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.