What Would You Do?

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/dea...ells-police-he-stole-it-and-has-him-arrested/

TECHNICALLY SPEAKING, he had a signed contract. I think its sort of rude of him to sue for $2million, but i can understand. What do you guys think? LOL If i got home with my Tacoma, and the contract said i paid $29K instead of $35K, uhhhhh, i'd be hush hush.

 

Here's the actual article from theblaze.com. Instead you don't want to open up random windows... ---


"A Virginia man is suing a Chevrolet dealership after it accidentally sold him a car for $5,600 less than it cost — and then accused him of stealing it and had him arrested, the Virginian-Pilot reported.

According to the lawsuit, Danny Sawyer, 40, purchased a black Chevrolet Traverse from Priority Chevrolet in May but returned the next morning to exchange it for a blue one. A sales manager agreed to the trade but did not say how much more the blue SUV would cost — something the dealership disputes. Still, Sawyer signed a new contract with a sales price of about $34,000 when it should have been around $39,000.

One week later, Sawyer returned home to dozens of voice messages and a letter from the dealership. The sales manager said he made a mistake and sold the car for too little, and asked Sawyer to return and sign a new, correct contract. According to the lawsuit, Sawyer refused. When he didn’t return, the dealership continued to try to contact him before finally going to the police to report the SUV had been stolen. On June 15, three police officers arrested Sawyer in front of his Chesapeake, Va. home. He was released on bond after spending four hours in jail.

Priority Chevrolet President Dennis Ellmer apologized Wednesday for Sawyer’s arrest and said the dealership “definitely made a mistake” — first with the incorrect contract and then in going to the police.

“I owe Mr. Sawyer a big apology,” Ellmer told the Virginian-Pilot. “It is my plan to let him keep the $5,600 and to make Mr. Sawyer right. I can’t tell you how I plan to fix it, but it is my intention to make it right.”

Rebecca Colaw, Sawyer’s attorney, told the newspaper her client appreciates Ellmer taking responsibility but said “an apology is not enough.”

Sawyer has filed two lawsuits accusing the dealership of malicious prosecution, slander and defamation, among others, and is seeking $2.2 million in damages, plus attorney fees.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Nancy Parr told the Virginian-Pilot her office dropped all charges against Sawyer due to insufficient evidence."

 

How could the dealership report the car stolen if it was no longer theirs?? Obviously the guy (or the Finance Company) would have the title and thats all he would need to show to the cops when they showed up at his door.

I would do the same thing! Maybe even sue for more, fuck it a lady got 2.7 for spilling hot coffee on herself.

 

Personally, the guy and his attorney are scum of the earth. I would have been a man of my word and signed an amended contract. I despise people who feel as though they deserve something for nothing. I guarantee if the dealer had accidentally charged him too much, he'd be crying and wanting his money back. Idiot.

 

2 million is extremely excessive. This guy smells a payday and he's jumping on it. I couldn't do it in good conscience. Sometimes I think we have a little bit too many rights. A good friend of mine is a roofer and was sued by one of his clients when for literally no reason decided to start another crew and undo every bit of work he had done. Turns out the guy makes his living suing people. He currently has 37 open suits.

 

Thats kind of the same way i feel about it. the charges were dropped, so its not like if you search his name you'd see "CAR FELON". The owner i think acted the right way, apologized for the mis hap, likely will be firing SOMEONE at the dealer ship, financial , whatever. What IS messed up, is the cops could go arrest him, OBVIOUSLY with no arrest warrant, because they don't even have evidence of a crime to proceed, there never should have been an arrest warrant issued to begin with. I'D likely sue the city/police NOT the business owner.

 

It amazes me the degree of fraud and everything else out there. We need some SERIOUS reforms in our judicial codes if someone can sue for MILLIONS over a spilled cup of coffee.

 

i worked at a dealer and we had a sales man do a very similar thing, they also called the person to notify them and asked them to come in, they did but they refused to have to pay for the mistake the salesman made. so they let the people go and fired the salesman. i dont no if they just cut there losses or what but it sure as hell didnt turn into that. i would have came in and if i couldnt afford the higher payments for some reason i would try to work something out but this asshole didnt even call back and now the lawsuit. damn people these days are lazy and rude.

 

So.. hes scum for getting arrested for buying a car at a price that he thought he was paying?? Am I missing something here? Wasnt it the dealer who "forgot" to mention that there was price difference between the two models? If the guy signed a contract for more than he actually paid, the dealer would probably sue HIM for the remaining amount.. and they would win.. because its a contract.. and those hold up in a court of law..

 

I agree, however in most cases like this the amounts are for punitive damages. If the court didnt make Micky D's fork that kind of cash it wouldnt have set an example. Unfortunately the lack of common sense is often mistaken for lack of due diligence. Maybe they need to have that award money go to a charitable cause and only give the lady 17.88 for new sweatpants at walleyworld

 

But you don't expect the dealership owner/employees to be a men of their word and honor the contract they agreed to? I would be pretty surprised if only one person who works at the dealership looked at the sales contract before everyone agreed to it. Sounds like they need to tighten up their sales process so they don't make mistakes like that in the future.

Even though it makes the customer kind of a shady bastard it's still not his responsibility to say anything. And with the number of papers I signed to buy my Tacoma, if there had been a mistake it's unlikely I would have noticed, it was information overload.

As for the dealership calling the cops and reporting it stolen... how'd that work out for them? Was it worth the negative publicity? I'm guessing it's cost them a lot more than $5600 in lost sales. And it's likely they will be paying at least the cost of the "stolen" vehicle. I might sue then allow them to talk me down to a smaller settlement. Lawsuits are usually over-the-top anyway because the final settlement/award will be smaller. Might as well sue everyone in sight and let the judge work it out.

Just for the record (and because I'm a geek and think it's an interesting read) here's what really happened with the coffee lawsuit against McDonald's. It's very unlikely she got $2.7M but we'll never actually know.

 

Of course i expect the dealer to honor their contract, and they are. The dealer isn't suing the buyer. I agree, they need to not make "mistakes." But, we live in a real world and humans make mistakes. Dealer made one and tried to get the guy to accecpt that fact. Should they have sent the cops? NO! But, nothing wrong with them trying to amend their mistake.
I never said it was the buyer's responsibility to say anything. I only assume the buyer and salesperson agreed on a price/deal. Both parties should honor their deal. The other things that bothers meis The buyer bought one Chevy, returned the next day, and the dealer agreed to trade it for a different color one. Dealer probably wishes they had told the guy "Sorry, you bought a black one, you keep a black one." Dealer doing the right thing may cost them tons it seems.

 

Not sure how many cars you've purchased, but wouldn't you know if you paid thousands less than you thought? Both parties "forgot to mention" the price difference (in the contract at least). I doubt they "forgot" to mention it verbally.

 

The dealer's first mistake was to let him exchange the car for a different-colored one the next day. Try this at a Toyota dealer and see what happens.

 

It may be hard to believe, but this dealership will accept the return of a vehicle.... for any reason, within 48 hours of the sale.

... No questions asked.

A non-believer?.... Just call and ask about it.

http://www.harr.com/index.htm

http://www.harrgaspromo.com/

 

Not many dealerships would do this...

mostly because it's likely is a royal PITA to unwind the deal. especially if there is a financing contract with a lender.

if the facts are as we see them...the dealership went out of their way to re-do the sale...then screwed the pooch with the cost differance. someone at that dealership may be flipping burgers at this point.

 

Learn something new every day. This is pretty incredible:

Wonder what they would do with a vehicle like this? Mark it down as a demo? A savvy customer wouldn't buy a "new" car with 200 miles on the odometer.

 

The dealership screwed up royal. There wasn't any reason to press theft charges against the guy even if he wasn't responding to their calls. The 2 million dollar suit seems excessive but if I had been the one arrested and jailed I may feel like 2 million dollars was reasonable too.