Wimbledon Audi

[TEAUDI]

Okay since people have sent me private messages asking what happened I will say what happened in my case. The police have not told me much about other cases so I will just say what I know:

I part-exchanged my car and the dealer sold it and kept the money. He put part of the part-exchange on the new car (using his credit card!) to make it look legit on the books.

He has now been sentenced for fraud by abuse of position and admitted doing the fraud since he pleaded guilty and is due to be sentenced.

The part-exchange took place at Wimbledon Audi during office hours, Wimbledon Audi's computer programme was used to agree the price, I met the dealer at Wimbledon Audi in the course of buying my new car and all email exchanges, telephone calls meetings etc. took place at Wimbledon Audi showroom.

After the fraud happened I did as you said Crasher and tried to be helpful to the dealership, gave them over a month to look into it etc. etc. but then discovered they were ignoring me, saying my calls hadn't reached them etc.

I then got an email saying that it was a private arrangement between me and the dealer despite all the evidence and the dealer's own admission of guilt to fraud by abuse of position!

At this point I realised Wimbledon Audi / SG Smith Group did not care about looking after customers and were just saying this to stop having to pay out because employers are liable when an employee uses the company to commit fraud. (There are also many things I could say about their offices practices which allowed these frauds to happen but I will not say that now.)

The point I want to make to people going to dealerships is that you have to be very careful. I would never buy a car from SG Smith Group / Wimbledon Audi again because I know how badly they have acted towards me. If this happened to someone else I would want to be told because customers need to be able to hold dealers who act like this to account.

[JON76]

I thought this was VWAudi Forum, not some online version of Watchdog?!

[Reynger]

Okay since people have sent me private messages asking what happened I will say what happened in my case. The police have not told me much about other cases so I will just say what I know:

I part-exchanged my car and the dealer sold it and kept the money. He put part of the part-exchange on the new car (using his credit card!) to make it look legit on the books.

He has now been sentenced for fraud by abuse of position and admitted doing the fraud since he pleaded guilty and is due to be sentenced. . .

Nothing wrong in alerting forum members to purchasing pitfalls, but you might do better to hold off on further posts until criminal proceedings have actually finished. From what little there is to be gleaned from the local newspaper's coverage it seems some kind of fraud was committed at the expense of the fraudster's employer and the employer's customers. So your continual reference to "the dealer" is a mite misleading.

On a general note: no employer is immune to the practices of a rogue employee. And not every business is skilled at handling such a situation as and when it arises -- I've known some go into complete panic mode, and shut down any and all forms of communication because their legal advisers have said they must not do or say anything that might have a bearing on criminal proceedings until those proceedings are over.

I'm not saying that this is the case here, rather I am pointing out that though it's massively frustrating for all concerned, sometimes a seeming failure to communicate isn't the result of corporate bloody-mindedness but an over-sensitivity towards M'Lud.

This episode must have been very stressful for you (and other customers likewise caught up in it) so I do understand how you feel. However, if you take the pragmatic view that you and the dealership are co-victims in this, then ensuring that the relationship between you both remains calm and considered is the best way of resolving matters *after* criminal proceedings have concluded.

Letting off steam on an Internet forum is understandable when frustration is running high, but it doesn't do anything to help reassert the spirit of goodwill that may well be essential further down the line.

[A4 Lad]

From what I can see as an outsider, there is very good reason for you to be angry with them but you know yourself the way that the law is these days and if I was you, I would seek legal advise before putting stuff in writting on the net as they can and may well use it in the case.

[TEAUDI]

Thank you for messages of support. Yes it is established that the dealer (ie the employee of Wimbledon Audi at the time) who sold me my new Audi has admitted fraud by abuse of position (ie his position as an employee of Wimbledon Audi / SG Smith Group) so all that is due to happen is sentencing. In other words the case is over. My original message (the one that was deleted) was a reminder to people to be careful in buying cars. I also said that I would now judge a dealership in how they behave when something goes wrong.

My case has been handled by their branding chief so I get the feeling they have cared more about their image than looking after customers who have suffered a great deal. I personally will never step foot inside an SG Smith Group dealership again because of what has happened.

If this had happened to someone else I would want to know. If customers don't let people know about bad experiences things will never improve. This is what I said to the dealership after they started ignoring my attempts to deal with them:

'It was always my intention to cooperate but it has been SG Smith's attitude to my case that has caused matters to deteriorate. I am still stunned that you can treat a customer in this way. The sad thing is that had I been elderly or otherwise vulnerable you would probably have got away with it.'

The police have also told me they are shocked at how I have been treated. I will not say more about the case until it gets full press coverage later this week but there is a lot more to say.

[Ben]

Whilst i'll not offer any opinions, can I assume from reading your 2 threads on the same subject, that we are talking about an employee of Wimbledon Audi that was commiting fraud and not the actual dealership.? Therefore, in the grand scheme of things, the dealership is as innocent as you are..

Now I'd like to give you a choice, would you like your 2 threads merged in to a single thread or you can choose which one to be removed. We can provide a copy of the removed thread if you choose.

[TEAUDI]

The dealership has not committed a criminal offence but a dealership (like any employer) whose employees commit frauds are liable for those frauds.

As mentioned on the other thread (which I am happy for you to delete) I have been very careful only to say things about Wimbledon Audi and the dealer who has admitted fraud that are true. As you know you can only be successfully sued for libel if what is said is not true.

The original post I put up (that has been deleted) was warning people in the dealership section of an Audi site to be careful when buying cars and I mentioned my experience at SG SMITH GROUP. Just because you are buying an Audi doesn't mean what happened to me will not happen to you. Fraudsters work in all lines of business.

I also said I will hold off from posting more until the sentencing of the case is reported on. I also put a link to some of the press coverage.

In the story I put a link to it is clear that the Wimbledon Audi employee who I dealt with QUOTE 'has admitted committing fraud while working at Wimbledon Audi car dealership, where he cheated the business and customers out of about £102,000.'

I am a customer who has lost a lot of money because of this. I want others to be careful.

[davids1974]

[QUOTE=TEAUDI;622312]At this point I realised Wimbledon Audi / SG Smith Group did not care about looking after customers QUOTE]

The important thing is always to look after your customers or they will not come back. I would like to thank you to thank for passing on this news. You did a good thing.