Dealership apologizes for error, customer arrest

[didymus]

The Virginian-Pilot:

Dealership apologizes for error, customer arrest

The president of Priority Chevrolet apologized Wednesday for the arrest of a customer in June whom the dealership mistakenly undercharged for an SUV and who resisted the company’s efforts to get him to sign a new, costlier contract. Dennis Ellmer said he’s heard from Chesapeake police that one of his managers told an officer that Danny Sawyer of Chesapeake had stolen a 2012 Chevrolet Traverse.
“I owe Mr. Sawyer a big apology,” said Ellmer, who manages the entire Priority Auto Group - which includes 11 dealerships in Virginia and North Carolina.
He said his staff erred when they sold the SUV to Sawyer for about $5,600 too little and erred again when they went to police. He said Sawyer should not have been arrested and definitely should not have spent four hours in jail.

“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,” said Ellmer, adding that he would like to sit down and talk with Sawyer.
Rebecca Colaw, Sawyer’s attorney, said she appreciates that Ellmer is taking responsibility for what happened. But she said he will have to do more than say he’s sorry and let Sawyer keep the SUV.
“An apology is not enough,” she said.
Earlier this month, Sawyer, 40, a registered nurse, filed two lawsuits against the dealership accusing it of malicious prosecution, slander, defamation and abuse of process, among other things. The lawsuits seek $2.2 million in damages, plus attorney fees.

a.) the dealership should never called the cops.
b.) the cops should have told them it’s a civil matter.
c.) while I sympathise with Mr Sawyer he is being, at least, disingenuous. If he negotiated contract for $63K/yr with an employer then signed one with the digits mistakenly reversed ($36K) I doubt he’d say, “Oh, well, my mistake”.

 

[jc4751]

I’ve always been bothered by people who “get one over” on other people in transactions, whatever the nature of the parties doing the transaction.

I think this sums it up nicely: “Promises must be kept and contracts strictly observed to the extent that the commitments made in them are morally just. A significant part of economic and social life depends on the honoring of contracts between physical or moral persons - commercial contracts of purchase or sale, rental or labor contracts. All contracts must be agreed to and executed in good faith.” (CCC, 2410)

 

[7_Sorrows]

i am glad that the chevrolet dealership has apologized. for several years i bought foreign made automobiles feeling they were better quality and the 2 times i decided to buy american - chevrolet - not only did i have have bad experiences at the dealerships, but the automobiles were also disappointing.
in my opinion, there aren’t enough lawsuits brought against many of these unethical car dealerships. i understand this was the result of a typographical error, but it seemed that the car dealership handled the matter improperly.
personally, i hope the customer pursues the lawsuit unless the dealership comes up with a really good way to make up for what happened.

 

[Gorgias]

a.) the dealership should never called the cops.

Agreed. That sure seems like an egregious abuse of the legal system. Even worse, it appears that about a month after the arrest and subsequent dropping of all charges, they had still ‘neglected’ to process the title paperwork and to report that they had bought the trade-in; so the DOT was pestering the guy to insure the car that was no longer in his possession, and not allowing him to drive the SUV he’d bought! Again – abuse of the system!

b.) the cops should have told them it’s a civil matter.

Not if they spun it as a crime, which is what the dealership appears to have done. If they had a signed sales contract, but told the police simply that he stole the SUV, then the dealership is the one fully in the wrong here. (On the other hand, the police might have overstepped their bounds. Without seeing any records of the incident, however, we have no way of knowing where the fault lies.)

c.) while I sympathise with Mr Sawyer he is being, at least, disingenuous. If he negotiated contract for $63K/yr with an employer then signed one with the digits mistakenly reversed ($36K) I doubt he’d say, “Oh, well, my mistake”.

This is the interesting point. Your characterization is a bit off, though. It was $5K on a $35K car, not $36K / $63K, so you’re overstating your case by an order of magnitude. Moreover, we don’t know that he was executing the deal in bad faith. I think I recall reading that he says he knew that the new deal was $400 less than the original deal, and that there was a GPS system in the new car. That might lead us to ask whether there’s bad faith involved.

However, the way we buy cars is different than the way we buy groceries – if we’re charged $2 for a $20 cut of beef, then we know that a mistake has been made. However, cars are bought and sold through a process of haggling; isn’t it, therefore, fair game to try and get the best price possible? If they make a mistake on the paperwork, and present a contract to you with the offer that they’re willing to make (having not done the due diligence to get the numbers right), do you have the responsibility of checking their work for them and correcting their offer in their favor? If you’re willing to buy something for $40K, then clearly you’re willing to buy it at $35K. If they’re willing to execute a signed contract for $35K, then…?