UACC Court Case – June 17, 2008

I went through a court session for the case that UACC is bringing against me due to not recognizing a revocation of acceptance on a vehicle that the dealer (Auto King of Grand Rapids a.k.a. Chris Buben a.k.a. liars & cheats) refused to make requisite repairs on.

The lawyer for United Auto Credit Corporation (UACC) is Douglas E. Doornbos. This “man” fits the bill as the stereotypical unscrupulous lawyer who will do anything to win no matter how unethical it might be.

In my case he refused to answer interrogatories or supply me with UACC’s copy of the contract. A month after I sent my interrogatories he sent me a set which I decided not to answer until he answered mine - I naively thought that as a lawyer he wouldn’t purposefully ignore my interrogatories unless it was legal and ethical. Then he had the gall to file a motion against me for not answering his interrogatories AND he tried to get $200 out of me in the process.

His contact info:

Doornbos and Hoeksma

2932 East Paris Ave SE

Grand Rapids MI 49512-1924

Phone: 616-957-4950

Fax: 616-957-3629

Email: doornboshoeksema@i2k.com

Revocation of Acceptance - Part 6

The pre-trial conference was a waste of time. Doornbos didn’t even care enough to show up; he called in from his office. If I knew that was allowed I would have done it as well. We were told to expect a court date in 4-6 months. Other than that, there’s no new info.

Revocation of Acceptance - Part 5

Today is the big day. I have a pre-trial conference with the lawyer for UACC about the Auto King debacle. The lawyer for UACC is Douglas E Doornbos of Doornbos & Hoeksema. It’s being held at the 63-2 District courthouse and the judge is Sara J. Smolenski.

Tomorrow I’ll give a full report about how things went.

Revocation of Acceptance - Part 4

It's been a couple weeks since I revoked acceptance on the Impala and as of last night the dealer still hadn't arranged a time or place where he could take the vehicle in exchange for refunding me my downpayment plus the repairs that I ended up paying for even after he said that he would do so. When my wife finally got home from taking care of her Grandmother (she just had knee surgery), we drove to Auto King of Grand Rapids and I dropped the car off at his lot along with a note to contact me to get the keys. It also mentioned that I was expecting to receive my money within 10 days.

Early this morning I also faxed the note to the dealership as well as sent it to Chris Buben in an email. I then wrote a letter explaining this step and faxed it to the finance company. I informed them to contact me via email with any questions.

Revocation of Acceptance - Part 1
Revocation of Acceptance - Part 2
Revocation of Acceptance - Part 3

Revocation of Acceptance - Part 3

After calling, mailing, and faxing, I finally got a response from Chris Buben of Auto King of Grand Rapids. His response came in the form of an email from cbuben@sbcglobal.net. He basically said, "nuh-uh, you can't do that." He must have completely ignored the letter itself as well as the supporting documentation.

Let's go over some of the funnier parts of the email (his portion in green):

We need to get the car to our mechanics and go from there.

Would this be the same mechanics whose shop at your dealership didn't even have a common car fuse?

You can't simply decide you don't want the car any more because it has a couple mechanical issues.

Actually, if you had bothered to read the letters and fax I sent then you would be aware that the consumer is allowed to do just that if the defects substantially impair the value and also fulfill one of the following conditions:

• Defects were supposed to be fixed and have not been.
• The buyer's initial acceptance was caused by difficulty of discovery.
• The buyer's initial acceptance was influenced by the seller's assurances.
• The product sold is not fit for ordinary purposes (e.g. a car should start and run).
• The seller used "unfair, unconscionable, or deceptive methods, acts, or practices"(as set forth in the Michigan Consumer Protection Act).

I can meet all five instead of just one, so this will be a slam dunk if it goes to court.

I wonder if he thinks I'm not serious. The longer this goes on, the more it seems like he's just hoping I'll give up. Well I've got news for him, I'm not a big fan of being screwed over and I'll gladly spend a day in court to get things right. He's just making things harder on himself because he'll end up having to pay the fees and costs is this goes to trial. On top of that he'd probably drag his feet on paying the judgment and I'd end up having to go through a seizure of property.

Part 1
Part 2

Revocation of Acceptance - Part 2

The mug pictured sure isn't me, it's Chris Buben from Auto King of Grand Rapids. He's the seller that I briefly mention in part one of this little story. I was hoping that there wasn't going to be a part two, I naively believed that Mr. Buben would act like the upstanding businessman that he claims to be; but I should have known better.

I've always shied away from used car dealers and bought from private owners due to the less than stellar reputation that used car dealers have as a whole. However, since the wife was against going to a private party, we compromised and went to a smaller local dealer because we (it turns out wrongly) believed that they would be more honest than your average corporate-type dealer.

I called Auto King with my revocation of acceptance on Tuesday morning, as of Wednesday morning I still hadn't heard from them so I sent a letter as well. On Friday I called the finance company (UAC) and informed Steve of the situation. He stopped short of calling me; but just barely. He actually had the gall to lie to me and try to say that I had no recourse against them because all they were doing is financing the purchase. Of course that would require me to ignore the bold print statement at the bottom of the contract which states (as required by federal & state law):

NOTICE: ANY HOLDER OF THIS CONSUMER CREDIT CONTRACT IS SUBJECT TO ALL CLAIMS AND DEFENSES WHICH THE DEBTOR COULD ASSERT AGAINST THE SELLER OF GOODS OR SERVICES OBTAINED PURSUANT HERETO OR WITH THE PROCEEDS HEREOF. RECOVERY HEREUNDER BY THE DEBTOR SHALL NOT EXCEED AMOUNTS PAID BY THE DEBTOR HEREUNDER.

After calling him out on it he fell back to the "well, neither of us are lawyers" defense and I ended up just faxing the letter and all supporting documentation to his office at 616-949-9690.

As of this morning I still haven't heard back from Chris Buben with a time and place where we can exchange the vehicle for the downpayment plus the repair costs he was supposed to cover. So after a bit of digging I found their fax number ( 616-261-3361 ) and faxed a copy of the letter that I mailed to him last week. I also re-faxed it to UAC since I still haven't heard from them either.

Part 1
Part 3