Community Forums

ctcamper · 02-24-2011, 05:05 AM

Usually they post a loss leader and then try to switch. This type of bait and switch was a new one for me.
I was at a show at the Big E in MA and a dealer had an allegro 34tba that I looked at. Price was ok but still a little high I thought. I have had quotes from them before that were high but I figured I would go see what the offer was. He was fairly local dealer of the tiffin brand to me in Connecticut so I figured even if the price was a couple of grand too much it would save me a trip out of state and about a weeks worth of travel.

The card of the guy that was selling had sales manager printed on it and he claimed to be one of the owners.
I went in and he initially gave me a discount on a rig to order that was 20 percent off MSRP after we added on options. He takes my check for deposit. He left the room and came back twice claiming he was checking with his sales employees as he doesn't usually sell the rv's and needed to check prices. Second time he went to get the invoice printed up and comes back claiming he made a terrible mistake and under charged me 8 thousand. So he bumped the price to over what he had priced the bigger rv he was selling at the show at and the rig was buying had less money's worth of options on it.

I walked out. What makes this worse is if this is one of the owners and he is engaging in that kind of shady cutthroat then that doesn't reflect well on the business. It is not like it was that great of a deal at first either but it was ok. He was only giving book value on the trade too so he was giving nothing there.
LOL claiming you don't know the prices and you are sales manager/ supposed owner .. I wasn't born yesterday.

Shadowcatche · 02-24-2011, 06:36 AM

Sounds like this should be reported to the states attorney generals office and Better Business Bureau. and follow up with the BBB to make sure it is part of the dealers record!
I would not have accepted the "I made a mistake". He made the offer in writing hold him to it.
Bait and switch is illegal.

bldrbob · 02-24-2011, 07:17 AM

I guess I wold have asked him if he was so stupid that he thought I was that dumb.

paulrtaylor · 02-24-2011, 07:31 AM

I agree with shadowcatche. If he made the offer in writing then they will have to stand behind it.

bldrbob · 02-24-2011, 08:09 AM

Maybe if in writing you could force the deal.And as you said the deal wast't that good but it would be closer for service. But if the company is that shady in sales I don't think I would want them to service the unit.

bobbyl · 02-24-2011, 08:26 AM

Similar incident with Camping World in Alabama. I dealt with a saleman on a 2005 Fleetwood Fiesta. I was trading in an older model Class C. We discussed pricing and trade in and struck a tentative deal. I offered to go get my trade in and come back the next day for them to inspect and then we could finalize the deal. They insisted on making the deal that day. I was satisfied with the trade in offer and signed all the paper work. It was a cash deal but then almost walked out when they kept wanting me to talk to the Finance mgr. I gave them a down payment and they said they would have the Mh serviced and ready for me in 2 days. I had money wired for the exact amount of the purchase and took a cashiers check and my trade in back to the dealer to pick up the purchased Mh. They walked out side looked at my trade in and then all got in a huddle. The salesman came in and said they were really disappointed in my trade in and I would have to come up with an additional $2500.00 to complete the deal. He told me the generator would not run, the AC did not work, the brakes needed replacing, on and on. I started the generator, turned on the A/C, and produced the receipt for a complete brake job from 1 month past. I then told them to take all of the stuff they had moved from the trade in to the new coach and put it back. They couldn't believe I would walk away over $2500. I asked to speak to the manager and he came out and of course he was very apologetic and asked me to speak to him in his office. Apparently he didn't want the other potential customers to overhear our conversation. Long story short, I got the new coach, not for the additional $2500 but an additonal $2500 discount. I thanked him and as I left I told him how much I appreciated his concern and help and he could be assured I would never come back to this dealer for any item. If my wife wasn't so in love with the coach I would have walked regardless of the deal.

BobGed · 02-24-2011, 08:33 AM

Not trying to defend the dealer since I don't know all of the details, but it seems unlikely they could stay in business very long operating this way.
A couple of questions. Were you looking at a DP? Was the one at the show a 2010 with a non-DEF engine? If you were ordering a new DP it would have been a 2011 with a DEF engine (much higher price). In addition Tiffin also had a recent price increase on most if not all models.

ctcamper · 02-24-2011, 09:25 AM

NO this was on a brand new 32ca with ford v10 gasser. They are starting the new assembly line this week changing over from the 32ba so these prices came off the brand new 3/01/2011 price sheet ... which I also have as well as the early price sheet so I know what the prices are and should be.
I called Tiffin today and complained , Bob called me back to apologize. I know there is nothing they can do but I felt I should complain. I , as per the suggestion by Shadowcatche, filed a complaint with BBB so far.
He was offering 42 for my trade so it may have been over book. Nada does not have the chevy chassis listed but the closest unit for that year has a ford and is ... Nada low retail 43 and high retail 52. Based on most appraisals I got from four other dealers at the shows they all were either 44 or 45 for trade... again not that that figure matters much but that is where they were for a basis. The deal he tried to switch to was 12 percent under MSRP

TomTheOilMan · 02-27-2011, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctcamper

Usually they post a loss leader and then try to switch. This type of bait and switch was a new one for me.
I was at a show at the Big E in MA and a dealer had an allegro 34tba that I looked at. Price was ok but still a little high I thought. I have had quotes from them before that were high but I figured I would go see what the offer was. He was fairly local dealer of the tiffin brand to me in Connecticut so I figured even if the price was a couple of grand too much it would save me a trip out of state and about a weeks worth of travel.

The card of the guy that was selling had sales manager printed on it and he claimed to be one of the owners.
I went in and he initially gave me a discount on a rig to order that was 20 percent off MSRP after we added on options. He takes my check for deposit. He left the room and came back twice claiming he was checking with his sales employees as he doesn't usually sell the rv's and needed to check prices. Second time he went to get the invoice printed up and comes back claiming he made a terrible mistake and under charged me 8 thousand. So he bumped the price to over what he had priced the bigger rv he was selling at the show at and the rig was buying had less money's worth of options on it.

I walked out. What makes this worse is if this is one of the owners and he is engaging in that kind of shady cutthroat then that doesn't reflect well on the business. It is not like it was that great of a deal at first either but it was ok. He was only giving book value on the trade too so he was giving nothing there.
LOL claiming you don't know the prices and you are sales manager/ supposed owner .. I wasn't born yesterday.

Well, we just elected a guy in Conn.last week 2/22/11 "not my vote".. as a senator, who ran a business building log homes, took a $50'000.00 DEPOSIT on Friday from a couple buying their dream home ,Monday went bankrupt. don't trust anyone today buying anything. We bought our Bus, "They wanted a big deposit" They said our company requires a 20% I gave them $1,000. and a bank check for the balance ,"when I actually had the Title in hand".......Its your money, so be careful

...........

swamphog · 02-27-2011, 02:10 PM

I say , keep the orginal offer he gave you, your gain his loss, he made the offer ,you didn't, he put it writting, you didn't, force him to keep the deal, or see a lawyer.

4Knights · 02-27-2011, 02:21 PM

The same thing happened to us back in 1987 when we bought our brand new show room ski boat, owner was the one who wrote up the deal, we signed, he signed and 2 weeks later we showed up to pick up our factory fresh boat. As the salesman was showing us the features and getting ready to sign the delivery receipt plus take our final check. He tries to stop the deal because the engine in the boat was a 5k upgrade that we hadn't paid for, nor was the fish finder, Bimini top or stereo. I told the guy he had two choices- get the owner or get his lawyer. A signed deal is just that! Legal and binding. If it would have been our mistake we would have to pay but the original sales contract had all the extras for the price we were paying. The owner came out and tried the same dance, offered to split the difference,etc.. All was well with the world he finally (2 hours later) admitted it was his fault and didn't feel lawyers were needed. We got the boat and trailer for the original price quoted with all the upgrades, we were invited not to come back though.

. No problem 35 other factory boat centers within 30 minutes. Had that baby for 14 years no troubles.