Featured “Misleading Promotions and Fraudulent Sales Tactics”

Google "legitimate expectation".

 

I am so happy I no longer buy cars from dealers.

 

Was there a lie in the contract ?

 

Enough of one that the State AG was able to force them into a settlement.

 

Perhaps, although the OP does not say so. Until additional information comes along all I see is political grandstanding and an easy revenue generator for the state.

 

I though you of the despising corporations side? Siding with now even after above proof of settlement??

Anyways why would they payout settlement and not fight the accusations if what they were doing is in fact not true? Riddle me that...

And where does any of the info provided state anything about a signed blank check? Haha? Nowhere. They were pulling contract fraud, etc. omitting info, failing to inform and generally doing bad business.

Would you just have your Malpracrice insurance payout if you were accused of Malpracrice? Or would you fight it if you indeed were not wrong?

Yes read your contract and re read prior to signing anything but herin lies why we have laws for such issue and the States Attny, BBB, etc.. Take personal responsibility but come on some business' just do dirty work.

 

You are right, I am very anti-corporate. That however does not stop me from being annoyed by trumped up charges and fallacious reasoning.

The 'blank check' was an analogy to signing a contract that the counter party can afterwards fill in.

 

Do you have interest in this company that had to settle? Do you have inside knowledge, How do you know or do you again assume that the charges are "trumped up"? They payed out and settled. How else can it be...

It's like the "not guilty" drug dealer taking the plea bargain because well you know... Haha.

 

When a little old lady loses her life savings to some hustler on the phone, she should have just known better, and we, society, can do nothing to correct it?

I don't see how having its state lawyers shake down a dealership for $310,000, with some of that being restitution to victims, is an effective way to increase NY's revenue. Having cops increase pull overs and property siezers would be more cost effective.

There is more info at the OP's link. It was more than the blank contracts, and was mostly advertizing fraud; some of which the dealership was warned to stop but continued doing. As a press release, they probably could have copy and pasted the entire thing, but that is generally frowned upon do to copyright, and the moderators wanting to avoid such trouble.

 

Prob some good ol Classic bait and switch going on too it sounds like.

And yeah I agree, what recourse does the little old lady / little old couple have when taken to the cleaner by these prick places. Guess they should have known better right sage? Lol.

Imagine that was your grandparents that got screwed... They should have known better right.

Heck I've been had by too good to be true bait and switch email quotes in the past when comparison shopping.... Of course I never bought those cars and ended up giving the place a bad review and giving the gm a piece of my mind.. It's very easy to email a low price just under what other dealers Are offeringn and add some bs fees onto the deal once you drive all the way there, they seem to not care about the quote they just sent sometimes.

There's a reason I bough my last 3 cars from where I did. No b.s. Games, the best prices and great customer service.

 

No interest, and I don't know anything beyond what I read in the OP.

However, let me assure you that payment to settle a charge is not even close to being equivalent to guilty of the charges. Defense is horribly expensive, and fighting a regulatory government agency is all but impossible for all but large corporations -- and that is only possible because they own politicians.

If the little old lady was taken advantage of due to her stupidity, then no legal recourse.

I know that sounds mean, but the opposite is capricious abuse of laws. Ever notice that Lady Justice wears a blindfold ?

 

Elder law?

So don't enforce fraud laws then? Let the Nigerian scammers do what they do... Let the dealerships bait and switch and run rampant... Craziness.

You self admit that you have no other info on the case yet still defend the company (corporation) that paid out a settlement for fraud related issues...

 

Of course enforce them. Fraud is different than stupidity.

Well, maybe not to the NYS AG but that is my point.

 

So this car dealership in essence just ruined it reputation forever by paying out settlement. If not guilty it should have / would have save face and fought it.

So big gov't just decided to pick on this little ol dealership for no reason right? And because they did now the (corporation) is right?

Which one is it? Despise gov't or corporations...



Actually I give up. There are shady business out there and this place checks most the boxes it seems.

 

Trust me, I have plenty of criticism and animosity towards both LOL

But I am not taking sides, and I am not stating a political preference; I was pointing out that some of the stated 'violations' are idiotic, and none that I read even resembled fraud. Finally, I'll say that I like sneaky, mealy-mouthed, lawyer approved advertising just as little as the next consumer, but I recognize that it is not fraud.

A true example from medicine, which is more familiar to me than car dealerships:
Two headache relief remedies have exactly the same good effect, but 'B' is twice as expensive as 'A' and is advertised non-stop as "no other remedy is better!"

There is no doubt that the people buying 'B' reasoned incorrectly that 'no better' means 'best,' and they wasted their money. The advert wanted that outcome. But guess what ? No fraud exists, and in fact there is not even deceptive advertising. Now compare this everyday example of misled consumers to the AG complaint (my bold)

ALL advertising I have ever seen has the capacity to mislead and is deceptive. That is why we call it "advertising" and not say, a bill of lading.

 

Understood. Lol.

Have a good day. Heading to dinner with the family now

 

First, IANAL

Second, I stand by my blank check analogy. If the consumer could reasonably argue that they thought the forms were complete that would be different.

 

Did someone hang a 2008 business calendar in the dealerships?

Bob Wilson

 

You mean 2007.....

 

You are taking just the pre-signing the blank contract complaint, which contains zero details on what actually transpired, from a list of advertizing fraud complaints, and jumping to the conclusion that the NY AG is over reaching in enforcement of laws.

The central issue of the case against the dealership group seems involve the mailing of around a half million contest promotions that gave the impression that the receiver won something. If attention was ever paid to a lotto scratch off ticket, or even a contest from a national fast food chain, it would be noted that there is a lot of fine print explaining the odds, and what constitutes a winning ticket among the legalese. The game tickets mailed out by this dealership had none of that. They then took it a step further by getting signatures of sales contracts or financing agreements by misleading people into believing it was forms to get the 'prize'.

Were those people stupid for signing something without reading it? Yes, but this isn't a Libertarian country, and society has agreed to protecting the stupid among us is better than living with deceitful and predatory business practices. At least in some areas, but we aren't the politics section.

Since it is a press release from the NY AG office, I'll post it here, though I'm leaving off the list of dealerships for space.

A.G. Schneiderman Announces Settlement With Atlantic Auto Group Over Misleading Advertising And Sales Practices Across 22 Dealerships On Long Island
Promotional Materials Misled Consumers Into Believing They Won Prizes, Staff Deceived Customers Over Pricing

NEW YORK – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced a settlement requiring 22 auto dealerships in Nassau and Suffolk Counties to pay $310,000 in restitution and penalties to resolve false advertising claims. The dealerships, all affiliated with Atlantic Automotive Group based in West Islip, persistently defrauded consumers with misleading promotions and fraudulent sales tactics. In total, the Attorney General’s Nassau and Suffolk Regional Offices received more than 250 complaints regarding the dealerships and their advertising and sales practices.

“Purchasing a car is one of the biggest financial decisions many families will make,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “New Yorkers have a right to navigate the car buying process without being targeted by false and misleading promotions and sales practices.”

Atlantic Automotive Group caused advertisements to be mailed to thousands of Nassau and Suffolk County consumers, with approximately 500,000 promotional items in total distributed by direct mail. The advertisements contained a scratch off game card, a pull tab game card, or a “Triple Diamond” game card where consumers could win a cash prize, a free vehicle, a flat-screen television or an Apple iPad. A winning ticket contained 3 like symbols but it did not explain what, if anything, the consumer won. Instead, consumers were instructed to bring the game card to the dealership during event times in order to claim their prize.

The game cards were deceptive and had the capacity to mislead consumers to believe that they were guaranteed winners of valuable prizes. In fact, virtually all of the consumers did not win a prize at all.

Atlantic Automotive Group also misled consumers through various other deceptive practices by:

• Publishing print advertisements which contained misleading or illegal features in violation of the Attorney General’s Auto Advertising Guidelines and a previous Assurance of Discontinuance entered into with 2 dealerships in the Atlantic Automotive Group;
• Obtaining signatures on contracts of sale and financing agreements from consumers who mistakenly believed that they were filling out paperwork for vehicles they had won as part of the “Triple Diamond”, “scratch-off game card”, or “pull tab game card” promotions;
• Offering false monetary discounts off the sales price of a vehicle, by selling the vehicle at a high retail sales price which had the effect of nullifying the value of the discount offered;
• Charging consumers for extended warranties, vehicle maintenance contracts, and administrative fees related to the purchase of vehicles that consumers did not want, had no knowledge of, or were told there was no charge for these products;
• Providing consumers with blank documents or partially blank documents for their signatures and later filling out the documents with figures and terms other than what was agreed upon by the consumers;
• Failing to give all necessary documents to consumers at the time of purchase;
• Making various false or misleading statements to consumers during high-pressure sales transactions;
• Encouraging consumers to apply for loans that they could not afford; and
• Refusing to refund deposits that had been made by consumers.