WARNING Chaparral will not return deposit on SxS

J

JCCBURT

Member
I put a deposit of $500 down at Bert's and Chaparral to get in line for the Maverick that just came out... well the day they came out, while on the showroom floor of Bert's I decided to go with the Wildcat... from a guy in Utah(long story)

Regardless... I dont want the Maverick... I informed Bert's and while upset, they returned my deposit... I called Chaparral and told them and they said I would have to come in etc. to get my deposit back... mind you I gave them a creditcard number over the phone, never met or seen any of them.

It is CA state law that deposits are %100 refundable for any reason... they are aware of this and even stated that after I informed them I already had a deposit on a Maverick at Bert's(it was part of their sales pitch). Well aware that all I have to do is call my creditcard company and deal with it with them, they have told me that will be the only way I will get it back...

They have lost my biz for life...
 
Mind you also, after like the 3rd or 4th call trying to get my deposit back... the sales man starts the conversation with "so I was doing research last night and the Wildcat really isnt the way to go" mind you they dont sell Wildcats...
 
Even better reason to not buy from them. I know they are expensive. I have already talked to art at Bert's and plan on buying their when the time is right.
 
Thank you very much for the input and support on the site. We are thankful for any business we can earn and are happy to refund a deposit. Let me know if there is anything I can help with. Here is my cell 951-318-0906 or email me @ art.wood@bertsmegamall.com.
Thank you,
Art Wood
Berts Mega Mall
 
^ that guy right there is the most honest guy in the business..anyone asks me to recommend somewhere i always say see Art Wood at Berts....

Whats up Art!!
 
yep. thats why there is a business card on my desk from art wood. class act at berts, at the shows. and on the trails. why buy from some goon at chappy that rides street bikes when you can buy from art that actually drives utv. :cool:
 
Does anyone know forsure that it is illegal in CA to keep your deposit? I have a friend that put one down on the Can Am and could not get funds for the purchase so he told them no on it. They told him no money back on the deposit at all.
 
It all depends on if a contract was signed stating the deposit was non-refundable. Even if there was a contract, the party holding the deposit must show damages by the cancallation of the purchase. See below an example of case law.

"Contract Law: California Court rules on non-refundable deposits
by Winston Westbrook on February 13, 2010

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I want to highlight a recent court case ruling that I came across here in California. Since what happens here in California seems to ripple to the rest of the 49 states, I would suggest you take a gander at the following.

Kuish vs. Smith, G040743 [PDF] [DOC]

Mr. Bradford Kuish entered into an agreement to purchase the Laguna Beach home of Mr. & Mrs. William W. Smith, Jr. for $14 Million, but later unilaterally canceled the escrow. Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Jr. then sold the property to someone that had submitted a backup offer for $15 Million but refused to return the $620,000 earnest money deposit to Mr. Kuish relying on the fact that they both signed counter offers stating that the deposit was “non-refundable.”

Mr. Kuish ended up winning his deposit back through the appellate court, but let me expand a bit.

The original court finding was in favor of the Smiths keeping all that deposit but the appellate court ended up ruling in favor of Mr Kuish, and this was the courts response;

Any provision by which money or property would be forfeited without regard to actual damage suffered would be an unenforceable penalty. To construe the term ‘nonrefundable’ to establish [the sellers'] entitlement to the full deposit without regard to actual damages would essentially create a liquidated damages provision.”

The court ruled that since the Smiths ended up selling their property for $1 Million more after escrow was canceled they did not suffer $620,000 in actual damages because of Mr. Kuish canceling.

Our real estate purchase contracts here in California have a section called “liquidated damages.” This section of the contract stipulates what damages the seller may claim for breach of contract by the buyer, and is usually limited to the amount of the deposit, or is limited to 3% of the purchase price which they both did not agree to.

In my humble opinion I believe Mr. Kuish should never have signed such a clause to make his deposit “non-refundable.” I see where he might have been blinded because this was his dream home. He wanted to make major improvements to the property according to court transcripts and needed time to get local government approvals for his modifications to the beachfront property. This whole escrow lasted 9 months. It was Mr. Kuish who ended up canceling in the end. My advice to the Smiths would have been to get Mr Kuish to sign the liquidated damages section of the contract, and they would have had an extra $420,000 (3% of the purchase price) in their bank account.

In conclusion, do not sign and do not try to get anyone to agree to a clause stipulating deposits to be “non-refundable”. They will just end up being “non-enforceable” in court. Time and time again this clause just does not hold up in court."
 
I put a deposit in 2010 for a Commander along with a few other dealers. I did not put one down at Chaparral thankfully.

Just wanted to say Burt's just didn't have any extra Commanders when I did find one somewhere else and Burt's returned my deposit without a problem.

I was even thinking of considering Chaparral for my next SxS but not now. Who wants to fight for there own money back. It is not like Chaparral did anything to earn the money and if they can't sell a new model SxS like the Maverick maybe they should not be in the sales business.

Two thumbs down for Chaparral after hearing this.

Bryan :eek:
 
Being that we are only hearing what the OP said. We do not know what sort of contract he signed when leaving his $500 deposit. I too am not 100% sure of the law in California regarding deposits.

What I do know for sure is I did purchase two XP4's from Chaparral. The transaction was done over the phone. I was asked to leave a $500 per machine. This was to secure two 2012 XP4's. At the point of deposit I was told VIN #'s were assigned. This was to assure those vehicles would not be sold to another customer. I was also sent an e-mail confirming the transaction.

I was also told this was a non refundable deposit if I did not pick up the two machines by a set date. If for some reason I changed my mined prior to that date I was able to get my money back. I believe California has a buyers remorse or cooling off period to protect the consumer.

And regarding Art from Bert's. I have never done business with him, but he did seem honest. My first attempt to purchase the two XP4's I called and left a message for Art as he was not available. The following day he called me back and I explained I already purchased what I was looking for. He asked if I would mine sharing my purchase price with him. I did and he told me I got a great deal and he could not match or beat that price. So I felt that was good to know and he was being honest with me. He could have lied and told me how he would have beat that price, to just make me feel like I could have got a better deal, but he flat out told me he could not.

If I was to consider buying another UTV I would give Art a shot, but I would also call Hogan at Chaparral as he too was strait with me and I felt he was honest about everything.
 
there was no written contract... verbal contracts up to $500 are enforcable...

the terms were "your deposit is %100 refundable, we cant keep it anyway, you are %100 protected by California law, all deposits are refundable."

I believe the problem in California is what is referred to as consideration, for a contract to be valid BOTH parties must perform some sort of "consideration" (layman term would be "do something")

My consideration is the fact that I paid them $500...

There consideration is?... while many will argue "they held me a spot" what actual spot? what was the vin? the oportunity for them to sell it is the same, why?... because they havent done anything....its still new. The reality is they were probably selling them as fast as they could on a first come first serve basis, I'm sure someone picked one up before me...

They took a deposit because they were "in such high demand", so they should be instantly sellable if I pass...

If their arguement is that they missed the opportunity to sell it and now cant, then demand is NOT that high and there was no need for the deposit... They should have just sold it to me when they were ready and had a vehicle to sell me...

I'm not worried, because this is the law... ALL of the dealerships are aware of this and stated it... my creditcard company is also aware of this :)

Just blows me away that a company so big can be so stupid... I am positive that if corporate knew what the salesmen and the sales manager were doing they would be gone... If I was the boss I'd have a hard time not pounding them into the ground in my office. Why they would give a customer such a hardtime over A LOSING BATTLE is something I wont understand.
 
You will probably find that this attitude comes from the top. Sorry this B.S. is happening to you.
 
These dealers need to be more flexible. They keep crap up like this, then word gets out fast on these forums. Not smart of Chapparel. Especially with a new SXS that will have no problem selling to someone else, very fast. Retards.
 
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