Last week, we were told of an elderly disabled veteran who had been taken advantage of by a car dealer.
His wife told us that this veteran is on medication for PTSD that affects his memory and other mental processes. He enjoyed walking along a row of car dealers near his Tacoma home and looking at the vehicles. "It's a guy thing," she explained.
Living on disability, he didn't have the money to buy a new car and didn't have the need either. He was not interested in buying anything and most of the dealers left him alone. Perhaps some of them were smart enough to appreciate having a guy looking over their offerings, since customers tend to go where there are already customers.
However, one afternoon a dealer sent a salesman out to this guy. The veterans remembers saying that he was just looking and not interested in buying, and then there is a gap in his memory. The next thing he remembers, he was in the sales office being congratulated on buying a $22,000 truck.
The veteran walked home and told his wife something odd had happened. She told him he needed to go back and find out what happened; he didn't have anything in writing, such as a contact.
The next day, he was at the dealership at 9AM. They told him he had signed a contract, so he owned the truck. He said he didn't remember that, he was on medication and didn't want a truck he couldn't use anyway. They told it that was tough, they had his signature and a $500 down payment from his debit card.
The wife called them to explain he was on medication and couldn't fairly sign a contract, and they hung up on her. She went to the dealership and spoke to the general manager; he told he that there was nothing he could do; they had sold the vehicle and was preparing it for delivery.
On Saturday, they called the veteran and told him to come and get the truck. He was quite unhappy about the situation; it is difficult to deal with PTSD and car salesmen at the same time. His wife got on the phone and told the dealer to stop harassing her husband.
The wife called Washington State's Attorney General's Office, and also the state department for helping the elderly. She says she was told that this dealership was the source of frequent complaints but there was nothing the state could do if there was a signed contract.
She then contacted a lawyer who forwarded the issue to the listserve of the Legal Assistance to Military Personnel Section of the Washington State Bar Association. This group does not itself perform pro bono services, but its members are generally interested in serving our servicemembers, veterans and their families. Through this listserve, Veterans and Friends of Puget Sound learned of this situation.
- I called the veteran's home and discussed the matter with the wife. She confirmed the report given to the listserve and added some details, and gave us permission to make further inquiries on their behalf.
- I called the dealer asking for more information. I was directed to the general manager's voicemail where I left a detailed message and my phone number. I did this twice. I received no response either time.
- I went to the dealer's website and left an inquiry with my contact information. Again, no response.
- I went to the Facebook page of the dealer's national brand carmaker, and left an inquiry. This seems to have disappeared
- I talked this over with Cyril Miller, VAF's Chairman. We agreed this was outrageous; regardless of the status of the contract, the dealer always has the power to rescind a contract made with a mentally disabled person. If this was an innocent mistake on their part, they could do the right thing quickly and without fanfare, or even earn some praise for doing the right thing. On the other hand, if they continued to try to get this disabled veterans' money, they were the lowest of the low and deserved the fullest shaming for their business practices.
- We started contacting persons who might be interested. Investigative reporters at the first two TV stations expressed great interest and wanted to set up immediate interviews with the wife. Officials at the Washington DVA and the Veterans' Affairs Specialist in the Washington Attorney General's Office likewise expressed interest and implied they would look into this.
- We introduced the story to a number of investigative reporters, at least one of which did an excellent job of interviewing the parties on both sides of the issue. I'm not naming this person because I don't know whether publicity is desired, but I would guess that being interviewed may have motivated the dealership's manager to think about this matter more seriously.
- Throughout this process, we contacted the wife because the veteran preferred to keep his head down. We have to respect his privacy and his wishes; in helping people you don't want to make things worse! We also tried to keep the number of phone calls to the wife to a reasonable number, while still coordinating efforts. Ultimately we agreed to go meet them early next week to plan out a campaign of naming and shaming the the dealership, on the grounds that there are over a million people in Puget Sound country who are either veterans or family or friends of veterans, and none of them would approve of this treatment. If decency won't motivate a company, perhaps financial self-interest will.
On Friday I was pleased to learn that the transaction was going to be cancelled; the veteran was going to get his money back and the dealership would stop harassing him. We don't know yet which step made the difference, or even if it was just a sudden attack of conscience by the car dealership. We may never know. But let us be happy that, this time, things have worked out.
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UPDATE:
When I followed up with the veteran's wife, she said that the refund for the $500 had not arrived. I called the dealership a couple of times and was assured the check had been mailed. After two weeks and no check, I called to ask when we should show up as a group to collect the check. The manager asked me to wait on hold; after about five minutes, he got back on the line, said that the check had been mailed to a certain address. I told him that was different from the address that the veteran had given me, and asked when we could all come down to get a new check. He said that if the veteran's wife came there the next day at 3 PM, the check would be at the front desk.
I reported this to the wife, who seemed happy to go get the check on her own. The next day, she called us and said that not only was the check at the front desk, the entire building was surrounded with the dealer's vehicles; there were no parking spaces nearby for what the dealer may have feared was a huge media and veteran presence.
There is of course no way of knowing what exactly happened, but we don't have to make any assumptions; the client got the money back and all is well!
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And next time? I'm thinking of putting together a campaign in
the name of the Huling Brothers, a car dealership that was destroyed after it took advantage of a mentally disabled man. As we helped the family in this week's case, we received numerous hints that this sort of thing was pretty common. It might be worthwhile getting an intern to check around, figure out which dealerships (if any) are scummy enough to take advantage of veterans on disability, and publicize them widely --- as well as those dealerships honorable enough to refuse to abuse. If you're interest, contact us. This could be fun!
