Gunn Honda Deceptive business practices sellin extended warranties/protection plans San Antonio Texas

On June 13, 2014 my wife and I purchased a 2014 Honda Pilot from Gunn Honda in San Antonio.  The salesman did a great job showing us the Pilot and getting us into the finance office.  Because I am A military retiree I asked about the Honda Military Appreciation rebate of $500.00 for financing the Pilot through Honda Credit  I was told Gunn was no longer doing the rebate for military retirees, because they had done some incorrectly and were told to stop doing them for military retirees.  Also I was told it was only for active duty personnel or recently discharged retirees and I needed paperwork proving such.  I was told to go with the loan they could get me through Randolph Brooks Credit Union (RBFCU), which happens to be our credit union, at 1.65% which was lower than the Honda loan rate.  Now I find on the Honda website (http://www.hondafinancialservices.com/leasing/military-offer ) that the rebate is available to military retirees and all I need is my most recent Leave and Earnings Statement (LES). I can easily print my LES on my PC and printer and would be better off with the $500 rebate even if I paid the higher Honda interest rate of 1.9% - so I feel Gunn wronged me on my loan.

So they had me use Gunn’s kiosk to fill out the credit application for our credit union (Randolph Brooks Federal Credit Union - RBFCU) where we have banked since 1987. But for some reason Gunn Honda put the loan in my wife’s name? I am the primary income provider, I have 7 times the retirement income that she has, yet Gunn put the loan and purchase in her name? I checked with RBFCU, they told me Gunn put my wife as the primary because her credit score was slightly higher.  This is wrong, and they should have told us up front what they were doing and why. I would have applied directly to RBFCU so the loan would’ve been done correctly.  

 We also purchased the extended warranties/protection plans for Road Hazard/Wheel Protection, Mechanical, GAP, Paint and Interior Protection, and infra-red tint for a total of an additional $4,356.00. I believe the person who sold us the extended warranties was deceptive. I say this because when we sat across the desk from him the extended warranty/protection plan brochures were in a clear plastic holder on the desk; and the holder had a gold “Honda” sticker on it.  This made it look like the brochures were for the Honda Care factory extended warranty that legally can only be sold by Honda.  I even asked about the Honda extended warranty but he never really answered me.  Instead he started selling the Blue Steel Protection Plans from Foresight Services Group and told us how they covered everything on the car.  He told us Foresight gave them a credit card and anything that wasn’t covered by the factory warranty their service department charged Foresight's credit card.  He only showed us the top page of the warranties and he never mentioned or showed us the rest of the pages of the contract with the deductibles, exclusions and owner responsibilities.   If he had shownus the exclusions, deductibles, prior authorizations and owner requirements we would not have purchased these protection plans.  The Mechanical Protection Plan has 9 or 10 pages of exclusions, deductibles, prior authorizations, and other owner requirements.  He showed us on his copy of the brochure different mechanical plans and told us we should buy the lower “Bronze” plan because the higher plans had unnecessary coverages.  But he charged us $2,250.00 for the higher coverage “Platinum” plan?  Also, he never said we could cancel the warranties and get a full refund by contacting Gunn within thirty days of purchasing them.  Right before we left, he put all the pages of the protection plans in one envelop and said keep these in the car; and all the finance documents in another envelop and said file these in your home.  We didn’t see the additional pages of the warranties until we were at home and had the car for a few days. 

When we purchased the warranties we were told the exterior of the Pilot would be sprayed with a “protectant” that would shield the car from damaging factors including acid from bird droppings.  Also the leather interior and carpets would be treated and both interior and exterior would be warranted for 5 years. They made it sound like the car was going to be sprayed with a spray gun like when a car is painted.  But they couldn’t have done it this way, because the car was ready within an hour or so.  So I believe all they did was use a spray bottle to wax the exterior and sprayed Scotch Gard on the interior for $595.00.  They also charged us $264.00 for infrared tint when the Pilot already has factory installed tint.  They had a demo box with a heat bulb so we could feel the heat reduction difference between regular and infrared tint.  But I don’t believe infrared tint makes much difference for the heat we experience in South Texas. 

On June 19, I mailed letters to Gunn Honda and Foresight Services requesting cancellation of all protection plans and requested they send me or my bank a full refund since I was cancelling well before the thirty day cancellation period had expired.  I mailed the letters with certified and return receipt verification.  Gunn signed for my letter on June 20, and Foresight also signed for the letter but didn’t date the receipt but I got the receipt a few days after I received Gunn’s signed receipt. I didn’t hear anything from Gunn or Foresight so on June 30 I called and spoke with a lady in their office who told me the warranties were cancelled and she sent me copies of Gunn’s faxes to Foresight dated June 24.  She also sent me a copy of the $859.00 check that Gunn issued to my bank for the cancelled exterior/interior protection plan, and the infrared tint that was never installed.  My bank posted the check and applied the credit to my loan on July 3^rd. 

On July 2, 2014 I still hadn’t received a refund from Foresight, so I sent an email to the lady at Gunn asking why it was taking so long for my refund and that Gunn was using my money without paying any interest?.  I didn’t get a reply so I called her a couple of days later and she said it would take four to six weeks to get a refund from Foresight. I told her that four to six weeks was a very long time to process my refund, but she said it could be sooner. 

As of today July 28, 2014 I checked my bank loan online and the money from Foresight still hasn’t been refunded.  I feel that Gunn deceived us on the Military Appreciation Rebate by omitting the true facts of the rebate.  And did the same on the extended warranties and the ridiculously high cost of the “Paint and Interior Protection Plan" and the infrared tint.  Also Gunn is not acting in the best interest of its customers by not offering Honda Care extended warranties and instead selling extended warranties/protection plans of a company (Foresight) that is not a Better Business Bureau Accredited Business.  Why would a Honda dealer prefer to sell protecion plans from a business that isn't BBB Acredited instead of Honda factory extended warranties - I believe the Gunn gets paid higher commission by selling Foresight's plans that have many exclusoins, deductibles, and strict owner's responsibilities. I can see why Foresight is not “BBB Accredited”, they are keeping my money and are in no hurry to issue my refund.  There is no way it should take four to six weeks to issue a refund.  Either Foresight is extremely inefficient or they have so many cancellations that they can’t keep up; or they purposely hang onto and use their customers’ money for as long as possible without paying any interest? If I owed them more than $3,200.00 for a single day they would charge me interest and have the bill collectors calling me and putting black marks on my credit report. Gunn and Foresight are just plain wrong and this unjust and unethical business practice should be against the law. 

Thoroughly disgusted and disappointed,