What should have been a simple truck purchase has turned into a headache for one elderly Sampson County resident.
Ozzie Carter has been trying to reach an agreement with the new Deacon Jones dealership, which only a few months ago was Performance CDJR, for around six weeks now, after he claims the dealership sold him the wrong vehicle.
Carter said he bought a 2022 Dodge Ram Crew Cab with four-wheel drive six weeks ago. The main thing that Carter wanted out of the new truck, and the specific thing he asked from the salesman helping him, was for the engine to be a V8.
“I went to the Dodge place, and the salesman, I told him what I was looking (for). I said I want a V8, I didn’t want no six cylinder,” Carter explained during a recent interview.
The salesman told him that he had the perfect truck for Carter and was able to bring it in from another dealership.
“On the side of (the truck) it (said) it’s got 5.7 liter V8, the Hemi motor,” Carter explained. “And I liked it. We went there and signed the papers. And a week after I had the truck, I said… ‘well, I better check the oil to make sure they had it like it was supposed to be when I bought it. I raised the hood, and there’s a V6 in it. The exact thing I told him I didn’t want.”
Carter explained that he had brought the truck back to the dealership and folks there assured him they would make it right.
“They told me that every time I went — they’ll make it right. They’ll make it right,” he asserted.
There was another truck on the lot, according to Carter, that was two years older and had 40,000 more miles on it. He told the salesman if they couldn’’t work something out, he would do a trade in for that truck.
“For some reason, they couldn’t do that,” Carter explained. “I think that truck was $3,000 more than the truck I bought.”
About a week ago, Carter said he went back to the dealership, sat down, and told them plainly they were going to work something out.
“The salesman finally put me in his office and said that there was nothing they could do. And then the salesman, he said, ‘well, there’s one other thing we might can do. We might can trade you out of that one, put you in a new truck, and be able to finance it for more months and keep your payments the same,”’ Carter said.
Carter paid $37,000 for the truck with the V6 engine. He said they would allow him $28,000 on the trade-in, even though it was only six weeks later.
“I can’t afford to lose $9,000 on the trade-in, and then they’re gonna just add the other truck. So that’s a $20,000 turnaround,” he attested.
He said someone from Deacon Jones was supposed to call him the day after he left the salesman’s office, but no one had reached out so far.
“The only contact I have is if I call them or go to them. They never return a call,” Carter said. “I’m a senior citizen, just retired. This will be the last truck I’m probably able to get, and then I get done like this.”
Carter mentioned that when he did buy the truck the dealership was Performance Automotive, but a week later Deacon Jones took it over.
“That’s what they’re saying now,” he said. “That it’s not Deacon Jones’ fault. The same people worked there that sold it to me.”
At this point, Carter said he’s done everything he knows to do to get this issue resolved, but he doesn’t think Deacon Jones is doing the same thing.
“I’ve even asked them to just refund me the difference of a V8 motor and a V6 motor and I’ll just keep it, but I hate to pay for a V8 and end up with a V6,” he said.
After reaching out to Deacon Jones, general manager Danny Holland stated once again that “it was not a Deacon Jones issue, and Carter would need to reach out to the former owners of Performance Automotive” in order to get the issue resolved.
You can reach Alyssa Bergey at 910-249-4617. Follow us on Twitter at @SamsponInd, like us on Facebook, and check out our Instagram at @thesampsonindependent.