ComplaintsforWhite Horse Sales & Service, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  06/24/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On August 30th 2023, I and my brother ****** ******* signed for a 2015 ***** *** **** for $29,779 and with the extended warranty and taxes the total came to $48,717.06. The vehicle was owned for 9 months and over the last month had started to become increasingly unsafe to drive. When taken to a mechanic they stated it would cost $9,000 to fix and the damage is due to the lift kit on the truck. The truck was baught with the lift kit but white horse denied it until pictures were shown on their lot of the truck with the lift kit. They then stated they sold us the wrong warranty and because of that they would not cover anything since we as the buyers didn't catch it even though the dealership stated this was the warranty we needed. They stated they would give us the cost of the warranty back, which would be $4,000 and it would go to the bank but we would be liable for the $9,000. At this time we have an unusable truck from something the truck came with and no way to cover $9,000 worth or work on top of the payments.

  

  Business response

  07/05/2024

  Dear ********,

  We regret to learn of the challenges you are experiencing with your 2015 *** ****. In your complaint, you indicated that there was a discrepancy regarding the inclusion of a lift kit in your vehicle purchase. Allow me to clarify the communication that took place between you and our representatives in relation to the lift kit. During the discussion, you were asked to verify if the vehicle was indeed equipped with a lift, and if so, whether it was part of the original purchase or if it was added post-purchase. It was explained that the absence of a lift surcharge in your Agreement could be attributed to a post-purchase installation of the lift. Upon confirming that the vehicle was purchased with a lift, the possibility of a post-purchase lift addition was dismissed as a cause for the missing surcharge in your Agreement.

  In your complaint, you stated that the incorrect Agreement was sold to you, implying that no coverage is applicable. I would like to clarify that certain components are still covered by the Agreement, with limitations on items directly associated with the lifted portion of the vehicle. For clarification of which components are specifically excluded, you may contact us at ###-###-####. Many covered components situated above the lift kit remain eligible for repairs under the Agreement terms. In regard to the components located above the lift kit which were denied for repair were excluded due to reasons unrelated to the lift surcharge. For instance, the failure of exhaust manifolds due to broken bolts and rust-related issues like a leaking oil pan are instances not covered by the Agreement. The Agreement is tailored to address mechanical failures within the vehicle systems, excluding specific exclusions.

  Your complaint also mentioned that we informed you it is the customer's responsibility to ensure that the Agreement accurately reflects the vehicle's specifications before finalization. This information is indeed accurate. Both the dealership and the customer share the responsibility of verifying the Agreement's accuracy to avoid discrepancies in coverage. The Agreement explicitly states on page 1 that it supersedes any prior verbal or written communications, emphasizing the importance of reviewing the Agreement for correctness before signing.

  Regrettably, it is not feasible to retroactively add the surcharge to cover the denied claim under the current Agreement. As a gesture of goodwill, we have extended the option to cancel the Agreement and issue a full refund due to its inability to meet the intended requirements. While we are unable to provide a direct refund to you due to the Agreement being part of your vehicle loan, we are obligated to process any refunds through the Lender who financed the Agreement purchase, in accordance with the contract terms detailed on Page 9, Section E, Paragraph 2.

  Should you wish to include the surcharge for future coverage, you may forward a $350.00 surcharge fee for Agreement revision. Alternatively, if you opt for a refund of the Agreement purchase price to your Lender, please inform us accordingly. If you prefer to maintain the current Agreement coverage, excluding lift kit-related failures, no further action is necessary.

  If you have any questions, please contact us at ###-###-####.

  We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in this matter.

  Sincerely, White Horse Sales & Service

  Customer response

  07/07/2024

  Better Business Bureau: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.  I am looking to return not just the warranty that was the wrong one but the truck for the amount paid as well. Since the claim is that its both sides fault returning the vehicle to the previous owner, white horse, so that they get it back in the same condition it was sold to us in is what we are looking for. The claim is that I should have known that more than one option should have been applied in the check boxes and that the lift kit should have been noticed but I was unaware at the time that it was liften. Ivhave no knowledge of trucks and their differences and so relied on the seller to let me know what I was buying. They not only didnt know that it was lifted at the time of sale, they also tried to claim in the beginning that we added the lift kit until pictures were shown to indicate nothing had been changed with the vehicle since it was purchased.  I also want to question why changing the warranty can happen later and not be applied to the current situation. Is this so that anything found wrong due to the lift kit will not be applicable? But it can be changed not to count those things for further problems? To me this shows a certain lack of accountability on the part of the dealership. Items that would not have been covered under the correct warranty we could have accepted. The entirety of the mechanical problems this time but later coverage does not make sense to me. Regards, ******** *******

  

  Business response

  07/10/2024

  ********,

  I regret to inform you that returning your vehicle is not an option. At the time of purchase in October of 2023, you did not qualify for any coverage by the Lemon Law per its guidelines as your vehicle had an odometer reading over 100,000 miles. The Service Agreement you purchased is the correct contract but is missing the Surcharge for the lift on the vehicle.
  You state that the claim is the fault of both sides, and the vehicle should be returned to the prior owner, which in this case would be White Horse Sales & Service. We respectfully disagree with that conclusion as the vehicle went through a Used Car Inspection as well as a New York State Inspection, which both resulted in passable results. In other words, the vehicle met all standards and specifications required by law and by our standards with no defects found which would need repair. The issues you are having with your vehicle occur naturally through time and use. If you were having any other these issues at the time of purchase and you had communicated it with us, we would have addressed the issues promptly. Seeing that we are 9 months post purchase, and this is the first communication with us regarding these issues, it is assumed that these issues came about over time after the purchase while under your ownership and care. That indicates that we as the dealer are not responsible for these issues.

  You also state that part of your grounds for wishing to return your vehicle is that we did not disclose the vehicle as being lifted. Nowhere in the law does it require a dealer to disclose a vehicle as being lifted. In your response, you again state that we didn’t believe the truck was lifted at the time of purchase and that we accused you of lifting the vehicle post-purchase in which you provided photos to prove it was purchased with the lift. Please review our previous communication with you in paragraph 1 where it states, “During the discussion, you were asked if the vehicle was indeed equipped with a lift, and if so, whether it was part of the original purchase or if it was added post purchase. It was explained that the absence of a lift surcharge in your Agreement could be attributed to a post-purchase installation of the lift. Upon confirming that the vehicle was purchased with the lift, the possibility of a post-purchase lift addition was dismissed as a cause for the missing Surcharge in your agreement.”. To reiterate this statement, we did not accuse you of adding the lift post-purchase, we were obtaining information about the vehicle at the time of purchase and if a lift was present as we do not keep record if a vehicle is lifted or not as it is not a requirement per the laws set forth by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles of the State of New York.
  To answer your question regarding why the lift surcharge can be added and will cover future claims but will not cover the current claim is because at the time of the claim, lift kits and items included in them were not covered by your Agreement. Once the surcharge is added, from that date forward, items included in your lift would then have coverage through the Agreement.

  We are exploring the option of being authorized to issue the refund of the purchase price of the Warranty Agreement to you in order to cover some of the costs to repair your vehicle. At this time, we are awaiting a response from the warranty company as to if they will allow us to do so. If the warranty company will allow us to do so, we will need to confirm with your Lender that they will also approve the refund to be issued to you. At this time, our options remain the same as per our last communication. You may forward a $350.00 surcharge fee to have the Warranty Agreement revised to cover future claims in relation to your lift, or you may opt for the courtesy refund of the Warranty Agreement purchase price to your Lender. 

  If you have any questions, please contact us at ###-###-####.

  We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in this matter.

  Sincerely, White Horse Sales & Service

• Initial Complaint

  06/12/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My husband bought a truck from this business about a month ago. The first weekend in May the truck broke down on the side of the road. It wouldn’t turn over it wouldn’t start. It is now June 12th we have been trying to contact Whitehorse for a couple of weeks about the truck that we had to get towed to them in the beginning of May most of the time no one answers the phone or they say we can leave a message and they will call us back myself personally I’ve called every day this week the week of 610. I’ve left multiple messages for someone to call me back and no one will get a hold of us. No one will tell us what’s going on with the truck and no one can tell us how long it will take for us to get the truck back. It is within the law limits , but we can’t even get a hold of anyone to figure out what’s going on

  

  Business response

  06/26/2024

  Dear ******,Since the filing of this complaint, we have been in contact with you regarding this issue. As discussed, we apologize for having difficulty contacting us. As you know, in that time frame, we were in the process of relocating our service department, had a mechanic out for a week due to illness who was assigned to your vehicle repairs, and lost our service writer who manages the phones and schedules.Regarding the status of your vehicle, we are not able to provide a timeframe for your vehicle to be repaired as it depends on what the cause of issue is, diagnostics, parts availability, and labor time. At this time, we believe the starter has failed due to constant cranking trying to restart the vehicle when your husband broke down. There also appears to be a low compression on cylinder # 8.We have contacted the warranty company and have been authorized to tear down the engine to the point of failure. As of today, the engine has been removed and is in the process of inspection. Once we confirm what the cause of issue is and complete diagnostics, we will contact your warranty company to begin the claim process. Once the process is started, we will be working under their direction which may impact the time of repairs being completed as we may have to wait to receive parts from their vendors.If you have any other questions, please contact us at ###-###-#### or *******************Thank you

• Initial Complaint

  03/13/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I purchased my truck at this business along with a warranty for the vehicle. It broke down and had to be towed. I was able to make contact with the supposed shop manager Rick who told me they would get it in right away and work on. It has currently been 7 weeks, can hardly ever make contact with them and cannot get an answer when my vehicle will be done. This was my daily driver. No one should have to deal with a business such as this.

  

  Business response

  03/18/2024

  Mr. ***** ******* purchased his truck from our facility in December of 2022 and has visited us multiple times for warranty-related concerns. Despite challenges caused by Covid-related delays and parts availability, our team has been diligent in addressing and resolving any issues promptly.Approximately 7 weeks ago, Mr. *******'s truck was brought in due to a "No Start" condition. In order to maintain fairness among all customers and due to our current scheduling constraints, there was a slight delay in addressing his vehicle. Despite extensive diagnostic efforts involving multiple facilities, the root cause of the issue could not be determined.We have kept Mr. ******* informed of our ongoing efforts to identify and rectify the electrical issue in his vehicle. Given the complexity of the problem, we have reached out to the local ****** dealership, experts in such matters, for their assistance. We are currently awaiting their availability for a consultation due to their busy schedule. Rest assured, once a solution is determined, we will promptly notify the customer.Our service advisor kindly offered a complimentary loaner vehicle, however, Mr. ******* indicated that he has alternate transportation available.

  Customer response

  03/18/2024

  Better Business Bureau: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. I was not offered a loaner vehicle until last week, meaning white horse had my vehicle for over a month before that was offered. I was told they don't have any loaners because they were all supposedly totaled in accidents. Secondly the engine code tripped when my vehicle dies was P22CE which means the turbo valve is stuck shut and with the actuator still being able to move while the vehicle is off means it needs a new vacuum solenoid for the turbo system and possibly an air line. I have tried explaining this to them to them not taking it into consideration. Contact was made with ****** dealership about this and was agreed that would most likely be the cause. White horse and no consideration about supplying transportation, responding for days even over a week to messages, and blatantly lies to customers. I have never had such horrible customer service. The only reason why my vehicle was taken to them was because I was told they would be able to get it in right away. It took a month before they even looked at the truck. I was completely lied too and it's not acceptable. The only thing this business cares about is selling vehicles.  Regards, ***** *******

  

  Business response

  03/19/2024

  We understand the frustration of the owner regarding the delay in servicing their ****** diesel model. Our service department does not specialize in this particular model, leading to some delays. The code (P22CE) mentioned by the owner causes delayed hesitations during harder acceleration, especially when the engine is cold. The vehicle is not starting due to fuel not passing through the fuel pump into the engine. 
  
  Occasionally, we encounter vehicles with challenging issues that are difficult to diagnose. Despite seeking advice from other experts, we have been unable to resolve the problem. The vehicle may have a performance tune installed, which could be the underlying issue. Until the problem is identified, we can only address the common causes and hope for a solution.
  
  We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused by our inability to provide daily updates. Our shop is currently understaffed, and we are unable to hire more employees until we relocate to a larger facility. The parts delays as well as a high demand for our services during this busy period has further delayed our ability to accommodate all customer needs promptly. Thank you for your understanding.

• Initial Complaint

  01/31/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I recently bought a 2016 ***** ********* LT from White Horse Automotive on January 13th 2023 and 2 short days later I found out that the Tie Rod was on the verge of breaking causing my truck to have a really bad shake, I took the truck back in on January 16th to have them take a look and they never even put the truck on the lift they just rolled underneath and brushed me off as nothing was wrong. January 17th, I took it back again and to be looked at and they again brushed me and my Fiancé off as if nothing was wrong. Since then, I've been calling and calling to try to get them to fix the truck that should never have even passed inspection and they've only dodged my calls. I finally got in contact with someone and after telling them I'll bring this to court because they put my life in danger. They're still refusing to fix my vehicle so instead they told me to take it somewhere and have someone else fix it and they'll pay them which I highly doubt. They as well lied to the bank about how many miles the truck has. As well as the Tie rod being broke I have bad lower ball joints and bad leaky tranny lines.

  

  Business response

  02/01/2023

  To whom it may concern,  ***** ****** purchased her 2016 ********* ********* on January 13, 2023. After discussing this filed complaint with our Service Manager as well as all Service Technicians, the following information is what I was provided with. ***** brought the vehicle to the facility to be looked at in regard to a possible tie rod issue. The vehicle was not placed on a lift as it was not necessary to view and analyze the tie rods. After viewing such tie rods, it was noted that the boot of one tie rod end was torn and there were no other visible or mechanical issues observed with the tie rod itself. Per the Service Technician that assessed this situation, the tie rod had “no play”. Our Service Manager states that he explained this to ***** and the two people accompanying her in this matter as well as visually showed these people what was observed. As for the mention of bad lower ball joints and leaking transmission lines, the Service Technician that assessed this vehicle stated that the lower ball joints were well within the allowable tolerance per the manufacturer’s specifications and no transmission line leaks were visible at the time of such assessment other than extremely minor seepage. By manufacturer design, it is known and is considered normal for the transmission lines to sweat around the crimped fittings. With regard to the tie rod end, ***** was not satisfied with these answers so as a dealer courtesy, the Company offered to pay to sublet the replacement of the tie due to the torn boot to another registered repair shop that is able to perform an alignment after completion of the repairs as to not damage the vehicles tires. In regard to the vehicles passing of a New York State Inspection, the tie rod that has no visible or mechanical issues other than a torn boot, lower ball joints that are well within the manufacturer’s specifications, an no visible leak of the transmission lines would not affect the passing of this vehicle. Per our Service Manager, ***** called in yesterday, January 31st, stating that the Company is taking no action to repair her vehicle. Our Service Manager advised her of the previous conversation held in which he explained the Company would approve sublet repairs to a registered repair shop as a courtesy to replace the tie rod due to the torn boot, and to perform an alignment. The Consumer’s desired resolution of a billing adjustment does not appear to be appropriate as the Company has offered, as a courtesy, to approve sublet repairs to a registered repair shop to replace parts on the vehicle that have no significant effect on the vehicle’s immediate operation or safety. The customer has been advised to schedule such repairs and provide a copy of the invoice, if it be from ***** herself or forwarded by the company of her choosing, after the completion of such repairs.

  Customer response

  02/17/2023

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. They received the title and they’re paying off my loan!  Regards,  ***** ******  

• Initial Complaint

  12/24/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Purchased a 2014 *** **** dually. Aug 2021 from Chris Bill owner of White Horse Auto. Chris and his team failed to disclose to me the truck was deleted. The truck has zero emissions controls, second it is impossible for this truck to pass inspections in most states. It is illegal to sell trucks that violate the Clean Air Act. I am medically retired Air Force Veteran 17 yrs. I live in my 5th wheel RV year around. It costs thousands of dollars to fix this screw up. I have already invested in new tires, wheels, tint, linex bed coating, undercoating and rust preventive undercoating. I am not interested in a buy back or for their mechanic to fix it. Chris sold me a truck that would of had emission components. I was over priced on the sale. I sent Chris an email stating on average to fix this truck would be approx $6500. Chris failed to disclose this truck that is was deleted, second I am by no means a mechanic. I do not live in New York as my house is on wheels.

  

  Business response

  01/12/2022

  Rick from the business explained that you would need to take the vehicle to a licensed repair shop to be evaluated, and that they would be willing to assist with that.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩