Venting!!, Bottom Feeding car dealers and banking bureacracy Options

[Quidam]

Before I purchased my lovely 97 GT4 (as a private sale) I almost bought a RX7 sight unseen from a dealership in Christchurch (Bling Bling Motor Co, every bit as tacky as the name suggests)

They suckered me into giving them my credit card number under the pretence that they could secure a cheaper AA report on the car than if I did it. That was a dumb move because it means they own the report I paid for. Even dumber move because then they pulled a further 500 dollars out of my card as a "holding deposit".

So when one of my mates checked the car out for me and told me the sorry truth about the true condition of the vehicle I pulled out and the dealer turned nasty, saying we had a verbal agreement and he was keeping the deposit.

Complained to my bank (whom I work for as a senior software engineer) and was told it was all under control. 2 weeks later and I get a dumb form letter telling me I have to resolve this with the merchant before they will take action. wtf I'd Ilready explained to my relationship manager that I tried to get my money back and the dealer said no. The letter had a postage paid return envelope so I filled it out and sent back copies of emails etc explaining that I've already tried and I want my money back.

Nearly another 2 weeks later and I get an even dumber form letter telling that since they have not heard back from me the dispute is now closed. are you frikking kdding me? This is like some sort of nightmare that just won't go away. Icing on the cake I called the 0800 number and was told I was calling out of hours so call back on Monday.

So I'm calming myself down by reminding myself just how close I came to paying 17K for a heap of junk to a complete ahole car dealer. Instead I landed an absoluetly mint GT4. But it's the principle you, know

[Quidam]

So just wanted to update this as it turns out the car dealer (Bling Bling) just happens to bank with the same company I work for

So the account manager contacted the car salesman directly and here's a suprise he has suddenly agreed to pay me back