buyer beware / seller is a cheat

[jogo]

Author: jogo (---.dip.t-dialin.net)
Date: 03-16-07 18:15

I'm going to write this quikly, 1x & not go back over it 50x, to see where I could inserts better wrads;
sorry, I meant wrods; oh drat, I mean "words". This is 2 stories of 2 Gammas. I was looking for a 'just for fun' Lance, after years of not having a fun 1. Family growth = no more Beta MonCarl & Coupe. No other "Brand" was really 'seriously' considered. I drove from mid SWGermany to 100% SWGermany to see a Lance (that's another story). I liked it, I haggeled. I moaned & I, eventually , many months later, bought it. The "deal" included a Gamma that was "taking-up space in the garage. Since I haggled a good % off the car I was buying; the Gamma was ( if I used the trick of "self-hypnosis", as to convinced myself that the Gamma was 'almost free'. &, although I didn't need it, couldn't use it .... it would be a shame to not take it ....etc & so on; certainly worth the few € invested. I added a lot of extra, hand-written terms in poor, but legible-Deutsch to the "joint purchase contract, kept all emails praising the cars; just to ensure that I was getting what I was told I was getting. Both were delivered 60days later than agreed upon. I hadn't yet paid !
Arriving 6 hours later than agreed upon; once a final-delivery-date (by now this was #10 or 12 final delivery date) '- Arriving in mid of night - at a time when seller didn't expect the fiat/lancia shop to be manned by staff. In fact, seller didn't know in advance that delivery location was a shop !!! Big Mistake !! Seller didn't show; 2 adjutants did. Both pulling trailers ! Very strange !!! It soon was apparent that "all new parts that were installed, to make the cars road-worthy prior to my viewing & test driving (very detailed viewing - flashlite, on-my-back under-car viewing, lots of notes, PHOTOS & "paint dots, smears & spots"*, tires production dates ++++ ) had been removed & replaced by worn-out; dangerous & worthless parts. Re-swapped, so to say ! Heated words were Xchanged by phone with seller; 2 adjutants were rightfully nervous ! No € passed hands, no titles either., Very real threats of criminal-charges, justified accusations of fraud, more-threats of police arriving within 10 min. of a phone-call; to be followed by criminal-investig- ators within hours ...were "spoken by all present" . Sellers words: "so sorry, I wanted to come myself, been out-of-country for months; had no idea about this etc etc" We all agreed, we could settle problems in a business-like manner, no rush (it is winter anyway), no violence, no police. & OK, cars would be locked up by Meister Giancarlo & Meister Micheala; with total 50+ yrs of meister-experiance. I saw neither car for months; thus I had my garage for other cars all winter long. I paid for only "extra- repairs". Once this 'situation' was settled "in a business-like manner" ; € & titles passed hands.
* = while under the cars, on a big,/clean cardboard brought for this purpose, I put paint dots & spots & smears from a tiny touch-up bottle on many parts. (exaust, steering, brakes etc) Upon delivery not 1 dot, spot or smear was found. Even the newish.tires had been swapped for 'relativly-good looking - but old- date, porous-sidewall-tires. I ended "investing" more in the Gamma than it cost to buy !!! I'm not sorry that I did, but it did require a great-deal of "ingenious finance-planning" 2 year ago! but who needs meat 1x a week or vacations for the next 5 years, anyway ? Lesson learned = Buyer Beware / Seller too.
The 2d Gamma's story is exactly the opposite; I got more than promised, which was 'a nice leather interior in a old Gamma' from a very honest seller; who 'undertold the real-truth' ! Leather iss good, entire car is as good as could be Xpected, considering it wasn't driven for 21 years &, yes, the broken motor was broken. At a price that I could convince myself , without hypnosis, was a bargain. Now I have 2 Gammas
I don't need & can't use. Also, a very full garage. 1 is quite loud & 1 is very quiet. Both have stories.