<VV> No Corvair, but car related - There is no "C" in "BBB"

[Ken Wildman]

At 06:56 PM 8/30/2006, Charles Lee at Proper Pro Per wrote:
>My mother bought a car with "very low mileage" (5 years old w/ 25K) and 
>paid extra because of that.
>
>However, the car would veer to the left when braking, but when checked out 
>=by the dealer, the dealer said the brakes were fine.
>
>They agreed to repair it but she would have to pay for the repair, and 
>they would not do it on warranty.
>
>My mother finally nearly crashed into a local car repair garage, who 
>checked it out (glad to have survived the imminent crash into his stall, 
>but my mother managed to stop a few feet short of that !)
>
>He found the disc brake pistons were frozen, and agreed to fix it (for a 
>fee), but did agree to put it in writing when told of the warranty at a 
>local dealer.
>
>My brother and I then checked the car out, and when we removed the wheels, 
>found a lug stud broken on EACH of the four wheels, and then, under the 
>dash, found a label showing that the speedometer had been replaced at 70 
>K, so the odometer reading of a "low" 25K was really 95 K !
>
>When asked about the broken lug nut studs, the head mechanic at the 
>dealership said (no kidding) "That's why they have five on each wheel. You 
>don't really need that many" !!!!!
>
>When asked about the speedometer being replaced, he feigned ignorance, 
>which later turned out to be his downfall. (You or I can plead ignorance 
>about such things, but a dealership has legal responsibilities to know !)
>
>When shown the other mechanics statement that the brakes were frozen, he 
>tried to say it happened after we bought the car (in 3 weeks ?!?!?!), and 
>then blamed it on the high mileage !  (Remember, we paid top dollar 
>because of the LOW mileage ?)
>
>We initiated a civil suit against the dealer  because of the speedometer 
>being changed and not being advised of it by the dealer.
>
>We then went to the BBB and made a complaint and had to make several 
>complaints before they would do anything about it, and finally the dealer 
>capitulated and paid for the brakes that we were forced to have fixed by 
>the "other" mechanic. (This was one of the reasons that the BBB balked at 
>processing the complaint.  Remember that the "B" in BBB is for "Business." 
>There is no "C" for "Customer" in "BBB" !)
>
>We finally got her money back, but what an ordeal !!!!!
>
>A few months later, I called the BBB to ask if there were any complaints 
>about that dealer, and was told there were none !  I then admitted that I 
>had filed a major complaint with the BBB about that dealer and that other 
>potential customers should be made aware of them, and they said that it 
>was not considered a complaint, since it was resolved !
>
>The fact that we had to involve the civil courts, almost two months of 
>fighting, and my mother being involved in what could have been a very bad 
>accident, were not relevant to the BBB.

The file that our local BBB maintains is on "unresolved complaints".  I'm 
not sure what would be accomplished by maintaining a file on every issue 
that is resolved.  Sometimes a simple call from the BBB to the business is 
sufficient to "move" the business to action, sometimes the office staff can 
mediate the problem, sometimes they have to call in an independent neutral 
like myself.

One problem would be deciding where to draw the line for including resolved 
complaints - should it be based on a dollar amount, time involved, 
"seriousness" (determined by who?), etc.  The file of unresolved complaints 
provides an indication of how intransigent a business may be, but sometimes 
it only reflects unrealistic and unfair complaints by the customer.  The 
file is generally maintained to provide information to new potential 
customers about the business' handling of conflicts.

I am certified to do arbitration and mediation by the National Council of 
Better Business Bureaus.  I have done a number of arbitrations and 
mediations for my local BBB.  I don't collect statistics, but I would 
estimate that my arbitration decisions (binding) have favored the customer 
more often than the business.  Every mediation I have conducted has led to 
an agreed resolution by both parties.

Agreements can be reached through mediation, which is a process where the 
neutral helps the parties make their own agreement.  Arbitration, on the 
other hand, is a process where the two parties agree to have the neutral 
make the decision.  Arbitration can be binding on both parties (which has 
the legal authority of a court decision), binding on only party (usually 
the business), or non-binding on either party.  The BBB is moving towards 
providing only a choice between binding arbitration or mediation.

The situation that you describe was eventually resolved.  The civil issues 
were dealt with.  There may be issues involving criminal behavior by the 
dealer but you would have to file criminal charges to have those 
adjudicated.  There are federal laws involving disclosure of mileage and 
there may be state statutes in your state.  There is also an issue of false 
advertising and possibly misrepresentation.  You would need to consult with 
an attorney in your state to , or your local prosecutor, to see if there is 
a criminal case.  Perhaps, Norm Witte or another attorney on the list would 
be willing to make a general comment here.


Ken