What is it with people advertising cars 4 sale & then not returning calls!!

private9 · 22-06-2006, 08:51 PM

As the topic says, what the hell is up with people who advertise cars for sale, and then are completely uncontactable?

For example in the last week I have had the following experiences:

Car no 1: Advertised on this very site, first sent email, no response, phoned and left message, no response finally sent an SMS, still no response 3 days later

Car no 2: Advertised on casrsales as very negotiable, desperate to sell etc. Phoned and left message, no response, sms'd no response, left another message, call still not returned.

Car no 3: Advertised on carsales with a work phone number, no mobile number, phoned his employer, he's off for the day and they cannot give me his mobile even though it's a private matter! Called next day (about 30 hrs later) again he's off, but this time they'll page him. Call returned today (1 day later) not by the owner of the car, but by his employer, vehicle can't be viewed till this weekend (fair enough).But still, an awful lot of effort to look at something he's selling.

Now, I hope I don't sound impatient, in all of these instances there was at least a day or 2 between each call.

I've sold many cars myself, and while I have now learnt not to hang around at home all day for people that are apparently coming and that sort of thing, I still have the common courtesy to answer and even return calls, even if the vehicle has been sold.

Now that I've had my big sook, I can now go back to reading the other posts!!

:

qwigybo · 23-06-2006, 07:40 AM

yeah i've had the same experiences before, it's a joke and then they complain to their partner, mates etc that they are having trouble selling the car

jonbays · 23-06-2006, 07:57 AM

A lot of people don't really understand the commitment and work it takes to sell a car and only think of the extra money they will get selling it privately.

Most get disappointed when they eventually realise that it is not that easy to sell or make the big money.

Dealers do a job and get paid for it by the trade in retail price margins all fair enough really.

Ringo · 23-06-2006, 08:05 AM

That's it exactly. When your selling your car you need to be helpful and flexible to the people who call.

I called about car on Carsales about 4 weeks ago. Nice add, nice car but price was a little high. I called him to have a chat with him, suss him out a little and see if the price had some give in it and the guys said to me

"I don't want to sell it, I want to sell our other car but the wife wants to try selling this one first"......................WTF?

rag top · 23-06-2006, 08:39 AM

Some people advertise their car to get the other half off their back.
A lot of sellers get stuffed around with people promising to come and look, and don't show.

So the frustration levels happens both ways. Regardless, common courtesy would be for the seller to get back to you, even to advise the car had been sold, was off the market, or waiting on a response from another buyer.

What sort of car are you chasing private9?

Nappa · 23-06-2006, 08:44 AM

its the same when dealing with a real estate agent, they never return your calls, even when you leave them with the receptionist.

muppet · 23-06-2006, 09:10 AM

Back when I was looking for an XB coupe I rang about this one car and got the guys wife. She said he wouldn't be back for a few hours I said great where do you live I will come over in a few hours . She would not give me the address and acted very strangely and said I would have to wait until he got back(fair enough). So 3 hours later he rings me and long story short the car is in storage and I cant see it untill the weekend.He rings me on the weekend and says I cant see it untill the weekend after because his mate that owns the shed has gone away. So the whole week I am hanging out to see this car . then he rings me on saturday and says I cant see the car because his mate is concreting a path around the shed. I said to him that I would like to come and have a look at the car in the shed. He said that there was no way I could do that because that would defeat the purpose of having it stored and I might try and steel it WTF. So I told him that he was a moron and thanks for waisting my time and that you would think that he had $30'000 worth of GT in that shed and not $4000 worth of falcon 500. Why do people advertise things when they dont realy want to sell them.

OLDFORDNUT · 23-06-2006, 09:32 AM

i went to Brisbane 3 weekends ago and found great car in a little car yard southside,had cash in my pocket to buy there and then,moron owner said he could not sell till owner (mate of his)came back on Tuesday,told him i will pay cash and we could brake in and i would drive it home as i could not come in Tuesday as i live in Hervey Bay,320km's away,he would not budge told me that would be stealing, WTF i had cash for asking price on windscreen, needless to say i found another car in different yard 20 minutes later and guy lent me trade plate to drive home and post trade plate back which is exactly what i did,
just sold my XY on ebay and guy agreed to put $500 in my account as deposit till weekend when he came up,guess what still no money in my account so i have to ring him again to see if sale is still going ahead.
there are some very silly people around i think.

merlin · 23-06-2006, 02:29 PM

I know what you are talking about. When I sell a car I list my mobile number and email and I keep it on, in my pocket 24/7 - even in the shower I give it to my wife and get her to take a message. I also check the email every couple of hours. I'm actually looking for a another car now and have called a couple of people, first guy tried 5 times on his mobile then finally 6 hours later he answers his phone. Second guy emailed him a few times and each time he takes 2 days to reply.

Meh, unless its a bargain give them a miss and ring someone else.

PS - Whilst we are whinging what about the ridiculous prices some people advertise their cars for on carsales.com, talk about bull$hit!

private9 · 23-06-2006, 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by '67

Some people advertise their car to get the other half off their back.
A lot of sellers get stuffed around with people promising to come and look, and don't show.

So the frustration levels happens both ways. Regardless, common courtesy would be for the seller to get back to you, even to advise the car had been sold, was off the market, or waiting on a response from another buyer.

What sort of car are you chasing private9?

Yeah, so true... I've sold quite a few cars and yes many people do stuff you round, promise to come look and then never arrive, saying they'll buyt it but can't leave a deposit, you then never hear from them again etc etc.. But, I'm the one who wants the money so I should be making an effort!!

I'm looking at getting a car imported in the next few months, so am just looking around for a cheapish daily driver, something along the lines of a clean E series, but something I can still have bit of fun with :thebirds:

And merlin, hell yeah, some of the prices people are asking for cars is unbelieveable, just the other day, saw an NC Fairlane advertised for something like 15k, wasn't anything special, just in ok condition for the age! Some people are truly dreaming!

private9 · 23-06-2006, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by muppet

Back when I was looking for an XB coupe I rang about this one car and got the guys wife. She said he wouldn't be back for a few hours I said great where do you live I will come over in a few hours . She would not give me the address and acted very strangely and said I would have to wait until he got back(fair enough). So 3 hours later he rings me and long story short the car is in storage and I cant see it untill the weekend.He rings me on the weekend and says I cant see it untill the weekend after because his mate that owns the shed has gone away. So the whole week I am hanging out to see this car . then he rings me on saturday and says I cant see the car because his mate is concreting a path around the shed. I said to him that I would like to come and have a look at the car in the shed. He said that there was no way I could do that because that would defeat the purpose of having it stored and I might try and steel it WTF. So I told him that he was a moron and thanks for waisting my time and that you would think that he had $30'000 worth of GT in that shed and not $4000 worth of falcon 500. Why do people advertise things when they dont realy want to sell them.

What a hillarious story, fair nuff if it's a GT, but if you're talking about something not worth much, it just doesn't make sense! Like everyone's been saying, often people will advertise a car not really wanting to sell it just to keep their partners off their back, and then make sure they are nice and difficult and/or ask silly prices so the car doesn't sell. Sorry dear, I really did try....

24-06-2006, 03:43 AM

So far my experince has been the opposite as being a seller, I have hung around all day for someone.. he rang, in the late morning said no worries be there @ 5. gave him my address which I never do as a rule until they ring me and tell me there on there way.

did the usual, removed cover, gave it a quick and tidy up,.... waiting waiting..

i txt him, no answer. I ring the mobile, it was his GF, and I asked for his number, she gave it to me, so I ring him @ 7ish and say you still coming, he said, oh sorry mate, I new there was something I had to do today, I've been at the hospital, I asked if he was ok, and he said not me, but his friend has been in there a while... (fair enough)..

but could have called me to cancel.... I actually could have done something that night but by the time this happened it was to late.

I've had at least 8 people tell me they are coming for a look and never shown, one guy did come, but stopped off at a car yard before hand, he told me the price car yard wanted, and becuase I was not offering RWC, said I'll drop the price as he was mega keen, and said that he'd probably take it...

wait a couple of days, and think to myself, well I'll drop it a few hundred just to get rid of it (nothing wrong with it really), but no good sitting around in the driveway...

so txt him new price, and he txt's back , that he wished I had of txt'ed me yesterday as I would have definatly taken it, but signed with the dealer yesterday!

the worst of it was, a girl was really really keen on it, wanted to come around the night of the day it was first advertised, but did not know allot about cars, so I suggested she bring her dad, or BF, and guess I sort of scared her off, becuase I did not want to sell it to a female realy, becuase its a blokes car.. I am sure if I had of pushed the issue she would have bought it that night... I just never expected a female to want to buy it... caught me by surprise actually... but that was my mistake..

still for sale...

nobbystang · 24-06-2006, 09:54 PM

Guy at work has just finally bought a car after few weeks of online searching. Biggest problem he had was when they did answer the phone they'd already sold the car, just too lazy to take ads down

pennybrain · 24-06-2006, 10:24 PM

I hate it when people leave the ads up when they have already sold the item. It is very frustating as you get all keen on an item and then when you finally got through they say 'nah sorry sold it and I haven't removed the ad.' Fair enough if they only sold it 1 day before you ring but I had someone who had sold the item 2 weeks ago and the ad was still up.

private9 · 26-06-2006, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pennybrain

I hate it when people leave the ads up when they have already sold the item. It is very frustating as you get all keen on an item and then when you finally got through they say 'nah sorry sold it and I haven't removed the ad.' Fair enough if they only sold it 1 day before you ring but I had someone who had sold the item 2 weeks ago and the ad was still up.

Yeah that hurts doesn't it, when it' something that you really want!