Lessons to Warnings

My life is peppered with mistakes—let’s call them learning opportunities. That sounds better than I did another idiotic thing. But sometimes those lessons need to be shared. You should be warned.

Let’s go.

A few weeks ago, I was in Utah for my daughter’s dance performance. I also was there to help her get a car. We had been looking online for a while, and felt like we had narrowed down what we were looking to buy.

Saturday morning came, and the two of us drove to Action Auto Sales in Lehi, Utah. This is your warning—don’t go there. Don’t let anyone you know go there. On that beautiful spring morning, I forgot some of my dad’s best advice, that when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

SIGH.

We looked at several cars. We were interested in one more than others, one we had seen on their website. We asked about it. We were told it wasn’t at this location but they could bring it over in about an hour. We wanted to wait. In the meantime, we test drove several other cars. The time ticked by and the car we wanted didn’t come. They suggested we grab some lunch and then it would be there. We got lunch.

No car.

My patience was running out.

Julie had limited time before she had to be at the show venue. I was flying back home to Texas the following morning. We sat and waited.

Finally, the car we really wanted to see arrived. It looked nice and drove great. We were ready to move. The price was higher than I thought it was worth, so I asked about a reduction. The salesman said there may be a little wiggle room, but I would need to talk to the manager.

We waited for several more minutes and then went into the office to discuss details. I was surprised when the price was lower, but figured they were willing to work with us. Great! It was a good car and would be a good fit for Julie. The deal was made, the money was paid, and Julie drove the new-to-her-car home. It was straight forward and done…my two favorite things.

Not quite.

Hours later, right before the show started, Julie sent me a text from Action Auto Sales in Lehi. Paulo, the salesman we worked with, had given the cashier the wrong VIN number. The wrong VIN! Who does that? So we paid the wrong price for a car Julie was driving that she didn’t actually own. 😡 No worries though, they had many suggestions for us. We could bring the car back, they would return the check, or we could trade for the car we actually bought (having never seen that car, driven that car, had no information about that car!). OR—we could just pay them $2000 more and resign the paperwork.

wut?!?

Shocked doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt. Betrayed? Duped? Taken for a ride??? Stupid? STUCK?

Yes, to all of it.

We had no time to get back that night, and both Brian and I flew home the next day.

I called to talk to someone. Action Auto Sales is closed on Sunday. I called them on Monday. No one answers the phone. EVER. Even when they are open. But they DID text me back. I inquired about the car we had actually bought? Could we see that one? The answer was no, because they had already sold it. 😳😡😡 What VIN number did they use for that car?

Texts flew back and forth for a while. They were so apologetic, claiming this kind of thing NEVER happens! I highly doubt that is the truth. They finally agreed to a discount of $100. Oh BOY! I almost fainted with delight at such an amazing offer. Really, it was swell.🙄

The end of the story is stupidly aggravating. Julie signed new paperwork, paid the extra money, and drove away.

Another life lesson.

This time, though, I am adding a warning:

Don’t ever buy a car from Action Auto Sales in Lehi, Utah.

And make sure the VIN number matches the actual car you are purchasing.