CALGARY- A woman who had buyer’s remorse only two hours after paying for a RV has learned an expensive lesson.
Peggy Thorson admits she rushed into a decision to put $2,000 down towards the purchase of a motorhome at the Calgary RV Show. She signed a sales agreement with Sunridge RV, but a short time later decided she didn’t want to go through with the deal.
“Foolishly, I got caught up in it,” she laments. “I came home and I got thinking ‘what have I done?’ So I changed my coat, got in my car…I said ‘we’ve got to stop this transaction. I can’t do this. I’m in over my head.”
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Thorson was under the impression the deal wouldn’t go through until the next week, but when she asked for a refund she was told that was not possible.
“If I didn’t go back Thursday night and days went by, then yeah I could understand,” she said. “I made an obligation to buy the motorhome, but you should have at least an overnight sleep think about it.”
Experts warn that once you commit to a deal in writing, dealerships don’t have to refund a deposit.
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“There is no cooling off period,” says John Bachinski from the Alberta Motor Vehicle Council. “When you purchase a vehicle, it is a purchase, it is a civil contract entered into, and therefore you’re obligated to fulfill the requirements of that contract.”
However, there is some help available for buyers depending on the situation.
“If a consumer does file a complaint with us we’ll look at the conduct of the sale. We’ll look at what was said and we have to weigh the evidence and that’s why each case is on its own merits.”
Bachinski adds that most dealers will, however, return deposits with some exceptions. After Global News contacted Sunridge RV, they agreed to refund Thorson’s deposit.
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