Bob Howard Automall Fraudulent Business Practices Oklahoma City Oklahoma

I went into Bob Howard Automall looking for a used mini van. I spoke with a salesperson who took my information (year, make, model and pay off on my trade in, type vehicle I was looking for and monthly payments I could afford as well as down payment I could pay). I told him I had an appointment to get to and that he could call my cell phone if he was able to work a deal that meet my requirements.

He called my cell phone at approximately 5pm and told me he had a van that he could get me financed for with the $500 down payment I was willing to pay and the payments would be within the range I had requested of $400 a month. I drove to the dealership and the salesman came out and met me when I arrived. He immediately took me to see and test drive the van and when I returned with the van he ushered me into his office and asked if I had anyone I could borrow money from. I told him no and he said the problem was that the finance company he got me the loan through was requiring another $1000 down.

I told him I did not have another $1000 to put down and he stated that the original amount they were going to give me on my trade ($1500) was now only going to be $500 and that is why I needed another $1000. I told him to nevermind I would just continue to drive my car and not worry about trading it in. He then asked me to wait while he talked to his manager. I waited approximately 45 minutes and when he had not returned, I approached another salesperson and explained that I had things to do and needed to get going and asked him to relay to the salesman I was dealing with that I had left and thank him for his time.

He asked me to wait a moment and the salesman I was dealing with came out of another office and asked me to come with him to the manager's office so they could talk to me. He stated that he felt they had a resolution to my problem of not having an additional $1000 to put down on the vehicle. I followed him into his office and asked my fiance to come into the office with me. The salesman said he would prefer to just talk to me and I told him I perfered to have my fiance present. He said okay and we went into his manager's office.

I expected to see the manager in there; however no one was in the office when we entered. The salesman sat down behind the desk and said, "Let me explain how this works to you". He basically told me that he wanted me to write him a check for $1,500 and drive off with the van. He explained that the dealership would not deposit the check for approximately 30 days and that would give me 30 days to get the additional $1000 in the bank. If however I was not able to get the additional $1000 in the bank by the time the check cleared, he stated that they used Check Rite and that meant that if my check bounced the dealership would receive thier money and then Check Rite would contact me to get the money from me.

He stated that when Check Rite contacted me I should make payment arrangements and then I would have up to 6 months to pay the $1000 to them. I explained to the salesman that I was in the military and would hurt my career if I wrote a bad check, especially in the amount of $1000. He kept trying to assure me that Check Rite would not press charges or notify my commander. I told him he was out of his mind and I wanted no part of it. He stated that his manager advised the sales staff to suggest this course of action to people who couldn't come up with the required $1,500 down payment.

He then told me that the dealership always requires at least $1,500 down on any care sale. I was furious, I told him that when he called me to tell me he had a van for me, he assured me that $500 down was acceptable and he already had financing for me. I had just spent in excess of 3 hours being lied to and then asked to commit a crime. I told the salesman I was going to report this behavior to our base legal office and hope they would put the dealership off limits. I did go to the base legal office and the dealership stated that it was not thier policy and the salesman in question was fired.

However, recently I heard from another military member that a salesman there tried to convince them to write a bad check for the down payment as well. If any salesperson ever suggests you commit an illegal act, walk away, they have no integrity so any dealings you have with them will be bad.

Susan
Mustang, Oklahoma
U.S.A.