Dealership Video-Responds To Customer's Hidden Camera Expose
Mark Hampton has posted a video response to his dealership getting totally snagged by a customer who stashed a hidden camera in his vehicle and caught mechanics doing some dirty deeds.
In the video, Mark, with the air of a man who made several local TV ads, reads a statement of the facts leading up to and following the taping. The statement was signed by the reader, Jason. Mark owns a pen, a pair of glasses, and a ficus. He provides a few new pieces of information: the videos were taped in June 2008, but Jason didn't send the letter with the videos to Mark until May 2009. Mark then took Jason out to lunch, thanked him for brining the matter to his attention, offered a private apology, and offered a $2000 service contract as restitution. A month later Jason gave the videos to us.
Apparently, Mark's private offer wasn't good enough for Jason. He also wanted to get the word out about this dealership to other consumers.
On the one hand, that's kind of a dick move. On the other, you have to wonder about a dealership that hires three sleazy mechanics and a look the other way service manager. In any event, it took balls to make this video. Though, nota bene, future corporate fuckups, it really should have been out Wednesday at the latest.
UPDATE: Jason sent this email in response to the Hampton video:
Just to clarify, when we met on Memorial Day, the warranty was mentioned, but not solid. This value of $2,000 didn't come up until the local paper ran their article. I never heard a thing from them from that Memorial Day meeting until the local article ran. I didn't get that "confirmation" that they were sending the warranty until the day after the article ran. It was just mentioned. The warranty wasn't mailed by them until July 1st, which I can prove by the actual paperwork.
PREVIOUSLY: Toyota Employees Taped Stealing From, Watching Porn In Customer's Truck
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Comments:
This is really the level of "taking it seriously" that I wish we would see more often. I would feel completely comfortable buying from his dealership
worst editing ever.
However, I dont agree with the original poster sending out the video so far after the fact and when he has clearly been helped after wards with no problems. Whats the point of mbarassing the company when the owner clearly handled the issue?
Hey look! He didn't even need a teleprompter. Me thinks he has a higher calling in his future.
Pretty gutsy for the OP to put the camera in plain sight...it'd be ironic if the video camera got stolen as well!
I'm impressed.. although I guarantee Toyota made this happen.
I would buy a car from this guy. I'm also very surprised that the tape was released AFTER it appears the matter was settled.
The owner of the dealership seems honestly upset by this whole thing and going on tape shows that he really does want to do the right thing. Kudos.
Yea that edit was like the worse I have seen. Who shot and edited it? Some high school kid? I am glad those clowns got fired for this. However the OP should have just kept it between him and the dealership since they took action and offered an extended warranty for the stolen coins, yet he goes off an shows the video to the media. Talk about stabbing someone in the back.
To me this guy is coming off like a slimy car salesman who only now cares because of all the attention the videos got.
I would never but a car from this guy.
@xtc46 - thinksmarter on twitter: It's not the point of embarassing the company- it's for consumer knowledge. This gentleman was not brushed off once, but several times and he had to resort to videotaping the scandal. It shows us what we might be able to do in a similar situation.
It's also a message to other businesses to take their customers' complaints seriously, especially one that involves theft. No reputable business would allow such abuse of customers. The owner handled the whole thing appropriately, although a little late unfortunately.
@Borax-Johnson: Don't you hate those weeee beady eyes following the prompter... I can't help but stare. Especially when they only have 3 lines to memorize and STILL need a prompter!
Am I the only one not getting audio?
@droidd: The guy doesn't even seem sincere. He's all about CYA and very subtly tries to make the OP look bad.
"To reimburse him for quarters stolen, we provided Mr. Leonard with a $2000 service contract." I realize this was mainly compensation for grief, but I can't help but picture a guy driving around with 8,000 quarters in his car.
Seems like a reasonable response by the owner. Kudos to him.
@droidd: I feel the same way you do. I don't trust him and I would never purchase anything from his dealership.
I do have a question that has been nagging me since the original report on Consumerist. Why weren't the 4 people involved in the theft arrested? There has been nothing to indicate they have. I would think the video would give the D.A. enough evidence to prosecute.
I think the initial video release is what got the action. He tried multiple times with the company beforehand.
Not knowing the reputation of the dealership, I would accept the apology at face value. Firing everyone involved is a proper response and tells me he took the issue VERY SERIOUSLY. The owner does have some responsibility though for not instill the proper culture. It could be just a bad hiring decision or two though, it is hard to tell.
@droidd:
+1, the guy is a scumbag. If his dealer was run so well, none of this would have happened. It all comes down from the top. Even if it did happen (like it did) if they cared about the customer, the OP's original complaints would not have been ignored. But they were.
I wouldn't trust that dealer for anything.
@droidd:
He owns 6 dealerships, 3 in Lafayette, LA and 3 in Fort Walton Beach, FL. [www.hamptonhasit.com]
You should see his TV commercials.
I've been watching them for years, in both locations. I always thought they were sketchy, but a friend bought a car there and swears by them. The wife and I stopped in to check out the hybrid Highlander a few months back, we were treated rudely and left.
A good way to handle the situation. Too many other company's out there would have just brushed this aside as a "training opportunity" and would have just given the offenders a slap on the wrist.
What Mr. Hampton did was demonstrate that if you screw with the customer, your fired. A kick to the curb. Now if these former employees use the dealership as a reference in the future while applying for work elsewhere, the dealership should reply by sending out a copy of the video that got them canned in the first place.
Simple fact of the matter is the situation got handled once the (Owner?) of the dealership got involved. This is basically the same as an EECB, but this time there was only one Executive to bomb.
As for the OP releasing videos, he only released two of the 4 or 5 videos that showed one guy committing the most egregious acts (Theft and presumably another theft of the narcotic kind). Hopefully this keeps the pill-licker out of any lines of work requiring trust.
regardless , he accepted blame .
@verucalise-T minus 12 days- full term!: To be fair - the service manager and not the owner/manager seems to have been the problem there, and was fired for it.
@frank64: Actually, the video did get response, but well before he sent it to Consumerist - he sent it after he got his problem resolved
@crazydavythe1st: I wonder if we will start to see more companies reacting in this fashion. I would really hope so. I won't watch every apology
video, but it is good to see the company doing everything consumerist would
expect.
Yeah, unless the Consumerist had this in the editing pile for a while (it doesn't sound that way from "multiple media outlets") he did this after the fact. Which if he was satisfied, I can't begin to understand.
@coren: 100% correct. I was just commenting on why the video still appeared on the internet- it wasn't for vengeance, at least in my humble opinion.
@scoobydoo: "Better late than never", doesn't apply when the customer had been stolen from previously. The persons responsible had to be threatened to not perform illegal acts. People like that don't deserve sympathy.
Albeit the employees were fired, they still ignored the customers previous attempts of "civility".
@verucalise-T minus 12 days- full term!: He handled it as soon as the customer informed him of it. The right thing to do would be to tell the owner, and then do soemthing if the owner did nothing. The video just puts the company in bad light when the problem had already been resolved, and the guy had been compensated for far more than he lost.
@madog: the manager ignored the customer, and was fired for it. The owner didnt even know and took action as soon as he did know.
@krispykrink: I agree with everything you said but most companies will only verify the dates someone worked there and perhaps their title. Anything more might get them sued.
@minsky: Thats not true at all. I know lots of terrible employees who have outstanding bosses. Normally they are kept around becasue firing them is a pain, or the company needs the bodies in the store to keep it going.
The 3 guys who did this, and the manager who ignored the complaint all got fired, and the consumer was compensated. what more could they want?
I don't agree with releasing the video AFTER the owner gave him a personal apology and a $2,000 extended warranty, ESPECIALLY when the OP came back 3 times to the dealership after the video was taped and had no issues. Something smells fishy here. I think the owner is a stand up guy and I would definitely be a customer of his based on his handling of this incident. Just goes to show there's always more to the story....
@krispykrink:
"Now if these former employees use the dealership as a reference in the future while applying for work elsewhere, the dealership should reply by sending out a copy of the video that got them canned in the first place"
in my state, that would get them sued. Ive never met an employer who was willing to say anything bad about a previous employee. The most you get about bad employees was "they worked here from x -y. They got paid x.xx, their job was xyz"
then thats the end of it.
As an owner of a Toyota Hybrid, I expect more from a Toyota dealership. I am appalled that employees would treat customers that way. I am glad they were fired!
Audio is only coming from one channel (I think it's the right). Perhaps one of your speakers is bad, your balance is set incorrectly, or your cable is bad.
That being said... mono mixer FTW?!
The fish always stinks from the head down (speaking of the franchise owner). But in this case Mr Leonard who is so utterly proud of himself went too far. Fine, buy a camera to prove a quarter thief -- but when you reach agreement -- let it go! Breathe!
@Bogart's Falcon aka Philly Falcon: For what, prey tell? They stole quarters. It's petty theft - at best. For which the dealership compensated him with a $2000 extended warranty that far-exceeded the value of his quarters, even if you break it down to dealer cost.
So, to bring petty theft charges against the guy that stole the quarters, the customer would have to give back something of far greater value. And then he'd have to convince the local D.A. that this was worth pursuing. You know what petty theft gets these guys?
Nothing. If they don't have prior theft offenses, they'll be on probation for a few months - at best - and if they don't steal, it will be like it never existed on their records. This is IF anyone wants to bother with the time and resources it will take to convict the ONE guy filmed of taking less than $2 in quarters. The rest of the story is all circumstantial unless dudes decide to agree that they might have stolen up to $10 in quarters.
At best - it would be a fine and a misdemeanor conviction if they had a record of some sort.
And a lot of time away from actual crimes to solve this issue. I believe the fact that they were all fired for cause - which means zero unemployment and severance, that this guy got compensated way above his quarter loss, AND that there's been a public apology probably means the courts in his state deserve a shot at convicting actual criminals.
Ok. So why was this 'blackmail' video released after the fact, when if a suitable resolution was made? Why wait almost a whole year to release the tapes?
@xtc46 - thinksmarter on twitter:
My favorite question when calling former employers:
"Is the employee eligible to be rehired?"
I've never had anyone refuse to answer it, nor have I ever refused.
@Coles_Law: Except that the service contract probably only cost the dealership $400-$500. Lots of markup in those...
I'm wondering if he violated any privacy laws by saying he terminated the employees.
I don't think so because their names were not released...but perhaps their faces should have been blurred before going on line. Wow, getting fired for stealing quarters and watching porn in a customers truck...how are they going to explain it to their next employer?
How about putting this info in text also. I have only a dial up connection and don't have 20 min to wait for your videos to load.
@Stephmo: The problem here is not that the crimes weren't "severe enough" to warranty prosecution. Its the fact that our criminal justice system creates laws for the purpose of allowing certain individuals to have their crimes trumped up with aforementioned charges, while turning a blind eye to anyone that blatantly breaks said laws but are not a "target".
Every crime that CAN be prosecuted successfully SHOULD be prosecuted. Stop arguing that because the crime is small that somehow it "shouldn't count".
He seems to be taking in "very seriously"!