Click
either of these thumbnails to see the actual two-page receipt from
Franklin Automotive detailing these expenses.
New Info
5/26/04: New Info
5/22/04: On 5/17/04, since I
had paid and met all of my obligations as an eBay buyer, Robeli posted
this positive feedback to my eBay ID (ericrz1974): Then, on 5/21/04,
after I posted
my complaints about the condition
of the vehicle, Elsa posted
this "follow-up" to the
feedback section of my account: I met every single one of my obligations as an eBay buyer. I paid what I said I would pay, picked up the car EXACTLY when I said I would. This is evidenced by Robeli's initial positive feedback on my account of 5/17/04. But, once I pointed out the problems of this vehicle, Elsa resorted to personal attacks. Is this good customer service? They treated another
customer, eBay ID hoytster441 in a similar manner.
He bought a 1990 Corvette from them, which, like my Volvo, was fraudlently
described in their auction. Robeli attempted
to disguise an oil leak and body work done on this Corvette. So,
Hoyt posted negative feedback to their account, encouraging buyers
to
get their
vehicles
inspected
before purchase. Once again, Elsa resorted
to a personal attack, posting
this feedback to hoytster441's account: No, Elsa, he was upset because you and your brother Robert lied to him about the true condition of this vehicle. Do you want to buy a car from a company that lies to their customers, and then refers to them as "GEEK" and "loser"??? Robeli
has no respect for people who simply want honest sellers for their
hard-earned money. |
DON'T
BUY A CAR from Robeli
Motor Sales, Dallas, Texas
(ebay ID: dallas_auto_sales)
Questions, comments? Email me: ericrz -at- uab.edu
This information is provided as a public service because you are a bidder on a vehicle at eBay Motors sold by "dallas_auto_sales," the eBay ID of Robeli Motor Sales in Dallas, Texas.
I believe that Robeli provides false information in their eBay auction descriptions. Whether they purposely lie or are incompetent and simply don't check out their cars well enough, I'm not certain. But the bottom line is that they provide misleading information to their prospective buyers.
There is a lot of information on this page. But I strongly encourage you to read the entire thing if you are considering spending your hard-earned money with Robeli. I wish someone had provided me with this information before I did.
First, the basics. On April 22, 2004, I purchased a 1996 Volvo 850GLT through eBay auction number 2474452918 from Robeli Motor Sales. I had several conversations on the phone and through email with Elsa Jimenez at Robeli.
We made arrangements that I would pick up the vehicle in Dallas on April 30. I booked a plane flight from my home city of Birmingham to Dallas, made the necessary arrangements to miss work, etc.
At around 7:00 PM on April 29, the night before I was scheduled to fly to Dallas, Elsa calls me. She asks if there is any way I can delay my trip, because the A/C in the Volvo which they sold me does not work properly. They were hoping to have it fixed in time, but the parts did not come in and the A/C cannot be fixed before the next afternoon when I come to pick up the vehicle.
I'm quite distressed by this, since I had not been previously told that there was a problem with the A/C. After making several phone calls, Elsa tells me that it's likely to cost $1000-1200 for the repair.
We negotiate, and finally agree to take $600 off the purchase price of the car, and I will take care of the A/C repair myself when I get the car back to Birmingham. The whole experience made me nervous, and I didn't like the fact that Elsa waited until the night before to tell me about the A/C problem.
Unfortunately, that was just the beginning.
|
Click
either of these thumbnails to see the actual two-page receipt from
Franklin Automotive detailing these expenses. |
|
On Friday, April 30, I flew to Dallas. Elsa picked me up from the airport and took me back to Robeli's lot. I discovered that the CD magazine for the 6-disc changer in the trunk was missing; thus, there was no way to verify that the CD player actually functioned. Knowing that CD magazines were commonly listed on eBay, I accepted that and we completed the paperwork.
I drove the vehicle back to Alabama, arriving on Saturday, May 1. On the trip back I noticed that the horn didn't function, and made plans to take it into a local repair facility on Monday morning.
Later that afternoon, I noticed there were fresh spots of oil on the concrete floor of my carport, where the Volvo had been parked. Uh oh.
So Monday morning, May 3, I took the car into Franklin Automotive, a local Volvo/Lexus/Toyota repair facility. I told them about the oil leak and the non-functional horn. I also asked them to do some routine maintenance items like a front-end alignment, the 60,000 mile service, etc.
A couple hours later, the technician called me. Turns out that the car had, in fact, two oil leaks -- one at the main seal, behind the distributor; and another, at the rear cam seal.
This rear leak was particularly expensive to repair, as it required the removal
and reinstallation of the entire transmission. Total cost to repair both oil
leaks, with parts and labor, was $1093.80.
The technician said that both of these leaks were existing, and had been
leaking for some time, given the condition of the gaskets and seals. These
were not new leaks that both simultaneously developed on my trip back from
Dallas. This car was leaking oil when it was in Robeli's
possession, and
they should have been aware of that, as they had the vehicle up on a rack.
Yet, the "Vehicle Condition" section
of the auction description clearly stated: "There
are no leaks of any kind..."
This is simply not true.
While the car was at Franklin
having the oil leak repaired, the technician called me again and said there
was a more serious problem, namely a broken lower motor
mount. I asked
him to hold off on the repair and drove down there myself to take a look
at it. The lower right motor mount was nearly snapped in two complete pieces,
the arm out of the ball socket. There was visible worn rust around the
broken edges of the mount, again making it obvious that this
was a pre-existing condition, not something that happened recently.
Again, this was something that was quite obvious from underneath the car
when the vehicle was up on the rack. I am not a mechanic; yet I could instantly
see that the engine was cockeyed in the engine bay. This was a very dangerous
condition for this vehicle to be in on the 650 mile drive from Dallas to
Birmingham. Quite literally, the motor could have dropped down in (or completely
out the bottom of) the engine bay at 75 mph.
Yet, the Vehicle Condition section of the auction description stated: "There
are no known mechanical problems." Again, not true.
The motor mount cost $364.88 to replace, parts and labor.
As I mentioned, on the drive
back from Dallas, I realized that the horn did not function. I had Franklin
replace
the horn
assembly in the steering wheel with a rebuilt assembly. Total costs for
parts and labor on the horn was $240.
The "Interior" section of the auction description said "...all
electrical components work just fine also.."
Unless Robeli doesn't consider the horn an electrical component, this was
another dishonest statement.
So, to recap: within the first 96 hours of owning this vehicle, I spent $1,698.68 to repair items that Robeli claimed were working correctly in the first place.
On May 17, I sent an email to Elsa Jimenez at Robeli explaining why I had not yet left feedback on their eBay account. I explained the difficulties that I'd had with this vehicle and sent her copies of the receipt from Franklin Automotive. (The email is included at the bottom of this page.)
I explained to Elsa that I'd be forced to leave negative feedback and discourage prospective bidders from buying from Robeli in the future unless they could make the situation right.
I made what I thought was an extremely fair offer to Elsa. Because buying a used car is a risky business, and because I wanted to give Elsa and her brother Robert the benefit of the doubt, I asked them to split the repair costs with me. I told Elsa that if she were willing to send me a check for exactly 50% of the repair costs for the oil leaks, motor mount, and horn (which came to $849.34) I would consider the situation rectified. I would leave positive feedback and trust that Robeli honestly didn't know about these problems.
I thought this was more than fair. Truthfully, these items should have been fixed BEFORE the vehicle was sold; Robeli should have paid 100% of these costs.
Elsa didn't see it that way. She ignored my email and I have not heard from her again. Therefore, I've been forced to leave negative feedback and contact prospective bidders like yourself to warn you away from Robeli.
Am I doing this out of spite? A little bit. But mainly, I wish someone had told ME all these things before I bought a car from Robeli Motors Sales.
As for the Volvo, it's now running well (knock wood!) and I'm happy with it. I just wish I hadn't had to pour $1700 into the car to get it into the condition which Robeli claimed it was already in.
If you have any more questions, please ask and I'll do my best to answer them. Since you've most likely placed a bid with Robeli, I would STRONGLY advise you to retract it.
Sincerely,
Eric J. Rzeszut
Text of my email to Elsa Jimenez on May 17, 2004:
From: Eric
J. Rzeszut Elsa-- This rear leak was particularly expensive to repair, as it required
the removal and reinstallation of the entire transmission. Total cost
to repair both oil leaks, with parts and labor, was $1093.80. Yet, Robert turned them anyway, before the sale. Because of this, the
brakes are now quite noisy when they get hot, and this has most likely
shortened the life of the brake pads. He may have even over-torqued the
rotors when putting them back on, leading to some warping. No charges
(yet), but another example of some shoddy workmanship. I will leave POSITIVE feedback if you agree to split the expenses for
the oil leaks, motor mount, and horn with me. The fact that I'm willing
to pay 50% of these charges is more than fair. Truthfully, you should
have paid 100% of these charges before the vehicle was ever sold; or,
you should have not made such claims on your auction description. |
| Eric,
The simple truth in my case is that if I had been smarter about this whole thing, they never would have scammed me. They are dishonest people. With my car, they had done body and paint work that they did not disclose and they also made a sorry attempt to hide a significant oil leak the car had. They promised to reimburse part of the $1200.00 repair bill (I incurred the first week I owned the car) but they never got around to actually writing me a check. In short we both got burned. ... Your experience mirrored mine almost exactly. When I reported my problems to Elsa (on the first business day following the transaction), she admitted then (and only then) that they had attempted to fix the leak in their shop. She told me that they pulled the distributor to make the repair. I was present when my mechanic pulled the intake manifold from my car. He immediately noticed Robeli’s attempt to repair the oil leak. They had taken a finger full of silicone, stuck it down inside the distributor port and smeared it around. This is not the action of a reputable dealer. Neither was the fact that they listed the car as having “excellent original paint” but then had to confess (after I noticed paint on the exhaust pipes) that they had done some body work and repainted approximately 1/3rd of the car. It also bears mention that the paint they applied is bubbling away from the body. You saw these people and you saw the shop they run. You probably heard the voice inside your head telling you that “something is wrong here” but like me, ignored that voice. They are a moral-less, classless, dealer that will resort to any means available to make a dollar. Hoyt |