Easy - the dealership should just contact the pros at complaintremover.com

Easy!

@b612markt:

you win man.

This is part of the game when you try and play Gotcha with people. You want to try and hold the dealership to an offer no reasonable person would accept, then you need to expect them to try and make the deal as unappealing as possible to you as well.

Wait 'til he starts getting the 2 AM Customer Satisfaction phone surveys...

tell them no, that it wasn't part of the original conditions of the sale. ebaying is a contract, after all. they really can't win this, because if they don't pass it over under the original conditions, they'll still have bad press, maybe even worse.

@Hiphopopotamus: How the hell is that a price that no reasonable person would accept? It is slightly under sticker.

@Hiphopopotamus: The dealership said they meant to set the reserve price at $67,800. Not a big dif from $60k.

Again, why are they offering conditions? Honor the ebay contract and move on.

Time to contact eBay to let them know that the account holder is trying to impose new restrictions outside of the contract; and the attorneys general of both states to report fraudulent dealings.

And whatever news sources he can get hold of in Nebraska. I'm sure they'd love to know that a company in their midst re-writes contracts after the fact.

Oh, and lawyer up.

@Hiphopopotamus: Maybe if he had completed the sale for $600 and not $60000.

@Hiphopopotamus: First off, it's not unreasonable. Second off, they can't just unilaterally impose conditions after the fact.

Maybe he should impose some new conditions of his own, like free oil changes and tires for life?

@evslin: Ya, or even $6000.

What he got it for is not unreasonable. It was an Auction buy after all. You would hope to get something off of Ebay at lower then MSRP.

Maybe I'm one of the few that think that $60k is about $30k too much to pay for ANY damn car.
This thing better fly, turn invisible, or come with an inexhaustible supply of free hookers for that money.

Better yet: Cancel the deal, buy a reasonable car and give me the difference. I drive a Saturn and would like to buy a new one :)

I've sent this to the eBay Motors team to investigate the seller. :)

They really aren't in a position to negotiate

Can we add BMW of Lincoln into the worst company bracket as a late darkhorse entry?

It doesn't really matter if they do the right thing now. They still look bad for dragging it out this long.

Actually, this is a little outdated, as of 5pm (not sure time zone) both conditions were removed, [www.m3post.com] and it was cleared for him to place a deposit, which he planned to do using his credit card. But when he went to do so the GM refused the deposit.

[QUOTE]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.[/QUOTE]

And now, sports fans, we're at the point where the customer wants the dealership to be sorry. I think I underestimated them...

@mbouchard: Bah, can never remember how to quote something.

@Hiphopopotamus: What would have happened if he made a bid of 80k instead of 60k?

I predicted in the last post about this that the dealer terms would derail the sale.

I can't believe these guys are willing to undergo all this negative publicity over a difference of about $8,000.00.

I hope this guy kicks their butt in court. No business should behave this way.

Maybe we need to tag this one "we are not taking this seriously."

@mbouchard: the html command to surround the quote with the darker background here is "blockquote".

Whatever, just goes to show you that all car dealers are smarmy, whether they are selling used clunkers on a small time basis or hiding behind the facade of prestige at BMW.

what kind of loser luxury car dealer puts cars up on ebay anyways? obviously this kind of treatment should be expected when they cant even sell a car in the traditional fashion.

but in no way am i berating the OP. sounds like he's really getting the shaft here... bummer for him, and i hope his lawyer's fees arent going to push the cost of this ordeal beyond simply buying the car at full pop.

the bullshit...a dealership cant tell me what to do with something that i bought with MY money. Plus, its the dealership's prob to correct the online sites...if it wasn't for their stubbornness, this wouldn't even be an issue!

i would buy it and list it on ebay 3 seconds later if i was him

LOL

I just went to look at the auction. Some pieces that stood out and made me laugh:

In scrolling text "Buy with confidence. Call Michael at 402-802-2272"
So much for confidence, Mikey.

In a Title field in the auction, "Lowest price on eBay."
Seems the low price was meant to be a draw to the auction.

In the About Us "Our Dealership has built a reputation on providing courteous, honest service. Our customers appreciate the way we do business, and we know you will too."
Ha! That's classic.

The guy bought a BMW for $60,000? I dont feel sorry for the guy. He's wasting his money.

I've been spamming the emails of the people that work there, especially customer relations. If you have some time to kill, give them a call or email. Here is a page with all their emails and direct lines, because for some reason, their "Contact Us" page is down....

[www.huskerbmw.com]

I would be sicking ebay legal on this dealer by now.

I dunno, I am 1/2 tempted to call the dealership and see if I can buy a BMW m3 and see if I can ask if I can buy it on ebay. :D

I love how the dealership is just now trying to attach conditions to act as damage control. BMW of Lincoln, whom I never heard of before this but am now convinced are assholes, I gotta let you know that genie escaped the bottle along time ago. The Streisand effect is definitely in play and they're just making it worse.

I think this is one of the funniest stories I have read. It's absolutely absurd that not one person at the dealership has the sense to see that a measly few thousand dollars is going to cost them much much more in negative publicity. If they lose just one sale from this, which undoubtedly they will, they probably will have lost more than that. I am surprised BMW corporate hasn't come down on this dealer and the prick GM to let this go. It is harming their reputation as a company.

@William Mize: congratulations! you've managed to contribute to the discussion not at all!

even if he ever gets the car, his problems i'm sure have merely just begun...probably all sorts of things wrong with it given the type of people trying to sell it...no wonder they dont want him to sell it, they want him suffer...

i'd be afraid of them purposely sabotaging the car. there are ways that they can do so it wouldn't be noticed right away.

@bigvicproton: If the car isn't in the condition described in the auction, that could be considered fraud, and that's a whole new set of problems for them.

@alexanderpink: You (or anyone else reading this) should get a list of BMX exec emails together and EECB them with this story. It's possible that they don't know yet. It doesn't come up on the first page of a Google search for "BMW."

I wonder if at any point Fil Catania uttered the phrase "I am altering our agreement. Pray I don't alter it further."

@BayStateDarren, alexanderpink: I think they're just fucking the guy around. It's a fun game called, "How can we really mess this guy up? Can we achieve public humiliation? Make him beg for his car he thought he was getting scot-free? Get him to cry like a baby?"

Remember that their first move was to laugh at him when he called to get the car. They're having a field day.

@marsneedsrabbits:Our friend is 100% ahead of you: "On monday, everything culminated into a huge firestorm at the dealer. Channel 8 news was calling for a interview, in addition to the BBB, Ebay, CNN and MSNB". He has a lawyer too.

@qwickone: You're welcome! Join the club!

@AbsoluteIrrelevance: Everyone knows. That's an apropos name here, I might add.

Wow, that's really outrageous. Both of those conditions are just outrageous. Why did the dealership even bother to reverse its position in the first place? Clearly, it isn't concerned with the fact that it's alienating prospective buyers left and right.

I believe car dealerships have to be a lot more careful in the Internet age. Years ago, from the other side of the continent, my occasional exposure to automotive message boards made particular dealers stick in my mind as unworthy of business. Now I've switched coasts, and those same dealers are right here where I live. Guess what? I still remember how you screwed over those message board users, and I'll be damned if I ever set foot in your showrooms!

Has anyone contacted Dateline about this?

@William Mize: Hello, it's an M3. Lots of racing history behind it. The engine itself is pretty advanced.

@William Mize...LOL. Couldn't really agree more.

@Hiphopopotamus: Excuse me, but how is a legal contract unreasonable? They agreed, when they listed the auction and allowed it to close without changing or cancelling, to sell the item for the winning bid amount. You haven't ever used ebay, have you?

I can and have eaten the cost of my mistakes, and I expect others to do the same, but woe to you if you try to weasel out of what you agreed to -- no matter whether you bought or sold.

This guy deserves his car and no more bullshit. Period. Their only question needs to be "How will you pay, sir?"

It'd be awesome if a competing dealership offered him the car at an even lower price.

@modenastradale: Because they think they shouldn't have to hold up to their agreement. They don't like that they gambled and lost on not having a reserve and are trying to pin it on the innocent buyer who's done absolutely nothing wrong and is merely asking the seller to abide by its promises and sell the listed item, as described, for the winning bid price.

He is retaining a lawyer because they not only are fighting that simple thing (and ebay does warn you multiple times that you are entering into a contract) but they are trying to illegally change the terms of the deal. A contract can only be modified if both parties agree. The buyer is not agreeing, and the dealer is therefore in breach and can be sued to force compliance.

It's simple, really.