Honda/Acura Dealership Unethical Behavior

I am filing an official complaint with American Honda and the BBB tomorrow morning about the practices of Peoria Acura of Arizona!!! I have never been treated the way I was today by anyone!!!

(Full situation below)

Over the past couple of days I have been working with several individuals at Peoria Acura to purchase a 2010 TSX for a family member. Yesterday morning the family member and I went to Peoria Acura to discuss a deal after being quoted a sale price over the telephone. The price quoted happened to be the best price of any dealership in the state and that is what got us to the dealership. Take a mental note for later in the write-up: The drive from my part of town to the dealership takes almost an hour. I would have preferred to work with Tempe Acura but they were unwilling to budge on price. My family member and I get to the dealership and they bring out the "screw sheet" and the price is suddenly jumped to almost $5,000 over what I was quoted over the telephone. After 20 minutes of haggling they finally adjust the sale price to what was quoted over the phone (normal dealership way of doing business). After another hour of haggling (them saying this is the lowest possible and then going lower 5 minutes later when we try to walk out) we come to a deal that makes sense. I have been dealing with a serious medical issue an had to leave with the family member to go to a doctor's appointment that couldn't be missed right when we reached a deal. Without stating the terms of the deal, the dealership was still making a decent profit but kept saying they were losing money on the deal. We shook on the deal and agreed we could come and pick up the car later in the day after my doctor's appointment and sign the paperwork for the deal that was agreed upon.

After my doctor's appointment I call the dealership and get a, "The deal is done you can come pick up the car. When are you going to be here?" from the sales advisor that worked the deal. I sit back and eat dinner thinking the deal is complete and my family member could pick up the car after dinner. During dinner I receive another car from a different sales person saying, "When are you expected to be out here? Your car is ready." My family member gets in her current car and starts to drive to the dealership to pick up the brand new TSX. On the way I called and asked if she could keep her current plate and if someone could help her setup the bluetooth telephone system. Mind you this was roughly 30 minutes after my family member had left to pick up the car. The sales advisor on the phone says, "Sure, not a problem and she could keep her plates." After muttering that sentence she asks me to hold on for a moment. She must have talked to someone in the background during this time. When I get off hold she tells me the TERMS OF THE DEAL have changed from what was agreed upon earlier in the day and the monthly payment has suddently increased substantially. I get off the phone with the lady and call my family member who is already 45 minutes into the drive to tell her the news that the deal changed. After hanging up with her I call the finance manager and the guy says he should be able to work something out with Honda Finance in reference to the situation the next day (the day of this post). I hang up thinking everything will get worked out and we can pick up the car the following day.

This morning my family member doesn't hear back from the dealership so she calls the cell of one of the finance department guys who called her the previous day. The guy tells her he will get things worked out and will call her back in 15 minutes. My family member doesn't hear back from the guy so she calls the finance department early afternoon. The lady who answers the phone goes through a whole story and says she needs additional information and the deal would be approved at the terms shaken upon the prior day. My family member hangs up and once again doesn't hear back from the dealership. So, she calls the dealership again and asks to speak to the finance lady. The lady tells her the deal isn't done yet and she would receive a call back later (who knows why, I doubt they were busy (read reason why below)).

This evening around 6:30pm the sales advisor calls back and says the terms of the deal have changed AGAIN and the monthly payment is going to increase. My family member gets upset and tells the sales advisor to end the deal that she has another deal at far better terms at another local Acura dealership (she does). The sales advisor keeps talking and won't let her hang up. After discussing things heatedly back and forth telling the advisor she drove 45 minutes to pick up the car the day prior after being told it was a done deal the sales advisor says, "FINE!, YOU CAN HAVE THE (ORIGINAL) DEAL!!" in a very strong tone. My family member asks the sales advisor nicely four times (while I was standing right there), "The terms of the deal are going to stay the same right? I am not going to drive out there to have something change, correct?" After each time the advisor who has now calmed down says "yes...yes, you can come pick up the car." She gets in her car and starts driving to the dealership. After 20 minutes she receives a call saying the deal has changed YET AGAIN. This time a substantial increase in payment over and above the increase from the prior evening and a higher down payment! This time she tells the lady the deal is over. Then, after getting home a DIFFERENT PERSON calls on the home telephone line saying let's get the deal done tonight.

This is where I get involved. I call the sales guy who told her to pick up the car and ask him why the terms have changed again that he told her TIME AFTER TIME that she could come pick up the car knowing full well that it was an hour drive. The guy gets huffy and raises his tone talking about the deal. After I explain to him that the deal was agreed upon the day prior he says that my family member wasn't honest when they were talking on the phone the time prior (before she left to pick up the car). After telling him I was standing right next to her as she was talking he starts YELLING AND CALLING HER A LIAR. I finally get upset and tell him deal over and hang up on his yelling.

To top it off, after I call my family member and tell her she was just called a liar several times by the sales guy another person from the dealership calls and leaves a voice message asking to get the deal done tonight.

How can a business continue to run with that amount of incompetence and pure unethical practices?

Through this entire situation there were 3 general finance people involved, 1 finance manager, and 2 sales people who were all giving conflicting information and different numbers.

Does anyone else have any ideas how to get this dealership reprimanded for their unethical practices? This is getting posted on several car forums.

*The initial sales advisor said their quoted price was the lowest because the manager approved it due to not selling a single car the day prior. During the entire time of the deal (3 hours after test driving and all that fun stuff during mid through late morning) not a single person drove into the parking lot or walked through their door. That made me really suspious sitting their dealing with them but everything at the time they said was factual.

(I left out all names and numbers to keep information private)

Thats just ridiculous, you should have walked away after the deal changed the FIRST time. And calling your family member a liar? wow

not even worth the hassle

Buy a new Acura and bring it there to show them what they missed out on. I'd dedicate a weekend to that. Let potential customers know where you got the car and why.

I called Acura Customer Service located in California this morning and took an hour and a half to explain the details of the situation. The representative said she has never heard a situation similar to the one above. The case manager and representative were not very happy to be lightly about the dealership's practices.

WTF. What a bunch of crap. They should be begging you to buy the car.

you have far more patience then I do.. I would have walked