Bad Business practice at the Holiday world in League City, Texas yesterday.. Located a trailer I liked. Salesman quoted me the price, I made a conter offer, salesmen checked with his boss and returned and said he would sell it a that price. Went back inside and started Filling out the paper work and credit application waiting for the wife to arrive to show her the trailer. After filling out all the paper work and giving him a $2,000 dollar deposit, He came back and said it was sold 10 minutes ago... I guess someone must of had a better $ offer after we walked away from the trailer ....You would think that the sales manager would have contact the salesman to verify he was still working on the deal and paperwork... I spoke with the sales manager and he said Sorry! This seems to be Bad Business practice. What a waist of time at the Holiday World in League City Tx. I will look some where else to buy !!!

I would probably never go back.

The exact same thing happened to us several years ago with a car. We were on a lot and found a car we liked. Went into the office (we had our own financing) to fill out the papers and when the salesman went to get the keys, they were gone. Another salesman sold it and grabbed the keys. Didn't seem to be a big deal to anyone in the office. They found us another car (same as on their lot) on another lot and had it to us in two days.

841 wrote:Bad Business practice at the Holiday world in League City, Texas yesterday.. Located a trailer I liked. Salesman quoted me the price, I made a conter offer, salesmen checked with his boss and returned and said he would sell it a that price. Went back inside and started Filling out the paper work and credit application waiting for the wife to arrive to show her the trailer. After filling out all the paper work and giving him a $2,000 dollar deposit, He came back and said it was sold 10 minutes ago... I guess someone must of had a better $ offer after we walked away from the trailer ....You would think that the sales manager would have contact the salesman to verify he was still working on the deal and paperwork... I spoke with the sales manager and he said Sorry! This seems to be Bad Business practice. What a waist of time at the Holiday World in League City Tx. I will look some where else to buy !!!Yeah, surely it couldn't be the truth...God forbind two different salesmen try to sell the same trailer at the same time. On the other hand your probably right, every trailer they sell...they come back and say "it was sold 10 minutes ago" :S

The sales manager would know right up front if a unit is sold or not. If it were a true mistake they world apologize and work a special deal for you on a different unit. Based on what you state happened I would walk away and never look back as well as tell my friends so they do not get hurt. If you can't trust a dealership on the front end you definitely cannot trust their service.

Bad Business Practice at Holiday World in League City Tx.

43 Replies

dieharder
Explorer
Apr 04, 2014
Sorry, but much like the saying "The early bird gets the worm", in this case "The first one to get their paperwork in gets to buy".

The sales manager doesn't know the unit is sold until he gets the paperwork. Turns out there were 2 salesmen working on selling the same unit at the same time, and yours was a little slow in getting it done and, obviously, took more than 10 minutes to complete it. In the meantime, the other guy got his done and submitted it. It happens sometimes, doubt you're the first one, nor will you be the last, either at this dealer or elsewhere.

Sorry, but I don't see this as a bad practise whatsoever. Their job is to make the sale, doesn't matter whether it's to you or someone else.
dodge_guy
Explorer II
Apr 03, 2014
Fordlover wrote:
841 wrote:
Bad Business practice at the Holiday world in League City, Texas yesterday.. Located a trailer I liked. Salesman quoted me the price, I made a conter offer, salesmen checked with his boss and returned and said he would sell it a that price. Went back inside and started Filling out the paper work and credit application waiting for the wife to arrive to show her the trailer. After filling out all the paper work and giving him a $2,000 dollar deposit, He came back and said it was sold 10 minutes ago... I guess someone must of had a better $ offer after we walked away from the trailer ....You would think that the sales manager would have contact the salesman to verify he was still working on the deal and paperwork... I spoke with the sales manager and he said Sorry! This seems to be Bad Business practice. What a waist of time at the Holiday World in League City Tx. I will look some where else to buy !!!

I know it sucks, but that is how it works at least on the car lot. The rule at the dealer I worked at was whoever had the keys to the car had first rights to sell it. And to keep salespeople from hording keys, they would get in trouble if they had keys checked out of the machine for more than a couple hours.

Exactly right. I used to work at a dealer and that is exactly how it works. when I bought my X back in 06 there was another guy that just finished looking at it and told the salesman that he was going to go get his wife. I thought ya sure I know how the stories work! well I looked at it and decided I wanted it. was going to low ball them, but as we were doing the paper work, we had the keys and were in the process of doing paperwork, the previous guy came back with his wife! (sometimes the stories are true). so yes that is how it works. however I agree it is wrong to sell it when they know they have a buyer already in the process of paperwork!
RandACampin
Explorer II
Apr 03, 2014
bigdogger wrote:
Bombfixer wrote:
If you had put a deposit on that unit, that constitutes an implied contract of your good faith to purchase the unit. If the dealer sold the unit to another person after you deposit was accepted the dealership was liable for fraud and you should have demanded compensation for your wasted time. Once I was visiting a car dealership looking at new trucks, I turned my trade-in key over to the dealership for an appraisal while I browsed the lot. Long story short, they sold my car while i was shopping. I didnt find out until i tried to leave. Selling a vehicle without legally owning it cost the dealership a brand new truck with all the bells and whistles for free in return for my signed release not to pursue legal action.
Sounds like a couple of doses of internet urban legend to me. A dealership would not be able to sell a vehicle they did not own. It wouldn't appear in their inventory, they wouldn't have the information necessary to fill out a sales contract and they surely wouldn't deliver a vehicle they hadn't even checked into their inventory. Then they wouldn't give away a new truck to someone. Even if they made all those mistakes, they would just get the trade in back and give it back to you. As for a deposit equating a commitment to purchase...bunk. Try enforcing such a policy the other way around, the dealer suing the deposit placer for specific performance to complete the transaction. Cannot happen. A deposit without an accepted and valid sales contract is worthless. Doesn't create any obligation to either party.

Ding ding ding...we have a winner!
bigdogger
Explorer II
Apr 03, 2014
Bombfixer wrote:
If you had put a deposit on that unit, that constitutes an implied contract of your good faith to purchase the unit. If the dealer sold the unit to another person after you deposit was accepted the dealership was liable for fraud and you should have demanded compensation for your wasted time. Once I was visiting a car dealership looking at new trucks, I turned my trade-in key over to the dealership for an appraisal while I browsed the lot. Long story short, they sold my car while i was shopping. I didnt find out until i tried to leave. Selling a vehicle without legally owning it cost the dealership a brand new truck with all the bells and whistles for free in return for my signed release not to pursue legal action.
Sounds like a couple of doses of internet urban legend to me. A dealership would not be able to sell a vehicle they did not own. It wouldn't appear in their inventory, they wouldn't have the information necessary to fill out a sales contract and they surely wouldn't deliver a vehicle they hadn't even checked into their inventory. Then they wouldn't give away a new truck to someone. Even if they made all those mistakes, they would just get the trade in back and give it back to you. As for a deposit equating a commitment to purchase...bunk. Try enforcing such a policy the other way around, the dealer suing the deposit placer for specific performance to complete the transaction. Cannot happen. A deposit without an accepted and valid sales contract is worthless. Doesn't create any obligation to either party.
Fordlover
Explorer
Apr 03, 2014
841 wrote:
Bad Business practice at the Holiday world in League City, Texas yesterday.. Located a trailer I liked. Salesman quoted me the price, I made a conter offer, salesmen checked with his boss and returned and said he would sell it a that price. Went back inside and started Filling out the paper work and credit application waiting for the wife to arrive to show her the trailer. After filling out all the paper work and giving him a $2,000 dollar deposit, He came back and said it was sold 10 minutes ago... I guess someone must of had a better $ offer after we walked away from the trailer ....You would think that the sales manager would have contact the salesman to verify he was still working on the deal and paperwork... I spoke with the sales manager and he said Sorry! This seems to be Bad Business practice. What a waist of time at the Holiday World in League City Tx. I will look some where else to buy !!!

I know it sucks, but that is how it works at least on the car lot. The rule at the dealer I worked at was whoever had the keys to the car had first rights to sell it. And to keep salespeople from hording keys, they would get in trouble if they had keys checked out of the machine for more than a couple hours.
Bombfixer
Explorer
Apr 02, 2014
If you had put a deposit on that unit, that constitutes an implied contract of your good faith to purchase the unit. If the dealer sold the unit to another person after you deposit was accepted the dealership was liable for fraud and you should have demanded compensation for your wasted time. Once I was visiting a car dealership looking at new trucks, I turned my trade-in key over to the dealership for an appraisal while I browsed the lot. Long story short, they sold my car while i was shopping. I didnt find out until i tried to leave. Selling a vehicle without legally owning it cost the dealership a brand new truck with all the bells and whistles for free in return for my signed release not to pursue legal action.
PeteK-Hou
Explorer
Apr 02, 2014
2112 wrote:
And I never went to yelp to give them 5 stars. As with places like here or anywhere else, you only hear about the bad. There may be a 100 pleased customers to every unsatisfied customer but you will only hear from 1. There are others here that were pleased with HW LC. I doubt they posted anything on yelp either. That's the sad part about review sites.

+1
2112
Explorer II
Apr 02, 2014
And I never went to yelp to give them 5 stars. As with places like here or anywhere else, you only hear about the bad. There may be a 100 pleased customers to every unsatisfied customer but you will only hear from 1. There are others here that were pleased with HW LC. I doubt they posted anything on yelp either. That's the sad part about review sites.
MrVan
Explorer
Apr 02, 2014
RandACampin wrote:
Ron3rd wrote:
Holiday world in League City, Texas: SPREAD THE WORD!

Why, on some unverified one-sided rant? There is no proof, yet you want to campaign to drum these guys out of business? You should be ashamed and at the very least stop bandwaggoning and use a little common sense.

What proof do you have they didn't do what the op said they did do.?
SteveRuff
Explorer
Apr 02, 2014
2112 wrote:
SteveRuff wrote:
They actually did you a huge favor. This dealership has many negative reports about bad, shoddy, or deceptive work done after a sale. They seem to be among those dealers who want to sell you a rig then disavow any responsibility after the fact.
All I can say is my experience with them has been good and have not heard anything negative. I had two warranty issues with the Outback and they resolved those in a professional manner.

I will say that I was referring more to the dealership in Katy, however the one in League City also has a one star rating on Yelp. The Yelp reviews in the Katy location are universally bad. I am glad you had good service and I would hope this is the trend for this dealership because we could certainly use a good reliable place for maintenance and repair work in the south Houston area.