Falconi's Acura, Las Vegas, NV - poor experiences with warranty and repair issues

# 20 for July 15, 2003

Complaints.com received the following on July 14, 2003:

From:

RE: Falconi's Acura, Las Vegas, NV - poor experiences with warranty and repair issues Re: Defective Used Cars Sold by Falconi’s Acura of Las Vegas To Whom It May Concern: After visiting Falconi’s Acura of Las Vegas’ service department today and leaving without our vehicle being fixed, I decided to share my story with the public to share our personal experience. First of all, my husband and I purchased our used Toyota Four-Runner on June 16, 2003 from Falconi’s Acura of Las Vegas with the understanding that if anything happened to our vehicle within thirty days, we could bring the vehicle in for repair. We paid cash for our Four-Runner and had hoped that Falconi’s Acura of Las Vegas would include an extended warranty on our purchase; however, due to the age of the vehicle, we were denied an extended warranty. In order to make sure that our vehicle was of good quality, we inspected the vehicle ourselves (my husband is a maintenance officer in the US Air Force). Moreover, we accepted the salesman word that the vehicle had received a 100% safety check, meaning that the Four-Runner had been thoroughly inspected and that everything that had needed to be repaired was checked out by the Falconi’s Acura service department and fixed. The “100% check” includes “EVERYTHING”. On July 11, 2003, the driver’s side window broke and since that day, the window will not roll up. As you can see, this defect happened less than thirty days from our original purchase, and so we proceeded to have the window fixed by the dealership. We arrived at the service department and the service department associate instructed us to speak with the used car manager, Gary Page. We asked to speak to him, but he claimed to be too busy to leave his office. In order to try and infer as to why the dealership wouldn’t fix our window, we were allowed to speak to him on the phone, while standing in the dealership. Not only did he deny servicing our vehicle, but he was extremely rude, and he wouldn’t even speak to us in person about the faulty window. Finally, after arguing with me over the phone in the dealership, I explained to him that I had a Ph.D. in hospitality management and that he had two minutes to meet me face to face to explain to me in person why he was denying us the service that we had been offered at the purchase of our vehicle. Mr. Page finally approached my husband and me and explained that since the window worked when we drove off the lot, he was not entitled to fix it. He then explained to me that his service team does a complete inspection on all used vehicles sold from their dealership and that nothing had been found wrong with the window. Upon hearing that, I requested a print out of what the service department had found faulty with the Four-Runner and what had been fixed. Once we perused the service record on our Four-Runner, we saw that no check had been completed on any of the wiring on the vehicle. Now, please take into consideration that we had been told that the vehicle had received a “100%” inspection. A “100%” inspection would have revealed a shortage in the wires. According to the print out we received, the following is what had been inspected and fixed on our vehicle: a “detail” service

a paint job

a dent wizard

windshield repair

smog inspection

new wiper blades

new wiper motor

new driver’s headlight

new front brake pads

My husband and I believe that Falconi’s Acura of Las Vegas didn’t complete a “100%” inspection on the Four-Runner. Moreover, we believe that they sold us a vehicle with faulty wiring and with proof that the dealership never even tested or checked the wiring; we believe that we’re entitled to at least having our window fixed, if not being reimbursed for the entire vehicle. We hope that this letter finds you as upset as we are. As knowledgeable consumers, we only have a certain amount of information we can obtain about purchases and for the most part, we have to rely on honorable and trustworthy retailers. We feel that Falconi’s Acura was dishonest in their sale to us and believe that if given the opportunity, they will continue their deceptive practices and sell more defective vehicles to trusting consumers. Thank you for your time. Please feel free to contact myself or my husband should you need further information. Sincerely, Dr. Hanna Hayes, Ph.D. and Capt. David Meadows, USAF Las Vegas, NV 89123