Earnhardt Ford misrepresented used vehicle sold to me, told me it had features that it does not have Chandler Arizona

I am writing in regard to my purchase of a 2007 Ford Fusion on April 26, 2009 at Earnhardt Ford. The customer service there initially appeared ok, but rapidly deteriorated as soon as they had my signature and my money.

My main customer service complaints with Earnhardt, although there are numerous others, can be summed up as:

1. Salesman Joe Cornille either lied about the vehicle or made a mistake. Either way, the dealership did not take responsibility for this error.
2. Mr. Cornille lied to me about the whereabouts of a manager I was waiting for. He kept me waiting for three hours for this person, telling me he was in a meeting and would be out in 15 minues. After the three hours, I finally discovered that this person was out of the office that day.
3. While I was signing the paperwork, I was told by Brendan Holbein, the finance person, that if I was not happy with the vehicle after 5 days (when I was planning on being in the Phoenix area again) I could bring it back to exchange it because they "want their customers to be happy." When I attempted to exchange the vehicle because of the misrepresentation I will discuss later, I was told that nobody had ever told me this and that the vehicle could not be exchanged.
4. Sales manager Frank Nicolosi was rude and condescending and did nothing to investigate the statements that the sales people had made.

MY BIGGEST COMLAINT OF ALL: I was told by the salesman multiple times that the vehicle I was purchasing was a Fusion SE, with anti-lock brakes standard. After arriving home, I discovered that the vehicle was actually a Fusion S, which does not have anti-lock brakes, and which has a retail value of $1520 less than the Fusion SE with identical mileage. The purchase contract does not state one way or another what the trim level of the vehicle is.

Needless to say, I feel I have been deceived from the very beginning of this transaction. I believe that the dealership is in violation of the Consumer Fraud Act, which prohibits the act, use or employment by any person of any deception, deceptive act or practice, fraud, false pretense, false promise, misrepresentation, or concealment, suppression or omission of any material fact with intent that others rely upon such concealment suppression or omission, in connection with the sale or advertisement of any merchandise whether or not any person has in fact been misled deceived or damaged thereby.

I have sent letters to the General Manager of the dealership and to the owners. Both letters were ignored. I have since filed a complaint with the BBB and with the AZ Attorney General. Both seem to function mainly as email shufflers, passing my complaints on to the business and then soliciting a response. The dealership's rebuttals do not at all address my complaint regarding the misrepresentation of the vehicle, and in fact make statements such as "we sold her a Fusion SE," corroborating my complaint. Yet I cannot get any resolution.

At this point, the BBB wants me to enter into an arbitration agreement to settle the complaint. Earnhardt has retained a lawyer, but no lawyer will take my case because it is not a big enough money-maker for them. Earnhardt's lawyer's response to my complaint makes numerous false statements. She claims that I was given an Autocheck report indicating the vehicle's trim level (this was not given to me), that I was confused about which car I was purchasing because I had test driven 6 cars, including new ones (I really only drove three cars, all used), and that the salesman never indicated that this vehicle was an SE or that it had ABS (he did tell me these things). Essentially, I'm being called either stupid or a liar.

All I am asking them for is the $1520 that is the difference between the SE and the S, which is not unreasonable. I'm surprised at the level of effort they are putting in to fighting this for such a relatively small amount of money for them.

It does not appear as this will ever be resolved, but if I can cost them some business I will be somewhat satisfied. DO NOT PURCHASE A VEHICLE FROM EARNHARDT! THEY ARE DISHONEST!

Anna
Tucson, Arizona
U.S.A.

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