BARONS TRIED TO MAKE ME PAY R5000 FOR NOTHING

I had a terrible experience with this dealership.

1. I was looking to purchase my first vehicle and approached BARONS CAPE TOWN because I was hoping that a well-established dealership would offer great support and make the process a smooth one.

2. The story is lengthy but the gist of it is that there was a lot of foul play, with the dealership offering me second hand vehicles at an installment of about R4500p/m.

3. I decided to shop around the market to find a better deal, which of course, I did.

4. BARONS CPT then offered to match the deal which they previously could not offer to me because of affordability.etc.

5. I found the bad faith quite distasteful so I asked them to cancel the application because I had sourced a better deal elsewhere.

6. Their sales representative and finance person assured me that the application had been withdrawn.

7. A few days later, I receive a phone call from the sales representative telling me that I am liable to pay R5000 for cancellation costs. I challenged this because what are these purported cancellation costs for? Further, why are they R5000?!

8. Fortunately for me, I studied law so I knew that my transaction fell under the National Credit Act. The pertinent issue however is that I did not sign any agreement so I was not quite sure where this cancellation was coming from. And even if I had, the NCA allows for a cooling off period (even after delivery) for a consumer to change their mind. I alerted them to this, hoping they would engage me on the matter.

9. They neglected to respond to my email, so I physically went to the dealership. None of their employees could explain to me why I was being charged R5000 for the cancellation of a contract that I was never part of.

10. As if that was not enough, they actually did not withdraw my application from the system so the other VW dealership (which I was getting a brand new car from) could not draw a contract for me and I was inconvenienced (for a further week) without a car.

11. My biggest issue is that a person who is not knowledgeable on their rights would have paid R5000 for cancellation fees of a contract that never existed. For a big dealership like Barons, this is very very very irresponsible.

12. I will never ever recommend this dealership to anyone.