated that "they seemed to be busy". So were you really ignored because you were white? When he talked to the gentlemen and you INTERUPTED them the salesman said he did not even know who you are. Perhaps he was expecting the gentlemen.

For the future your first "tip off" should have been the price. Just a quick search on the Blue Book value shows that a vehicle for how it was described in the ad should have been around 12K-16K depending on the exact configuration. They were selling it for just over 1/2 of that value. A bit of research in the begining would have avoided your drive and spending the time because that would have raised a red-flag in your mind that something was wrong.

I can't say that I agree with the way you were treated when you walked into the dealership. There is no excuse for being rude to customers or ignoring them. However, I will tell you a little bit of information that might help you with a vehicle purchase in the future.

Have you ever heard the terms "Buyer Beware?" or "If it sounds too good to be true it usually is?" The auto industry is at the top of these games. What you the consumer need to do is make sure that when you go to purchase a vehicle, be educated on what it is that you may want to purchase. The first red light that would have came on to me was the extraordinarily cheap price of the vehicle. If you would have gone to a site that does auto values ...Edmunds is a good one which gives you a price that is not overly low balled nor overly high like Kelley Blue Book says that a Base model 2006 Chrysler Pacifica has a resale value of around $14,934. This is a HUGE difference from the $6995 they were offering it for. It would have told me right away that there was something significantly wrong with it ( that it had been in an accident, poorly maintained, recovered theft, salvaged, etc.) Auto dealers OFTEN use stock photos...ones that are provided to dealers for advertising purposes, especially when the dealer has a car like a Chevrolet they took on trade and want to sell, but they are a BMW dealer. There was most likely a disclaimer (in very tiny print most of us don't read) stating this, or like another post I read here yesterday about a 77 year old woman being scammed into buying a vehicle because she insisted on receiving the $200 gas voucher a local dealer had sent her (which apparently was in the terms and conditions people don't read)...no one is going to give away $200 free gas for bringing the voucher into the dealer. It is a game that is played to bring in customers, as is the $79 a month payment with $0 down, that you only get for three months without realising that they stuck you not in a 60 month finance but in one for 72 months and in the end,you end up paying more rather than saving anything.

My advice is that you educate yourself. As someone else stated here in another post, you know how to use a computer or you would not have posted here. Put your computer to use for you, and research a vehicle prior to going to a dealer. Know what you will be looking at as far as a purchase price ( and in this case the vehicle in question was less than half the average resale price which would have told me to STAY AWAY) and there are even calculators which can tell you how much a car payment will be. If you don't know how much an interest rate should be, go with 8%. It shouldn't be off more than $20 a month. Once armed with these valuable pieces of information are you ready to know what to expect when you walk onto the sales lot.

I hope you found this helpful.