Need Advice

[carmart]

The new General Manager of the CarMart lot in Siloam Springs Arkansas seems to be with the knowledge of their corporate headquarters, lying to customers and treating staff in a very harassing and hostile way.

Sean Miller has among other things;

1. Instructed his collections staff to lie to customers. When there were written agreements with customers to create "late payment arrangements" and the customer was told verbally as well as in writting that late charges would be waived if the term of the "late payment arrangement" were met, he instructed staff to disregard these arrangements and to charge said late charges no matter what. At best, this is dishonest and calls into question the integrity of the company as a whole, as this was done with knowledge of upper management and corporate staff. But what laws does this break? What are the ramifications?

2. He instructed accounts staff not to notify the local police department when suspected drug paraphernalia was found in a repossessed vehicle. Stating that the police "wouldnt do anything anyway, and it would be a waste of time". Is this not against the law, to not notify local law enforcement authorities when something like this happens?

3. He also has allowed refinancing of accounts to be done when the customer(s) were not present. Which changed the terms of repayment of their notes, which in turn effected their end finance charges. Is there something here that is against SEC standards?

4. He has created a very hostile work environment. Taking a very tenured staff and verbally berating them, as well as some questionable physical abuse. In the first month that he took over he wrote up a huge percentage of the staff (some multiple times each), some of which had never had any write ups during the whole of their employment. And just recently, he forced several associates to do push ups, because they were late for a staff meeting. He made them do so in front of everyone else, demeaning them to no end. He berated a young lady telling her basically "do real push ups, your not going to get away with doing girly push ups". One of the associates has high blood pressure, which this must have exacerbated greatly. What are the labor laws, discrimination and harassment laws that would cover these types of actions of an employer?

5. He has instructed collections staff to not discuss details of how or if they will help delinquent accounts without taking money first, and then informing the customer of their intentions. Which has included taking a partial payment from someone and then telling them he would repossess their vehicle that next day if not paid in full, even though another payment had not cycled as due yet. Perhaps I am wrong, but I have been told that in the state of Arkansas you can not repossess a vehicle if a payment (partial or otherwise) is accepted, until the next scheduled payment becomes defaulted. Is this correct? And if so, what recourse do customers that have had their vehicles repossessed under such circumstances have?

These are just a few examples of things going on with this company. Please advise, your thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

[cryingdady]

best wishes!!!

[takeshi007]

Thanks for sharing, this will help us to minimize most of the customers from being scam and lie by the company. I greatly appreciate this issue.

[kalistraum]

this is definitely good legal feedback and should be kept in mind for future reference.

[dondi05]

Harassment is always an issue inside a company. You better be careful next time and also be extra cautious with contracts. Thanks for sharing ;-)

[Lovely World]

It will help us to minimize most of the customers from being scam and lie by the company. I greatly appreciate this issue. Thank you.

[danielponting]

Thanks for sharing the tips and advice !

This is really helpful.

[Financial-post]

good quality post!

[Goood]

Unfortunately I am not an expert in Arkansas law but it sounds like you have a good basis for a lawsuit. Contacting a local attorney sounds like your best course of action.

[firstchoicecarsales]

My own meaning of harassment is words, conduct, or actions directed at a specific person that annoys, alarms, or causes a lot of emotional distress for no legitimate purpose. If this really happening to you don't hesitate to be alarmed. Because in the end this will definitely save you with such threat. Thanks for sharing this to us.