That dealership owner called and left me the exact same message on my answering machine at home, "...you wrote me a letter, I'm so-and-so the owner, call me back..." Forget it. I am moving on now. He will hear from a state investigator about this whole matter. I think the most sickening thing about this is how so many people who are ignorant, uneducated, or who just don't have common sense are being taken advantage of by following such shoddy advice that's illegal - like accepting dealer's plates and then getting into trouble. It's also illegal for a dealership to issue a second temporary registration. Interestingly - at least in NJ - if you accept a second temporary registration from a dealer you cannot be found at fault for that (but who would really want to be caught in the middle of that) but if you're driving a newly purchased car with a dealer's plate, the police will think that it's stolen.
One piece of wisdom that finally dawned on me is there is no law saying that we can't get the plates and registration ourselves. When it comes time to buying another car which hopefully won't be for at least another 10 years, I'm just going to get the plates and registration myself from motor vehicles - forget about paying and trusting a dealership to do that. We never think about it until we start having problems but when you do think about it, think of how it would have a few hundred bucks and all the aggravation that can arise when these dealership people drag their feet.
You just can't trust people anymore. Now I'll know that next time when I buy a car, I'll be signing so much paperwork again but then putting my guard up again by insisting that I pick up the plates and registration myself. I cannot for the life of me understand why such a simple thing that a dealer agrees to do and that you're paying a dealer for has to be so complicated.