65k Merc sold with 2nd hand wheels & tyres

Sizzler

From todays Indo

Kudos to the owner for spotting this! How many wouldn't have?

wrote:

A NEW Mercedes Benz was fitted with secondhand alloy wheels and used tyres just before it left a leading car sales showroom, a court heard yesterday.

The angry customer later parked the car outside the premises with a sign claiming the company did not "give a damn", the civil court was told.

Businessman Robert Ryan had ordered high-spec alloys as extras on his €66,500 E200 Automatic Kompressor.

He received assurances from Mercedes dealer Annesley Williams's salesman John Redell that they were new with the car.

But Mr Ryan, of 150 Howth Road, Clontarf, Dublin, decided he would have them checked out at a tyre centre.

This confirmed the tyres on his day-old Kompressor were secondhand and had completed about 10,000 miles, with about a third of the tyre tread depth worn away.

Mr Ryan, took a breach of contract claim for return of the €66,500 purchase price and a legal reversal of the deal, which included a trade-in of his Mercedes S320.

He alleged Mr Redell had subsequently conceded the wheels and tyres were secondhand.

Yesterday, Colm Condon, who appeared for Mr Ryan, told Judge Joseph Mathews in the Circuit Civil Court that the case had been remitted from the High Court and had been settled following inter-party talks.

Replaced

Annesley Williams Ltd, of Old Airport Road, Cloghran, Co Dublin, had stated in a defence that the wheels and tyres had been replaced with new ones within a week of purchase.

The car company had counter-claimed against Mr Ryan for damages for defamation and trespass, alleging he had locked and abandoned the car, blocking the forecourt of its Cloghran garage.

Inside the car, an easily read display stated: "Annesley Williams sold me this brand new Mercedes Benz knowingly and deliberately putting second-hand wheels and tyres on the new car.

"Although admitting liability, they don't give a damn."

Eoghan Cole, counsel for Annesley Williams, said the firm was happy to have come to an agreement with Mr Ryan to his satisfaction.

Details of the settlement were not divulged in court.

robtri

Thats appalling, but it is stories like this that are pushing the public away from the motor trade and distrusting them, a very large and respected Merc dealer tries to rip off its customers.... not good....

Drummerboy08

Clown of a salesman. I hope he knows how to stand in long queues.

qz

That's pretty poor alright. Fair play to the customer for letting people know about it. Interesting that they chose to settle after originally counterclaiming! Nil points on any defence they had to combat the defamation action anyway I reckon.

You'd think the dealers would be offering all sorts of favours to a prospective customer, not trying to swindle them out of the deal. There's cost cutting and then there's being a total idiot.

Drummerboy08

I wonder was this in the "good" times?

xt40

it said he had traded in an s320.
i wonder why anyone would want a crappy e200 after one of those.

LoveDucati2

xt40 wrote: »

it said he had traded in an s320.
i wonder why anyone would want a crappy e200 after one of those.

Yeah, why not wait until the new E comes out.


How did this happen.
Did employee steal originals?
Were they driving the car as a demo?

S.I.R

jasus.... you work all your life just to be kicked back down again...


atleast it was a swift clear cut case...

Eoin

LoveDucati2 wrote: »

How did this happen.
Did employee steal originals?
Were they driving the car as a demo?

Or maybe they were just swapped with another car for a quick buck.

JJJJNR

That guy is a hero. Think I'll write to him.

Anan1

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

Clown of a salesman. I hope he knows how to stand in long queues.

I suspect it may go higher than the salesman. If you or I owned a garage and one of our salesman did that to a customer, don't you think we'd make it up to the customer without their having to park the car outside and take the garage to court?

furtzy

My Dad did something similar many years ago with a faulty brand new A4. After months of dragging their heels on a serious engine fault and basically being told that Audi's don't have faults he parked the car outside the dealership with a large pice of cardboard saying SCRAP. The dealer was out within minutes and strangely the fault was diagnosed and repaired within the week.....legend

bluemachaveli

I used to work in a main dealer. Had nothing to do with car sales tho. Ive seen this a few times.

Customer either wants no alloys (new car would have been shipped with alloys) or a different set. They will take em off any car in the yard, clean em up and shove em on.

The salesmen dont give a feck and will sell the new wheels on to someone else.

Disgraceful really.

Anan1

In fairness, in the main MB dealership where I worked that would have been a sackable offence. We did on occasion take wheels from brand new cars, but even that was always explained to the customer in advance. And all cars, including used, only ever got brand new parts. I'd hold the dealer principal responsible for the Annesley Williams situation.

JJJJNR

Would it be possible that the car would have been clocked back? but the tyres never changed. Its the out-going model probably sitting in the garage for over a year.

Anan1

JJJJNR wrote: »

Would it be possible that the car would have been clocked back? but the tyres never changed. Its the out-going model probably sitting in the garage for over a year.

I think that's highly unlikely. Remember, if it's only gone to court now it probably happened quite some time ago.

JJJJNR

I seem to remember its fairly easy to disconnect a speedo, is this still the case.

EPM

Wasn't there something on here a while back saying you could reset the odometer once or twice?

Anan1

I think you may be running away with yourselves a bit here, lads. The tyres had ca.10,000 miles on them, we have no reason whatsoever to believe the car was not brand new.

LoveDucati2

It does sound very dubious, can you fake the mileage on an E class.

I mean if the dealer is gonna stick old tyres on it who the f*ck knows what they would do.

Drummerboy08

Guys, from what i got from the article,

- the car was brand-new
- the wheels/tyres were not.

I dont know where the car being clocked has come into the equation?

Sounds to me as if the salesman/parts dept did not order the wheels, so when the car arrived, they panicked and took the same wheels off a used car and hoped the customer didnt notice.

No excuses for doing that. Why not tell the customer that the wheels have been delayed, and as soon as they are in we will organise to pick up your car, fit the wheels, and deliver it back?

Voodoomelon

I can just imagine your man sitting at his kitchen table, f'ing and blinding as he scrawled out the huge sign! Legend.

JJJJNR

I know but it does sound weird, and its plausible rather than a completely off the wall statement.

Anyway fair play to the guy, I especially like the way he blocked the place!

homer90

xt40 wrote: »

it said he had traded in an s320.
i wonder why anyone would want a crappy e200 after one of those.

@ 66.5k for the privilege too... :D

mickdw

If he paid 66k, then this was obviously before the drastic price reductions of last year as the e200 have been seriously discounted in an attempt to sell them because the e220cdi is only 44k (base). Lucky for him that they did **** up as it probably saved him 30k

North_West_Art

I bought a spotless Peugot 406 00 reg with nct or 18 months, new tyres, taxed, drives great... for 1,000 euro just before Christmas.. 66k?!? lololol that would leave me with 65,000 to do whatever I wanted... live in Thailand for a year, thats 5k gone, live in Southern Italy for a year, 10,000.. come home to do nct, 300. Buy a bio-diesel processing machine, 1,400. Get a domestic windmill setup 4,000... the list goes on, merc dealers in Ireland should be squeezed

Drummerboy08

North_West_Art wrote: »

I bought a spotless Peugot 406 00 reg with nct or 18 months, new tyres, taxed, drives great... for 1,000 euro just before Christmas.. 66k?!? lololol that would leave me with 65,000 to do whatever I wanted... live in Thailand for a year, thats 5k gone, live in Southern Italy for a year, 10,000.. come home to do nct, 300. Buy a bio-diesel processing machine, 1,400. Get a domestic windmill setup 4,000... the list goes on, merc dealers in Ireland should be squeezed

Sorry to burst your bubble, but there is a slightly big difference between a 9 year old Peugeot and a new Mercedes.:rolleyes:

afatbollix

North_West_Art wrote: »

I bought a spotless Peugot 406 00 reg with nct or 18 months, new tyres, taxed, drives great... for 1,000 euro just before Christmas.. 66k?!? lololol that would leave me with 65,000 to do whatever I wanted... live in Thailand for a year, thats 5k gone, live in Southern Italy for a year, 10,000.. come home to do nct, 300. Buy a bio-diesel processing machine, 1,400. Get a domestic windmill setup 4,000... the list goes on, merc dealers in Ireland should be squeezed

ya but your stuck with a peugot 406...

homer90

North_West_Art wrote: »

merc dealers in Ireland should be squeezed

I think they are .......:D

JoeA3

There is a brand new Golf GTI sitting on a forecourt near me (the car's been there for best part of a year), and they have a nasty looking set of replica GTI wheels on it. What happened to the original factory ones it came with, I don't know.

To the unsuspecting customer, they'd never know... but it was as plain as day to me that the wheels were wrong!!

Eoin

afatbollix wrote: »

ya but your stuck with a peugot 406...

What's wrong with that?

North_West_Art

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

Sorry to burst your bubble, but there is a slightly big difference between a 9 year old Peugeot and a new Mercedes.:rolleyes:

I have driven many different cars over the years, and yes, a new merc is a pleasure to drive.. but Im not foolish enough to pay 60k+ for a shiney metal box on 4 wheels, which is what the merc and my Peugot really are... I meet mercs and bmws etc on the road every day, and I am as legally on the road as they are, the biggest difference being that I pay aprox 3k per year running costs. Running a high end vehicle in Ireland is like having a large hole in your pocket... you cant even get a merc serviced for a reasonable rate

Anan1

North_West_Art wrote: »

Running a high end vehicle in Ireland is like having a large hole in your pocket...

It all really depends on the size of your pockets, doesn't it?;)

Drummerboy08

Anan1 wrote: »

It all really depends on the size of your pockets, doesn't it?;)

What he said...:D

North_West_Art

Anan1 wrote: »

It all really depends on the size of your pockets, doesn't it?;)

I agree, plus the level of your intelligence

LoveDucati2

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

Sorry to burst your bubble, but there is a slightly big difference between a 9 year old Peugeot and a new Mercedes.:rolleyes:

Exactly, how would strangers possibly know how much money you had if you drove the pug.

sk8board

Its occurs to me that this man has won on the double, as his 66k car (I'm guessing probably bought new in '07 judging by the court date) is now of course worth significantly less, both new and 2nd hand, so he's in clover. Assuming he got his 65k back, or the best part of it, he could still buy a new e-class and pocket the change

peasant

I think we're done here as far as the topic is concerned

EDIT
Re-opened by popular demand (Hi @Ads by google )

Try and stick to the topic -ish

peasant

peasant wrote: »

EDIT
Re-opened by popular demand (Hi @Ads by google )

Try and stick to the topic -ish

so lads, anyone see the rugby at the weekend?




anyways, i seen this story nd am shocked a dealer would risk his reputation for so little.. i assume no one here would go there again? especially after his attempt to counter-claim?

shocking to spend that on a car and the dealer do that..

McSpud

If a dealer does that with a new car can only imagine what they would do with used car.

I would imagine either the Salesman or Sales Manager has been sacked depending on who knew about it.

-Chris-

AFAIK salesperson no longer works there.

cashmni1

OK, the sales person no longer works there but, the issue esculated to the point of a court case not to mention a locked parked car in the drive way of the dealer-ship.
The sales person got the brunt of the stick if you ask me. As someone elce said, the person in charge is Really to blame. He knew about the situation before it esculated and if he didn't know about it....well, he shouldn't be the boss then, should he?
The whole thing stinks to me.

Stevie Dakota

As was said, if main dealers and Mercedes at that, do this sort of thing then God knows what else goes on. Maybe we are simply a nation of cowboys.

Marchman

Well, i've just read through the posts here and most of you have run away with this. Everyone is assuming that the dealer is the big bad wolf here and that it was deliberately carried out by them to rip the customer off. Certainly, what happened was wrong but why would a dealer with over 30 years trading experience put a car out with tyres that had 10,000 miles on it when they should only have delivery miles? It wouldn't take a genius to conclude that this would always come back to bite them so why would they take the risk? Well perhaps they didn't...perhaps it was a mistake, an error, a breakdown in communication in the garage?
And before you all run away with yourselves further and tar every Mercedes dealer, and every car dealer with the same brush, remember, hundreds of thousands of cars are sold in Ireland each year through dealers between new and used. This is one case so lets have a little bit of perspective.

stepbar

I thought every new car came with a set of new tyres.

Zube

Marchman wrote: »

perhaps it was a mistake, an error, a breakdown in communication in the garage?

So, how would that go? "Deco, bring out the gentleman's 60K E class", "What's that boss? Did you just tell me to change the wheels for these used ones we have lying around?", "Yes, yes, Deco, carry on..."

Worse still, the eejits pissed the buyer off to the point where he brought a case to court, and dragged their (theoretically) good name in the mud! They even threatened to counter-sue?

If this was all over a "mistake", then they are so useless that I'd nearly prefer to deal with the crooked version.

-Chris-

Marchman wrote: »

Well, i've just read through the posts here and most of you have run away with this. Everyone is assuming that the dealer is the big bad wolf here and that it was deliberately carried out by them to rip the customer off. Certainly, what happened was wrong but why would a dealer with over 30 years trading experience put a car out with tyres that had 10,000 miles on it when they should only have delivery miles? It wouldn't take a genius to conclude that this would always come back to bite them so why would they take the risk? Well perhaps they didn't...perhaps it was a mistake, an error, a breakdown in communication in the garage?
And before you all run away with yourselves further and tar every Mercedes dealer, and every car dealer with the same brush, remember, hundreds of thousands of cars are sold in Ireland each year through dealers between new and used. This is one case so lets have a little bit of perspective.

This event shouldn't be used to tar all dealers/salespeople with the same brush, but the previous posters do have a solid point - whether the salesperson acted on their own or with the blessing of the DP, this should have been sorted satisfactorily long before it got to the stage where it becomes a PR nightmare.

Marchman

it would go like this:
"can you change the tyre from that car over there onto this one because the customer has asked for the upgrade wheel"
and then the mechanic proceeds to take the wheels off the wrong car (because he thinks this is the car the salesperson pointed to) fits them to the new car. The salesman hands out the car to the customer and doesn't check the depth of thread on the tyre because he has no reason to.
hey presto, a stupid mistake was made
Again, I'll ask, why would the garage knowingly let a brand new car out with 10,000miles on the tyres - the car would only do another 10,000 at most on those tyres so the customer would be back much sooner than normal

-Chris-

But you're leaving out the bit where customer comes back and says "These aren't new tyres, where are my new tyres and wheels for my new car" and the dealer goes "Oh crap, that was an accidental mixup. Please accept our apologies, we'll put the right wheels on straight away".

I'm a big believer that what happens isn't as important as how it's fixed - accidents happen all the time, people make mistakes and forget things. But if you bring their mistake to their attention, they'd better act, or else what was accidental has now become deliberate.

Anan1

Marchman wrote: »

it would go like this:
"can you change the tyre from that car over there onto this one because the customer has asked for the upgrade wheel"
and then the mechanic proceeds to take the wheels off the wrong car (because he thinks this is the car the salesperson pointed to) fits them to the new car. The salesman hands out the car to the customer and doesn't check the depth of thread on the tyre because he has no reason to.
hey presto, a stupid mistake was made

Bollocks. The wheels were for a new car, they should have come either on the car from the factory or in boxes.

Marchman wrote: »

Again, I'll ask, why would the garage knowingly let a brand new car out with 10,000miles on the tyres - the car would only do another 10,000 at most on those tyres so the customer would be back much sooner than normal

So as not to have to pay for a brand new set of wheels with tyres. Mercedes upgrade alloys are not cheap.

Marchman

AudiChris wrote: »

This event shouldn't be used to tar all dealers/salespeople with the same brush, but the previous posters do have a solid point - whether the salesperson acted on their own or with the blessing of the DP, this should have been sorted satisfactorily long before it got to the stage where it becomes a PR nightmare.

Absolutely, it should never have got as far as it did. But maybe it was...a satisfactory outcome would have been for new wheels to have been put on the car...oh and they were weren't they, within a week I think the report says