Fazda
Honorary Master
Last December I sold a car to a guy who, at the time, I was convinced was trying to impress his girlfriend. He came in looking at a particular car, but after looking around, chose the most expensive one in that range.
The deal was financed, and although he passed the finance application, it was very marginal, and I am pretty sure that he conned us as to what he was actually earning.
All smiles and happiness when he took delivery, but a couple of days later he phoned me and said that the car had been in a front end smash as far as he was concerned, and the lights were all over the place. I obviously disagreed with him - the car came straight to us from the ship and hadn't left the floor until he took delivery. Anyway, he brought it in, and I showed him other identical models which all looked exactly the same under the bonnet, as his car. He then said that he could prove it as the lights were all over the place - so we put the car on the light setting machine and the lights were perfectly set...so off he humphed.
Two weeks later he returned with a mysterious rattle which turned out to be a broken seat frame - something which has never been seen before (The guy ways around 200kg so anything is possible) - then it came back because he wasn't happy with the braking performance....we replaced the discs to keep him happy, and then he decided that the panels didn't fit. We got independent people to check the panel fit and the car sailed through as 100%
As each month passed, the "problems" became stranger and stranger. He insisted that we replace all of the door panels as he wasn't happy with them - when they were replaced, he said that the new ones weren't as nice as the old ones and we then had to change them back again. Then he wasn't happy with the fuel consumption, or the tyre wear, or the sound of the radio which he swore that I had told him that it was a far superior unit to the one in the car (They all have the same radios, and I have never said that any one is better than the other.
I must just underline that each time he brought the car in, he insisted on a loan car that was premium spec and nothing else.
We played his little game, and then the loan cars started coming back with things broken in them, and weird scratches that could only have been caused deliberately. He always took a car with a full tank of petrol and always returned it filthy and with an empty tank.
Suddenly, last month, he became the first customer ever, in that particular car, to complain that it was overheating (how he knew that I don't know as these cars don't come with temperature gauges!!) So...because he was a prickly customer, we replaced the radiator cap - that wasn't good enough so a week later, the car was back, this time with radiator water spray all over the engine. Again the cap was replaced, and that lasted a whole two days before it was back again - no water in the radiator.
Now we have removed the radiator, pressure tested it and checked all three caps and there is nothing wrong with them...soooooo it turns out that this fat wally has been deliberately sabotaging the car in order to get as much attention as he can!!!!
I have heard of Munchausen syndrome where people feign sickness in order to get attention - it looks as if he has switched the "sickness" to his car for exactly that reason!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Münchausen_syndrome
Long and short of it, is that he has led us a merry dance for 9 months, as well as dragging our name through the mud in the process. I am convinced that he cannot afford the car and is trying to get us to take it back, but doesn't want to lose face in front of the girlfriend.
He doesn't need us, he needs a bloody psychiatrist!!
The deal was financed, and although he passed the finance application, it was very marginal, and I am pretty sure that he conned us as to what he was actually earning.
All smiles and happiness when he took delivery, but a couple of days later he phoned me and said that the car had been in a front end smash as far as he was concerned, and the lights were all over the place. I obviously disagreed with him - the car came straight to us from the ship and hadn't left the floor until he took delivery. Anyway, he brought it in, and I showed him other identical models which all looked exactly the same under the bonnet, as his car. He then said that he could prove it as the lights were all over the place - so we put the car on the light setting machine and the lights were perfectly set...so off he humphed.
Two weeks later he returned with a mysterious rattle which turned out to be a broken seat frame - something which has never been seen before (The guy ways around 200kg so anything is possible) - then it came back because he wasn't happy with the braking performance....we replaced the discs to keep him happy, and then he decided that the panels didn't fit. We got independent people to check the panel fit and the car sailed through as 100%
As each month passed, the "problems" became stranger and stranger. He insisted that we replace all of the door panels as he wasn't happy with them - when they were replaced, he said that the new ones weren't as nice as the old ones and we then had to change them back again. Then he wasn't happy with the fuel consumption, or the tyre wear, or the sound of the radio which he swore that I had told him that it was a far superior unit to the one in the car (They all have the same radios, and I have never said that any one is better than the other.
I must just underline that each time he brought the car in, he insisted on a loan car that was premium spec and nothing else.
We played his little game, and then the loan cars started coming back with things broken in them, and weird scratches that could only have been caused deliberately. He always took a car with a full tank of petrol and always returned it filthy and with an empty tank.
Suddenly, last month, he became the first customer ever, in that particular car, to complain that it was overheating (how he knew that I don't know as these cars don't come with temperature gauges!!) So...because he was a prickly customer, we replaced the radiator cap - that wasn't good enough so a week later, the car was back, this time with radiator water spray all over the engine. Again the cap was replaced, and that lasted a whole two days before it was back again - no water in the radiator.
Now we have removed the radiator, pressure tested it and checked all three caps and there is nothing wrong with them...soooooo it turns out that this fat wally has been deliberately sabotaging the car in order to get as much attention as he can!!!!
I have heard of Munchausen syndrome where people feign sickness in order to get attention - it looks as if he has switched the "sickness" to his car for exactly that reason!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Münchausen_syndrome
Long and short of it, is that he has led us a merry dance for 9 months, as well as dragging our name through the mud in the process. I am convinced that he cannot afford the car and is trying to get us to take it back, but doesn't want to lose face in front of the girlfriend.
He doesn't need us, he needs a bloody psychiatrist!!
