Chrysler dealer, ad agency sign consent decree over deceptive ads

Customers will each get $550 settlement!.

A New Orleans-based marketing company and a Maine Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep dealership have signed a consent decree to prohibit ads that the state attorney general called "unfair and deceptive," according to a report in the Portland Press Herald.

Level 10 Marketing of New Orleans and the dealership did not admit wrongdoing in signing the agreement.

According to the Maine Attorney General, ads for a November 2006 car sale offered "vouchers" that suggested buyers could receive "$4,000 Instant Savings," but those savings were never realized. (any wonder?)

The agreement also said that the marketing company and dealership can't use other promises of savings without documenting those savings. Those promises, including offering cars for sale for "pennies on the dollar," savings of "up to 90 percent off original M.S.R.P," prices "slashed for immediate liquidation” or "wholesale pricing direct to the public.”

Twenty-two customers who purchased vehicles at the Chrysler Dodge Jeep sale will receive refunds of $550 each. The two companies also must pay a civil penalty of $6,250.

Level 10 designed the advertising flyer for the sale and provided a team of salespeople at the dealership to attempt to sell the cars.


INSIDERS ADVICE:

*If you are in the market for a vehicle and hear of a current sale such as the one above, call the dealership and make contact with a salesperson (if you are interested in that particular brand of automobile).

*Set an appointment away from the "festivities".

*Do research online and negotiate a fair deal with a DEALERSHIP EMPLOYEE ONLY.

*You should think twice about buying a car from a dealership that hires a promotional company who brings in it's own salespeople for the "event". It just sounds shady to me. How compliant do you think their F&I practices are?

AFI

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