We are submitting a formal Complaint against Smithtown Nissan, 535 Middle Country Road, St. James, New York 11780; 631-361-9696 and General Manager, Ray, possible last name Krisa. Mr. Krisa attempted to secure a lease from us for the purchase of a new 2008 Nissan Altima by using deceptive, fraudulent means and later grossly insulting my wife and I when we learned the methods he used were inappropriate.During the months of March/April, my wife and I began shopping for a new vehicle to purchase. We visited several of the local auto dealerships, including Smithtown Nissan in St. James, New York. At the Nissan dealership, we met with a young man by the name of Brian Vasak. Mr. Vasak was courteous and polite and provided us with a test drive of one of the new 2008 Altimas. Mr. Vasak then took our contact information, but we requested that we would only call him when we were ready.In the interim, my wife and I purchased a program on-line from a competent website called leaseguide.com. Leaseguide.com provides the consumer with a comprehensive program for determining the methods auto dealerships use to prepare a lease and how to avoid scams and pitfalls. In essence, leaseguide.com provides the consumer with key essential elements needed to walk into a car dealership prepared so to prevent being scammed into paying higher prices. Certain specific mathematic formulas are used exclusively by car dealerships to determine monthly pay-off and residual value of the vehicle being leased. After studying this information and now armed with this knowledge, my wife and I elected to revisit Smithtown Nissan.On Sunday, May 26, 2008 (Memorial Day weekend), we visited Sales Representative Brian Vasak at the Smithtown Nissan. Mr. Vasak advised that the blue Nissan my wife had driven several weeks earlier had since been sold, but he would attempt to locate a similar one with the same “SL” package. Mr. Vasak asked if we had visited other dealerships and negotiated sales prices for vehicles, but we refused to provide that information. We simply told Mr. Vasak to offer us his best price for a Majestic Blue 2008 Nissan Altima with the SL package and/or the connection package added to the SL package. Mr. Vasak then said he would have to check with his Manager. We advised Mr. Vasak that before leaving his office and checking with the Manager, that he obtain the bottom line negotiable price for the vehicle with everything included, including bank acquisition fee and any other appropriate charges. We also advised Mr. Vasak that we would not pay a security deposit fee, because the vehicle would be under my wife’s name, who has excellent tier one credit. (745-771)

In addition, we asked Mr. Vasak that when he returns, he provide us with the residual percentage number of that particular vehicle and the money factor. The money factor is a decimal number, that when multiplied by 2400 provides you with the interest rate that the dealership intends on charging you for the lease portion of the deal. We also requested that Mr. Vasak configure this lease at 15,000 miles a year and for 36 months, which would cover the manufacturer’s warrantee. This is information we learned from the website.

Mr. Vasak returned and provided us with the following final negotiated price: $22,976.00. We asked Mr. Vasak if this included everything and he said, “Yes.” We repeated to Mr. Vasak if this included the bank acquisition fee. He stumbled a bit and stated, “Let me go back and check.” Mr. Vasak returned and stated, “Yes. My Manager said that everything is included. All fees are included. Everything.” Mr. Vasak asked us if we wanted to put money down on the lease of a new 2008 Altima. We advised Mr. Vasak when located the vehicle we would then put down a down payment. He stated he would need at least a few hours and possibly until tomorrow morning, due to the high volume of customers during the Memorial Day weekend. At this time, we left Smithtown Nissan, without securing a deal and did not hear from Mr. Vasak that day.

The following morning, Monday, May 26, Mr. Vasak contacted us and stated he had located a 2008 Altima, Majestic Blue, with the SL package. In addition, this vehicle they located also had the connection package, which was $1,000.00 more. Mr. Vasak stated that we would have to add $1,000.00 to his quoted price of $22,976.00 for a total capitalized cost price of $23,976.00, everything included. We accepted and advised Mr. Vasak we would return to Smithtown Nissan later in the afternoon.

Returning to Smithtown Nissan, we met with Mr. Vasak, who was busy with many customers. In fact, the place was extremely crowded. Mr. Vasak said he would be at least an hour or so with customers he was working with and we advised him that we would return later in the afternoon. At this point, we left the building and walked to the rear parking lot where our car was parked. While talking, my wife had mentioned aloud that we should go to Syosset Nissan to compare prices first. At this point, a male White, extra large stature, wearing a white Nissan golf shirt and slacks approached us. He had been near an adjacent new Nissan vehicle with another Nissan employee. The male identified himself as Ray, the general sales manager. Ray folded his arms and spoke in a brisk, aggressive manner and asked if we were satisfied with the persons that we were dealing with inside, because, “I’m the number one Nissan dealership in all of Suffolk and Nassau County and I want to make sure that my customers are taken care of. So, were you taken care of?” We replied, “Yes. We’re working with Brian Vasak.” Ray replied, “Brian is my son. He is my son. I’m his father.” I replied, “Oh, you’re his father?” Ray stated, “Yes.” (At this point, I knew this was likely an untruth, because any time we asked for Mr. Vasak, the Secretary or Salesman would ask if we wanted Junior or Senior, realizing that Brian’s father is also named Brian, not Ray and also works at the dealership.

Ray explained that he overheard us talking about visiting Syosset Nissan and wanted us to come in and he was going to give us the best deal we ever had. We explained to Ray that Brian Vasak had already provided us with a number and that we were prepared to conduct a sale and lease a 2008 Altima. Ray replied, “Not only are we going to get a deal done, but I’m going to beat whatever number Brian gave you. So, let’s go inside and see what we can do.”

Once inside, we sat inside Stan Siegerson’s financial office. Ray got on the computer, started to punch in numbers and did not even ask what the price was that Brian offered us. He then came up with a figure, showing that we could pay $259.00 a month, with $2,000.00 down for a 2008 Altima. I explained to Ray that we did not even give him the numbers yet. Ray asked for them, turned the computer around and said, “See. Here’s the exact numbers that you just gave me. I just fixed them and fiddled on the computer a bit.” When we looked at the computer, we saw that the negotiated price was for $24,882.00, $906.00 over the agreed upon price of $23,976.00. When we brought this fact up to Ray, he stated, “No, no, no. It’s that price – $23,976. The extra $906.00 is for fees and things.” “Well what fees are they, Ray?” Ray said, “You know¦fees and things.” I said, “Is the bank acquisition fee not included but has just been added?” He said, “No. See.” He flipped the computer to another screen, showed us a little symbol that says no and says “See, you don’t have the bank acquisition fee.” I said, “Well why don’t you change that negotiated fee on the computer from $24,882.00 to $23,976 and let’s see what the monthly payment looks like, because that monthly payment looks a lot higher than what my figures show.”

Ray replied, “Well, what figures do you have?” We asked Ray to show us where the money factor was .00097 and the residual was 56% of the vehicle. These numbers were inserted but the final negotiated price was incorrect. Ray then told us that, “look, you have only a few minutes to decide what you want to do.” He then banged on the computer, turned the screen away from us to prevent us from looking at it and said, “Make up your minds, because this is the best deal you’re ever going to get. Don’t talk yourself out of a deal. Take the deal because you’ll never get another one like it, and if you walk away or even drive out of the parking lot, I wont be able to ever offer this price again.” We then told Ray that we needed time to think about it.

After exiting the Nissan dealership, we walked over to our vehicle. My wife was excited and stated that she did not mind paying that price. I explained that I did not believe that Ray was truthful and that his figures were all wrong “ that we should have been paying in the low $230′s with 2000 down, the residual percentage, money factor and negotiated price that we had agreed on earlier. My wife wanted to conduct the deal, but we both agreed that since the vehicle was not delivered to the dealership, we would only put money down for a down payment, but not sign a lease contract. We also agreed that we would wait until we examined said vehicle and then examine said Lease Contract to be assured that all the figures were correct and that we were not being scammed out of extra money by additional charges as we both suspected.

At this point, my wife and I returned and Mr. Vasak began to prepare a down payment invoice. Such invoice was prepared under number 12243. The buyer was listed in my wife’s name and just basic information was put down for the type of vehicle and only the lease price, 39 months, 500 money down and 15,000 miles per year. The Vehicle Purchase Agreement was only signed by my wife and not by the seller. Financing still had to be approved. While this document was being prepared, I insisted that Brian bring Ray back in. Ray returned and said, “Look. This is the deal you got. The $24,882.00 is the $23,976.00. Its the same thing. That extra money is for taxes. Taxes and other things.” “Well, what are they Ray? Can you break them down?” He said, “Don’t worry about that. We’ll get to it when we do the Lease Agreement.” At this point, we agreed and put $500.00 down for a down payment to secure the vehicle until it could be delivered to us. (We knew we were going to check the math and figures on the website.)

We also had told Ray that we wanted a 36 month lease, but he insisted you are only allowed to get a 39 month, you are not allowed to get a 36 month lease anywhere. We explained that the manufacturer’s warrantee is only 36 months. Ray replied, “Don’t worry. When you see me in three years, I’ll let you out of it. I promise.” Would you put that in writing?” I said. Ray replied, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can get it in writing. I’ll write it myself.”

At this point, we left the Nissan dealership. We returned home and logged onto leaseguide.com. We then punched in the numbers that Ray provided us and realized that he, indeed, attempted to charge us $906.00 more than what we were quoted. In fact, the monthly payments should have been at $233.00, as opposed to $259.00. (Including taxes and applicable fees) The residual value of the vehicle would be $15,001.00 at the end of 39 months.

At this point, I then faxed over the discrepancy to Smithtown Nissan, attention Ray. I then received an immediate call on my cell phone from Ray, who was loud and attempting to intimidate me. Trying to explain the discrepancy and not biting on Rays loud boring intimidation tactics, he grew frustrated and replied, You know what, “You and your wife wouldn’t know a good deal if a fucking dog walked up and kissed you both on your mouth.” Stunned, I stood there in complete silence, collected myself and realized what this man had just said to my wife and I. Slowly, I asked him, “What did you just say to me?” Ray replied, “Oh, you didn’t hear? I’ll tell you again,” and repeated, “You and your wife wouldn’t know a good deal if a fxxxing dog walked up and kissed you both on your mouth.”

At this point, I was furious inside, but remained calm. I said, “Ray. Do you think that’s a nice way to speak to customers?” He said, “I don’t care.’ He said, “I’m not doing any deal with you. Don’t even bother walking back in the store cause I wont do a deal with you and you’ll be lucky if you get your refund.” At this point he hung up the phone and I attempted to call back and no one would answer. Our conversation was extremely late in the afternoon, towards early evening. I then returned to the Nissan dealership and observed that it was closed.

The following morning, I returned to Smithtown Nissan and explained what had occurred to a woman by the name of Jeanie, who is an employee. Ray was not in and neither was Chris Fina, who is the Owner of Smithtown Nissan. As soon as I explained what Ray had said to me and my wife, she shook her head in disgust and immediately provided me with the refund. She took my business card after requesting that Mr. Fina contacted me immediately. To date, he has not.

I am a retired New York City Police Officer, with 20 years of service. For the past eight years, I have been a licensed New York State Private Investigator, specializing in insurance fraud, general liability, criminal and accident investigation files. My wife has been a Legal Secretary for the past three years. We are residents of Suffolk and have a family of three children, one of whom is serving in the Marines.

General Manager Ray (Krisa) and Smithtown Nissan’s deceptive, fraudulent practices, in addition to the rude, obnoxious and hurtful remarks are criminal and disgraceful. They should be dealt with swiftly, in a prompt, efficient and aggressive legal manner. Indeed, while researching my databases, I located several customers in just the past few months who have written to www.ripoffreport.com regarding Ray (Krisa) as well as other Smithtown Nissan Salesmen and their deceptive, fraudulent practices.

In fact, Smithtown Nissan, after a thorough investigation by Governor Andrew Cuomo and the State Attorney General’s Office, was fined substantially after an investigation revealed a pattern of deceptive and fraudulent practices resulting in settlement claims that were paid in 2004, In addition, The Better Business Bureau shows that Smithtown Nissan has received an enormous amount of complaints within the last 12 months, which is unprecedented compared to other auto dealerships. Imagine all the consumers who thought there was nothing they could do and how it affects their wallet. Frankly, it’s outrageous as they thumb their seemingly untouchable noses to all of us and laugh in our faces.

It is quite clear that Smithtown Nissan has continued their fraudulent patterns and practice of criminal and deceptive means in illegally bilking customers’ money. I would ask that the appropriate team contact me immediately to discuss this case in regards to appropriate action. My wife and I will cooperate fully in this matter as it is reprehensible that a company can indiscriminately defraud so many people and get away with it.

Vincent
Smithtown, New York
U.S.A.

 

This company is amazing they work together to get the best deal for themselves… they do this whatever the cost… on any website you go to there are so many complaints its astounding.  i purchased a car from them back in sept 2008… they added charges to my loan…700 for a tire package… 700 for a replacement key package… 700 for vin etching and about 1800 for an extended warranty… not only did i not want any of these packages they added these without my consent and they forged signatures to do it… they made the mistake of showing this to me on my last visit there. they added an extra letter in my wife’s name the fools… the papers again magically disappeared when i asked for a copy of my own and they put them in an envelope and basically ran to the second floor to try to keep them from me… i made quite a scene because i was fed up with two months of lies and stories.  Instead of calling the Police… because at this point i was yelling at the managers for putting their hands on me, they got the goons to try to intimidate me with their steroid filled muscles… LOL!!  Little did they know i TAPE RECORDED the entire visit. The packages were scams too… vin etching is free from the police which by the way was never put on the windows(i had another nissan dealer check this out)… the key replacement costs about 4 bucks at the hardware store… a new tire is about 70 bucks so why would anyone take these… the extended warranty they supposedly cancelled and i have a signed paper saying they did but that was a no go also… after going back and forth i finally got about 1400 back from the general manager who just didn’t want to hear or see me anymore… they still owe me 2500 but i know that’ll never happen… watch out for Stan Sigerman the biggest crook of them all!!!  He’s the finance manager there who leads the team to ripping off the consumers… don’t believe me just look them up all over the internet!!

 

Be warned Smithtown Nissan are crooks and carry out deceptive and fraudulent practices.

I went to Smithtown of Nissan on 07/12/09. It was one of the most terrible days of my life and the biggest mistake that I could have made. My husband and I walked in just as the dealership was about to close on a Sunday evening. We were approached by a sales rep Charles Murray. He lied to us from the beginning stating that the white Nissan Maxima that I wanted was the only one that they had in stock and if I didn’t get it I wouldn’t be able to find it again. He walked back and forth in and out of the office negotiating with the manager good deal for us. I was not at that point ready to buy a car and I told Charles I needed to think about it. This was the first time that I was going to a dealership so I don’t have the experience of buying a car from a dealership.

Mr. Charles said to me if you want you can take the car home and see if you like if you don’t you can bring it back. I being naive fell for this lie signed all the paper work and left with the car that night. I got home looked at the financial situation and then decided that night I was not going to keep the car. I called Smithtown Nissan as soon as they were opened the very next day and asked to speak to one the managers. I left a message for Ray who was one of the managers as no one wanted to pick up my call as Charles was not in. I kept calling as it was less than 24hrs since I left the dealership. I finally got Joe Gumban at 2:30 who told us that once we walk out we can’t get our money back and we are new car owners. I freaked out as nowhere in our conversation the night before were we told by Charles Murray that we couldn’t return the car. Charles kept saying that he would take care of us don’t worry trust him. He told us we could and that he was helping us out. I was so upset as I felt that I was deceived and lied to and I was honest with them and told them I don’t have any experience with a dealership and I was not ready to get the car that night.
Charles made it seem that we could have the car and see if we liked it while they held our money and paper work. Well they never held our money charged everything through my credit card and the paper work that they said that they were keeping aside they said that they had FedEx it to Nissan already as sold and it was out of their hands when I called them the next day. How could they be so deceptive and carry out such fraudulent practices. I was sick to my stomach I couldn’t sleep that night. I realized that we were misled none of our initial questions were answered about the maintenance agreement. They gave us nothing and brushed of with we’ll take care of everything and in the end gave us nothing and took our money. They are rip offs. Something needs to be done about their business practices. I asked to speak to another manager since Ray never called me back. I spoke to Brain who was so rude and obnoxious and made hurtful remarks are criminal and disgraceful. He said that no one held a gun to my head to sign those papers and I shouldn’t have taken the car if I didn’t want it. I told him that I trusted them and their word to hold everything and they lied to me.

My financial situation is not good and most likely my credit will be ruined. I’m so upset that they did this to me. These people have no conscience as to how they ruined people’s lives. They are unscrupulous and they help each other con people and take their money. I trusted them and though that they were professional and would keep everything on the side until I told them the next day that I was or was not going to take the car. They said I knew exactly what I was doing and they are not looking out for my interest but their own. I hope that no one ever use them as they say whatever they need to say and pressure and force you. Don’t sign anything or give them your credit card. If anyone knows what I could do please let me know my email is (((ROR REDACTED))). I think everyone who had a bad experience and have been cheated at Smithtown Nissan should come together and report them to the authorities. There was a police officer I read who they finally refunded him he said that they are reported to the Attorney General for scamming people.

Again my email is asha_m@email.com.

Sasha201
brentwood, New York