Ripped Off by Joe Mitchell Buick

Joe Mitchell Buick refuses to refund a $1,000 deposit that we put down on a new Buick Enclave in a White Diamond Tricoat color.

We ordered our car on Mar 11th. The dealer told us it would be in in 8 to 10 weeks. At week 6 we called the dealer to ask when our car would be ready because our current car was in need of over $1000 in repairs. He said that he did not know and that we should either go and repair the car or rent one until our car comes in. We saw a car just like the one we ordered at another dealer. I told that dealer that I had already ordered a car and I put $1,000 down as a deposit. He said that we should have no problem getting our money back if we bought his car because our car is not even being made due to the American axel strike. We believed him and purchased the car. Joe Mitchel Buick is refusing to give us our money back. No one from Joe Mitchell can tell us when the car we ordered will be ready. It has been 10 weeks now. We would not have bought the other car if we thought that our money would not be returned. The dealer from Loren Buick told us that our order could even be canceled. We needed a car and Joe Mitchell Buick could not tell us when the one we ordered would be ready. Loren Buick told us that Joe Mitchell should give us our money back without any problems. We feel that we are being lied to by someone and are requesting help. They have not told us the truth on several occasions.

(1) When we put the deposit down on the car we were told it was 8-10 weeks for delivery, not 12.

(2) At six weeks after putting the $1000 down on the car, we called to see the status on our order. On Saturday April 19th I spoke with our Salesman George Trapp who said he would know on Monday. We spoke Monday the 21st and he said he would tell me on Tuesday the 22nd when he checked in his computer. When we spoke on the 22nd he had said "The company that makes the axles for the Enclaves are on strike and he could not tell us a delivery date. On Thursday the 23rd, the car we were replacing had some mechanical problems. It turned out it would be about $800 - 1000 in repairs. That car was only worth less than $500 and we were just going to donate it. We needed to know what the status of the Enclave delivery would be because we need (not just want) 2 cars. We finally got in touch with George on Friday the 25th. We told him that our car had problems and explained our situation. George told us our options were to (A) either fix the car, or (B) rent one. With our car not being worth the cost of the repairs, we were not going to fix it. With not knowing the status of the strike or when our car would be in, it wasn't feasible to rent one.

(3) After we canceled our order, Jim Mitchell, the owner, said that he would not give us our down payment back for several reasons, all not true.

He said our car was never affected by the strike. His sales rep George Trapp told me he couldn't give me an updated delivery date on our car because American Axle was on strike. That was on April 22nd.

He said our car has a custom color. Not true. It is a more expensive color, but it is not custom. It is available on the GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook and in the Enclave brochure it is not specified as "custom".

He said that he would never bring in a car for inventory like the one we ordered because it was lacking many high price options. Also, not true. They tried to sell us an Enclave with the same options we ordered that was on their lot. It was in a Cocoa color and we wanted the White Diamond. That car has since been sold. They only have one Enclave on their lot as of today.

He said they told us it was no less than 12 weeks for delivery. They told us 8-10 weeks.

The sales mgr and the owner said that our "buyers order says that our deposit was non-refundable". The only thing that I can find it saying is that the dealer "may keep" our deposit if the incur additional expenses. It does not say that they will keep it. They can not even give us a VIN number for the car we ordered. We tried to contact General Motors directly to help us and they told us that we had to deal directly with the dealer since they were independently owned. The car we ordered has still not been delivered and we ordered it on March 11th.

The sales people did not give us 100% of the information that they knew when they were selling us a car. They knew that there was a strike and they never told us. We went into the dealership to buy a used car from them. They talked us into a new car and since they did not have the color we wanted on their lot, they convinced us to order one. This is why we are so upset and feel that we were not told the entire truth.