PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The incoming owners of Nissan of Pittsfield want to turn the dealership around after it allegedly left multiple customers "in the hole."

On Monday, the Licensing Board heard from police, customers, and the prospective new owners during a show-cause hearing for its auto dealer license. Located at 25 West Housatonic St., the dealership was investigated for failing to pay off the loans on trade-ins.

"I can tell you that at this point here we are in November, everybody who had contacted me in regards to being in the hole as far as having two loan payments, two car payments, everyone's been made whole so those trade-in vehicles have all been paid off," Lt. Marc Maddalena said.

"There was five individuals who were affected by this dating back to, it was either March or June of this year and we were able to get the ownership to take care of all that. Granted, it took a little bit of pulling some teeth but they ended up doing the right thing when it was all said and done and took care of all that."

This could potentially lead to a criminal charge, he later said.

Maddalena explained that there are still outstanding complaints that need to be evaluated but since the situation has been brought to the forefront, he hasn't received new reports of this activity.

"The complaints that continue to come in is basically breach of contracts in regards to agreements that were made under [previous owner] Haddad Nissan at the time for lifelong oil changes, detailing things of that nature, that Pittsfield Nissan stopped honoring," he added, explaining that the board would have better knowledge about the parameters of contract breaching than himself.

Javier Columbie and Benjamin Farber of Bella Auto Group signed an asset purchase agreement with Nissan of Pittsfield and have a tentative closing date in early December. The current owners, which have been referred to as Team Nissan Inc. or Team Auto Group, were not present.

At the next board meeting, Bella Auto Group hopes to be approved for a dealership license to take over the operation as Bella Nissan of Pittsfield. The show-cause hearing was continued but the board has taken no action against the license.

"It's a completely new entity but at the same time, we're looking to build something. This has been a dream of both of ours — we've been in the car business for a very long time — and an opportunity and we know that a lot of people have been hurt and it's something that we want to come in and try and make right as best we can for these people," Farber explained.

"And we're certainly willing to take on some things that people have had issues with, although legally speaking, we're not absorbing that in the purchase of the dealership."

The purchase agreement does not include liabilities, he said, "there are a lot of liabilities beyond the things that these people feel that they are owed. They owe a lot of banks a lot of money."

Upholding promises of lifetime oil change agreements is what they will struggle with the most. Allegedly, Nissan of Pittsfield offered them informally and it cost the company about $10,000 per month.

Bella Auto Group assumes this because lifetime oil changes were not mentioned in contract negotiations for the sale.

"We're currently trying to figure out exactly the logistics of how that would work," Farber said.

"We certainly are not looking to leave anybody in the lurch. Also coming in being a new business, we're looking to retain what customers we have and hopefully attract new ones."

Chairman Thomas Campoli would be "thrilled" to see the changeover and, assuming these are legitimate complaints, "if you guys could commit to dealing with those complaints, that would be a wonderful thing and I think it would say a lot about you as a business coming into this community."

"We appreciate that you're going to work with the people that have bought cars there and we appreciate you taking that over," board member Kathy Amuso said.

"Because this has been obviously problematic and we want to get that dealership on the right road."

Pittsfield residents Kelly Dolan and Denise Bouchard shared negative experiences with the dealership that range from aggressive sales tactics and inconsistency with appointments to inaccurate car mileages and not paying the loan on a trade-in vehicle.

Dolan said she has had issues since Haddad Motor Group sold the dealership in late 2022. The subsequent owners reportedly advised her to make a $365 payment for the vehicle she traded in after purchasing a new one.

"Maybe I was a squeaky wheel but they ended up taking care of it but I never got that payment that I made on the 22nd of April for a car I no longer had," she said.

Bouchard said she is paying nearly $600 a month when her original payment was supposed to be $560 for a car that needed repair the day after she drove it off the lot.

"And also, the paperwork that they gave me says 25,000 on the mileage. My mileage was 90,000 when I bought it so I have paperwork that says $25,000, 25,000, and one mile when I signed the paperwork," she said.

Board member Kevin Sherman shared a negative experience he had at the dealership, reporting that they presented him with a dirty vehicle with license plates on it that did not match the vehicle he saw online and that his daughter was offered a trade-in for much more than her car was worth.

The potential new owners were shocked by some of the things they heard and apologized to the customers who were present, adding that they don't run that type of business.

Columbie understands that the attorney involved with the purchase for the seller is going to "fix whatever situation that they have in line."

"I'm pretty sure there's more, which we're going to be obviously taking care of once we're there," he added.

Farber said they can't promise to make everything 100 percent perfect but will do everything in their power to help.

"I was able to hold the previous ownership and management accountable because there was actually a criminal charge potentially involved because they hadn't paid off people's loans but they were still holding on to their cars," Maddalena explained, adding that lesser monetary values might be hard to approach from a legal standpoint.

"The best that I can offer these people, I can tell them, is potentially when this new ownership group takes over, maybe they can help make you whole, or maybe they can do something to assist you. I certainly don't want to put them in a position where they're starting in a hole because they're trying to do what's right and get all these people out of a hole."

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