BMW of Macon -Dealer switched the papers and forged signature

[rockymn]

@HersheySweet

As someone who ships the majority of their business, that is completely normal. If shipping by air, they don’t allow ya know large amounts of flammable gasoline, same with trucks (usually cars are shipped empty or on vapors/low fuel).

The rest of the stuff is beyond LH advice grade and can only be resolved with the parties pertinent to this conversation. From a customer service perspective should you have been alerted car would be shipped empty, probably, but that’s just my opinion.

Gas is not really the topic of conversation or an issue. I was just surprised that the paperwork was switched and signature was faked. Hence, I was forced to bring up every little thing.

[Irongunner]

@wam22

Playing devils advocate here, but where was it stated that the buyer would get gas?

You are right, maybe it doesn’t say anywhere. I thought it was a question on the survey. I actually suspect, like you, that it is a carrier thing but they still should have been clear. Others have also chimed in with personal experience. If I personally understood that to be the case and it were my car, I would give the dealer a break.

@wam22

but I doubt they are getting a survey at this point.

Haha. True.

@wam22

But I don’t think a car without gas (not that I wouldn’t gas a car before delivery) is a red flag for anything malicious on the level of forging signatures.

Agreed.

@wam22

I can give advice on any matters that I choose to.

This is true. I was too harsh. I really laid on the righteous indignation pretty heavily. Lol. You’re alright.

[HersheySweet]

No I’m not saying it is at all, the legal contract, faked signatures, etc is much more important. I’m just saying the empty tank is shipping industry SOP.

[wam22]

Now I understand better with your previous clarification. Not sure what the laws are in FL (or where that dealer is), but in my state I know the dealer would suffer a serious fine, possible dealer license revoked if they are a repeat offender, and the FI manager could face jail. Now I’m not going to condemn anyone guilty over the internet, but please reach out directly to the owner/GM.

[HersheySweet]

By the way, did you take pictures of the contract you did sign? Again above forum grade even by industry people, you’re going to need to sort this out with the proper parties and not speculation online.

[JamesBond]

Actually I have seen it on some window stickers from the manufacturer listing a full tank of gas as a feature. Don’t know if BMW lists it

[ethanrs]

@dukez

I don’t not believe you, but I am super surprised a dealership would execute this sort of petty fraud (changing amounts due, mileage allotment) for a little bit of extra $.

Happens a lot more than you’d probably expect.

[dukez]

Brutal! 2020

[wam22]

A few of them do but I don’t recall BMW listing it in recent years. However I have heard that BMW does reimburse the dealer but that could be completely false.

@Irongunner

I really laid on the righteous indignation pretty heavily.

As a car sales person (and pursuing a law degree), I am used to it. Sometimes I deserve it, but most of the time it is people just displacing their anger on the big, bad dealer.

@ethanrs

Happens a lot more than you’d probably expect.

I would expect this from a chewy/Kia store . But is is kinda surprising from a BMW dealer who sold a car through a broker. This is a story you hear on the news when the buyer is 80 years old and doesn’t understand what’s going on.

[HersheySweet]

@wam22

A few of them do but I don’t recall BMW listing it in recent years. However I have heard that BMW does reimburse the dealer but that could be completely false.

Last few stickers I’ve gotten my hands on for ‘20 or 21 model year do not.

[Jrouleau426]

First and foremost demand your broker fee back. You should have proof of the 10 vs 12k miles. That’s about a $15/mo difference and the broker fee should cover it.

I’ll have to check if we ship cars with a full tank. I know I always fill up before I ship my personal cars on a lease swap. Tundras have a 38gal tank so people love the $100 of free gas we give them.

As far as the paperwork I would confront the dealer first saying you have the originals and see what they offer. If happy with that offer, take it and report them.

I move a lot of cars and we do make mistakes, I refund people all the time, even for minor stuff that doesn’t warrant a full refund and typically the buyer is very understanding and still happy with my deals. But this situation is shady on many levels.

This is 100% why I insist on texting to do my deals and not doing them over the phone. I have records of everything and many many people seem to “forget” how many miles the agreed upon price was for.

If the broker fixes everything about the mileage and you’re happy with the final outcome you could decide whether it warrants a fee. I would say just the inconvenience of the entire situation does not and if I was the broker you would have the $500 back in your account as soon as you showed me your valid proof.

[mp11477]

I’d contact dealership owner/principal first and see if it was just some sort of mistake and they were trying to rectify it without your involvement, but messed up in the process. Shit happens, and as long as they make it right (within reason) no harm no foul. While I’m not condoning forgery, maybe they had good intentions and wanted to get the deal done for you without further inconvenience, but made a big mistake in the numbers the second time and didn’t catch it. Maybe the contract was rejected for some clerical error and they redid it, but put down 10k instead of 12 in their haste on the revised one. Who knows.

That said, and while I am not one that runs to a lawyer every time someone farts or looks at me cross eyed in our sue happy world, I’d be getting one ready to go in this case if dealership flinched at all in this situation. If the proof is there on your end, and the case is a classic open-shut as you make it sound with forgery, you can likely even get someone to pick it up contingent so it costs you nothing but your time.

I’m not going to shit on the dealership here since there’s only one side to the story, and there’s always 3 sides to any story…yours, theirs and the truth usually somewhere in the middle. That said, they should be bending over backwards to make it right.

[AJAY]

In my humble opinion… this is unacceptable at all levels… The broker you hired should get all this corrected and make you whole! I would give them 24 hrs max to get it squared out! If not hire an attorney and let them suffer the legal assualt… they completely deserve it!

[Bacons_C.C]

@rockymn this one is a hard one for sure. I am not aware of any FL law that can unwind this off the top of my head. It can be the wild wild west out here. As many have mentioned, do you have any documentation of the 12k or the pictures of the original paperwork you have signed? This would help in escalating it with the dealer and management team certainly!

@rockymn

I have sent a text and message(LH) to my broker and will wait for his response. I am assuming that its not the broker’s fault at all so will let him fix it for me before revealing the name here.

I appreciate the thinking here, and giving the broker the benefit here… All deals are set up with 10k, so somewhere in the process it was switched back to 10k accidentally or on purpose by the dealer. Something the broker did not know about! This is why relationships with dealers is so important for us , as brokers, so if something does go wrong, we can depend on that relationships to take care of the issues. New brokers, or new dealer relationships, you do may not have that relationship to fall back on, or realize that the dealer does not have the best interest of clients or brokers at heart. I have stopped doing business with dealers because of that…

I hope everything gets sorted out!!

[Johnnycakes]

If what the OP is saying is true, then this is bad and I would bet that it will work out strongly in your favor with very little of your time and no additional monies/no lawyer.

Skip everyone and take your story straight to the GM of the dealership. Make it known that you are well aware of the errors that occurred and the implications should you decide to take the legal route for forgery.

Then wait to hear back from the GM.

I’d guess you will be getting a much sweeter deal than originally signed.

[Leaseboy]

I’d raise hell over a faked sig and make them desperately regret it.

However I’d also be 100%, no doubts whatsoever, completely sure it was faked before going down that road (in case you’re not).

[TheBigTuna]

Very weird…

If your actual contract has 12k (with your signature) how did BMWFS get it to show 10K?

Usually it goes by the contract and not other negotiating papers or deal papers…

Hopefully they’ll sort it out

[rockymn]

This contract was remotely executed. They Fedexed me a bunch of papers which I signed(Just my signature not theirs) and sent it back.
It was a bunch of printed paper and what they did is switched 2 papers. Not every paper requires signature but the one and the only one that has miles in it was switched(miles changed and number fiddled. They also had to change another paper to match the numbers on first paper which actually had my signature and in this case they forged my signature.

[Bostoncarconcierge]

I agree with @Bacons_C.C

This sucks all around. However, you’re doing the right thing by letting the broker attempt to resolve it before you need to even contact the dealer.

I assure you that the broker wants to resolve this as much as you do.

Hopefully this situation does a 180 and the broker is able to take care of it on your behalf.

[8.8.8.8]

Is there any possibility that your contract might have been mixed up with someone else’s that was closing a deal at the dealership?