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Report: #45434

Complaint Review: Paragon Acura,Paragon Honda, Worldwide Motors, LTD.,Chris Howard, Robert Assile,Brian Benstock - Long Island City New York

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  • Reported By: Far Rockaway New York
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  • Paragon Acura,Paragon Honda, Worldwide Motors, LTD.,Chris Howard, Robert Assile,Brian Benstock 35-09 NOrthern Blvd, Long Island City, NY Long Island City, New York U.S.A.

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I was harshly scammed by the car dealership called PARAGON ACURA & PARAGON HONDA, AKA WORLDWIDE MOTORS, LTD.

They have something that they advertise and PUSH onto their current or previous customers called a "KEY TO KEY EXCHANGE". They claim that they can take you out of your current lease if you are unhappy with it, and at no additional cost to you, put u in a new one of your choice.

This is the most bogus and biggest scam EVER! The NYC Consumer affiars office has a handbook wriiten by former mayor of NY Rudy Guliani that clearly warns of this scam. It warns consumers to watch out for these dealers who will "queitly ROLL OVER payments from your previous lease INTO THE NEW ONE! Its scary that they can get away with this, but they do, and they are very good at it. They did it to me!

Dont let them get away with this, Dont let them preasure you into signing anything. They will rush you into signing, tell you that something is in the fine print and you will find out after that they lied. When I contacted my lawyer to tell him what happened, laughed and said that he was a customer of thiers also, and that hey had just tried to do the exact same thing to HIM!

This dealership is the most untrustworthy bunch of scam artists the car dealership industry has ever seen.....and thats saying something!

Yisroel
Far Rockaway, New York
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 02/14/2003 12:22 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/paragon-acuraparagon-honda-worldwide-motors-ltdchris-howard-robert-assilebrian-benstock/long-island-city-new-york-11101/paragon-acura-paragon-honda-worldwide-motors-ltd-chris-howard-robert-assile-brian-b-45434. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
0Author
6Consumer
2Employee/Owner

#8 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Brain Benstock and company

AUTHOR: Tom - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, July 17, 2006

As a former employee I can attest to deception and fraud being any everyday occurence. Mr. Benstock is quite proud of his rating as the most profitable gross profit honda franchise in the country. That's rigyt folks, he makes more money per car than any other dealership.

They make so much money that he can afford to pay Chris Howard almost a half million a year so chris can go get asian hookers and crack cocaine and have a good time.

They also own White Plains Honda and that store was like the OK corral. They have a General Manager who did so much cocaine that his nose was always running. You could walk in there and hear the Pulp fiction soundtrack of all the vulgarities playing over the speaker or see Mr. Mark Walpo passed out in the back seat of a brand new Odyssey on the showroom floor or screaming at one of his employess after finishing a liquid lunch at the local Italian restaurants bar. Then maybe go meet Mr. Howard for more partying. Last I heard about Mr. Walpo is that he was arrested by the secret service and FBI for stealing a lease renewal list and using it to conduct business across state lines at Greenwich Honda in Ct.

The paragon stores and white plains Honda owned by Paul Singer who used to own PS honda in Manhasset but had to forfeit that dealership to settle a sexual harrassment lawsuit is a ruthless businessman taught by the owners of Plaza Superstores who invented every scam technique in the business.

Mr. Benstock is an arrogant two faced piece of trash. The one bright spot is that he spends 24hrs 7 days a week at the dealership, so if you don't go there then you will never have to meet him.

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#7 Consumer Comment

In the same boat as Israel

AUTHOR: Fernando - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Saturday, June 24, 2006

I was scammed just like Israel in 1999. I don't want to get into details because it just reiterates Israel's horrible experience. I have bought 5 cars in my lifetime and Paragon is the worst experience I've ever had. All their employees live up to the negative reputation of a car salesman, including Benstock the General Manager. Everyone in this dealership are deceptive, tricky and dishonest. I called the BBB in 1999 and the company already had 40 complaints in the middle of the year - so 95.2% customer satisfaction maybe a tall tale. 4 of my 5 cars that I have purchased have been Hondas, I love this car company, it's just too bad Paragon represents their good name. If you're looking to buy a Honda however Hillside Honda, Plaza Automall and all of the Long Island Honda dealerships are great places to buy. Its not shark infested like Paragon. Stay away from this company. To validate my statement call the Better Business Bureau on this no-good establishment.

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#6 UPDATE Employee

General Manager

AUTHOR: Brian Benstock - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, October 25, 2004

I am sorry to hear that Harold of Brooklyn has had a bad experience when purchasing a vehicle on Northern Blvd.. Despite his allegations Paragon is unrelated to any of the other automotive groups listed is his complaint. If Harold has any concerns, related to any purchase made at any of the Paragon Stores, he should feel free to contact me directly [DELETED][via ripoffreport.com]; we will work quickly to resolve his concerns.

If he purchased his vehicle from another dealership and he is experiencing problems with the vehicle we would welcome the opportunity to solve his problem and earn his business. Again I may be contacted directly [DELETED][via ripoffreport.com].

[Place your comments below and be sure to include your FULL contact information so Rip-off Report can contact you.]

Very truly yours,
Paragon

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#5 Consumer Comment

this company and other dealership are EVIL !

AUTHOR: Harold - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Sunday, October 24, 2004

TO ALL THE DEALER UP AND DOWN NORTHERN BLVD THIS IS YOUR REALITY CHECK THAT TO TELL YOU

" WE KNOW WHAT YOU DOING "

AND WE KNOW WHAT YOU ARE !

ALL OF THE DEALERSHIP INCLUDING PARAGOON HONDA 95.2% HAPPY HAPPY RATING WHAT ARE YOU DO ALL DAY LONG I KNOW WHAT YOU DONG BUT I CAN SAY SO I GIVE A LITTLE HINT YOU PULL DOWN THE CUSTOMER PANT AND YOU BEND HIM OVER AND " WE YOU FIGURE IT OUT " THAT WHAT ALL THE REALER SHIP THAT ARE DOING ALL DAY LONG THE NEW YORK BBB AND CONSUMER ISSUS LIKE $10,000 FINES FOR EACH COMPLIANT THAT SHOLUD DOUBLE IT TO $50,000 OR $100,000 FOR EACH COMPLIANT NOW THAT STICK TO THE THOSE MOTHER_FER

YOU KNOW WHAT PARAGOON HONDA IS RUN BUY OTHER DEALERSHIP AND YOU KNOW SOME THING THE CAR THAT YOU BUY NEW OR USED SERVICE OR REPAIR THEY ARE TAKEN OFF SITE WITHOUT THE COSTOMER PERMISSION TO A CAR REPAIR PLACE TAND THIS PLACE IS WAS UNDER INVSTIGATION FOR TAMPERING WITH GAS PRICE AND THYE LET THESE CAR SIT OUT THERE WITH THE WINDOW DOWN AND THE LEAVE THE CAR OUT AT NIGHT UNLOCK SO SOME BODY CAN JUST WALK UP AND TAKE THE CAR YOU BOUGHT OR HAVE IT SERVICE

THEY HAVE RIP ME OFF 3 YEARS AND I HERE TO RETURN THE FAVOR

MAJOR AUTO AKA MAJOR WORLD
MAJOR KIA
MAJOR SUBARU
MAJOR CHRYSLER
MAJOR DODGE
MAJOR PLYMOUTH
MAJOR FINANCIAL CORP
PARAGOON HONDA " RUN THERE OWN FINANCIAL SERVICE NOT FINANCIA HONDA "
PARAGOON ACURA
PARAGOON HONDA USED CAR
KOEPPEL VW
KOEPPEL MAZDA/HYUNDAI
KOEPPEL NISSAN AKA $9,995 OR LESS LOTS
QUEENBORO TOYOTA
CITY CADILLAC
REGEN / GMC / PONTIAC
CITY AUTO MALL WHICH IS PART OF THE KOEPPEL FAMILY AUTOMOTIVE GROUP

AND SOME OF THE DEALERSHIP ALL BUY REPO,STRIP,TOTAL,DAMAGE CAR AT LOWER PRICE AND CHARGE EVEN MORE ON THE TOP

NORTHER BLVD I WANT TO CHANGE TO " RIP OFF BLVD "

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#4 REBUTTAL Individual responds

STICK IT TOO EM!!!!!!!!!

AUTHOR: Israel - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Thursday, July 01, 2004

STICK, U ARE THE MAN!!
Just let me know if you want to team up and go after this dealership or the industry itself. Maybe we can get everyone together and file a classaction Lawsuit or two.

They all need to Slapped hard accross the face, and someone needs to go to jail for what you are talking about, its scary, we are talking about lives here!
Just let me know man...
[DELETED]

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#3 Consumer Suggestion

It's Stick's turn. Car dealers hate me!

AUTHOR: Stick. Rip-off Report Consumer Advocate - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, June 30, 2004

IsraelMy name is Stick. I am a Rip Off Report consumer Advocate/Reporter. You are doing great by speaking up. I have some info that might help you a bit.

In your rebuttal you talk about the dealer's CSI. You said that Paragon's Supposed numbers of customer satisfaction is about 95.2% Car dealers love to find false ways to jack those numbers.

They want to find a way to "SUCK UP" to the car makers so they can get a better selection of next year's models and get more of that so called reward money from the car maker. Money that you the car buyer are never told about.

I at one time sold cars for a living. During that time I went to MANY sales meetings and had to listen to the GM, GSM and their F&I people asking or requesting all info pertaining to what they called "HEAT DEALS"

In other words, they wanted to make sure that they had all info like customer's name, stock number of car they bought, VIN number, all of the UN HAPPY customer's contact info such as home, work and cell numbers.

They then would make sure that they placed FALSE phone numbers FALSE addresses on the RDR cards that went to the car maker. They did not want the car maker to be able to have any kind of contact with the UNHAPPY car buyers.

If a car dealer sees to it that the UNHAPPY car buyers never get any kind of CSI survey, they the car dealer will see their CSI scores will go up. Their main goal is to see to it that ONLY the HAPPY car buyers get CSI surveys in the mail. Many car dealers will also tell the car buyer this.

" Hey Mr and MIS car buyer if you can say you are happy on that CSI survey that you will soon be getting in the mail, we will give you a dinner at a local Steak house and a free tank of gas. Just bring the CSI survey to the dealership when you get it in the mail. We will be happy to help you with the paper work and fill it out for you."

One local Nissan car dealer's GM got a bright idea that would help their CSI scores in a big way. He seen to it that his sales staff were putting their own home numbers and addresses on the car buyer's RDR cards. Then Nissan was unknowingly was sending the CSI surveys to the car dealer's sales staff. I need not mention how the car dealer's sales staff filled out the surveys.

Now, I Stick have a big problem with the above! Car maker has FALSE contact info like mailing address and all phone numbers. What if car maker wants to contact you, the car owner and say the following.

" Hey Mr car owner we screwed up when we built your P.O.S. SUV and it has a DEFECTIVE ABS break unit on it. Your SUV also has a drivers side air bag that will blow in your face at anytime that may cause you to kill someone. We really want to have a chance to repair your SUV NOW!

If they can't send the real car owner a CSI survey, how can they make sure the REAL CAR OWNER gets a safety recall?

I told a local Phoenix TV station all about this kind of deception and after they researched the hole story and had many on video that were willing to TELL ALL the TV station tossed the story in the trash. I wonder why they did not want to inform the local car owners that they might not get any SAFETY RECALLS!

Maybe big car dealer advertising money was at stake! I am thinking real hard about letting you all hear some of the recorded conversations that I secretly recorded about AZ CSI diversion. If I file a Rip Off Report and post all the info that I have, you car buyers will LOVE to listen to the tapes.

Here in AZ I think the car buyer has no clue as to how deceptive a car dealer can be. Can't get any local media to talk about car dealers and their scams. If you want to put what I am saying to the test, try this hat on for size. Email Bruce and ask him about why we does not chat
"LIVE" about car dealer scams. Then post his reply on this Rip Off Report. I would love to see what he tells all who email him. His email address is brucejacobs@KFYI.com

I have been listening to KFYI for maybe ten years. I can say they get my attention with some of the topics that they have. You might say I enjoy 550 KFYI. They have a "Talk Show Host" named Bruce Jacobs. He does not seem to be a bad guy.

Some might say he is fun to listen to. So one day I contacted him to ask why is it that he will talk about pretty much anything people want to chat about except Car Dealer Scams? So I decide to put him to the test. I email him at brucejacobs@KFYI.com and ask him why is it he never talks about "Auto Dealer Scams"

Below is the email I sent to him. If you want to see if he will respond yo your email. Ask him why he does not chat about "Auto Dealer Scams" See if he will respond to your email.

Email I sent to him is right below:
Subj: Re: Date: 5/4/2004 4:12:07 AM US Mountain Standard Time To: brucejacobs@kfyi.com

OK Bruce Are you going to tell me why you are not willing to talk about car dealer scams? You talk about every thing else! Is Auto Dealer topic's off limits?

How about the dead Combat vet that died on a car dealer's lot because somehow he got pushed over his mental limit. Is that not NEWS Bruce? If he took his gun and killed himself at a post office would they have done a report that a combat vet took his life? Maybe they did not want to to the story because of where it happend.

He served our country and now he is DEAD! Go read the Rip Off Report. Can't say what or who pushed him over his limit, But I can say he went over his limit at a car dealership. You can't say this report below is NOT NEWS! www.badbusinessbureau.com/reports/ripoff36168.htm

I hope you car buyers love what we here at www.ripoffreport.com stand for. It is my job/calling to be the best Rip Off Report Advocate I can be! Soon the Editor and I will be helping all who are hungry to increase your credit scores in a big way. Trust me THE BIG ONE is COMING! So make sure you all stay tuned in to the right web site!

Israelin NY,New York you like what I posted?


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#2 REBUTTAL Individual responds

JUST MORE LIES...... NYC Consumer affairs office (Filed complaint on record)

AUTHOR: Israel - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, June 29, 2004

IF YOU ARE READING THIS, BEWARE!
NO allegations were EVER investigated by anyone!
They were MANY requests made over a number of months to investigate both to Acura itself, The NYC Attorney General's office (filed complaint on record)as well as the NYC Consumer affairs office (Filed complaint on record) but Acura did not lift a finger (why would they, all the dirty money coming in from the scams performed on Paragons customers would stop)

Beware, these NYC offices DO NOT INVESTIGATE (unless you case is a large scale one) they simply send a letter and when the dealership answers it and lies that they have doen nothing wrong, it simply goes away!
Brian Benstock, AKA "The Slimiest Car dealer in America" (or as I like to call him, the man who showed up in his Pajamas to court)
is just that...slime.

His split tounge can hiss all it wants, every one of his victims that reads this knows what I am talking about, and those who would EVER consider buying or leasing a car from this dealship, WATCH OUT! STAY FAAAAAAAAR AWAY!

He Says "The dealership was ultimatly vindicated when his case was thrown out of court by the judge, citing no wrongdoing by the dealership"
This is the biggest outright Lie of them all!!
He must have been ASLEEP in the courtroom while in his pajamas, because that is furthest thing from the truth.

What actualy did happen, is that the Judge stated that I could not ONLY sue Paragon Acura SOLEY by itself, but that I had to INCLUDE and sue HONDA FINANCE (the finance company that they Fraudulently Represent)AS WELL.

So the Judge ADVISED me to "WITHDRAW WITHOUT PREDJUDICE".....which simmply means that I withdrew my suit so that I could file a new one suing ALL parties involved this time. I have the court Documents to prove ALL OF THIS...if anyone would like to see them, I can email of fax it to them at your request FREE OF CHARGE...ANYTIME!

Mr. Benstock claims that I told his associate "in confidence" that I could no longer afford the payments and that I was in Financial Difficulty...He was right about 1 thing...I could NOT afford the payments...becuase they were THRU THE ROOF!!!!

YUP....they will dangle a watch in front of your face and try to put you in a trance, any and all lengths to get you to do their bidding!
In regards to Paragon's Supposed numbers of customer satisfaction....I will tell you what those numbers REALLY represent, they represent 95.2% of their customers that are AFRAID to do anything, afraid to stand up for themselves or go head to head with big companies.

95.2% of Their customers that dont want to fight the bully or the scam artist or maybe dont have the time or money to do it.

I WARN U....Paragon....should be Para-GONE!!!

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#1 UPDATE Employee

allegations were found to be completly without merit

AUTHOR: Brian - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, June 28, 2004

I am responding to the allegations made by a person writing to your site. His allegations were fully investigated by the dealership and several agencies, at his request. His allegations were found to be completly without merit by all of those who took the time to investigate his claims. The individual in guestion, one year after his purchase, was having financial difficulties. At that time he attempted to break his lease with the finance company. When this failed he attempted to blame the dealership for allowing him to trade in his old vehicle for a new one, although this is exactly what he requested. Numerous documents were signed by the gentleman authorizing the transaction.

While attempting to unwind his transaction he confided in one of our employees that he was no longer in a financial position to make his payments and that he was looking for a way out. His "way out" was to blame the dealership for selling him the vehicle he requested at the price he negotiated. He threatend that if we did not give in to his demands that he would contact the media, newspapers etc.. He went so far as to call the dealership pretending to be a reporter with one of the local news programs, in order to get us to comply with his demands.

The dealership was ultimatly vindicated when his case was thrown out of court by the judge, citing no wrongdoing by the dealership.

Our dealership currently enjoys a customer satisfaction score of 95.2%, one of the highest in the market and state! We are proud of the service that we provide and the community that we are priviledged to serve.

If we can provide any information in order to make your purchase more informed please contact us at www.paragonautogroup.com

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