A question of principles?

[Loxy]

If you knew a forum member had ripped off another forum member (big style bodged van sale, but some time ago) would you be happy to just let it lie or would you kick up a sh!t storm?
I'm normally a pretty laid back bloke, but atm its boiling my p!ss to see that this member is still active and is profiting from his sales on here while everyone applauds the hard work that the ripped off member is putting into his van restoration.

 

[ant]

Hmmm ..... mate of mine bought a t4 off a fella using the volkstorque forum last year, he got stitched up big time, the very knowlegable seller/trader sold him a over priced t4 with a cracked head and dodgy head gasket, after two weeks of ownership the repair bill was well over £700. He mentioned it in passing on the forum (but didn't mention the sellers username) and got jumped on by a whole load of people. Also he recieved a load of pm messages off this guys friends/forum friends giving him a load of ***** for complaining...... it got the stage where he stopped using the forum all together! and he was the victim, very sad story indeed. Similar to your story tho, the seller is still on there!

 

[Tofufi]

I'd consider naming and shaming to be honest.

I can't stand people who bodge cars, especially for profit. And judging by the amount of rust on the van in question, that is a rather serious amount of bodgery

 

[strongy]

i wouldent let it lie,i wouldent be able to,if the person in question has gained trust from people for selling good vans,then sold a nail id be pissed.on the other hand some people would say, well he said sold as seen,should have had a good look.

its really tricking to come to a conclusion with out all the facts

its a hard one youve got to give the seller a chance to redeem himself and sort the prob out before naming and shaming.

 

[aogrady]

Hi!

I agree entirely, but in defence to the dealer (i guess it's a dealer) then maybe the van was already bodged when the dealer had it? Unbeknown to him? - but of course anyone who has been in this scene long enough will know what to look for, and shouldn't pass anything off as more than what it is. And if you are - then you should be outed for the thief that you are! Everyone deserves to earn a crust, just cos there is money to be made in the scene doesn't mean it's a get rice scheme on others peoples behalf! :evil:

But we all know there are people around that sell stuff to people maybe new to the scene who dont know what to spot perhaps? Certainly if you bought off a dealer and found out it was a shed due to covering up, then that would not be on at all....and morally wrong!

Maybe the member affected can pursue this issue? Though if time has long since passed......
I dont know the van in question, but i guess a quuick mooch on the gallery, and I'll see........

I've am fairly new to the whole vw scene for only a few years, and have seen some so called resto's, and really fear for folk buying stuff when they are people around all to eager to be on the take passing on crap.

Makes you wonder how they sleep at night - and how they manage to get away with it for so long???

Fair play to the member now having to do repairs to his beloved van, goes to show how atached you can get to the bus you really want. Shame he has to go through all this to acheive what should have done in the first place.

Grrr!! :evil: This really is not on.....not on at all......give both parties a chance to say, and let everyone make up there own mind.

Alistair

 

[ianscooby]

disappointed to here this!, I would be p****d and would name them, but as strongy say "the van was sold as seen" so it's a bit difficult.
The question you should ask was it advertised correctly if not then you have a case for recovery of the cash. Also was the bodge up mechanical/welding and should it have had a MOT :!:
Before you name and shame make sure your facts are correct, as you do not want it coming back on you as sower (spelling not goo this time of morning) grapes!!
Difficult decission Good Luck

 

[NickJ]

Maybe the person who was "ripped" off should tell it from his point of view of what happened re the advert & conversations with seller etc.
Also then the seller can reply if they think they were justified in selling a "bodged van" did the price reflect this ?
Really they are in the best positions to explain, that way we wont bad mouth someone unfairly or we can avoid doing business him.
Just my 2p worth.

 

[giraffeinbath]

If you can contact both parties would you be able to act as a mediator to sort out the problem?

If the dealer/individual is reasonable then they should be open to negotiation to readdress the value of the van in question and offer a partial refund to suit. That should put a bit of money in the buyers pocket for their resto, and hopefully allow the vendor to learn their lesson so they don't do it again.

You see public floggings on some of the other forums and it's never pretty. If individuals can sort out their differences amicably between themselves it has to be better. Could it be a simple error of judgment on the vendors part? In which case if they have a conscience they will hopefully want to put it right. You would have to be 100% sure of the facts and know that they don't care before you destroy a reputation.

I would say that a time to name and shame a vendor on an open forum (business or individual) would be relevant if they are a repeat offender as this would then genuinely be a service to all the nice people on here to make sure that no-one else gets stung with dodgy stuff.

This is a really good natured forum and not as bitchy as some of the others, so I hope that if someone was named the forum would give them the opportunity to redeem themselves if they put it right rather then simply ridiculing them and making them outcast. That's another pretty ugly facet of human nature.

If the vendor is on here regularly then hopefully they will read this thread and come forward with a solution to put it right themselves (and not do it again!). If they don't and they can still sleep at night then perhaps that does make them a cat amongst the pigeons.

 

[HairyYeti]

The wife and myself were nearly killed by a bodge merchant who sold us our Rover P4.

He crammed the brake master cylinder (single circuit) full of grease to stop it leaking.
One day no brakes..!! :shock:
Luckily the hand braked pulled us up : all 2.1/2 tonnes of it.!

Only 30 miles previous we had driven through Exmoor and up & over porlock Hill.

If I see the guy around - ever - I'll be smacking his teeth out. :twisted:

I can see now why he wrote "as inspected and approved" on the receipt.!

 

[SteveGTU]

I'm with Giraffeinbath on this one as everyone should have their say. Although if this person is still doing this sort of thing and profiting from the likes of us then we all surely owe it to each other to highlight this. Part of the enjoyment of this forum for me is that its not too heavy or bitchy, dont we get enough of that in daily life.

 

[Araon]

Was he not already named and shamed in a previous thread?

Most will have figured it out by now, but I know where your coming from, its a very personal decision to make, a dilema I dont envy you for....

:?

 

[Loxy]

Cheers for all your comments.
I should point out a couple of things, firstly it wasnt me that bought the van - I know the purchaser very well though,the seller wasnt a dealer but does seem to buy and sell vans and parts to make a few quid. Also the deal was done probably all of two years ago and was not conducted on this forum - I dont think there is any likelihood of any sort of settlement occurring. In fact there are probably old threads on here with discussion between the buyer & seller.
Probably the buyer should have tried harder to get some sort of compensation or refund, but I think we have all been there with having bought something that turned out to be a bit of a lemon and not really wanting to admit it (and also having the knowledge required to understand where to look for problems) & if the truth be known I didnt tell him all the bad bits I could see on it when I first saw it.

My problem I guess is that it still annoys me that someone that claimed not to know about any of the problems on this van & then sold it for good money (5.5kish) having had it restored & supplied with a new MOT, is profiting (not just financially) from this forum that I spend a lot of time on.
The buyer has now spent a lot of time & money on fixing these problems (and is doing well, but theres plenty more of both to come yet) and will I think end up with a really good quality restoration - something to be proud of in fact.

Perhaps I should just let it go, it isnt after all my problem - but I do see the buyer most days as I work with him, his resto is taking place in my barn and have seen recently that hes struggling for enthusiasm

 

[Doris]

very dissapointing to see this. I try to treat people in the way I wish to be treated and hope that others are of the same humanity.
Unfortunatly, I don't know who this dodge pot is - I just hope I don't get caught out. if you go public - you could save a lot of people a lot of money ,time and heat ache, may be even lives - BUT, big BUT..you must be 100% about the facts! feel free to anonomously PM who it is :evil:

If I knew 100% - I would! imho

 

[ddffrost]

Isn't one of the main points of this forum to share information and help each other out?

If someone is ripping people off they should be named and shamed the fired out of a cannon?

 

[scott wilson]

here here

 

[Joval]

We've all bought a vehicle with bodges I'm sure, it all depends on the how aware of these bodges the seller is,
and this is very difficult to determine.
If you can be sure the bodges were carried out in order to sell the vehicle then yeah, name 'n shame. :wink:

 

[cyberdyne systems]

I think if you can (or your mate) write an objective view of the situation and the reasons why you feel he was ripped off, and then allow the seller to respond to the situation, and the rest of us to not gang up on the person (unless it becomes clear they are bad for the scene), then I recon you should go for it.

Most of us all want this forum to be a great place to be, and if we can look out for each other, then thats good, but we dont want it to turn into a place where we bully someone without knowing all the facts - perhaps move it to Thesamba or volkszone and thrash it out there instead :twisted:

Gareth

 

[Tofufi]

I think if you can (or your mate) write an objective view of the situation and the reasons why you feel he was ripped off, and then allow the seller to respond to the situation, and the rest of us to not gang up on the person (unless it becomes clear they are bad for the scene), then I recon you should go for it.

Agreed - that should be the way forward.

 

[Clem]

I understand that the buyer and seller are aware of this situation and only they know the actual facts. Whilst I dont agree with any sharp practice, I also dont agree with wrong castigation.
We may get to hear elements of the story, but without the original advert and the descriptions at that time, its impossible to truly judge.

I would ask that and sides of the story are PM'd to one, or all, of the mods first for an independant view of the situation before they are published for all to see..

We need to be made aware of potential trouble, but we really need to be cautious of a witch hunt. I hope all concerned understand.

From a personal perspective, Ive never had any trouble from ANY seller via this forum ......

Mike

 

[scott wilson]

funny how http://www.thesamba.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://www.volkszone.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; get suggested to sort out problems...as there is a lot of bitchin on there :twisted: