When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
My journey to purchase a Cayenne Turbo comes to a screeching halt in a bait and switch situation..
I called Parade Leasing on Monday August 24th to inquire about a 2015 Porsche Cayenne Turbo they had listed at $61,995 (advertisement from autotrader and Parade Leasing website showing the vehicle at $61,995 below). This price was also in big bold numbers on a laminated 8x10 options sheet of paper on the windshield of the car.. I spoke to Alissa who was amazing. She knew everything about this car and even did a FaceTime walk-through with me. She gave me a ton of confidence that this was the right vehicle for me. So much so that I left a $1,000 deposit over the phone to hold the vehicle for me. I live 2.5 hours away from the dealership, so two days later, I let them know I was coming to see the car. When I arrived, Alissa took me around the entire car, which again, met all of my expectations. I was ready to negotiate a deal. Parade had let me know they were having an employee lunch event, so I left for lunch and then came back 45 minutes later to meet Rhodie, the General Manager. I had never met, talked or emailed directly with Rhodie before. As she walked towards me, the first words out of her mouth were “so where are we at?”. No hello, I am Rhodie, nice to meet you. This caught me off guard so I said “well…uh…do you have an office so we can chat”. She said “yes”. Then she looked over at the window sticker on the Cayenne, walked over and grabbed it and said, “The price is wrong, I’ll be right back”. After 5 minutes, she emerged again to tell me that the car was actually $10,000 more than what was on the window sticker. I mentioned that the car was advertised on the Parade Leasing site and autotrader for $61,995, to which she replied, “I had them taken down already”. Luckily, I had the ads opened up on many browsers on my computer and phone and took screen shots. I was stunned. I had been working with Alissa for a few days with many emails going back and forth and nothing was mentioned about the price being wrong. Rhodie offered to give me my $1,000 deposit back which I took. I also asked her to compensate me for my gas money which she did. Of course, this doesn’t compensate me for the day off work, the time spent emailing back and forth, or even begin to compensate me for the disappointment I felt, which was off the charts.
Parade Leasing has been in business since 1983. They are a financing company, so everything they have done for the last 37 years is about money. To make a money mistake like this is just unfathomable to me. In Ontario, this would be considered bait and switch which is fraud and they would be forced to sell the vehicle at the advertised price. Fortunately for Parade, they are in Quebec, and there is no governing body like the OMVIC in Ontario to oversee situations like this.
As for the justification on the price hike, I can’t find it. When I compared the vehicle at Parade Leasing to another 2015 Cayenne Turbo advertised on autotrader with 73,984 Km’s on it, they are asking $54,888. So, based on Parade’s originally advertised price of $61,995, it seemed reasonable that their Cayenne Turbo with 19,000 less Km’s on it would be worthy of an extra premium of $7,000 for the lower mileage. Keep in mind that 55,000 km’s is not exactly “low” mileage. Now that they raised the price by $10K, someone will pay a $17,000 premium which seems criminal to me. Parade Leasing purchased this vehicle from a Porsche dealership a few years ago and then leased it out to a customer, so they have been making money on it for the last three years. Rhodie also said to me that they have received a ton of calls on the Cayenne but my $1K had a hold on it so they could not sell it to anyone else. By refunding my money, this freed them up to try and get a higher value. It's 100% greed and fraud. I have also contacted the Automobile Protection Agency (APA) and the office de la protection du consommateur to launch a formal complaint.
I just wanted to make our Canadian Porsche family is aware as I'm sure others on this forum have seen this Cayenne, and I want to make sure you proceed with caution. In addition, if you hate hearing stories like this, please google Parade Leasing. When their company profile comes up on the right side of the browser, click on their reviews. Scroll to mine under the name Justin Phillips. At the end of the review, please click the Like button. In fact, feel free to like all of their negative reviews. All of the positive ones have no details so it looks like a professional reviewer entered them to counter the negative reviews. They need to know that Porsche owners stick together and won't put up with scams like this.
Autotrader showing the sale price at $61,995 Parade Leasing Website showing the sale price at $61,995 Parade Leasing jacking up the price by $10K to $71,995. This was changed while I was standing in the show room likely so I would not have time to get to a computer to get a screen shot of the original price
Sounds like a very discouraging experience... I "liked" your review & the other negative ones.
That said, at least you were able to find out how they really were prior to buying the vehicle and then possibly having an after-sales issue that they wouldn't properly step up on.
Sucks that it was such a waste of time for you. Glad you got your deposit back and even gas money, which I’m surprised about honestly.
In terms of car deals gone wrong, this ranks at about 1 out of 10 tho. The proper thing would have been to sell you the car at the advertised price, but I’ve seen Porsche dealers raise their prices too and fail to honour the price that was on the car yesterday.
Did you have paperwork saying that the deposit was for the car at the advertised price? They probably had another buyer for the car who when told that the car was on hold, said that he’d give them more than asking. Normally they say sorry, we made an error and the car that you put a deposit on was already sold when you put the deposit down (and they sell to the other guy).
Nothing to do with the French just this is how these "leasing" places are. They're all located in the same area of town under different names but are all owned by a handful of families and occasionally get fire bombed.. another one to avoid is Prime Leasing. Rhodie does have a reputation I'm shocked there wasn't a shouting match.
Unfortunately nothing can be done from a legal perspective, but my wife says to contact the legal authority that manages car sales of your respective province, as they would be the ones that can discipline dealers.
Unfortunately nothing can be done from a legal perspective, but my wife says to contact the legal authority that manages car sales of your respective province, as they would be the ones that can discipline dealers.
SAAQ and AMVOQ but they likely won't do much unless there was actually a sales contract drawn up. If so contact OPC... If there is no contract drawn up SOL.
08-28-2020, 11:33 AM
Be careful of Parade Leasing in Montreal
