Complaint Review: UGLY DUCKLING - Van Nuys California

In May of 2000, I was in the market to buy a car. I didn't have very good credit, and I thought that I would go to Ugly Duckling and try and get a car. I ended up purchasing a 1992 Jeep cherokee from them. I am not totally naive, though but what happened in the dealership was that they had promised to fix certain things on the jeep that were broken, I even got it in writing.

And then I asked the manager of the loc what was the history of the car, he told me that there was nothing wrong with it, that it had a excellent engine, and all this stuff.

Then he told me, in front of witnesses I might add, that if I ever have any problems with the car, that all I had to do was bring it in and the mechanic on site would fix the car for me. All I would have to do was pay for parts. I asked him if I could get that in writing, cuz I was a little hesitant about buying a car "as is" blindly.

He said that he couldn't, but he gave me his word and told me that a verbal contract was just as valid as a written one, so I agreed to purchas the veh. Well the first thing I attempted to do was bring in the car and have the stuff fixed that they had promised to fix, like the missing antennae, and misc stuff.

Well at first they kept telling me to come back tomorrow, and after a week this got old, and I told them that I wanted this fixed, today. They told me they couldn't and if I had a complaint that I had to file it with some other department. Nothing was ever fixed on the veh.

So then about a month after I got the car, I noticed that it was making a funny noise. Something wierd, I didn't know what it was, so I brought it back to the mechanic on site directly and asked him to look at it.

He told me that he was not able to under any circumstances to any work on the veh. I was furious. Well it turns out, that the engine was cracked, and leaking oil, some chain in the transaxel or something was broke, and the transmission went out after I went to another place to get it tuned up.

Then the fuel pump went out, the water pump went out on it, All the brakes were bad, need I say more. So I took it back in, and spoke with the manager(a different one) and she told me that Ugly Duckling soes not do repairs on vehicles, it was my responsibilty to fix these things. End of Story, and if I had a complaint that I had to contact some other dept. Which I did, and nothing to my knowledge ever was done about it.

Then I found out that they had my incorrect social number on file, and none of this was being reported on my credit report. Which is the whole purpose of buying from them, so I could establish credit. Well I of course went in and talked to every person that I could possible talk to.

They told me I had to fax a copy of my social sec. card to them, and call all these depts for a mistake that they made. Well I did all this, and my social security number was never corrected. In Feburary of 2002, My transmission started to act funny again, almost 1 year after I got it repalced, and I was told that my rear differential was going bad.

At this point I simply refused to put anything more into this veh. I went into the office and gave them the key and told them I wanted nothing more to do with them. So now they are calling me, harrassing me, and I really do not know what my options are. I am looking for other people out there who know of any class action law suits or anything that can possible help me. I think there next step is to attempt to garnish my wages.

I mean the blu book value of the car is 3000, I paid 19,000 for the car(I know I am stupid) I already put in 2 years of payments at 400 a month.

They are saying that I still owe them 6,000. I do not want to pay this, and I do not want to have my wages garnished. Someone with any info/advice please contact me. Thank you. I do not want them to get away with this.

Charles

Walnut, California

Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Ugly Duckling Car Sales