Won ebay auction at 60K for E90 M3, BMW of Lincoln refusing to honor

[ganjadude]

dooma its good to see that your sticking to your guns. It must be strange knowing that this one case could become case law for all future ebay transactions. Ive been lurking since page 3 and im sorry for giving them ideas to call the dealership making shill sales calls, I only did it that one time a few days ago, not the multiple times like i said i was going to in my post, mainly cause i worked an overnight shift and passed out and forgot about it lol.

Thanks for acknowledging all of us who have tried to help you, you have really gone out of your way to keep a bunch of people who have no idea who you are up to date.

let this be a lesson to all of those who practice unethical business practices, you can hide behind all the institutions in the world that you can buy out, you CANNOT hide from our anonymity of the internet, you however are not anonymous. we know who you are and we wont EVER buy a car from you no matter what dealership you go to. and with the web, we WILL know where you work for the rest of your lives.

To the other salesmen at the office, especially one named jeff, your a good guy and i hop good things happen to you, find a reputable dealer to work for.

[0.02eurocents]

Originally Posted by Laszlo

Asking for the "press" to go away isn't going to happen. It is way too big to go away and Dooma wouldn't have the resources to make something like this happen.
But BMWNA could.

Make the press go away. This is funny. It sound a bit like "famous last words to me". It's like outlawing ticks and mosquitoes. They are not going to leave or vanish.

But I am extremely surprised at Fil's behavior, and I hope I got this straight: The lawyers and managers of the company that "owns" Husker BMW have cut a deal with Ken and his lawyer which came out to exactly the ebay deal, right? Both of the iitially requested conditions were cancelled, the price of 60k + some fees was confirmed? Right so far. Then Ken goes to pay the deposit at Husker and Fil goes ballistic and refuses to take the payment. Right?

Ken, do you have an independent witness that you held up your deadline? Was your lawyer there? I think Fil might have received a phone call informing him that he/Husker has lost the war. He received instruction to sign the capitulation and take deposit payment. And then he may have decided to not take it and deny Ken's visit.

So I hope this is just genuine insanity on Fils part and not a concerted tactic trying to con you again.

If it was Fils idea... well... Anyone here in Nebraska with experience in the car sales business interested in taking the position of Sales Manager at a crisisridden BMW dealership? Must like challenges and have a decent haircut/barber. Inquire within, position to be vacant soon...

[Epacy]

This dealership is a real piece of work. Defiant in the face of their own stupidity. Some real A-holes you are dealing with.

Good to hear about those conditions going away. Real scammers. I would hate to know any of those individuals at that dealer.

[jhbodle]

You have my full support man! Don't let them grind you down!

[na335i]

Originally Posted by dooma350

Ok, here is where we are. My lawyer has been working on my behalf.


He got the dealership to remove two conditions Fil Catania tried to impose on the deal on Monday. The first condition was that I agree not to sell the car for 2 years. They agreed (through their corporate counsel in Arizona) to drop that one. The second condition was that I agree to confidentiality and that I do something to stop the press from contacting the dealership and say something nice about the dealership. We got that one dropped, too.



I was told to arrange to make the deposit with Fil Catania at the dealership today (and was given a 4 hour deadline). To my dismay, Fil Cataniam, the GM, used my call as an opportunity to berate me, telling me CSNBC, etc.,. etc., were calling the dealership again. In my call to him, he also refused to take my credit card! In essence, he has rejected the deal corporate counsel for the parent company had worked out with my lawyer last night.



So I am ceasing communication with the dealer for now. My lawyer drafted the letter that appears below (he has dealt with Mr. Herbert Klein, general counsel for BMW NA in the past), which he faxed earlier today to BMW NA..



Also, other dealerships have been calling me, offering not only support, but greart deals on M3s! As much as I would love to take one of them, I don't know tif they are real offers or not, and I simply want BMW of Lincoln to live up to its obligations to me.



I would ask that no one call the dealership or BMW NA about this, but just wait and see what happens next. I know my lawyer is preparing a lawsuit, and if we have to file it, I will post further information here. It will also be interesting to see if BMW NA, now that it has been "officially" notified, does anything about this. This will be a good object lesson for all of us about how a car company stands up for its customers, don't you think?



LAW OFFICES OF

GARFIELD & TEPPER

A PARTNERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL CORPORATIONS

1801 CENTURY PARK EAST, SUITE 2300

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90067-2325

TELEPHONE: (310) 277-1981

FAX: (310) 277-1980





March 26, 2008




Herbert L. Klein, Corporate Counsel

BMW of North America

300 Chestnut Ridge Road

Woodcliff, New Jersey 07677-7731



Herb:



I represent Ken Tanisaka in connection with his dealings with BMW of Lincoln.

No doubt you have heard of the controversy that became viral on the Web this weekend.

Ken and I had worked out a “no preconditions” deal in which BMW of Lincoln

was going to treat him as any other customer and sell him the M3 sedan at the winning

bid made by Ken on eBay. ($60,000 plus a $399 title or document fee.) Mike Maledon,

counsel for the parent company that owns BMW of Lincoln, instructed me to have Ken

call Fil Catania, the general manager of that BMW store, to provide credit card

information and place the deposit. Mike had told me that Ken had 24 hours (from last

night) in which to make the deposit.



When Ken called Mr. Catania, Ken was subjected to an abusive lecture and told

it was his (Ken’s) responsibility to make the press go away. Mr. Catania refused to take

a deposit from Ken, effectively reneging on the deal that was reached yesterday, in which

BMW of Lincoln, through Mike Maledon, had agreed not to impose an impossible

condition that Ken “control the press.”



Can you help us? As you may be aware from the blogosphere, thousands of

BMW afficionados are asking “What is BMW NA doing about this?” I think that’s a fair

question. And, once we get this straightened out, perhaps BMWFS can also step up to

the plate



Sincerely yours,



/s/

SCOTT J. TEPPER

SJT:vrs

cc: Ken Tanisaka

those a-holes!!!

[omerfar23]

dude sue their pants off..

Husker staff's interesting pics.
http://www.huskerbmw.com/index.cfm?action=staff

[ersin]

Somebody save that pic of Fil's hair before he gets fired.

[SecretAgentWomoan]

Been following this over at Fark.com and wanted to chime in my support for the OP and be part of this historic event.

[WCH]

I've been following for quite some time. The GM of the dealership is beyond comprehension. He's going to have a hard time defending himself to his own lawyers.

Go Dooma350!

[DJ9]

Ken- Stick with it buddy. It's only a matter of time before the dealership will succumb to logical, rational thinking and understand the $5 to $10K which they are bickering over, is simply not worth it.

Frankly, it seems that senior management at BMW of Lincoln, either collectively failed every course in Business, or flunked out of University altogether. They have lost, and are losing more grounds over an immaterial price difference from $60K (which they will still receive) and FMV(MSRP) of what, $70.

Like I said, it’s only a matter of time buddy!

[AML]

Originally Posted by Laszlo

What’s crazy about Lincoln’ final shove is that this story is going to print (print press, which I’m sure is happening right now) for next month’s major car magazines… This story will be around for a long time. The damages for everyone involved, Dooma, eBay, Hudsucker and BMWNA, should be quite significant. All of this because Lincoln BMW didn’t want to lose a few grand.

As it was brought up many, many pages back, I'd laugh my ass off if Top Gear or Fifth Gear saw this and mentioned it on the next season.

[Keto]

I'm trying to guesstimate how many sales BMW of Lincoln has lost because of this. I suspect the lost profit is quite higher than the ~8-10k they were out because of their original stupidity.

[na335i]

has any of the major news media across the states made this public???

[Technic]

Originally Posted by dooma350

Ok, here is where we are. My lawyer has been working on my behalf.


He got the dealership to remove two conditions Fil Catania tried to impose on the deal on Monday. The first condition was that I agree not to sell the car for 2 years. They agreed (through their corporate counsel in Arizona) to drop that one. The second condition was that I agree to confidentiality and that I do something to stop the press from contacting the dealership and say something nice about the dealership. We got that one dropped, too.



I was told to arrange to make the deposit with Fil Catania at the dealership today (and was given a 4 hour deadline). To my dismay, Fil Cataniam, the GM, used my call as an opportunity to berate me, telling me CSNBC, etc.,. etc., were calling the dealership again. In my call to him, he also refused to take my credit card! In essence, he has rejected the deal corporate counsel for the parent company had worked out with my lawyer last night.



So I am ceasing communication with the dealer for now. My lawyer drafted the letter that appears below (he has dealt with Mr. Herbert Klein, general counsel for BMW NA in the past), which he faxed earlier today to BMW NA..



Also, other dealerships have been calling me, offering not only support, but greart deals on M3s! As much as I would love to take one of them, I don't know tif they are real offers or not, and I simply want BMW of Lincoln to live up to its obligations to me.



I would ask that no one call the dealership or BMW NA about this, but just wait and see what happens next. I know my lawyer is preparing a lawsuit, and if we have to file it, I will post further information here. It will also be interesting to see if BMW NA, now that it has been "officially" notified, does anything about this. This will be a good object lesson for all of us about how a car company stands up for its customers, don't you think?

Hi Ken

I'm not surprised at all in this "development", it was a magic trick after all once they started talking about conditions.

Since the very first moment that these rabid monkeys set that eBay auction at $60,000 with the title "CHEAPEST M3 on eBay" they knew exactly what they were doing, and they continue to do so even after this blunder spit back at their faces. Everything that they do is purely intentional.

That's not being stupid, that's just being a bunch of bad mofos.

Apparently eBay is out of this mess, as so far there has been no update of their decision -if any. That's something that doesn't surprise me either, because I never doubt that once this was out of the eBay domain this was going only to be a nasty legal battle.

I only hope that you can fuck them up real good in court. And I'm not going to apologize for this comment...

[DJ9]

Originally Posted by Keto

I'm trying to guesstimate how many sales BMW of Lincoln has lost because of this. I suspect the lost profit is quite higher than the ~8-10k they were out because of their original stupidity.

That's exactly my point I posted above. If was on the board/partial owner of this dealership location, I would seriously fire each individual placed in a managerial position there.

[mercury187]

Dooma: do not buy this car under any terms except the ones listed here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...ksid=p3907.m32

Your bid means you agreed to the terms listed in the auction and those alone and are a legal binding contract. Agree to noting else other than what is written in the auction...

Keep up the fight!!

[Elisabeth]

Originally Posted by Laszlo

They disconnected their sales phone number so there's a cost... and if that number is on print they'll have to reprint and recirculate yada yada yada... I'm sure this is costing them big time. They're done. They'll be out of business by summer.

Your Dealer Contact
Name: Adriann Summers
Department: Administration
Email: acrowder@huskerautogroup.com
Phone: 402-479-7502
Fax: 402-479-7652


Just use the area code 402 number and a cell phone. Many fine providers, such as Sprint and Verizon, give you free long distance, so you may clog the lines and answering machines to your content! I'm sure other numbers are readily available on their site as well.

[ctgazer]

i hope you're recording all the conversations over the phone

[rainsux]

> he [Fil Catania] also refused to take my credit card! In essence, he has
> rejected the deal corporate counsel for the parent company had worked
> out with my lawyer last night.

Damn it! Another one of my predictions all shot to hell.

Fil won't be scheduled to attend charm school after all - he will be
fired for wilfull insubordination. It's really, really unwise to refuse
to follow the specific directions of VTAIG's corporate counsel. I'm
gonna send the guy flowers. No; really, flowers.

[bmw-m6]

Originally Posted by Triple-Net-Automotive

We do consulting work for many car dealers, these guys are not scum or sleaze balls like others have indicated. A car dealer is entitled for a profit, on an M3 of this caliber, they probably have a 5% profit margin, which is not a lot.
The price they are offering your the car for is their net Invoice minus holdback.
The Internet Manager screwed up, he is not the most professional, but at the end of the day you will not win this case.

Unfortunately eventhough the eBay bid is binding within the eBay domain, in a court of law it is YOUR burden to prove that they maliciously manipulated the listing and they did NOT do a mistake, this is very difficult to prove.

What I recommend you do is to contact the corporate office of that dealer group, the GM is no help here.

If they drop the price another Grand and waive the doc fee, you should go ahead and buy it.

Anthony.

well, i still think the courts would've awarded against dealership, and bring even more scrutiny onto ebay. if they wanted to goto trial to get off the hook and bleed out dooma financially, they might've. however, this would've been a landmark case and at the end, the dealership would still be held accountable. whats the message...selling but not selling after it was sold ?

it won't even matter if BMW corporate financed the legal battle. the dealership, which is a representative of the automaker, is gonna have to REALLY work hard to get trust back, if they even can..

[lando]

Ken:

I have been watching this develop since your first post this past weekend. As a BMW car fan, a E92 M3 owner, and as a lawyer, I am fascinated by this story and respect your resolve. The negative PR for this dealership--especially on the internet--is truly astonishing.

While I don't agree with their conduct--in fact I am adamantly opposed to dealerships that behave in this manner--I am not surprised the dealership tried to hardball you at the outset. What astonishes me, however, is when the pr machine started to get rolling, the dealership failed to realize how much positive publicity it could have generated by simply honoring the deal. They simply could not have gotten more positive pr for their buck than if they had just agreed to eat the $6,000 and sell you the car at the final auction price.

Your story, combined with reading many of the other postings, including a posting that included a link to the Edmunds article called Confessions of a Car Salesman http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying...2/article.html has helped expose the systemic nature of the shady (and often illegal) business practices in which the car dealers engage.

As many others have said, car dealerships, like any other business, are entitled to make a profit, but the way in which they make their profit is so inherently dishonest that it is truly offensive (yes, this is coming from a lawyer--no flames, please). Anyway, good luck and continue to let your legal counsel work for your interests. I know California has an unfair business practices law that should allow you to recover attorneys fees from the dealership when you win. I am not sure in what state the litigation will take place, but hopefully you will get your car and end up recovering any damages and attorneys' fees from what certainly appears to be an unscrupulous dealer.

[omerfar23]

They can get rid of all the media attention, in fact save face and get positive coverage only if they SOLD (not gave) you the car for 60K and took the 10K loss. They are total idiots for risking everything over 10K.

I hope this news at least makes the local TV news in Lincoln, NB so it ruins their reputation and local customer base not only for BMW but for all brand they sell. Anybody good any media connections?