Right Honda dishonest, poor customer service, we feel cheated! Rip-off! Scottsdale Arizona

While on vacation visiting family in Arizona, we had a transmission go out on our 1999 Dodge Durango. It had 81,000 miles on it but we still owed $15,000 on it. We chose to make a costly mistake by trading in the car for a new Honda Odyssey and did not do our "homework". We trusted a dealership and told them where we stood, they chose to take advantage of us by talking us into a good vehicle but at a very bad price. We never talked about the sales price, only about payments. That was our mistake because we trusted them. Something I had never done and will never do again.

I tried everything I could think of to get out of this deal or to "fix" the deal. We spoke to the AG in Phoenix, BBB, Honda dealers in Denver, and a lawyer in Denver. The Honda dealer in Denver was very helpful but couldn't fix our situation. It will cost me two years of payments. At least that's better than the original 4 year lease term. I just want to post this because it is important that others learn from my mistake. Be careful, especially if you find yourself buying a car at Right Honda in Scottsdale.

The bad deal:
2004 Honda Odyssey - $30264
Residual - $14,800
Trade in for Durango - $7,500 (Edmunds was stating $9,500 at that time and I was ok with a little less due to the transmission.)
Lease payment - $499/mth for 48 months
So, we agreed to this and still had to obtain another loan to payoff the remaining $7,500 on the Durango loan.

5/25/04 Leased 04 Honda Odyssey at Right Honda.

5/31/04 Saw advertising for 04 Honda Odyssey on TV and looked at HondaCars.com to verify there is a lease deal (24 month) for $259/mth + $1533 at signing. This was also on a Odyssey EX-Res which is a step up from what we got. We had asked for this particular van but were told it would increase our payment by $40/mth.

6/1/04 Contacted Mark (Sales Manager?) to find out why we were not told of that deal. We had specifically asked Mike (sales consultant) if Honda Odyssey was running any low monthly payment deals or cash back incentives. He told us Honda never does that.

6/11/04 Talked to Todd in the afternoon to see if he heard back from finance yet. He said he would make sure he got an answer before leaving tonight.

6/15/04 Left messages for Mary Jo (customer relations) & Todd to call me at work or at home. Called the main number to ask for Todd and found out it was his day off. Mary Jo never returned our numerous calls.

6/16/04 Ron (Finance Director) left me a message stating:
"They can not do anything because it would cost them too much. Over $1000."
He mentioned they made 3500 5000 on our deal.
He said the fee to re-submit a lease contract is a lot.

I told him Denver Honda dealers have said the fee is $150 flat fee. Ron claims that isn't true, it's much more than that. I asked who should I believe, the dealerships here or the dealership where nobody will return our calls? His response, Are you calling me a liar?

I asked why Mary Jo and Todd will not return our calls. He said Right Honda sells over 550 cars per month and Todd is very busy. I guess they do not wish to maintain good customer relations. Especially with someone who lives out of town.

I asked Ron to provide me with a written breakdown of how it would cost them well over $1000 and asked if the fee is only $150, how can it cost well over $1000 for them to re-write a lease contract for us? Is it because they made a lot of money selling us the car and they would loose that money? Ron's answer was who's place is it to say we can't make a lot of money on a car? And to be honest, the fee is $200, not $150.

The bottom line is that my wife and I were completely honest with Mark and Mike about the situation we were in and that we wanted out of it. We wanted to pay the price for our previous mistakes of unreliable and expensive vehicles. They took advantage of us due to our situation. We made the mistake of falling for their trap and believed they were being honest with us. Our mistake.

6/17/04 Ron talked numerous times to my wife. He yelled at her, called her a liar, hung up on her, threatened to have her thrown in jail because we put a stop payment on our check due to not being able to get our loan approved until 6/21/04. Right Honda did attempt to cash the check. That evening, Ron called my wife back from his cell phone as he was driving home. He apologized for being rude to her and said he would get us the lease special the next day. This was another lie.

6/18/04 Ron called us around 4:30 and left a message to call him. We called him back around 5:45 from our car. He let us know that they changed the lease to a payment of $464 and made it a 2 year lease. He said our Cap Cost is around $27,900 and the thing they were able to change was the money factor. He said he was able to get us the money factor for the lease special. Because the payment was still $464 and I didn't have our loan to cover the check for $7500 secured yet, I told him we would get back to him Monday (6/21/04).

6/21/04 I called Ron and asked him if they could reduce the Cap Cost to $27,000. That would drop our lease payment to about $400. He got very angry again, yelling at me and insisting he has gone way out of his way to make us a great deal. We finally agreed and I asked him to send the papers. He asked me to have a cashiers check for him by the afternoon for $7500. I agreed, then called him right back to tell him I would give him a cashiers check when I receive the new lease agreement. Again, he yelled at me for not trusting him, telling me it is unfair for me to hold the check over his head. He said he will prosecute me and I will be in jail. I asked him if I could talk to the GM (Darrin). He said no, but he will be talking to him and the whole deal is off. My wife called him back, he told her the new lease agreement will be in the mail so she agreed to lift the hold on the check.

6/22/04 12:15 pm, We have not received the lease agreement via FedEx.

6/24/04 - Received the new lease aggreement. The term has been changed to 24 months and payment is $464.

These people were nasty and dishonest to us. They would not return our calls. When we called, they knew who was on the phone and would not talk to us or return our messages.

We learned a lot. I will never trust another car salesman again!

Jeff
Parker, Colorado
U.S.A.

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