Andrews Cycles ordered to repay extra charges

Andrews Cycles ordered to repay extra charges

The settlement was approved Wednesday.

SALEM — Customers of Andrews Cycles have less than 30 days to seek refunds for extra costs charged on motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles.

The agreement was reached between Marc Dann, Ohio’s attorney general, and W.W. Cycles Inc., the parent company of the dealership at 13134 state Route 62.

Judge C. Ashley Pike of Columbiana County Common Pleas Court approved the agreement Wednesday.

The dealership said in court documents it “expressly denies any violation of federal, state or local law.”

But Dann’s lawsuit charged that the dealership added freight, assembly and dealer charges to sales that were not properly advertised.

The lawsuit also charged that the dealership failed to state in contracts whether the mileage on the vehicles it sold was accurate. The dealership also failed to disclose in contracts whether vehicles were new or used.

Dann charged that not disclosing the full costs was an unfair and deceptive act in violation of the state administrative rules and the state’s Consumer Sales Practices Act. Judge Pike permanently barred the dealership’s workers from violating that act.

Under the settlement, Dann’s office will give the dealership copies of complaints about the extra charges from those people who make the complaints within 30 days of the agreement. Those complaints would have had to occur in the last two years from the date of the agreement. The company will have to pay the extra charges; the amount of any complaints was not stated in the lawsuit.

Dann’s spokesman, Leo Jennings, could not be reached.

Atty. David Betras, who represented the dealership, did not return a call Thursday.

The dealership will pay a $50,000 civil penalty. Half of that will be suspended if the dealership complies. But if Dann has to enforce the agreement, the dealership will have to repay the $25,000 and $5,000 in suspended court costs.

The dealership will also have to keep records for five years to show it is complying with the agreement.