Complaint Review: S&S Auto Sales - Darby Pennsylvania

In May 2011 I purchased a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee from S&S Auto. Their ad indicated that the vehicle was in excellent condition. My fiance and I asked several questions while we were there looking at the vehicle and were told it was in excellent condition, that it had no problems and ran fantastic. We were also sold an extended warranty with the car. The only thing wrong with the car at the time (to our knowledge) was the backseat was missing a head rest. The owner Troy offered to replace the head rest if we bought the car and we agreed. We ended up financing it for 15,300 dollars. not realizing the car was only worth 9,225 in excellent condition. Mind you much to our dismay the car was in the worst condition possible.

Now almost August 2011 we still do not have the head rest we were promised. I've called several times only to be called a greedy B** and many other things as well as to be told "We are working on it". I eventually gave up on asking for the head rest realizing I had been scammed and was not going to get it.

Additionally they waited until the day after my tags expired to go to the motor vehicle and do my title work and get my plates. I live in Delaware so after calling almost every day the week before my tags expire I finally get a call back saying that I could drive up and get them. I explained that my T-tags are now expired and I cannot legally drive, could they please mail them since I had already paid for them with a personal check. They refused and said to drive there and if I got pulled over "not their problem". and that would be the only way I would get them. Then they followed it up by saying they wanted cash for the tags. And I said well you accepted my personal check, I would need that back so I know you won't deposit that too, and I would like a receipt since we have already had issues with this head rest situation. They said they do not give receipts. And to this day have still not returned that personal check to me.

Think this was the worst of our nightmares? Oh no it had just begun. About a week into driving the car we heard a knocking noise in the engine, called the dealer they kept saying those engines are loud and not to worry about it. Then the car started stalling and the noise got louder. Called the dealer again and was told the same thing and hung up on. Much to our dismay the engine blew and the car had to be towed to a mechanic only 1 month after buying it. The mechanic told us it needed an entirely new engine as it had a problem with the piston. The rod had slipped. He also told us the car had been jerry rigged before we bought it so that we wouldn't know or hear that it had engine problems. He explained you can do this by putting really thick oil in the engine to muffle the sound. And only after driving it a while would you begin to hear it get louder. That is exactly what happened. He also told us this could have caused an accident if the engine blew while driving, because it would have locked up the transmission and sent the car into nuetral. I was horrified.

To make matters worse the mechanic could not get the extended warranty company we were sold to cooperate. They wouldn't return calls, kept taking messages and said they didn't want to hear about the car. Made every excuse possible to not cover the repairs and the new engine. I have been out a car 5 weeks now I called the dealer and explained that they sold me a bad car it was jerry rigged etc. and that the warranty company is fraudulant and not willing to speak with my mechanic regarding the repairs. They told me "oh well not our problem, you bought it." And I said "but you sold it to me knowing it had a bad engine and never told me, not only that you jerry rigged it to hide it." Again they said "Not our problem" and hung up on me. The staff is rude, they will cuss at you, they will interrupt you several times so you don't even have a chance to tell them why you are calling and explain the problem to them. And they will hang up on you in a heart beat.

I am now stuck with a 15,300 dollar loan a car with no engine and no money to fix the repairs which total 5,000 dollars not counting towing and rental car fees. I cannot drive this car but yet have to keep paying for it. It was only worth $9,225 in excellent condition which obviously it's not even close to that value now. So I have no way out other then to try and spread the word to not buy a car from them. Don't get in the situation I got into. You will become a victim to consumer fraud and be scammed by the biggest scam artists out there. I don't want to see anyone else be stuck the way we are in this huge money pit.

Please I am warning you this place does bad business they have an F rating on the BBB and there are so many complaints out there about them, very similar to my situation.