Thanks Kevin,

In fact, we made the deposit on a Saturday. On Monday, they told us
they couldn't find the car and were going to add the missing equipment.
We immediately told them we were cancelling the sale unless they did
locate the car. Tuesday, they tried to force this option on us again
and we cancelled via phone with the sales person. We then called back
to confirm the deal was over and explained we had found the EXACT car
they were "unable" to locate 20 miles away.

It was when we asked about the deposit that we were forwarded to the
sales manager who told us he "doesn't have to" refund the deposit. It
has been two weeks now and no credit on our credit card (we thought
maybe he was bluffing about no refund to get us to buy from them.)

We wrote the credit card company today to dispute the charge and are
crossing our fingers. My husband signed the credit card slip (which we
have) and some one-page form that detailed the car, color and eqipment
we wanted and the price. We didn't realize until later they didn't give
us a copy of anything but the credit card receipt.

We PRAY the other document didn't have small print somewhere that said
"no refund of deposits" but we believe that would be illegal in our
state anyway. We think we had 3 business days to cancel the "contract"
(has been that way with other cars we bought, but we never did it) so I
hope the dealer doesn't have something up their sleeve.

We are in Connecticut. I always shy away from giving exact locations
because ya never know how much you should post on a public group, but I
will share the state as I realize that comes into play here.  I am
certain with other cars I have bought the dealers told me I had 3
business days to cancel the deal by law, but since I never used that I
am not 100% certain what applies.

Actually, this dealer is a large multi-brand dealership that should
know better. Not a small place by any means. The very next business day
they knew we were not going to accept their "take something off the lot
and add to it ourselves" plan and we would cancel. Since we discovered
the car we wanted (exactly) was available at a few other dealership, it
seems clear they were playing games when they said they couldn't locate
one!   That's what we get by going to the closest dealer!

I just REALLY hope there was nothing on the pricing document we signed
that said no refunds on deposits. Some people here have said they can't
keep the deposit at all, some have said they can only keep it on
special order vehicles (which this wasn't) and some say if they put in
small print "no refunds" we're screwed.

The credit card company should have our letter by mid-week (they told
us it had to be in writing) and I am thinking of filing a claim with
motor vehicles also. Just stuns me that the dealer would do this if the
law is on our side.

You know, I HATE car dealers (actually furniture salespeople too) and
since I had a good experience elsewhere last time, I foolishly THOUGHT
dealers were hard up for sales these days and would't try and screw
peoole. Sad.

"Yours 'was' a 'special order' by the way."

Mike,

Actually, we spoke about this to two other dealers, including the one
we purchased from because our ability to get out of the deal was
important to us moving elsewhere. We have been told more than once that
a "special order vehicle" is ONLY one that "must be ordered from the
factory because it can not be located in any other dealer's inventory".

Locating a car from another dealer's lot and doing a swap is NOT a
special order. Where did you get that impression from?  How do you see
this as a special order?

IT'S OBVIOUS YOU'VE NEVER SOLD CARS IN THE STATES. FIRST IT WASN'T A
SPECIAL ORDER IT WAS A DX OR DEALER EXCHANGE AND SECOND , DEPOSITS ARE
MOSTLY REFUNDABLE!