Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Plattner Auto Dealership Sued By State


Area Car Dealer Accused Of Deceptive Practices

BELLE GLADE, FL. -- Attorney General Bill McCollum has announced his office has filed a lawsuit against a auto dealership and its owner, alleging unfair and deceptive trade practices related to vehicle advertisements. The Attorney General's Economic Crimes Division has been investigating Plattner's Belle Glade Dealership and owner Doug Plattner since 2004 for numerous advertisements in which the price of the vehicle did not include dealer fees. Dealer's fees can be several hundred dollars.


Being sued is Belle Glade Chevrolet-Cadillac-Buick-Pontiac-Oldsmobile, Inc. d/b/a Plattner's Belle Glade and Plattner's Clewiston located at 1700 East Palm Beach Road, Belle Glade. The allegations is a violation of a prior Attorney General order AG#L04-3-1153 and of Section 501.976(16), Fla. Stat. (2007) by advertising prices for vehicles which fail to reflect "dealer's fee." The office handling the case is the Economic Crimes Division in West Palm Beach, Florida.

In March 2005, Plattner's Belle Glade Dealership signed a settlement agreement stating it would disclose dealer fees in the price of its vehicles and refrain from any misleading advertisements. Additionally, it agreed that any future violations within four years of the settlement would result in penalties and sanctions against the dealership. Since the time of the settlement, Plattner's has run more than 100 advertisements which violate the settlement and Florida's Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices statute.

The Attorney General's lawsuit has requested injunctive relief to prevent Plattner's from running any more misleading advertisements. The lawsuit also requests civil penalties under the statute of $10,000 per advertisement and reimbursement of attorneys' fees and costs.

Plattner also owns local automotive dealerships in LaBelle, , Clewiston, Ft. Myers, and Lehigh Acres, including LaBelle Chrysler Dodge Jeep and a General Motors dealership in Arcadia, Fl. In the past, all the Plattner dealerships had added "dealer fees" that were not disclosed up front to customers or disclosed in advertising. Currently, Plattner has been running TV ads promoting "no dealer fees."

14 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:44 PM

    http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/274/RipOff0274946.htm
    http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/401/RipOff0401191.htm
    http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/274/RipOff0274946.htm

    More information on Mr. Plattner

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  2. Anonymous5:34 PM

    http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/414/RipOff0414930.htm

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  3. Anonymous10:39 AM

    Two weeks ago, Plattner Automotive Group, which operates 11 dealerships in the State of Florida, agreed to settle a U.S. Department of Labor
    investigation and pay $71,129.00 in back wages to its employees. The
    Department of Labor determined that the company had violated provisions
    of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
    One of the points stressed by the Department of Labor in that case was
    that while there is an overtime exemption for commissioned automobile
    salespersons, such salespersons must still be paid at least the federal
    minimum wage for all of the hours that they work.




    Most clients believe that most commissioned employees are not
    entitled to overtime pay. However, that is not true. Some retail sales
    employees are exempt from overtime pay, but these exemptions require
    specific compliance with certain requirements. The classic example is
    the case of automobile dealerships, where sales personnel are exempt
    from the overtime pay requirement. Yet, this exemption is absolute.
    There are certain requirements that must be met. In addition, with
    respect to automobile salespersons, they must be paid at least the
    minimum wage for all hours that they work, regardless of whether or not
    they make a sale.




    Typically, automobile salespersons are paid a set "draw" which is
    usually based on working forty hours per week at the minimum wage or
    slightly above the minimum wage. Problems arise if the salesperson
    either works more than forty hours per week or does not sell any
    automobiles. The problem is compounded if the salesperson works more
    than forty hours per week and does not sell any automobiles. The
    salesperson receives the draw, but does not receive any compensation
    for work performed over forty hours per week.




    Another exemption for commissioned salespersons is the retail sales
    exemption. Typically, salespersons in a retail store are not entitled
    to an overtime premium. However, in order to qualify for the exemption,
    the following requirements must be met: (1) the employer must be a
    retail store, with 75% of the annual sales being retail sales; (2) the
    employee's regular rate of pay must exceed one and one-half times the
    applicable minimum wage for every hour worked; and (3) more than half
    of the employee's compensation must be in the form of commissions. If
    all of these requirements are not met, then the employer does not
    qualify for the retail sales exemption and an overtime premium must be
    paid for all hours worked over forty per week.


    Dec 2009 - Yearly thing for this guy?

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  4. Anonymous8:27 PM

    He is up to it again in Miami Lakes

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  5. Anonymous9:38 AM

    this guy thinks he is the BEST car guy EVER
    to be in the biz. hes a SCHLEPP!

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  6. Anonymous5:11 PM

    Anonymous said...
    You will never enjoy working for Doug Plattner. Not one satisfied employee. He is a very deceptive man who will exercise severe procrastination in order not to pay or just plain confuse people to quit if he decides he does not want to pay you. He is notorious at deception. Doug Plattner is a man that will mislead, be careful of this Man if you are thinking about working for him.

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  7. Anonymous12:57 PM

    Doug Plattner is a jerk off.

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  8. Anonymous6:01 PM

    We bought a 2017 F-150 in July 30 and traded a 2015 F-150 in and they still have not payed it off. Now the Finance company wants us to make payments on it again.

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  9. I just filed a small claims court case against him yesterday for $4,050. He refuses to pay me so the only other way I know to handle it legally is to go to small claims court that's so far has costed me over $400. Beware that the dealership I was at in Arcadia sells manufacturer buyback branded Title vehicles without disclosure and will also allow you to purchase a warranty on them which is highly illegal. He is one of the worst people in the world..

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:47 PM

      Hey Scott.... you are right!!!! I remember how he jerked you around about your pay.

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  10. Anonymous7:44 PM

    I used to work in the accounting office. The buy back vehicles not being disclosed is a fact!!!! We had to forge customer signatures to obtain titles. Not paying off vehicles is a fact!!! We in the accounting office took the heat from these angry customers. He refused to sign checks. He even said he doesn't give a crap about paying!!!! Who says that??? A PSYCHO!!! He even has his own cars "stolen" to claim the insurance. DIRT BAG!!! He talks to employees like crap!!!! I'm so glad I'm out of there and working with a reputable car company. One of the best in Florida! I saw this place going down and I had to jump ship!!!

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  11. Anonymous12:57 AM

    He is a thief and a liar. The State of Florida needs to shut him down once and for all. He is as crooked as they come ...

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  12. Good Afternoon,
    Since I see that many of you on this platform are former employees please enlighten me as it pertain to the practices of pricing, holding fees as well as tax title and licensing fees. We are military family trying to purchase a car for our son and the car was advertised for $13,884. On the website it took an additional $100 off so I contacted the dealership immediately and spoke with the sales manager. He told me that the car was in route from Georgia and had been purchased at an auction but they already had it listed on all of their sites as well as Carguru. When we called and spoke with the sales manager he confirmed that the price of $13,884 was correct and that he would contact me as soon as the car arrived. The next day I called because I wanted to go on and pay for the car so once it arrived my brother-in-law could pick it up for our son and keep it at his home until we arrived to drive it back. The salesman told me he was waiting to formulate an email in about 30 minutes later I got an email from the general manager quoting me a price of $18,550. Thankfully when I spoke with the sales manager I recorded our conversation because I was sending it to my son. I also took immediate screenshots of both websites and then sent him the link. Of course anytime you do an inquiry through carguru on an account that you have set up it will show the last time you communicated with the dealership as well as the price at the time of that communication. I requested that he provide proof of the $3,000 quoted holding fee as well as proof that the dealer's fee was $2,800 because the website stated that they were the "Home of no dealers fees". Does general manager's name was Jay Fellin and since I responded to him by advising him that I was going to seek assistance from the Military Attorney I have not received a response back on the email with my request for proof of fees. I also requested a call back from the owner and I have not received that either. I am filing an official complaint with the attorney general's office in the state of Florida and with GM because of his business practices. I don't understand how this gentleman is able to continue operating under any of the brands with the deceptive practices that they are using daily. If you have any information that would help us please feel free to respond.

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    Replies
    1. A rule of thumb in vehicle shopping... Do not pay any attention to advertised price from any dealer. You will never buy any vehicle at the price in an advertisement as all dealers (with very very few exceptions, maybe two or three in Florida) will add dealer fees and other dealer profits to the price advertised. The ONLY way to get an "out the door" price with all fees and charges added is to shop online at three or more dealers for the same model of vehicle and explain that you want the price with all fees added. This will not be easy as they will either not want to give you a price or will lie and then add fees when you come in person to buy. Remember too it is unlikely you can force them to honor a price as they have many ways out of that. If you have a bullet proof complaint that they violated the law, contact the state department of motor vehicles and they can put them out of business for flagrant violations but it's not likely to be successful.

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