It's on like Donkey Kong: Jilted Hyundai Genesis Coupe buyer jilted again, lawyers up

[Sal Collaziano]

Filed under: Car Buying, Coupe, Performance, Auctions, Hyundai, South Korea

This ended about how we predicted. You all no doubt remember McFly, the guy that won a legit eBay auction for a slightly used Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T for $16,125. Problem was that the seller - Glenn Hyundai of Lexington, KY - felt the car was worth more ($19,700) and refused to sell it to McFly. They claim they set a reserve price (even though they didn't) and wouldn't budge. End of story, kind of.

See, the internet got a hold of the McFly's tale of woe, and few things excite people (us included) more than tales of bald-faced greed mixed with dishonest car dealers. Not surprisingly, the story took off like wildfire and Glenn Hyundai soon found itself inundated with phone calls, emails, faxes - you name it. The onslaught became so bad that Glenn Hyundai got in touch with McFly and told him that if he would call off his dogs (remove his forum posts, plead with Genesis Coupe.com forum members to stop harassing the dealership, somehow getting Digg.com to do exactly what we're not sure, etc.) they would presumably sell him a Genesis Coupe for $16,125.

Why do we say presumably? Because we never knew the details of the agreement McFly worked out with Glenn Hyundai. Or, as McFly puts it an updated post, "For the record I have not shared any part of the verbal agreement." Despite this agreement never being finalized, some felt that McFly's saga was over (while some nearly broke their hands patting themselves on the back). We ourselves were reluctant to think or declare anything until McFly had the Genesis Coupe in hand. Guess what?

No Genesis Coupe 2.0T for McFly. He's claiming that Glenn Hyundai has breached the "verbal agreement" he reached with them. He's refusing to give any details of said verbal agreement, but maintains that Glenn Hyundai owes him a Gen Coupe for $16,125. Also, McFly's retained a lawyer. Also, he's contacted Hyundai USA but received no response. We'll keep you updated. Thanks to Bora for the heads up!

[Source: Genesis Coupe.com]It's on like Donkey Kong: Jilted Hyundai Genesis Coupe buyer jilted again, lawyers up originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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[GripperDon]

Fits right in with denying the "Harsh ride" problem or for that matter anything that is not a fanboy remark. THis kind of attitude by dealers and manufactures alike does not bode well for the long term future of "Luxury" brands

 

[TJPark01]

Fits right in with denying the "Harsh ride" problem or for that matter anything that is not a fanboy remark. THis kind of attitude by dealers and manufactures alike does not bode well for the long term future of "Luxury" brands

I'm curious how a botched ebay auction, "Fits right in with denying the "Harsh ride".
I think what you are trying to say is that at any given moment I will find any thread about the Genesis sedan (even one's started by Administrators), hijack it and turn it into a suspension bashing discussion. Shameless... Show some class for pete's sake.

 

[GripperDon]

TO answer your curiosity! The connection to the Harsh ride and un-adjusted alignments and deals not being honored are all connected by the common connection of ARROGANCE. AS Clinton said deny, deny, deny and the complainers will finally go away,. Selling at a big loss (have you checked what folks trying to sell their 09's for lately?) or being shut up by fan boys, or just plain giving up from exhaustion. Talk about no class!! Thats Hyundai's problem. I see a pattern here and it's not great, responsive customer service, it's "Performs to design"

It's not turning items into suspension bashing, that is just one sympton of poor customer service, and it sure needs more class from the manufacturer, some dealers are trying, but they are not getting the support required from the factory.

I have had the class to give Hyundai praise when they deserve, the Sound system, the great brakes, etc. My greatest praise was buying the car in the first place. Now I want some class shown back. I maintain that I have tried to bring Hyundai's problem to their attention at all levels and have yet to get, even acknowledgement much less one action to address my problem, That's a lack of class, not my pointing out their lack of loyalty to the customer.

 

[motorsportsauthority]

That place is going to have a hard time selling any more cars.

 

[SunnySD]

I sent the dealer an email saying they've probably already lost more money now with the bad press than to have just taken the loss or less profit from the original deal. It's not just Hyundai dealers. I'm amazed when I read opinions here on this board that Hyundai can't compete with the German brands because of the dealership experience. I've had good experiences and horrible experiences at Mercedes and Lexus dealers too.

 

[bnajack]

I have a hard time seeing where Hyundai is at fault here. To me, fault lies entirely at the feet of the dealer. If the dealer mistakenly thought the auction had a reserve, but did not, then tough on the dealer. They should have known what they were doing before they got involved with ebay.

McFly did everything he was supposed to do and should get the car at the bid price and maybe get a little extra for his trouble. The dealer is being extremely foolish and will have a hard time recovering from all the bad publicity. Apparently they do not understand the Internet and how fast information travels. I would think that Hyundai would pressure the dealer to live up to the bargain as they are getting splattered by all the **** rightfully thrown at the dealer.

 

[dataguy]

While the dealer may lose quite a bit, lawyers aren't free, so unless McFly wins damages or gets a good settlement, he's almost certainly going to pay more for that coupe than he would have bought it at the "normal" price elsewhere.

 

[GripperDon]

i have a hard time seeing where hyundai is at fault here. To me, fault lies entirely at the feet of the dealer. If the dealer mistakenly thought the auction had a reserve, but did not, then tough on the dealer. They should have known what they were doing before they got involved with ebay.

Mcfly did everything he was supposed to do and should get the car at the bid price and maybe get a little extra for his trouble. The dealer is being extremely foolish and will have a hard time recovering from all the bad publicity. Apparently they do not understand the internet and how fast information travels. I would think that hyundai would pressure the dealer to live up to the bargain as they are getting splattered by all the **** rightfully thrown at the dealer.

you are right and part of the settlement will include lawyers fees for the winner.

 

[mcginnpm]

"Lawyering up" is probably the stupidest thing to do. The only ones who win in law suits are the lawyers. Having been involved with them in the past, I didn't win even when I won. The costs in time and frustration will never equal the amount won in the suit. The laywers went smiling to the bank. I went with a sigh of relief that it was finally over and done with.

bnajack and dataguy are spot on. The internet is a great venue for an immediate (and long lasting) "tongue lashing" of Glenn Hyundai in Lexington, KY. Imagine a Google search for "Glenn Hyundai" bringing up 10,000 hits...and they all end up linking to this story about McFly getting jilted. You think that might deter a few customers from going to Glenn Hyundai? And all those blogs and posts will be on the internet for eternity. It can be viral. Every time one of us types "Glenn Hyundai", the webbots will crawl and catalog it. Anyone searching on "Glenn Hyundai" will probaby be reading this story. McFly's win in a law suit (assuming he wins) will be some obscure entry in a legal forum, and he'll probably have paid more in the end for the car than purchasing one at list price (once he factors in all his costs in time and frustration).

If McFly doesn't get the car...so what. Get over it. It's not as if he absolutely need the car (I'm assuming). Yes, it would have been great to get the Genny for $16K, fair and square on an eBay auction. Instead of lawyering up, just keep blogging and posting. He may not get the car in the end, but Glenn Hyundai will be paying the price for their actions and decisions for years to come. Caveat venditor!! Glenn Hyundai, Glenn Hyundai, Glenn Hyundai, Glenn Hyundai, Glenn Hyundai,Glenn Hyundai, Glenn Hyundai, Glenn Hyundai (for Google's benefit).

Edit note: I just Googled "Glenn Hyundai". The top 2 hits are for the dealership itself. The next 3 are McFly's story. If we keep posting and blogging it won't be long before his story is #1 on a Google search for Glenn Hyundai, Glenn Hyundai, Glenn Hyundai, Glenn Hyundai, Glenn Hyundai,Glenn Hyundai, Glenn Hyundai, Glenn Hyundai.

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[jwaters943]

TO answer your curiosity! The connection to the Harsh ride and un-adjusted alignments and deals not being honored are all connected by the common connection of ARROGANCE. AS Clinton said deny, deny, deny and the complainers will finally go away,. Selling at a big loss (have you checked what folks trying to sell their 09's for lately?) or being shut up by fan boys, or just plain giving up from exhaustion. Talk about no class!! Thats Hyundai's problem. I see a pattern here and it's not great, responsive customer service, it's "Performs to design"

It's not turning items into suspension bashing, that is just one sympton of poor customer service, and it sure needs more class from the manufacturer, some dealers are trying, but they are not getting the support required from the factory.

I have had the class to give Hyundai praise when they deserve, the Sound system, the great brakes, etc. My greatest praise was buying the car in the first place. Now I want some class shown back. I maintain that I have tried to bring Hyundai's problem to their attention at all levels and have yet to get, even acknowledgement much less one action to address my problem, That's a lack of class, not my pointing out their lack of loyalty to the customer.

This is a dealership issue, not a Hyundai corporate issue. Two entirely different things. Do you honestly think something like this hasn't happened w/ a Lexus, BMW, etc. dealership at some point? Some dealers are just shady.

RANT TIME: Stop bringing up the friggin' suspension in every single thread. You, Doug, and a couple others have completely run this site into the ground. You want to know why there aren't more threads around here? We all got sick of listening to you repeat yourself ad nauseam! I'm convinced that Doug never even owned a Genesis (his posting is nearly identical to a guy that used to troll the Azera forum with suspension complaints). Why don't you just sell your Genesis already? You know very well you're never going to "fix" the Genesis to your satisfaction. You'll always wonder what else you change to make the suspension just a little bit better. YOU KNOW THIS IS TRUE.

 

[GripperDon]

In light of all the discussion regarding expectations and responses, I felt the following from CNN was interesting to provide insight. The Toyota story is not about a Korean company but the culture aspect has IMO usefull teachings.

"(CNN) -- Akio Toyoda's appearance before U.S. legislators on Wednesday represents not just a fact-finding mission by committee members and a public relations move by Toyota, but a clash of cultures that in many ways created the recall controversy.

"They turned a rather ordinary recall into a brand-threatening crisis," said Jeff Kingston, a professor of Asian studies at Temple University's Japan campus in Tokyo.

Indeed, a key reason why Toyoda is in the hot seat is because the company leadership responded in a very Japanese fashion, Japan watchers say.

"Their decision-making process was painfully slow, but the international media and concerned customers don't want to wait so long for answers," Kingston said. "Anytime the public hears 'brake' and 'problem' in the same sentence, they want quick answers."

Toyoda's long silence as the company deliberated what to do is a hallmark of the Japanese culture of consensus building.

"The decision-making process is really the planning process in Japan -- you don't see a lot of rapid response to a strategic issue," said Michael Alan Hamlin, president of Team Asia, which provides communications advice to multinational companies.

Difficult, too, will be how Toyoda handles hostile questioning, especially since most of his public experience has been before a largely deferential Japanese press.

"There is a huge difference in how Japanese media cover companies," said Hamlin, who lived in Japan for a decade. "They are careful not to upset or annoy business leaders too much, because they don't want their access to information or press conferences blocked because of negative reporting.

"In the West, you take Microsoft, Google or GM -- once they are big, successful companies, they are targets (of aggressive media)," he said. "That's the trade-off for visibility and success."

How the two audiences -- American and Japanese -- view Toyoda's performance may be very different because of cultural differences in body language.

"Japanese when in an apology mode -- especially before an authority like the U.S. Congress -- will be very humble. That means, you don't necessarily look people in the eye," said Deborah Hayden, Tokyo managing partner of Kreab & Gavin Anderson Worldwide, a communications consultancy. "From a Western perspective, that can be mistaken as weakness or perhaps trying to hide something."

Also, Japanese language tends to be indirect -- whereas before the committee members are likely to pepper him with direct questions and "be a bit of political theater," Hamlin added.

"He's got to walk a very fine line of polite respect -- which Japanese have in bucket loads -- and the confidence of being head of one of the largest, most respected companies in the world," Hayden said."


Toyota did announce that they would start installing braking systems" that will overcome the vehicles power" Not exactly sure what that means.


All this and the Story about the e-bay deal seem to kind of illustrate the disparity of actions, expectations, etc. that can develop between parties when viewing the same event.

I think that is does provide insight that might help all of us understand the different moods, feelings, etc. that get posted on the forum and might help us all to give more leeway to the other parties feelings and expressions presented in the posts, without having to abandon ones convictions.

It sure encourages the use of a lot of "IMO's" in postings, IMO.