Undercharged by dealer

stevenPloops

Earlier this week I bought a secondhand car from a dealership, paying £100 pound on Saturday as a deposit and going in to pay the remaining ~£10000 a couple of days later, both paid by debit card.

For both transactions I was given a cash receipt signed by the sales person "received with thanks!" denoting the correct figures, one for £100, one for £10000 - and so off we drove quite happy.

However, we have since noticed that stapled to back of the cash receipts are the debit card receipts, and that both are for transactions of £100. Checking our account, we found that we have paid just £200 for our car. The dealership have not been in touch yet, so presumably they haven't spotted their error.

Now, I know where I stand morally, I will be contacting the dealership to point out their error even though I doubt they would hesitate to rip me off if they had the chance - its just not how I roll. What I'd like to know is where do we stand legally? If I don't legally have to correct their error, if they legally would otherwise expect to accept their screw up and move on, I might try and get some parking sensors or some other option out of the dealership as a thanks for not simply running off laughing.

Any advice on this matter would be appreciated,

Steve

motorguy

stevenPloops wrote: »

Now, I know where I stand morally, I will be contacting the dealership to point out their error even though I doubt they would hesitate to rip me off if they had the chance - its just not how I roll. What I'd like to know is where do we stand legally? If I don't legally have to correct their error, if they legally would otherwise expect to accept their screw up and move on, I might try and get some parking sensors or some other option out of the dealership as a thanks for not simply running off laughing.

Any advice on this matter would be appreciated,

Steve

Ring them up and let the salesman know and get it sorted. Their accounts department will pick it up very soon anyway and be on the phone.

Legally, you havent paid for the car and they would be within their rights to enforce payment or reclaim the car.

If you dont ring them and hold out until they ring, then you look like you're being deceptive.

The sales guy could lose his job over something like this, so do the obvious thing and give him a call so he can sort it before its escalated.

And i dont think you'll get far with the 'thanks for not stealing our money' "gift"

forgotmyname

As above, If it was a small one man operation or a family thing, I may phone them and wind them up.

But if its a larger company and the salesman is just an expendable employee i would be contacting him directly.

DaftyDuck

BUT, you might as well milk the situation.... Phone them up before they contact you, and say something along the lines of

"Hey, it's MrPloops here, now I'm an honest sort of fellow, and thought I ought to pop into your forecourt and sort out the mistake you made... ah, so you have/haven't noticed.... so, how about a full tank to cover your embarrassment... Local newspaper would love a cheeky shot of you looking red in the face, by the way."

Well, you never know... they might be so delighted you'll sort it out amicably and easily, they'll give you something.... and this is MSE, isn't it? After all, although you (and everybody) are agreed you should pay, they'll have a huge amount of paperwork to do in chasing you - if you don't come in quietly, gov

mad_rich

No harm in asking, I suppose.

But you have to remember, you haven't really saved the dealer any money. It would have caught up with you in the end.

Agree that going straight to the salesman you were dealing with, and asking him to return the favour.

ado

stevenPloops wrote: »

Now, I know where I stand morally, I will be contacting the dealership to point out their error even though I doubt they would hesitate to rip me off if they had the chance - its just not how I roll. What I'd like to know is where do we stand legally? If I don't legally have to correct their error, if they legally would otherwise expect to accept their screw up and move on, I might try and get some parking sensors or some other option out of the dealership as a thanks for not simply running off laughing.

Any advice on this matter would be appreciated,

Steve

It sounds as though you intend to pay the correct amount but if you were unscrupulous and decided not to pay when you were aware that you had not paid the correct amount then it would be theft. You knew the price was £10,000 and you agreed to pay £10,000. The salesman made an error and input the incorrect amount which you later became aware of. The offence is complete if you did nothing about it when you became aware of the incorrect payment.

Horizon81

As for the post above, it's hardly theft. It's an administrative error.

I doubt you'll get anything out of it for your honesty. Why not wait till they call you though. If they call you. It's their mistake, not yours, although if I was sticking 10 large on my debit card I would have at least checked and double checked the amount before I input my PIN in the machine. What if the salesman had put in £100,000!

albionrovers

Why clock up your own phone bill for their error? To help the salesman keep his job ... ask for a freebie.

Else wait for them to contact you.

motorguy

Horizon81 wrote: »

As for the post above, it's hardly theft. It's an administrative error.

I doubt you'll get anything out of it for your honesty. Why not wait till they call you though. If they call you. It's their mistake, not yours, although if I was sticking 10 large on my debit card I would have at least checked and double checked the amount before I input my PIN in the machine. What if the salesman had put in £100,000!

It wont now be picked up until the accounts are done up, probably at month end. By ringing the salesman you are giving him the opportunity to sort it out prior to it becoming an escalation, and therefore not risk losing his job.

O/P - do the right thing - ring the salesman so he can correct this before hes landed in a heap of trouble.

motorguy

albionrovers wrote: »

Why clock up your own phone bill for their error? To help the salesman keep his job ... ask for a freebie.

And who would be authorising the 'freebie'? Answer - someone higher up the chain, thus it becomes an escalation.

Salesman to Sales Manager - "would it be ok if i gave a customer a £200 freebee as i cocked up and didnt charge them for the car they just bought?"

Yeah thats going to work out well for the salesman.

colino

Unless it's an incredibly chaotic place, I'm amazed this hasn't been picked up already. First thing junior accounts person needs to do is tally sale with payment and should have picked that up. Perhaps the salesman has already (unsuccessfully) tried to push through a user not present adjustment and has now hot-footed it round to the OP with a smile and a bunch of flowers.