The Dayton BBB reports that it has 55 complaints on file against the Jeff Schmitt Auto Group during the past three years, including 17 since September 2012 when the BBB contacted the car dealership about the pattern of complaints that were coming in.
The Dayton BBB says it took action this month after reviewing recent complaints and seeing the same pattern.
“BBB files indicate Jeff Schmitt Auto Group has had a pattern of complaints concerning sales/advertising issues, product/service issues, guarantee/warranty issues, billing/collection issues and delivery issues,” according to the Dayton BBB website.
The Dayton BBB suspended the rating two days after the Dayton Daily News published its findings from an investigation into the dealership’s practices. The probe was prompted after a look at court records showed a high number of lawsuits against the dealership.
The DDN investigation found that from December 2012 to July 2013, the Jeff Schmitt Auto Group paid $625,000 to resolve 16 civil lawsuits. At that time, eight lawsuits were pending in Montgomery and Greene county courts.
In response to a request for comment regarding the story, owner Jeffrey Schmitt released the following statement through a public relations firm:
“While literally thousands upon thousands of our customers are satisfied with their purchases and terms of purchases, we recognize that, periodically, a very small number of customers may not be satisfied with their purchase or their purchase terms.
“We would hope that, when a customer has an issue, they would come to us to seek fair resolution. We also recognize that there are a handful of individuals who prefer to bring a lawsuit hoping to reap financial rewards that are often wildly out of proportion to whatever harm they may feel they have experienced. It is unfortunate that some believe litigation is their opportunity to be rewarded financially and to damage our company.”
Representatives from the auto group or the Dayton BBB could not be reached Monday night for comment.
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