In need of Credit Card legal advice

[fegettes]

I have a Visa credit card with Barclay's Bank. I am located in Phoenix, and in December, I found a vehicle I was interested in buying off of Craigslist located in Denver at the Colorado Chrysler Jeep dealer . To hold the vehicle until I could go and inspect and purchase the vehicle, I was required to hold the vehicle via a Credit Card. The verbal agreement was that if the vehicle was not as represented via Craigslist, or the salesman, I would not be held accountable to purchase the vehicle and any money held via the credit card would be reimbursed. I flew to Denver with the intentions of driving the vehicle home, inspected the vehicle, found that it was not correctly represented by the Craigslist advertisemen and the salesman, and declined the purchase. They advertised it to be in mint condition on the interior and extrerior, and with only 106K original miles. I found the vehicle to have significant rust on the doors, door jams, fender wells, and undercarriage. The speedometer is a five digit speedometer showing 10K miles, but the engine performance was very sluggish and lack of power, and the steering was incredibly loose indicating that it had multilple hundred thousand of miles. At this point the General Manager became rude and uncooperative, denied any reimbursement on money held via credit card, and refused to provide a return ride back to the airport. I disputed the charge to the Barclay's Bank Credit Card with no resolution. After two months, Barclay's response is that they want a second opinion from a certified mechanic to support the condition of the vehicle. Bottom line, nothing was purchased. Now then, how can Barlay's Bank hold me accountable to pay $5700.00? Any advice out there?

Yesterday, I filed a complaint with the Colorado Attorney General and the BBB via internet, or at least I think I did. Hopefully, I will hear back from them.

Steve

[BUIZILLA]

did you sign a buyers order, that was countersigned and accepted by the dealer and you? if so, and it was an as-is sale, you own it.... if there was no buyers order signed by bothe parties,, and your funds were shown to be a deposit ONLY, then your entitled to your funds being returned. Forget the BBB, they are useless.... I would lean on the local Consumer Protection Agency jurisdiction and get them involved.

[Conquistador_del_mar]

did you sign a buyers order, that was countersigned and accepted by the dealer and you? if so, and it was an as-is sale, you own it.... if there was no buyers order signed by bothe parties,, and your funds were shown to be a deposit ONLY, then your entitled to your funds being returned. Forget the BBB, they are useless.... I would lean on the local Consumer Protection Agency jurisdiction and get them involved.

I agree with Jim here. I might add that you could use your county attorney or lawyer for that extra clout. I am a little surprised that you can not do a chargeback through your credit card company though under the circumstances. You might even threaten the dealer with possible legal action. False advertising is settled with triple damages in some case. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_advertising Good luck, Bill

[motorcity]

You may want to do some checking on Colorado laws. here in Michigan they have to give you back you deposit. I have done it on 2 occasions, when changed my mind. Its pretty sad your crdit card company didn't back you up on this.

[fegettes]

did you sign a buyers order, that was countersigned and accepted by the dealer and you? if so, and it was an as-is sale, you own it.... if there was no buyers order signed by bothe parties,, and your funds were shown to be a deposit ONLY, then your entitled to your funds being returned. Forget the BBB, they are useless.... I would lean on the local Consumer Protection Agency jurisdiction and get them involved.

NO, absolutely nothing was signed. I am so disappointed with the response from Barclay's Bank, and this will be my last transaction through them. I will see what I can do with the Consumer Protection Agency.

Thanks for the responses.
Even though this vehicle was advertised as mint condition, the General Managers attitude was "what did expect, the vehicle is 30 years old", after the salesman verified that there was no rust and the vehicle was in imaculate condition with low mileage. I contained myself, as I was feeling rather livid, and just asked for a ride back to the airport, and then he said, "no way". I just grabbed a taxi, went back to the airport, and paid dearly for the next flight out. This had been a totally bad experience.

[VetteLT193]

In Florida we have a few avenues for consumer protection. google consumer protection in that state, your state, plus the credit card stuff.

I haven't had a problem ever with my credit cards... thank God. but I do charge everything I buy and pay everything off each month.

I am pretty confident that if you request a proof of purchase from the Credit card agency they have to provide it by federal law. if you signed nothing then there will not be a proof of purchase and by law they have to credit you.

[tmh]

What year and make vehicle were you buying? I like the older cars myself (pre 1974 although I'm on the lookout for a 92-94 500E Mercedes, a fast Mercedes)
T.M. Hayes

[Cuda]

I'd tell Barclays to piss up a rope.

[fegettes]

What year and make vehicle were you buying? I like the older cars myself (pre 1974 although I'm on the lookout for a 92-94 500E Mercedes, a fast Mercedes)
T.M. Hayes

The vehicle was a 1975 International Scout as I was looking for some thing to get around the desert in and carry what ever I want with AC versus a quad ATV. And the Scouts had posi trac front and rear differentials. There are some clean ones out there, and I thought per the descriptions advertised, that I had found one. Sure the vehicle is 35 years old, but I can attest that I have a 40 year old Stingray that I have had for 30+ years and it so clean that it has taken first place in every car show it has been in, and there are Scouts out there that some one has taken care of.

[Trueser]

In Florida we have a few avenues for consumer protection. google consumer protection in that state, your state, plus the credit card stuff.

I haven't had a problem ever with my credit cards... thank God. but I do charge everything I buy and pay everything off each month.

I am pretty confident that if you request a proof of purchase from the Credit card agency they have to provide it by federal law. if you signed nothing then there will not be a proof of purchase and by law they have to credit you.

I agree ask them to provide proof of charge.

[BUIZILLA]

actually what they did, is grand theft and credit card fraud

they took your money, and you got nothing in return, and they have refused to return it

no different than a robbery without a firearm

[handfulz28]

Ahh, how many people have bought something from ANY internet vendor and have nothing signed to show for it? No proof of purchase there...

What you did was buy the vehicle with a credit card. The dealer is saying there is no return policy. Barclays really isn't treating their customer well.

We've gotten overly entitled with return policies and (sometimes overly) generous consumer protections.

You got taken by a bad dealer and you're going to have to fight a little to get your money back. Re-read your credit card docs to confirm what your rights are with regard to fraudulent charges. That might be your best bet. Then call the dealer's state department that licenses dealers and initiate a complaint. Then threaten RICO since you are an out of state customer.

[McGary911]

Just yesterday I spoke with a friend who had a similar situation. Lives in Florida, and bought a BMW on ebay. The car was in Philly. He put down a deposit pending a mechanic's inspection. The car needed 3 Gs of work. The seller didn't want to get it done, or adjust the price, so they broke the deal. Then the seller claimed that they had time in the car, so they were keeping the deposit as a fee, something like $2500 (think it was a used car dealer).
Paypal wouldn't help out my friend. He then raised a flag with his credit card company. They immediately credited his account and ran with it. The next day my friend got a call from paypal because they now want to help out. Sounds like the credit card company went after them first.

End of the day, he has his money, and is now going to buy his son's first car locally.