Cash for Clunkers error.....

Well...it's not easy to get all the documentation right for this program. There are a lot of things to show, scan, prove, and sign to make sure we get our money from the government. We are much better at it than we were at the beginning. There were so many rules and legislation to follow...it's not excuse...but it's just life. Then the program was on hold because it ran out of money and then it was back on and then it was ok to "kill" the car AFTER receiving money from the government and so on and so on. The rules and program changed after it was officially launched and we all had to roll with the punches.

So, there is a website where you input VIN numbers of the car you are trading in as a "clunker" and of the car you are purchasing. Then it tells you if the credit is $4500 or $3500. We started doing CARS deals before this website was working for us. So, to the customer that we gave a credit of $4500 instead of $3500.....we apologize for the mistake. It was an honest mistake. So, we had to "eat" the error and have you sign new paperwork. And on the re-sign, we made another HONEST mistake. We apologize for that. It's not professional and it's NOT what we want to do...but mistakes happen and it sure did in this situation. Does my husband wish he could have gone back to take care of the whole thing himself??? OF COURSE!! Do we want to apologize and extend our sincerest regret to our customer? ABSOLUTELY! And I am sorry that we had to inconvenience a valued customer by making them come home early from work due to our mistake.....and then to find out we made another mistake. We called the customer and she told us the truth that it was unprofessional and an outrage...but she told us to take the car back as well. True...the deal was done in July and we completely dropped the ball. Jay feels TERRIBLE and hates that this kind of stuff happens.....we wish our employees could be perfect and do exactly as they are instructed...but it didn't. Lesson learned? yes. Expensive lesson learned? yes. We are sorry for the trouble.

No one ever said owning a business would be easy......and no one ever said that your employees would do everything you tell them to do the first time around...and no one ever said that mistakes won't happen. Good thing Jay is a good guy and will humbly do what it takes to make a wrong into a right.

sigh.

yy