Well, they just said that they will now refund the deposit. The sales manager said that he did not have the authority but he will finally be able to. I mentioned NAM... maybe that did the trick.

Thanks to all for your responses and help. It looks like I won't have to pursue matters further.

 

Good news! The power of NAM. Thugs that we are!

 

Something is wrong here...I've been a BMW of Towson customer for many, many years. I recently became a Mini of Towson customer as well. I know many of the sales/service/management people at Towson, and have always found them to be honest and upfront.

In my 35 years as a BMW owner, I've always received first class sales and service from Towson. I have found the staff at Mini to be just as good. They, in my experience, do not play the games that many car dealers play, and again, in my experience, are reasonable people.

Unless I'm missing something, I think that a calm, face to face meeting might produce better results than threats of lawsuits, etc.

 

How much was this deposit anyway? If they just faxed you the front of the deposit agreement and it said in "see item 3 back" that it was nonrefundable I'd make that real clear in my letter to the honcho dealer so they understand that by not faxing the whole thing that you didn't understand the deal with the deposit. I have a feeling you'll get your money back if you hang in there. Of course, they just want you to go away. It can't make a lick's worth of difference to a car dealership to worry about some $500 deposit anyway. Heck, they charge that much for fancy floormats don't they?
EDIT: just saw you got it resolved. As it should be. Probably some young MA trying to show the female up because he's ticked he didn't make the sale. Shame on him!

 

at East Bay Mini, they told me that the deposit was refundable up until the car was ordered. After they actually ordered the vehicle, they would not return any deposits.

I ended up ordering from Concord MINI.

 

It looks like all is fine, I have an email saying they will give me my refund back. And yes, I was also surprised that the dealership would do this, I had only heard... Maybe it is indeed their policy that the refunds are not given back but it was the MAs fault that he did not tell me. I would have done business with other area dealership otherwise.

The deposit was $1000. This is probably one of the cheapest cars they will have on the lot so I don't expect it to be there more than a few days... I am blonde and a girl, so everyone thinks I know nothing...

If anyone is interested... it's a Lightning blue w/white, bonnet stripes, cold & premium packages, upgraded stereo, DSC & 16s, cloth seats & checkered dash (they match!), and white lights. Must be really pretty...

 

From the specs, it doesn't sound like you know nothing! Glad to hear that all worked out. It's a shame. I was also considering Towson MINI. My office in is Glen Burnie, and I work out in Fairfax sometimes, so I really had my choice of all three in the greater DC/Baltimore area, Tate, Sterling and Towson. So far I'm happy I went with Tate (the time from placing the order to pushing the start button is estimated at 4 weeks, unheard of!). But I guess I should reserve judgement until I actually am IN the car.

 

Oh, and it is a Cooper S, 6spd. I thought it was a good compromise of handling w/just a few luxuries at a relatively low price $25350.

Oh and btw, I get the "standard dealership treatment" all the time... sometimes i even pretend to be a dumb chick and get a kick out of it

 

minimagyar,

Since your "location" states DC, I have to assume you live in DC proper. If so, consider MINI of Sterling as your next option. Their sales department is wonderful... accented by their honorable policy of never charging over MSRP... even for their allotment of GPs! Not a lot of dealers did that (including MINI of Towson).

Of course, it sounds like you won't be ready again to buy a MINI for a little while yet.

When you are, consider joining DCMM too!

EDIT: Started writing this post about 40 minutes ago... got stuck on the phone... didn't finish it until a few more posts happened, including mention of MoS. Oh well!There's good reason for that... a lot of customers have switched to them. Tate has the worst rep of the three though.

 

Yes, I am in DC proper, next to Georgetown. Mini of Sterling has always been great with me, they just had a much longer waiting list... which in hindsight would have been ok. Oh well, hopefully if I get lots of business right from the start I might be ready in 6 months I am going solo as a web designer, and already have a few jobs waiting for me.

 

I repeat, a deposit is not a contract so a dealer can tell you anything. You have a contract when you sign for your MINI. Sales managers use this trick all the time to create the illusion that a customer is tied to that one vehicle.

 

Do you do work in Flash?

 

I put down a deposit in October for an R56 that I picked up last Saturday. My MA explained at that time that the deposit was completely refundable.

Both the preliminary sales order and the actual one from Rasmussen in Portland said the same thing. It spelled out that it would be refunded 100 percent even if I cancelled after the car arrived in Portland.

I'm glad it sounds like your situation worked out in your favor.

 

Glad this worked out! I will add my 2 cents for the good work of Mini of Sterling. I bought my car from them and was just there yesterday to have them swap for the correct wheels. They've been great to work with and fair in their dealings. I live 3 hours from them so I can be harder to deal with than someone who lives nearby. My MA was great and I'd recommend him to anyone.

 

Before ordering my R56 in Dec 06, I spoke with 3 different dealers in NY and they all told me that unless I had speced out a really crazy and unusual Mini, returning the deposit wouldn't be an issue. At worst, they would keep the deposit till it was sold. And by reading the posts in this thread, it appears that the R56s are going fast, so that shouldn't be an issue.

So, it appears that your dealer is just being a greedy jerk. I would talk to someone senior at the dealership politely and tell them that their not refunding the deposit is highly unusual compared to other dealers. And if they don't budge, as Mini-hound suggested, you can tell them that you are very active in online forums and that you will post negative feedback in as many venues as you can find. Watch that change their response.

And definitely call Mini USA and complain about this dealer as they might be able to call the dealer.

 

If you've already disputed it with the CC company, you need to keep them informed as well. Don't want the dealer giving you back your deposit, and the CC taking back the same amount from them.

 

I think the rules on this vary from state to state, but when I ordered my Mini in New York in 2003 the deposit was refundable once they sold the car if I chose not to buy it. Maryland state Attorney General's office might be helpful for the state policy on this.

 

I'm very glad it worked out for you. NAM did make a difference I'm sure. Now we can all see what a sweetheart dealer they really are. Beats the heck out of calling them bums. Feel the love.

 

Yes, NAM is indeed powerful!

I am glad that I did not have to take things further and that in the end, despite the "misunderstanding" they did the right thing.

Enjoy your Mini's... I'll be watching you from the sidelines till I can get mine

 

I'm glad you're getting your money back.

I doubt the refund has diddly-squat to do with NAM. It probably has much more to do with the dealership simply attempting to keep deposits when they think they might be able to get away with it. Some percentage of customers will simply not dispute it and they get the money. Simple as that.

Whether the dealership can or can't sell the car you ordered has absolutely nothing to do with whether a car deposit is refundable.

What matters is state law and the contract you agreed to. Almost all deposits are made with some kind of sales contract that needs to be signed by both you and an authorized representative of the dealership. Regardless of what you hear on this forum, if this document is properly executed, then it is a legally binding contract - you are saying you are agreeing to buy a certain vehicle within a set period of time for a set price. And if you back out, it is common for the language on these contracts to allow the dealership to keep the deposit - that's why it is called ERNEST MONEY. It gives the contract teeth.

If no sales contract was executed, then deposits are almost universally refundable. If varies from state to state, but generally the laws are very consumer friendly, so there has to be a valid, properly executed, signed contract to legally retain deposits. Having said this, possession is 9/10ths of the law, so don't put money down without a signed agreement.

It sounds like your sales contract was not properly executed. This is common as most dealerships are sloppy and they wouldn't want the bad publicity of retaining a customer's deposit anyway, even if they legally could. You can weasel out of them in most cases. And this is the reason the dealership backed down - they didn't have a binding legal agreement.

Folks, don't take the putting of a deposit down lightly or assume that it will always be refundable. It probably will be, but people lose their car deposits all the time. If you're going to put money down on a car, be reasonably sure you can buy the car, and get it it writing if the deposit is refundable. Don't take the salesperson's word for it - get it in writing.

- Mark