Red Rock starts getting the message, unwinds deal for strapped couple & gives out personal cell phone numbers of local partners for people to call if they’ve been wronged

Red Rock Nissan at 2582 Highway 6 & 50 in Grand Junction

The Red Rock Auto Group seems to be starting to get the message about the financial hardship they’ve been causing people by defrauding customers and carrying out business in bad faith.

This week Red Rock Nissan went out of their way to help “the Andersons” (not their real name), a struggling young couple with three kids, two of whom are special needs kids, who were recently featured in this blog as an example of the kind of bad deals people were unknowingly getting into at these dealerships.

The Andersons were plunged into a financial crisis after going to buy a used vehicle they saw on Red Rock Nissan’s website last summer that had been advertised for $17,000. After signing a few papers they were told were related to a warranty and not being shown their contract at any time during the transaction, the couple found out too late that the dealership had added a $2,500 extended warranty to their contract without their knowing, and that they had gotten roped into a $30,000 loan for 8-years at a whopping 12.49% interest rate, without even being aware they had signed a loan application. The monthly payments were far beyond what they could afford. They were forced to get second jobs and work extra hours, often into the evenings, to make the payments. As a result of the financial strain, they had far less time to spend with their kids, which led to even more problems at home.

The Andersons’ financial desperation would have continued for years, but after hearing about this case, this week Red Rock agreed to let the Andersons return their vehicle and generously paid off the couple’s loan in full, freeing the family from the crushing debt they had incurred after falling victim to Red Rock’s shady sales techniques.

The troubled 2016 Ford Explorer at the center of a questionable deal at Red Rock Nissan, that sent the Andersons into a downward economic spiral. The car has since been returned and the dealership paid off the Andersons’ loan in full

That’s truly great news, but it begs the question: What about all the other people who have been harmed by these dealerships’ shady business practices?

“We are committed to improving all our stores’ car-buying processes”

Out-of-state Red Rock Auto Group investor Tyler Slade says he is trying hard to turn things around at the  dealerships. He was the one who engineered the rescue of the Andersons from their downward financial spiral.

Here’s what Mr. Slade wanted people to know:

“Red Rock Auto Group values happy customers! We want to serve the greater Mesa County area residents with top-notch customer service and the lowest prices. We are committed to improving all our stores’ car-buying processes. Red Rock Auto Group is not interested in selling just one vehicle; we are only interested in selling customers multiple vehicles and vehicles to their friends and neighbors! This is only possible with excellent customer service and great prices. In other words, we want lifetime customers!

Importantly, he added,

If you have a concern or comment regarding Red Rock Hyundai, GMC or Honda, please get in touch with platform manager Bryan Knight at (801) 792-3711 or bryank@tdauto.com.  For Red Rock Nissan or Kia, please get in touch with platform manager Brantley Reade at (801) 915-0929, brantleyr@tdauto.com

These are the personal cell phone numbers of Red Rock Auto Group partners Bryan Knight and Brantley Reade, both of whom reside here in Mesa County.

By making these numbers public, Red Rock appears to be making a real effort to remedy the wrongs these dealerships have done to our community, and prevent more travesties from happening in the future.

So if you’ve been deceived or defrauded when doing business at a Red Rock dealership…

…contact them, and give them a chance to make it right. Then report back to Anne@AnneLandmanBlog.com, so we can tell if the progress is real or not.

And if you live outside Grand Junction city limits and bought a vehicle at a Red Rock dealership, go back and check your sales contract. After reading the articles about Red Rock dealerships, one reader reported that she checked her contract and discovered the dealership had erroneously charged her Grand Junction city sales tax, even though she lives outside the city.

She has applied for a refund from the City.

 

 

#FraudRock

 

  13 comments for “Red Rock starts getting the message, unwinds deal for strapped couple & gives out personal cell phone numbers of local partners for people to call if they’ve been wronged

  1. I’m very curious to know what happened to that family? Thrilled they got out of crushing debt, but do they have a car now? Are they functional, or did they just survive?

    I think this story would have a much better ending if Red Rock gave them a car…can we generate enough interest to see them wish to rehabilitate their brand with such a gift? Or, even better, what about a vehicle donation program for working families facing or experiencing homelessness? I mean, this dealership very nearly put this family on the street…how many others went quietly into the crisis this dealership created? Could the dealership rehabilitate their tainted brand through something genuinely community supportive – not just letting the family that got the most attention off the hook, but building a path for those who struggle to find a better life? This kind of fraud is quiet and, as mentioned in the comments, hard for the individual to fight. I’d like to see community wide atonement, or state action.

    Thank you for your work Anne. It’s a really big deal that you got this story out!

    • They had a trade in, but it has already been sold twice and is long gone. They gave up claim to their trade-in to be able to do the deal, so they’re down to one car now. They live on the east side of the valley and their workplaces are on the west side, so they’re having a bit of a struggle to make one car work. Yes, this kind of fraud is hard for any one person to fight. People tend to not talk about it, feel like it was their fault, they were stupid for not demanding to see their contracts, and the dealership is too big an adversary and the cards are stacked against them. But people tend to be non-aggressive in looking out for themselves, dealerships take advantage of people’s excitement about the purchase, their lack of knowledge about the car-buying process, the ease of intimidating people and making them feel stupid for asking questions. That’s what happened to this couple.

  2. What? An “investor” is working to undo criminal fraud and forgery. Why? To salve the reputation of the infamous Ted Dahl Red Rock Rip-off Motors Group?

    As one commenter asked, what about all the other grifted customers of Red Rock’s hydra-headed scam consortium?

    Reparations are sometimes a court-ordered remedy following conviction for certain financial crimes. Let’s see some prison time and punitive damages, and then, reparations.

  3. Anne,
    I really admire the way you can report this sort of thing without using four-letter invectives and other sorts of fury-reducers! I would probably be putting a sailor to shame if it were me!
    Has the Sentinel done any reporting on this issue? It is amazing that an electronic blog is having such a strong effect.
    Congratulations on a job well done!

    • Lol. The Sentinel reporting on this issue. Do you honestly think the Sentinel is going to bite the hand that feeds it? Much like SCL. The largest cardiology group between Denver and Salt Lake “disappears” last year and from the Sentinel? Not a peep. The Sentinel owes it allegiance to the corporate entities in this town that pay for its ads and “special reporting” not to the people of grand junction. Kudos to this column for being the only journalistic entity in this town I can see that actually does investigative journalism.

  4. It is hard to believe the investors did not know about shady business practices. It looks like they are now trying to save their investments at minimum cost. How come the Mesa Co. DA is not spearheading an investigation? Where is the state attorney general’s fraud unit? A really concerned company would be reviewing all their contracts and seeing who was cheated plus fire all the employees responsible for creating this mess. Utah business groups have been buying up car dealers here for several years—is there a plan to take over the greater business community here?

    • The Mesa County District Attorney referred the matter to the state Attorney General, who sought help from the Colorado Department of Revenue’s Auto Industry Division, which regulates dealerships and has the most legal expertise in contracts. I’ve also been informed that, in order to determine where to apply its limited resources, the CO AG’s office tends to be more interested in cases that have “double-digit” complainants and at least $100,000 worth of losses. I understand this situation has met those thresholds.

      • Thanks again, Anne, for your followup. As you and commenters have indicated, the Sentinel is funded, in part, by ads purchased, in this case, by alleged criminal enterprises. I can guarantee Red Rock has numerous local attorneys on retainer, so they will not take on clients trying to sue the auto dealers to recover their losses.

      • There are numerous examples of people who should have known the shady sh*t going on in their midst.

        The one-term president and its financial fraud.

        The Sackler family’s role in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

        Germans not suspecting that Hitler’s words about Jews, gays and Romani were not just words.

        Red Rock investors are in bad company, but are not unique.

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