u/avatherescue

Last month on 21 April, I paid a deposit over the phone on a used car after speaking with a salesman. During the call, I was specifically told the deposit was fully refundable which is the only reason I paid it. I have learnt my lesson now, but at the time no contract was provided or signed.

Within the 48 hour cooling off period, I decided not to go ahead with the purchase because I found the same model car with a few extra tech features I wanted. When I let the salesman know, the “fully refundable” deposit suddenly became a “you might not be entitled to it because you didn’t physically view the car” situation. Apparently my eyes needed to physically lock onto the vehicle for the refund policy to work even though they say online they send cars all over Australia and surely one of those customers have changed their mind in the past?

He said he’d need to discuss it with the owner, but what frustrated me was that none of this was mentioned when they were happily taking my money over the phone, even though he later tried to say via text that he did advise me of this during the phone call (insert Pinocchio nose).

Since then, getting responses has become painful. Before I paid the deposit, replies were basically instant. Afterwards, it started taking multiple follow-up messages to get any response at all, despite my messages being read instantly.

On 29 April, I was told the refund had been “requested”.

Then two more weeks passed with nothing.

I followed up again on 11 and 12 May (because it takes multiple messages to get a response) and was told it had been “overlooked” and the refund was being requested again. At that point I asked what I thought was a pretty reasonable question: “How exactly are you refunding me when I never gave you my bank details?”

And surprise surprise… suddenly they needed my BSB and account number. Which honestly made me question what exactly had been “requested” the first two times.

Since then, I keep getting told the refund is “being processed” while more days and weeks pass. Unless the funds are travelling here by carrier pigeon, I genuinely do not understand the delay.

To be fair, I completely understand cancelled sales are annoying and I was genuinely apologetic for wasting the salesman’s time. But despite the replies staying technically polite and professional, the delays are starting to feel incredibly deliberate.

What makes it more frustrating is that this dealership heavily promotes honesty, integrity and customer experience on social media. I even read an article about the business where the owner talked about having a hands-on team where “nothing gets lost in the process.” Meanwhile my refund appears to be lost in space.

I’m not really the type of person to trash businesses online (hence why I haven’t named and shamed yet) and I’ve genuinely tried to resolve this properly. I’ve now emailed and texted the business directly, offered to come in with my card to expedite the process and advised that if it keeps dragging on, I’ll begin the process of escalating it through my bank and Consumer Affairs.

I understand business owners will naturally back their staff, but surely at some point you’d look at this situation and think “yeah okay this has been handled terribly.”

So I’m curious, for anyone who’s dealt with dealerships before, is this normal behaviour or am I right to feel like I’m being professionally scammed?

This was my first time and last time buying a second hand car from a private/“boutique” dealer. I can’t help but wonder if I would be getting the same treatment if I was a big burly guy instead of a regular girl. Do I need to start a social media tirade to get my money back?