“Drive a different brand new Suzuki,” one ad claims. “We’ll make all your payments for one year,” the ad explains.
"It’s all over the radio, it's all over the TV,” Stacie Moore said. She is one of the customers who took advantage of the deal.
“No payments for life,” the ad claims. "There was never any question as to how sweet they made the deal sound,” customer Kent Cogan added.
Two advertised car deals promised monthly payments under $100 or no payments at all. The dealer pays the rest.
“It seemed like a financial break," customer Matthew Donnell said.
It seemed easy. The ad explains “Then if you want, Chad Franklin will pay the vehicle off and you'll pick out another new Suzuki and the process starts all over again."
Buyers went to Chad Franklin Suzuki to get in on this special deal. "I said, ‘Ok, what's the catch? There’s got to be a catch because you can't be just giving out cars for $43 a month,'" Tracey Wright recalled.
But the six people we interviewed say the dealer explained. "They basically wanted you to performance test the vehicles and that the program continued until 2010," customer Anne Willis said.
But their paperwork never mentions this special deal. It shows a traditional car loan listing full payments.
"He said, 'Don't worry about these numbers – these numbers are not what you are going to have to worry about,'" Donnell remembers.
So they all sign up and weeks later, the dealer sends them a check to cover the bulk of the monthly loan payment. So initially these buyers pay no payment or a small payment as promised.
But then the ads stop and the checks stop, leaving the drivers in a financial bind. Wright said her payments went from "$43 a month to $600.” So buyers across the metro are calling for action.
"We just wanted them to keep their end of the bargain," Stacie Moore said.
So we went undercover with two buyers to see what's going on. We were directed to a man who introduces himself as the finance manager.
"Why am I paying out of my pocket when this is supposed to be a no-payment plan?" the customer asked.
“Again I mean the program is no longer viable and nothing that we had done. It's just the market," the financing manager explains.
But the ad never says these deals work only if the market is good.
"I feel lied to," the customer said. "I totally understand where you would come from on that," the financing manager responded.
Another salesman even tells us this deal could never work. "You're going to get to a point where you can't keep on trading out again - if you keep on trading out eventually you are going to have to buy a car," the salesman said.
"There had to be a gimmick to it." Dale Irwin said. Irwin has been tackling consumer issues as an attorney for over 16 years. He's seen the ads and we showed him several customers' paperwork from the deal.
"I would describe it from what I have seen and heard as deceptive," Irwin said.
Missouri law says deception happens by omitting or obscuring facts. In Kansas, falsely offering services at discounted prices is considered deceptive and making ambiguous statements.
The ads clearly state some things with flashing bold-faced words like "Never" and "No payments for life.” And that the program lasts three to four years. But to read the fine print, you have to stop the ad to see that the dealer only pays up to the first six months. That led Irwin to this question, “How anybody would run an ad like that and expect not to get caught?”
But we found a South Carolina Suzuki dealer that did get caught. That state's Department of Consumer Affairs sent a letter to the dealer saying it used false, misleading or deceptive advertising.
“Nobody beats this sale at Joe Gibson Mitsubishi Suzuki,” the ad claims. Look familiar? The one airing in Kansas City says, “Nobody beats this deal at Chad Franklin Suzuki.” The deal even sounds familiar. “Only $47 a month,” Chad Franklin’s ad claims. “Only $47 a month,” the Joe Gibson ad claims.
Now the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs is demanding possible compensation for consumers and that dealership is currently facing at least 40 lawsuits. Here in the metro, nearly 100 complaints have been filed with the Kansas and Missouri Attorneys General as well as the Better Business Bureau.
The Missouri Attorney General is looking at whether this is bait and switch advertising and the Kansas Attorney General is investigating to see if the ads are deceptive.
Metro consumers are calling for action. So we paid a visit to the dealership looking for answers.
"I'm Jenn Strathman with NBC Action News. We brought along some customers who’ve had some concerns. Your customers. We would like to speak with Chad Franklin.”
The representative responded, “He’s not in right now.” So the dealership rep addressed some of our concerns.
Jenn Strathman asked, “So you guys cant give us any answers whatsoever to help out your customers?”
The rep responded, “We are going to help the customers out.”
“How are you going to help out your customers? We have two standing right here?” Jenn Strathman asked.
“I can't elaborate on that,” the rep responded.
We've tried several times to get Chad Franklin to speak on camera, but he declined our offer at this time.
The dealership did issue a written statement where Franklin is quoted saying,
"Thursday last week...we directed that our ads be taken down.
"We took this action after receiving a subpoena from the office of the KS attorney general who raised questions about the campaign...”
“We are cooperating with (the) Attorney General to the fullest extent..."
"Over time it was clear that the campaign was raising more questions than it was worth.”
But that’s not enough for metro consumers who find themselves driving up the steep financial road ahead.
“We would like to see the AG at least make them own up to what they said they were going to do,” Anne Willis said.
