‘I want back my money’
Car dealership under probe over non-delivery of vehicle
Published:Monday | November 7, 2022 | 12:10 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
Singh’s Motors Limited is under investigation after a teacher assistant demanded the refund of an $800,000 deposit on a 2013 Toyota Isis sedan she was reportedly promised to receive in two weeks but has been left empty-handed months after the purported delivery date.
Nadine Dixon said she has grown frustrated after not receiving the pearl white motor car from the used-car dealership.
The police confirmed that a report was made and an investigation launched.
“I want back my money,” Dixon said, armed with a receipt and sales agreement, which The Gleaner has seen.
Dixon said she made a down payment of $800,000 on August 16, 2022, for the vehicle valued at $1.590 million.
The balance of $790,000 was reportedly agreed to be paid when the vehicle was delivered in one or two weeks’ time.
“Up until today (Friday, November 4), I haven’t gotten the vehicle. However, on October 14, I called and couldn’t get through. It’s always an issue. I drove down to the business place and told [the director], since you cannot deliver over two months, I would like to cancel and refund me,” Dixon said.
The aggrieved car buyer said that she received an apology and was asked for her banking information and was told that the funds would be remitted by October 17.
Dixon visited the Half-Way Tree Police Station on October 31 and filed a formal report.
The Gleaner tried without success to reach Sophia Ramsundar-Singh and Deon Singh, the listed directors of the car dealership, according to Companies Office of Jamaica records. Calls to at least five mobile and landline numbers have not been answered.
It is not the first time that the St Andrew Central Police Division has received a report on Singh’s car dealership regarding the delivery of a motor vehicle.
Last October, The Gleaner reported that a St Mary businessman brought a suit against Singh’s Motors Limited over its alleged failure to deliver a motor car within the specified time.
The businessman, Dennis Brown, claimed that his deposit of $1 million should be refunded because of the purported breach of contract.
Attorney-at-law Tamiko Smith of the law firm Ramsay Smith, which is representing Brown, said the suit was filed on September 29 in the civil division of the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.
Brown said that on July 12, 2021, he and the defendant entered into a written contract in relation to a 2015 Toyota Probox motor vehicle for $1.2 million.
The deposit was $1 million and he paid it by a bank transfer and received a receipt.
He said in court documents that the defendant assured him that the delivery of the motor vehicle would be on or about July 15, 2021.
Several visits and telephone calls between July 15 and September 29, 2021, for the defendant to deliver the motor vehicle or refund the money, were futile, it was reported.
The case was set for hearing in January this year. It is unclear whether the matter has been resolved.
While not addressing the specific reports on Singh’s Motors Ltd, a senior policeman said that unsuspecting customers have got into wranglings with other car dealerships.
“Some of them have gone extinct. It has happened to persons in high society,” said the senior cop, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on such matters.
“Lawyers and doctors have made similar reports,” the policeman said, adding that some breaches are arrestable offences.
Dixon said that she is weary of unfulfilled promises regarding her refund.
“I asked the police to reach out .... because I am sick and tired,” Dixon told The Gleaner on Friday.