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Old 15th November 2017, 21:42   #16
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Re: Scam alert: Dealership offers fake discounts, then asks customers to cough up the difference

Lets make it simple. What happens when you negotiate a discount (which is not mentioned in writing anywhere), buy the car by paying the discounted amount, car is registered and all formalities (including RTO) are completed.

Then out of the blues, the 'police' call you saying you are a part of fraud played upon by sales representative and yourself with the showroom (this negates whatever formalities including RTO and bank that you may have completed and taken delivery of the car without full payment - here the showroom's case is sales rep and you are hand in glove)!!! Here police is the keyword since a call from showroom is not going to get anyone to even listen that too about outstanding payment.

So I feel its a simple trick which any showroom can play. Hence, the question in the first post is how to avoid such things. Most showrooms say they can't give discount in writing since its against company policy to give discount of more than x amount.

Last edited by akshay81 : 15th November 2017 at 21:44.
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Old 15th November 2017, 23:50   #17
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Re: Scam alert: Dealership offers fake discounts, then asks customers to cough up the difference

Quote:
Originally Posted by akshay81 View Post
Then out of the blues, the 'police' call you saying you are a part of fraud played upon by sales representative and yourself with the showroom (this negates whatever formalities including RTO and bank that you may have completed and taken delivery of the car without full payment - here the showroom's case is sales rep and you are hand in glove)!!! Here the police are the keyword since a call from the showroom is not going to get anyone to even listen to about outstanding payment.
The dealer has to submit a Sale certificate along with the vehicle insurance to RTO to register a new car. The Sale certificate will have the details of hire-purchase/lease/hypothecation, so there is no way a dealer can harass the vehicle owner after registration is completed.
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Last edited by deehunk : 15th November 2017 at 23:52.
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Old 16th November 2017, 10:38   #18
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Re: Scam alert: Dealership offers fake discounts, then asks customers to cough up the difference

I've read about similar scams in the USA:

When the Dealership steals back the car they just sold you

What to do if a car dealer says they made a 'Mistake' on your contract
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Old 16th November 2017, 11:02   #19
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Re: Scam alert: Dealership offers fake discounts, then asks customers to cough up the difference

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Originally Posted by akshay81 View Post
Lets make it simple. What happens when you negotiate a discount (which is not mentioned in writing anywhere), buy the car by paying the discounted amount, car is registered and all formalities (including RTO) are completed.
This is my basic doubt. How can the invoice mention the full price and not the price agreed upon (inclusive of discounts)?

Whenever we've bought a car, the invoice has mentioned the amount we paid for it. The ex-showroom remained constant but the dealer adjusted the discount by mentioning a line item saying discount.

So, the amount transferred via downpayment and loan corresponded to the invoice amount. Hence, there's no discrepancy. I understand people aren't always diligent in an emotional purchase such as a vehicle, but this is a fairly fundamental issue.
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Old 17th November 2017, 22:44   #20
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Re: Scam alert: Dealership offers fake discounts, then asks customers to cough up the difference

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Originally Posted by deehunk View Post
The dealer has to submit a Sale certificate along with the vehicle insurance to RTO to register a new car. The Sale certificate will have the details of hire-purchase/lease/hypothecation, so there is no way a dealer can harass the vehicle owner after registration is completed.
Of course no legal way to do it but what stops scamsters from demanding money using state machinery and not putting anything in writing? If what they did had any legal backing, they would put it in writing. Even I am surprised with the level of ignorance of the people who got scammed.
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Old 18th January 2018, 16:58   #21
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Re: Scam alert: Dealership offers fake discounts, then asks customers to cough up the difference

Update: The dealer has now sent a legal notice to the customer saying that his employees were hand in glove with the customer and they have defrauded the showroom. The dealer has alleged that he has filed police complaint against his employees as well.
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Old 18th January 2018, 17:20   #22
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Re: Scam alert: Dealership offers fake discounts, then asks customers to cough up the difference

Too many loophole:
1. Why is the dealer name not used here. If 140 customers are duped its a serious matter.
2. How did bank approve loans? did they not see something strange.
3. How can buyer be responsible? The sales rep is employed by the dealer.
4. How can dealer be so stupid? Every dealer has inventory data day in day out. Don't they know how much money they received vs no of car sold?
5. Invoice and RTO. Road tax is paid based on Invocied amount. Current RTO's are smart 5 lac discount on 147 cars sounds alarming.

Lastly unless this is a Chevy dealer , it will be really difficult to sell 147 cars at such a steep discount!
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Old 18th January 2018, 19:02   #23
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Re: Scam alert: Dealership offers fake discounts, then asks customers to cough up the difference

More clarity in the matter - The case being made out by the showroom is that:

1. The car was purchased for Rs.XX,XX,XXX/- and invoice of the same amount has been issued to the customer by Ms.XYZ (RM of the showroom).
2. However, upon inspecting accounts, it transpired that only Rs.XXXXXX/- has been paid and Ms.XYZ illegally adjusted remaining balance with the account of another customer and tallied the account and obtained gate pass fraudulently.
3. FIR has been filed against Ms.XYZ and the showroom believes that the RM and customer are hand in glove.
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Old 18th January 2018, 19:15   #24
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Re: Scam alert: Dealership offers fake discounts, then asks customers to cough up the difference

Quote:
Originally Posted by akshay81 View Post
More clarity in the matter - The case being made out by the showroom is that:
----
3. FIR has been filed against Ms.XYZ and the showroom believes that the RM and customer are hand in glove.
Showroom should sue the RM then, this is an internal fraud that has happened at the dealership. Customer cannot be pulled in. Legally once the registration done and invoice etc handed over, dealer has no stance. Unless they can prove with concrete evidence that it is a criminal act done by customer along with RM.

And i don't think any cop station in current scenario will play along for 100 such cases just like that.

Edit: it is normal to give a detailed split up of discounts by any dealer worth their penny when it happens. All of them are audited and they need paper trail.

Last edited by Jaggu : 18th January 2018 at 19:17.
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Old 19th January 2018, 10:18   #25
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Re: Scam alert: Dealership offers fake discounts, then asks customers to cough up the difference

While everyone has already pointed out loopholes in the story, what makes me wonder is what possibly could be the motive here. The dealer only gets the invoice value which is what he would have got anyways if he offered no discounts. Selling a lot of cars due to to-good-to-be-true discounts? As someone mentioned, unless the dealer belongs to Chevrolet, how does it make sense for the dealer to sell car with deep discount and then chase customers for money. I guess every day the money is not with dealer, he is losing his precious working capital.

As for connivance of RM, all of my vehicle purchases have involved going to the accountant who deals with payments and gives a confirmation that payment in full has been received only post which am I allowed to take delivery. For this to work, even the accountant of dealership must be involved.

Also, if I get the delivery of vehicle and register it in my name, can the dealer even come back and ask for more money unless there is a document stating that there is a due payment, which of course must be signed by me.

Quote:
Originally Posted by akshay81 View Post
2. However, upon inspecting accounts, it transpired that only Rs.XXXXXX/- has been paid and Ms.XYZ illegally adjusted remaining balance with the account of another customer and tallied the account and obtained gate pass fraudulently.
And the accountant was on leave? The accountant has one job and he was taken for ride by the RM so easily? If this even happened, this clearly indicates that showroom recorded that sale was made to customer against full invoice value. Now where did the balance payment from scammed customer go? Was it collected in cash and RM ran away with that money?

I am sorry but this story reads like those stories Quora which gather thousands of upvotes and are just pieces of fiction.
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Old 19th January 2018, 11:53   #26
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Pune Nexa showroom allegedly rolls out 40 cars without full payment!

A huge scam has been uncovered at Maruti-Suzuki's premium Nexa dealership at Fatima Nagar, Pune.

While the boss of the showroom has accused a staff member of giving out several vehicles without receiving full payment, giving huge discounts on cars without getting sanctions from the CEO, accepting cash from customers without issuing receipts and did not deposit the money with the company, the accused employee has in turn claimed that the boss is making her a scapegoat of a scam which was carried out by him and his friends.

Pune Nexa showroom allegedly rolls out 40 cars without full payment! More details on page 2-62563233.jpg
(Employee Jayesh on left, owner Nikki on right)

Quote:
If the owner’s allegations are to be believed, Sarika Sharma, the 37-year old relationship manager took the dealership for a ride. In the FIR filed by the owner, Nikki Sehgal, he has stated that he grew suspicious when she sold the highest number of vehicles for a couple of months in a row. While she was felicitated for the achievement, Sehgal claims he was unable to come to grips with the fact that she sold as many as 29 cars in a month, while others were barely able to go beyond five to eight vehicles.

Sehgal claims he ordered a forensic audit by KPMG, which revealed that Sharma had allegedly duped the dealership. The FIR alleges that the accused gave out several vehicles without receiving full payment, gave huge discounts on cars without getting sanctions from the CEO, accepted cash from customers without issuing receipts and did not deposit the money with the company. Registered on charges of cheating, breach of trust, theft and conspiracy under sections 408, 418, 381 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code, the FIR names Sharma, senior relationship manager Jayesh Vengurlekar and delivery coordinator Sandeep Shinde.

Sehgal in his statement to Wanowrie cops said that the audit revealed that Sharma gave away brand new cars without getting full payment. This was done by adjusting payments received from a few customers against others who had given partial payments. This way, the FIR alleges, the books of accounts showed that the entire money for a car had been received and vehicle was delivered. Sehgal claims that the scam did not stop at that. The staffer also took away a Baleno for herself by claiming that she had paid for the vehicle. However, the audit apparently revealed that she had showed money received from other buyers as her own in books of accounts.

Meanwhile, Sharma has been running from pillar to post to get her complaint against Sehgal and a few others registered. She claims that she is being dragged in a mess not her making. Sharma contends that a few people approached her and booked vehicles in bulk in multiple names. These, according to her, were friends of her boss. Much later, she learnt that some of these people had been delivered vehicles even though full value of the cars had not been received. Sharma alleged that she is being made a scapegoat in the entire scam, which has been orchestrated by Sehgal and his friends.

I was approached by a few people who met me as customers and booked 100 cars in different names. I received payment details from them and forwarded them to the accounts section. Most of these cars were delivered without complete payments and that can only happen when there is permission from the director (Nikki Sehgal). I had nothing to do with it. I was even awarded a car for these sales. After some time though, I was accused of fraud by Sehgal that I allowed the cars to roll out without proper payments. How is it possible? And all these four customers were Nikki’s friends. I was under intense pressure and even wanted to end my life as when I approached the police, they didn’t hear my plea. We even went to the commissioner of police but my FIR is still not registered,” Sharma alleged.

Backing Sharma’s story is her superior, Jayesh Vengurlekar. He has also filed an FIR against Sehgal alleging that he was ruthlessly thrashed and his cellphones taken away. “On September 12, 2017, Nikki Sehgal called me in his office. Nikki, his brother Johnny Sehgal, along with five bouncers, beat me up and forced me to reveal the passwords of my phones and then took them saying that I had committed the fraud whereas I had nothing to do with it. Despite approaching the police a number of times, they didn’t file my complaint. Then I filed a private complaint with the court which then directed the police to register the FIR against Nikki and his men. I don’t have anything to do with the release of even a single car as cars without payments cannot be delivered without director’s permission. The police were non-cooperative every time we approached them.” His FIR alleging extortion and causing hurt in committing robbery has been filed under sections 394, 389, 386 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.
Pune Mirror

Last edited by RavenAvi : 19th January 2018 at 11:54.
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Old 19th January 2018, 12:02   #27
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re: Pune Nexa showroom allegedly rolls out 40 cars without full payment!

Quote:
Originally Posted by RavenAvi View Post
A huge scam has been uncovered at Maruti-Suzuki's premium Nexa dealership at Fatima Nagar, Pune.
Is this same as mentioned in this thread?
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Old 19th January 2018, 12:17   #28
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re: Pune Nexa showroom allegedly rolls out 40 cars without full payment!

Quote:
Originally Posted by RavenAvi View Post
A huge scam has been uncovered at Maruti-Suzuki's premium Nexa dealership at Fatima Nagar, Pune.

....the accused employee has in turn claimed that the boss is making her a scapegoat of a scam which was carried out by him and his friends.
From my experience working as a salesman, I can assure you that the employee is being made a scapegoat for sure. In the larger scheme of things, it is very difficult to believe that just one salesperson, his senior and the delivery co-ordinator could run this op without having someone in accounts, backend, as well as someone from the owners involved. Frankly, in a place where you have to take permission of boss to give 2 chocolate boxes instead of one, such a scam seems impossible to pull off by a sales person.

Quote:
Originally Posted by blackwasp View Post
• It's important to stick to your beliefs despite the pressure from management. I had a policy of not delivering vehicles without a registration number, but I had to give in when someone close to the owner got a couple of cars. I have seen the problems faced when the Police come across unregistered cars, or when they met with an accident. Not worth the trouble for a sales person as ultimately, he'll be the one held responsible.
After this one experience, I always used to send SMS, email as well as mention on the invoice that car won't be delivered without registration number. I even directed a couple of customers who wanted cars their ASAP to other salesmen who were more than willing to adjust on this matter.
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Old 19th January 2018, 13:02   #29
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Re: Scam alert: Dealership offers fake discounts, then asks customers to cough up the difference

Before judging this thread as a "fiction" to "gather thousands of upvotes", please read today's Pune Mirror (front page). The showroom in question is Sehgal Auto (Nexa). The newspaper has stated both versions - version of the showroom and version of the staff.

http://punemirror.indiatimes.com/pun...w/62560937.cms
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Old 19th January 2018, 13:56   #30
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Re: Scam alert: Dealership offers fake discounts, then asks customers to cough up the difference

I eat my own words! My intent was not to ridicule anyone and sincerely apologise for that. However, the news article does not mention about customers being threatened to pay the balance. In fact, the RM side of story claims that customers were friends of dealer.
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