What do I do??? Car dealer and leather issue

[Guest guest]

I'm feeling like a big idiot and don't know what to do.

 

Since I went veggie in 1989 I have not bought a car with leather

interiors. Even my current

lease, although a entry level luxury sport sedan, is

non-leather...which the dealer 3 years

ago went to some trouble to find. My current lease was up this week,

and I knew I needed

to downgrade to a less expensive car, so I went to Saturn to check

out getting a new lease.

I've had a Saturn before and was always very satisfied.

 

When talking to the salesperson I must have mentioned no leather half

a dozen times.

Pointed out that my current car had " pleather " and that that was fine

with me. Or cloth.

Told him I didn't want the " Sport " package because it had leather

trim. Told him how other

dealers 3 years ago ensured I would never buy a car from that brand

because they treated

me like a freak for asking for no leather.

 

So, I liked the Saturn and decided to go with it, and they started

looking through their lists

of inventory to find a car with the features I wanted. They would

look at the list and say,

this one has this package, this one has that package; this one has a

spoiler etc. They never

mentioned leather at all. So we picked one that had the right combo

and they went to get

the car from a storehouse while I started the paperwork, and I never

saw the car until after

I was done with the paperwork. They had already removed the sticker

on the window that

lists features.

 

By then I had been there three hours. And eventually I got in the car

and drove away.

 

This morning at about 5:30am I woke up and it just occurred to me out

of nowhere that I

didn't know for sure the interior was pleather. Sure enough I went

down, got the window

sticker out of the glove compartment, and it's got real leather.

 

Much as I'd love to give them the benefit of the doubt, it seems odd

that they never

mentioned the $700 Leather Options package when going through the

various

combinations of features included on the various cars in their

inventory.

 

I know they're going to say I should have noticed before I drove it

off the lot, but it doesn't

feel/look/smell any different than my current car's pleather

interior...and I had repeatedly

told the sales guy no leather.

 

I'm very upset, and it's too early here to call the dealership, but

California has no cooling

off period. I feel like I'm totally screwed anyway.

 

Any advice?

 

Thanks,

 

Elisa

San Jose, CA