Ebay BMW M3 Winner Gets Lawyered Up. The Soap Opera Continues...

The soap opera continues at E90post...read below

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.

So I am ceasing communication with the dealer for now. My lawyer drafted the letter that appears below (he has dealt with Mr. Herbert Klein, general counsel for BMW NA in the past), which he faxed earlier today to BMW NA..

Also, other dealerships have been calling me, offering not only support, but greart deals on M3s! As much as I would love to take one of them, I don't know tif they are real offers or not, and I simply want BMW of Lincoln to live up to its obligations to me.

I would ask that no one call the dealership or BMW NA about this, but just wait and see what happens next. I know my lawyer is preparing a lawsuit, and if we have to file it, I will post further information here. It will also be interesting to see if BMW NA, now that it has been "officially" notified, does anything about this. This will be a good object lesson for all of us about how a car company stands up for its customers, don't you think?

LAW OFFICES OF

GARFIELD & TEPPER

A PARTNERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL CORPORATIONS

1801 CENTURY PARK EAST, SUITE 2300

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90067-2325

TELEPHONE: (310) 277-1981

FAX: (310) 277-1980

March 26, 2008

Herbert L. Klein, Corporate Counsel

BMW of North America

300 Chestnut Ridge Road

Woodcliff, New Jersey 07677-7731

Herb:

I represent Ken Tanisaka in connection with his dealings with BMW of Lincoln.

No doubt you have heard of the controversy that became viral on the Web this weekend.

Ken and I had worked out a “no preconditions” deal in which BMW of Lincoln

was going to treat him as any other customer and sell him the M3 sedan at the winning

bid made by Ken on eBay. ($60,000 plus a $399 title or document fee.) Mike Maledon,

counsel for the parent company that owns BMW of Lincoln, instructed me to have Ken

call Fil Catania, the general manager of that BMW store, to provide credit card

information and place the deposit. Mike had told me that Ken had 24 hours (from last

night) in which to make the deposit.

When Ken called Mr. Catania, Ken was subjected to an abusive lecture and told

it was his (Ken’s) responsibility to make the press go away. Mr. Catania refused to take

a deposit from Ken, effectively reneging on the deal that was reached yesterday, in which

BMW of Lincoln, through Mike Maledon, had agreed not to impose an impossible

condition that Ken “control the press.”

Can you help us? As you may be aware from the blogosphere, thousands of

BMW afficionados are asking “What is BMW NA doing about this?” I think that’s a fair

question. And, once we get this straightened out, perhaps BMWFS can also step up to

the plate

Sincerely yours,

/s/

SCOTT J. TEPPER

SJT:vrs

cc: Ken Tanisaka

__________________
Im also Dooma350 on bimmer drivers & my is. Other sites may be dooma imposters.

Read Article

fatboi - 3/26/2008 7:09:08 PM

-3 Boost

he could save it for 2 years in his garage and sell it after 2 years

daytonaviolet - 3/26/2008 9:47:38 PM

+1 Boost

He could, but why should he. If that's not a part of the original deal, they shouldn't try and sneak it in.

answer - 3/26/2008 7:23:27 PM

+11 Boost

F that!!!

He won the auction fair and square. Why have any "conditions" attached?

If the dealer didn't wish to have negative press they could have just honored the ebay deal properly in the first place.

There are great BMW dealers that shouldn't have to be associated with those jerks.

Shut'em down!

gooch - 3/26/2008 7:47:10 PM

+10 Boost

The dealer is obviously an idiot. He could have prevented all the negative press quickly by giving the guy the car, then saying something like "There was an unfortunate breakdown in communication at the dealership. That problem will be handled internally, and we certainly hope Mr. T enjoys his new M3!"

KillBot - 3/26/2008 8:11:01 PM

+5 Boost

This is f-ing great!!!! HA HA freakin HA, that's what they get for trying to get a biding war going on E-Bay, greedy bast@^%s. Good for you Ken, I'll keep an eye out for a new M3 cruising around WE HO.

nybimmer - 3/26/2008 9:42:57 PM

+8 Boost

I wish this whole travesty surprised me. BMW dealers, in the NY area might sell good cars but the one's I've encountered are arrogant and act like they hold the keys to the kingdom.

People are always happier if they are treated nicely and with respect. The folks I've encountered at MB and Lexus dealers have "nice" down pat. Its easier to be a repeat customer at a place where they act like they like you and appreciate your business.

NYCpothole - 3/27/2008 3:53:15 AM

+2 Boost

NYBimmer...You are so right. Back in 04 when I was shopping for a new 5, I went to BMW on 57th and they really truly made me feel as if my hard earned dollars were not worth me being there. Almost as if they didn't want 'blue collar america' business. Fukkem! I still love BMW but I will never in my life set foot in 57th street BMW again.

daytonaviolet - 3/26/2008 9:45:37 PM

+3 Boost

BMW of Lincoln needs to take a step back and look at how bad they are making themselves look, and the effect of bad publicity.

I used to sell BMWs, so I can usually understand the dealer's side of the story. But this is unforgivable. They need to make things right.

This is so typical of many car dealers. They are only looking at this one deal that they will lose money on (even though it was their fault.) They need to look at how many sales they are going to lose because they are trying to back out of a deal that they made.

07G35J - 3/27/2008 9:06:25 AM

0 Boost

"BMW of Lincoln needs to take a step back and look at how bad they are making themselves look, and the effect of bad publicity"

Not only are they making themselves look bad, but they are taking BMW down with them. I hope that BMW steps up to the plate soon and clear their name. I'm sure they will.
I also hope that BMW of Lincoln looses their BMW contract. They don't deserve to be called a BMW dealer.

investor27 - 3/26/2008 9:48:50 PM

+6 Boost

Why don't everyone in that area boycott that BMW dealership for 1 year? This will teach them and BMW North America to treat their customers this way. This should be our new cause: to get everyone in that area to boycott that dealership for 1 year.

Homer008 - 3/26/2008 10:23:01 PM

-3 Boost

hope that BMW comes with a fire extinguisher and a fire retardant suit b/c BMW's engine tends to catch fire and explode.

gooch - 3/27/2008 7:07:48 AM

-1 Boost

Go back and jerk off to your anime. Do your parents know you're playing on their computer? Did you at least wash your hands before you began typing this nonsense?

ring007 - 3/26/2008 10:25:03 PM

-6 Boost

Clearly the non-reserve action was a simple mistake when the auction was setup. Why is everyone interested in the buyer taking advantage of an honest mistake from the dealership?

If the buyer had accidently agreed to pay $6k more than expected due to a simple mistake would everyone expect them to move forward and pay the $6k premium? I doubt it.

It's not like the dealer was trying anything nefarious. With that said, clearly Husker could have handled it in a much more positive light. Their $6k mistake on this one deal has undoubtedly cost them a multiple of that in future business.

Remember, what goes around comes around. Why not just drop it and move on with life. Seems silly to me. Just my $.02.

Homer008 - 3/26/2008 10:40:47 PM

-3 Boost

I gotta agree with ya on that 1. I remember around a yr. ago where a kid made a bid on ebay to pay some gargantuan amount of $ 4 a car. mama spanked s..t out of the kid and owner of the car waived the bid and canceled everything so the family didn't have to cough up $. Anyhow, i think dealer's still need to stand up and buy the fella a free dinner at a nice local restaraunt for making silly arse mistake.

daytonaviolet - 3/26/2008 11:29:18 PM

+4 Boost

Because when it's your profession you're held to a higher standard. A kid making a mistake is understandable, but a "professional" should be held to there word.

daytonaviolet - 3/26/2008 11:30:02 PM

+3 Boost

*their

Homer008 - 3/27/2008 12:06:58 AM

+5 Boost

I absolutely agree with your statement.

cdoke - 3/27/2008 1:09:23 PM

0 Boost

This isn't an honest mistake like accidentally forgetting to check a box when setting the auction up- they knew exactly what they were doing. If it was a mistake then they had the option to cancel the auction. The "buy it now price" was adjusted twice during the auction - so it was being watched.

I have no doubt that what happened is this; this dealer has been hearing about Californian dealerships with $30,000 market adjustments on the car and thought they could get a piece of the pie. They incorrectly assumed that the fair market value of the car is that inflated value. These dealerships do not do market analysis to determine the higher price point. Those who would tell you that the Car+30K is the fair market value fail to understand that it is not being priced at the supply-demand equilibrium- that is not what they are doing. Someone is willing to pay the price at every point along the demand curve, and so there is a buyer for every point until the reservation price, the price beyond which nobody will purchase the vehicle. These idiots in Lincoln confused two very different things- market equilibrium and inflated pricing.

no1listensanyway - 3/26/2008 11:05:35 PM

+8 Boost

BMW NA should really step up to the plate and make him happy, protect the dealer and get some great PR out of this.

BMW Marketing Department, WAKEUP!!! Start Spinning this!

07G35J - 3/27/2008 9:15:57 AM

0 Boost

"BMW NA should really step up to the plate and make him happy, protect the dealer and get some great PR out of this"

I would say "drop the dealer" instead of protecting it. BMW has a big reputation to protect, and that dealer is not helping at all. They should just lose their BMW contract, and sell Yugos for all I care.

lyonboy - 3/27/2008 1:00:24 AM

+2 Boost

BMW NA may not like what has transpired but The dealer is an independant business who has made his bed and now has to sleep in it! I doubt BMW will do much other than remind the dealer the next time he wants more M3's. BMW can not technically force the dealer but BMW can sure make life unpleasant. When a mistake is made be a man and not a baby. What an embarrasment to dealers everywhere.

mini22 - 3/27/2008 2:23:06 AM

0 Boost

This dealership in Lincoln should be "Drawn and Quartered". If you are going to sell your cars on e-bay in the 1st place you should damm well honor the winning bid. You not only represent the dealership but BMW of North America. This dealership needs to be told by BMW OF N/A in no uncertain terms that if they do not act in good faith they will face a severe shortage of M3's in the future let alone other BMW models. BMW is a high end luxury car maker that does not need a red spot on it's US sales by some "Schmuck" who happens to be a dealer. If the management is stupid enough to continue to make life difficult for individual then it deserves all the negative press it can get. In fact the next step should be CNN news. Perhaps then BMW OF NA and Lincoln will start to "get the message"

bclemans - 3/27/2008 3:53:07 AM

+2 Boost

I don't buy Lincoln's claim that it made a mistake. For those who are familiar with ebay, the winner of an auction is obligated to buy and the seller is obligated to sell. There are millions of buyers and sellers who go through the auction process and followed the rules.

Going back to Lincoln's claim. ebay has rules that protect sellers. A seller can cancel any bid (any one bid or all bids) during the entire course of the auction (up until the last 24 hours) and proceed to remove the auction. So if it has made a mistake, they can cancel the auction or revise it - the same right that every seller has.

ebay prohibits a seller to cancel an auction in the last 24 hours (before auction ends) just to protect bidders who had placed bids but the seller has second guess and speculate that the ending price will be less than what he had hoped for.

Bmw8ter - 3/27/2008 8:21:19 AM

+2 Boost

The dealer should have just payed someone to boost the bid amount. I mean c'mon. If you have a key dollar value in mind, and you're actually paying attention to the status of the bids, you'd know to throw a few booster bids in there to get you closer to your goal.

FerrarisR4me - 3/28/2008 5:30:07 PM

+1 Boost

Serves em' right for being greedy. They thought they could jack the price and roll in money, but they were too dumb to set up an ebay auction correctly and are now paying the price. And what a bunch of pricks they are too. I wish I lived in that area... when the 1 comes out, I'll buy one and drive it to their dealership and let em know they could have had my business if it wasn't for this. Idiots.