In the latest round of ‘internet car deals that are too good to be true,’ a Washington state resident’s efforts to purchase a 2008 Bentley convertible were derailed after an Arizona dealer failed to uphold the vehicle’s $13,900 Buy It Now price on auction site eBay.
Andre Souang, an avid eBay user from Puget Sound, couldn’t believe his eyes when he came across a 2008 Bentley convertible with a Buy It Now price of just $13,900. Souang immediately accepted the asking price, but was soon contact by the dealership selling the car, Bentley Scottsdale.
The internet manager at Bentley Scottsdale, Anthony Petruso, initially asked Souang to contact him so the two sides could work out a deal, but Petruso’s tone quickly turned panicked and accusatory.
“This is a gross mistake,” Petruso wrote. “Please don’t try to damage our business and, more importantly, I am asking you personally as this could cause me to lose my job. I am asking please don’t continue with this, my family and I cannot afford for me to lose my job over this.”
Souange admits that he didn’t think he would be able to buy the car for such a low price, but he at least thought the dealer would offer to make some kind of deal.
“What they should have done was offer me something at cost,” Souang said. “That way neither one of us loses anything. I would have paid cost for the car. That is something we could have done.”
EBay has been of little help to Souange during the whole ordeal and has actually taken the side of the dealership.
“Occasionally … our members make mistakes,” eBay assistant general counsel Jack Christin said. “In this case, they missed a zero. And that was a pretty significant zero. We felt the appropriate thing to do was to take the listing down.” Ebay even went as far as to offer Bentley Scottsdale legal advice as to why it wasn’t obligated to honor the Buy It Now price.
To add insult to injury, Bentley Scottsdale won’t even sell another car at retail price to Souange, saying it does “not do business with people who seek to do harm to others over simple mistakes.”
Souange’s story certainly isn’t the first case of a dealership posting an incorrect vehicle price on eBay, but it does mark the first time the two sides haven’t settle on an amicable solution.
References
1.’Would-be Bentley…’ view
