Car deal stalls over price dispute

  • Article by: JAMES ELI SHIFFER , Star Tribune
  • Updated: January 18, 2010 - 9:26 AM

"Error'' accelerates bad blood, brings lawsuit between Walser Chrysler of Hopkins and long-time customer Tammie Townsend.

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  • Comments

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icarleyJan. 16, 10 8:40 AM

Are not worth fighting over.

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minnyexpatJan. 16, 10 8:41 AM

Walser was certainly quick to sue. Meanwhile, if she was paying the dealership their inflated rates for servicing her past two cars, they've already made up much of the difference anyway. Who to charge the money to? How about anyone at Walser who looked over the incorrect figures .... ? Take a little responsibility.

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careydJan. 16, 10 8:41 AM

Walser, a dealership brand I've had a pretty positive opinion of, made this error. The poor clerk who actually made the error has probably lost his/her job, but that should be the end of it. A deal is a deal, error or not, once it's signed. The negative PR this story is generating is costing Walser 10, 20, perhaps 100 times their $6000 loss on this one vehicle.

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qualtroughJan. 16, 10 8:42 AM

Judging solely from the facts presented in this article, the dealership is exercising remarkably poor judgment in asking for the car back. Their case is weak, and they have now probably lost far more than $7000 in bad publicity. I run a small business, and from time to time when pricing custom-ordered products I mistakenly price them at a loss when offering a quotation. I have never, ever, told a customer that I cannot honor the quoted price, and of course would never ask for money back after an order. Sure, the amounts are less than $7,000, but the principal is the same. What's the saying? A happy customer tells one friend, an unhappy customer tells everybody.

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swotz1Jan. 16, 10 8:42 AM

Who do they think they are. For Walser to allow this type of action associated with his name is crazy. I vow to never buy another vehicle from a Walser dealership ever again. I only buy 2 new cars every year. This is hopefully the reaction form many Minnesotans. Pick on some one your own size and maybe blame those accountable. First to sue practices are a good indicator of the organizations leadership.

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rutrohJan. 16, 10 8:43 AM

How many times have you gauged customers? If all of your customers found a better deal somewhere else a few days later, how would you like it if they all called you to renegotiate their purchase? I understand an error may have been made, but since you can never put a true value on a car, who really knows what is worth. Leave this lady alone and chalk it up to the price of doing business. BTW, in my business when we salespeople screw up our sales, the difference is deducted from our commission check and the customers never know about it because we don't want the bad customer satisfaction. It certainly makes you look at your numbers more carefully. Be accountable!!

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kenw1952wJan. 16, 10 8:49 AM

This is almost laughable, a car dealer complaining about getting a raw deal! That extended warranty she bought for $2,000 is a rip off but that's ok if the car dealer rips you. And, the $800 for "rustproofing" an even bigger rip off considering that the vehicle is already rustproofed from the factory and the little bit extra that a dealership "sprays on" is totally worthless. Had she paid the price that Walser claims she should've paid and then came back and week later and said that she found another Pacifica at another dealership for a couple of thousand dollars less, do you think Walser would've taken the car back or reimbursed her the money???? I don't think so. I am really surprised that Walser would make a big deal out of this as it will cost them far more in lost business and bad publicity.

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bjames3Jan. 16, 10 8:49 AM

They're a car dealership. They now apparently hold the legal title to her car. Ask her to come in and tell her to bring her vehicle in on trade and they'll put her into a new car. If there's a difference in price between the two deals, negotiate it so that her monthly's are reasonable somewhere between the $319 and the $350 per month she was paying. They get a nice Pacifica they can put onto their used lot and sell immediately to make up their delta, she gets a new car at a monthly she was used to paying and Walser avoids legal costs and PR problems which only adds to their woes. It's a win-win-win.

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citywasteJan. 16, 10 8:49 AM

The buyer signed it, the dealer signed it - its a legal and binding contract. DONE DEAL.

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metaldrummerJan. 16, 10 8:49 AM

Where would one begin to comment? First, this woman BUYS a typical Chrysler vehicle (meaning, 50/50 that it will spend it's life in the shop go to edmunds.com and read user reviews). Then, when she has a chance to get rid the the vehicle, she opts to KEEP it by refinancing it. OK, if we stop there, she is not stuck with a vehicle that has about zilch resale value already, yet she just REFINANCED it. OK, so she is stuck with an inferior car. But when she refinances, she pays $800 to undercoat it?? It already COMES with factory undercoating. She now paid $800 to literally seal in all the rust that already exists. AND, if for some bizarre reason she really wanted to undercoat an already undercoated cat, it costs about $200 at any local shop. And amazingly, she pays almost $2000 for an extended warranty??? That is almost %50 percent more than the she should have paid. Now the truly amazing part. After the dealer has literally gouged the daylights out of this person and made thousands on worthless extras and financing, now THEY get ripped off for $4K!! So help me, you can't make this stuff up. 1: No wonder Chrylser is bankrupt, 2: stay as far away from Walser Chrysler as possible, and 3: ma'am, you need to spend some time online researching the car industry before you literally get ripped off for thousands of dollars.

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