DCH Montclair Acura — Local services in Verona

This complaint is against L709 DCH Montclair Acura located at 100 Bloomfield Avenue, Verona, NJ 07044. On November 13, 2024, I purchased a 2014 Acura MDX from the said location and was provided with my 1st Temp Tag that expired on December 13, 2024. During the month in length I never received a courtesy call from the dealership, explaining a delay in my license plate being potentially delayed.

On December 13, 2024, at 9:30 a.m. I reported to the dealership where my Sales & Leasing Advisor Kayla Paredes stated that she was UNSURE of the reason for the delay and explained the situation to the same Financial Business Manager who originally processed my used vehicle Mr. Marcus Small where I was issued a 2nd Temporary Tag for my MDX with an expiration date of January 11, 2025.

On January 11, 2025, I contacted the dealership requesting an update regarding my license plates. I requested to speak with Sales Advisor Kayla Paredes who advised the front desk clerk that she would speak with management regarding the situation and someone will returned my call. I immediately ask for an available supervisor to address my concerns. My call was forwarded to New Car Director Lawrence Weinglass, who advised me that due to the Motor Vehicle Commission being closed on a Saturday, he would have to wait until Monday to give me an update on the issue. Still, he was unable to provide a new temp tag. He suggested that I ride the vehicle with the expired temporary tag or rent a car not at the expense of Acura. He mentioned that if the vehicle was brand new, he could assist me but because it was a used Acura he could help me.

On Monday, January 13, 2025, I followed up with the dealership regarding my temp tag. The New Car Director Lawrence Weinglass stated that the Motor Vehicle team at their location failed to properly submit all paperwork to the DMV resulting in no license plate. This alleged motor vehicle team not only failed to properly handle their duties once, but twice resulting in my vehicle not being drivable on the road without proper documentation to support registration. Mr. Weinglass asked that I give them 2 to 3 business days to handle the situation and the license plate should be available for pick up on Friday, January 17, 2025. I called the dealership on Friday and Saturday and my calls were being ignored during the duration of their business hours. After reviewing review on Google, this is an ongoing issue at this location "failure to issue license plates and registration."

On Tuesday, January 21, 2025, I contacted the dealership requesting to speak with the Director Mr. Weinglass, but was told by the receptionist that he was present all morning but went home sick for the afternoon. She also assured me that she would put me in the manager's group chat my contact information, hoping that someone would call to assist me. Of course, no one has reached out to me concerning the matter at hand. This dealership's lack of accountability to properly communicate with me as a 1st time ACURA buyer regarding the matter of my delayed temp tag has left me to file this complaint with ACURA Corporate, Better Business Bureau, and leave a less appealing review here on Google.

While at the dealership on Wednesday, November 13, 2024, a man entered the establishment furious with the way management was handling the purchase of a vehicle that he got from the same location. Verona PD was called to the scene. After my situation, I wonder how many times police have been called to this location. I will be going to Verona PD to request the calls for service to that location for the year 2024. Since L709 DCH Montclair Acura does not seem to care that I have no vehicle to drive due to their negligence, I have also taken it upon myself and made contact with a Law Group for further advisement. Without a vehicle, I'm unable to make my 1-hour commute to work, and has cost me more money on top of making payments on the used vehicle.

I will be making a video and releasing it on TikTok, INSTAGRAM, and FACEBOOK regarding this location and...

The experience left me feeling drained...and I’m in business of selling as well!

Like many said, it's a hit and miss with this dealership. If there are no complications in servicing or purchasing - the dealership is great. But as the saying goes...Anyone can navigate a ship in calm waters...They did try to make it right, but not after some back and forth.

The long version: I leased a new Acura ZDX EV on 1/8/25. When my new plates came in, I was notified that there was an additional fee of $738 to pay for registering my new EV. Yes, that's right, an additional $738! That's almost couple of months’ worth of lease payments!

Why wasn't this disclosed at the time when the deal was signed?

Of course, from the dealership point of view, the signed contract stipulates that the government fees charged at the time the contract is signed, are just an estimate and that overage will be returned, or additional funds may be requested.

However, from consumer's point of view the reasonable expectation may be that additional fees should be more like a small percentage of the fees already in the contract...more like incidental...say additional $20, $50 or $100. But not $738!

At first, the dealership did not try to manage the situation. Just a bill and a question would it be debit or credit to pay the fee? They tried to make it right afterwards, and I do sincerely appreciate it, but not after some tough conversations, when it looked like they were making more of a favor than admitting that the finance manager should have been aware of different fee structure for EVs and that they would like to work with me to make it right.

Guess what the manager told me as their reasoning... You'll never guess... keep in mind I leased ZDX EV on 1/8/25. He tells me that the rules and fees have been changing so often on EV cars that they didn't know what the total registration fee should be! He continues to tell me the new fees were implemented in July! I almost dropped my pants!

Of course, once I was presented with a surprise of additional $738 in fees, I went looking for answers. There were two changes in New Jersey, not multiple.

Change one – new registration fee effective 7/1/24, Change two – 3.3125% sales tax effective 10/1/24 (they didn’t miss that one).

The new registration fee structure came into effect 7/1/24. My spider-man sense tells me that the dealerships should have been notified in advance. I leased the EV on 1/8/25. That's 191 days after the new rules came into effect! Am I the first EV customer at this Acura dealership? If so, I should have gotten a mug or something.

The dealership tried to make it right but was pushing me to pay more than what I was willing to pay. The manager tells me if I don't pay, he won't give me the plates. This is neither managing relationships nor the situation! This feels more like a shakedown.

Come-on guys! We're not at a middle eastern bazaar over here!

This whole incident just left me drained (I'm sure they were as well). Even after the dealership has agreed to make significant concessions on the fee, it felt like they were doing it for the wrong reasons.

The situation could have been handled so much better. I absolutely love the sales craft. I think the salespeople are some of the hardest working and grittiest people out there. They are the true hustlers (but in a good sense of the word). There is so much reward to be had if a sale is made and the customer is happy. As I tried to make my case with the sales manager, he kept telling me that..."I’m going in circles"..."will I pay or not?" I asked him what a customer experience meant to him? He kept telling me I'm walking in circles... fair enough... next time I'm walking in a straight line...

The #1 rule of sales is that the cost of new customer acquisition is significantly higher than trying to keep existing customers. I have been working with this dealership since 2016. This dealership does not seem to mind losing a few customers. They are certainly fortunate enough that their product, the Acura brand, is pretty much...

1 star was very generous of me. Unfortunately 0 stars is not an option. Stay very far away from this dealership. Everytime I have gone here, it has been a horrible experience and I instantly always regret going. I have tried to give them multiple chances in hopes that they will improve but yesterday was the last time I’ll ever give this dealership my business. The only thing they have improved upon was getting rid of my previous service advisor who had no idea what he was doing or yet alone what a wheel alignment is. Let’s start with my experience from last year, my new 2021 TLX needed a new transmission in which I was told should take about a month or so because the part was on “back order”- so I assumed it would take a bit and I did my due diligence and followed up every so often. A month and half later after following up I’ve decided to contact another local Acura (the one where I actually purchased my car from) in which they advised me the part was never on back order and in fact they actually have it in stock - I requested my car to be towed over to the other dealership but miraculously DCH Verona/this dealership was suddenly able to get the part despite me going back and forth with them telling them I no longer wanted their service. Got the transmission issues resolved and shortly after I noticed I desperately needed a wheel alignment (which you would think would be done when they’re taking apart your car). After multiple visits again to get a simple wheel alignment done and the service advisor at the time who would argue with me and tell me I don’t need a wheel alignment and the car is fine I decided to leave and proceed back to the other dealership in which not only did they tell me it was obvious I needed a wheel alignment but also the cover to the bottom of my car was missing! So not only did they have me going back and forth for a simple wheel alignment that they could have easily done but they also have failed to inform me they lost a part/cover for my car. Enough was enough and I brought it the Service Manager (Cecilo Casablanca) attention and wrote a very long email to him about the unprofessionalism and negligence of his staff and service — yet not response till this date. He had been nothing but unhelpful, and really lacks manager skills/communication. I even called over to Acura Relations and opened a claim against this dealership.

Fast forward to this week, I received a call that the recall parts are finally in and I could come in for service - I decided to give them another chance for the sake that this dealership is the most conviencent for me. I had my appointment yesterday and not only did I get my recall issue resolved and an oil change, but I also walked out with a crack in my windshield!! The cherry on top. Again, negligence on their end. I go to confront the service manager and advisor and of course no help and no accountability. I advised I would take this with customer relations in which Cecilo then lied and said there is no customer relations. Unfortunately for you Cecilo there is Acura Relations and now here’s to another case I have opened with them. And let’s talk about …causally having vapes on their desks in front of their customers — disgusting and unprofessional to say the least. This dealership is such a horrible representation of what Acura stands for, and what they strive to be. I will not be giving this dealership anymore of my time, money or business going forward as they clearly don’t value what Acura stands for and will be advising everyone around me to steer far away from this dealership.

Afted reading their responses to their negative feedback and claiming they strive to provide efficient service, clear communication, customer satisfaction etc — they continue to fall short of those skills every single time. I will not be looking forward to reaching out when/if they respond to this for further assistance as they have continued to prove they will not improve. If you were unable to resolve any issues in person, what makes me think they will resolve...