[ddcottrill]

There is a bit more to the story than I originally posted. Originally I received Marks name from a neighbor who had a positive experience with Mark. The neighbor has impeccable integrity so I called Mark and asked him if he had any carts for sale and he stated he did. I went right over to his house and drove a 2005 Club car he had for sale. The unit was a great value a $2200.00 and I gave him the entire amount on the spot because when I arrived at his house there was another gentleman looking at the unit. He asked me to write the check to his mother, and I did. He drove the unit to the back of his house and promised to deliver the cart on Monday first thing. Monday came and no call from Mark. I called him and he told me that the cart wouldn't start and he brought it back to the person he bought it from to repair it. He said he would call when he heard back about the repair. He never called me back so I called him again. He stated that the unit was not worth fixing and that he was going to pick up a much nicer one the following day and that it was a 2007. I went over the following day to take a look at it and he told me the price was $2650.00. I agreed to the price and told him I would pay him the additional $450.00 when he delivered the cart. He said he would deliver it the next morning. He called me the next morning and said he had the cart on the trailer and would deliver it only if I gave him $450.00 in cash. He said because my check was an out of state, bank of america, check that he would need for me to give him cash. After hanging up I checked online to see if the $2200.00 check, I had written to his mother, had been cashed and it had. He dropped off the cart, I had him sign the bill of sale for the 2007 cart I believed I purchased, I gave him the remaining $450.00 and he was on his way.
The cart was a bit slower than I liked and I had a repairman come over to look it over and thats when the truth emerged. The rest of the story you already know.
I would appreciate any input from anyone as to what other media I could use to alert those in the villages of this scam artist. That my dear friends is the rest of the story!!!!

[Hawkwind]

Hummm. About now I would be checking the serial number with the police hot sheet.

[784caroline]

Just curious ...if do go to court (which I dont recommend) who are you going to sue.....the guy that signed a bill of sale or his mother who you wrote the check out to. For a contract to exist their has to be an exchange of funds between both parties. I hope the bill of sale had a Dollar figure and receipt of funds included in its language.

[Pturner]

Hi DD,
It sounds to me like you might have overlooked some red flags, which of course, are always more apparent in hindsight.

Hawkwind has a point about checking to make sure the cart wasn't stolen. I think that's where I would start. You didn't say whether the Bill of Sale stated that the cart was a 2007. If so, you could at least ask law enforcement whether there could be any misdemeanor charge. Maybe "theft by deception"? I doubt it, but it wouldn't hurt to ask and would at least alert law enforcement to the guy.

Small claims court? I don't know what it costs to file, but probably not much. I guess it's a question of whether it's worth the aggravation. I doubt you would get anything more than the difference in value between and '05 and an '07. A judge might say it's a case of buyer beware, but who knows?

It sounds like perhaps this man buys and sells golf carts regularly. I don't know whether he has or needs a license, but it might be something you could ask the county business license office about. Come to think of it, you might also want to check with The Villages Deed Compliance office-- 352-751-3912. He is not allowed to operate a business from his home.

On the other hand, if you are satisfied with the cart, you might just chalk it up to experience and forget it-- other than making sure it wasn't stolen.

Thanks for the alert, and let us know how it all comes out.

[tony]

If I were dealing with this man, I would meet him in person and ask for my money back and return the cart.

If he declined I would explain to him that my next stop would be with the IRS. He did ask you to write a check to his mother for some reason.

Send the IRS a letter and you may get a 10 percent bounty.

Explain to him, too, that you will also be check to see if he is required to have a business license.

Tell him that you will be talking with the Sheriff about this transaction.

Maybe he will change his mind. If not, follow through on all those.

[otherbruddaDarrell]

Originally Posted by tony

If I were dealing with this man, I would meet him in person and ask for my money back and return the cart.

If he declined I would explain to him that my next stop would be with the IRS. He did ask you to write a check to his mother for some reason.

Send the IRS a letter and you may get a 10 percent bounty.

Explain to him, too, that you will also be check to see if he is required to have a business license.

Tell him that you will be talking with the Sheriff about this transaction.

Maybe he will change his mind. If not, follow through on all those.

I agree with you Tony. The very 1st step is to meet with him and ask for a complete refund.
The price of the cart appears very reasonable.........makes you wonder how many he sells.

[bkcunningham1]

ddcottrill, if I am reading you correctly you'd just like to get the word out about this incident so other buyers can beware. Here is a link to the state of Florida's Seniors versus Crime website which is administered through the Florida Attorney General's office. I'd give them a call and get suggestions from their volunteers on what you can do to remedy this either financially or emotionally.

http://www.seniorsvscrime.com/

[Pturner]

Originally Posted by tony

If I were dealing with this man, I would meet him in person and ask for my money back and return the cart.

If he declined I would explain to him that my next stop would be with the IRS. He did ask you to write a check to his mother for some reason.

Send the IRS a letter and you may get a 10 percent bounty.

Explain to him, too, that you will also be check to see if he is required to have a business license.

Tell him that you will be talking with the Sheriff about this transaction.

Maybe he will change his mind. If not, follow through on all those.

I agree with Tony on meeting in person to seek the refund and letting him know what other avenues you would pursue. If no satisfactory resolve with seller, I like adding the IRS to the list of agencies to contact, in addition to sheriff, business license office and Villages Compliance office.

[redwitch]

If I understand you correctly, you basically bought the cart sight unseen and then did not have the cart checked out. You just took the seller's word on everything. I give Mark credit that he didn't sell you the "bad" cart and allegedly refused to sell it to anyone. I doubt he knew (or cared) about the history of the cart you purchased. It sounds like he buys from others and then resells and does as little work as possible to refurbish them.

At the very least, you should have taken the cart for a ride before agreeing to purchase it. Unless I know the owner of the cart, I have the cart checked out before purchase. And that's even if I am purchasing from a supposedly reputable dealer unless I'm given a warranty.

Regardless, getting a cart less than 10 years old for less than $3K is a pretty good deal. I doubt a judge would give more than the option to return the cart and get some of your money back, less rental value for the time you have owned the cart (going rate in TV is around $300/month).

But you've certainly gotten the word out and maybe made some of us think about what we want to look for before purchasing a used cart from an individual.

[Tom Hannon]

Hi DD. Why not copy your complaint from this TOTV thread and all 24 postings. Tell the dealer, the word is out and if need be- you can make it spread. Also tell him, many people are interested in the final outcome and it would be beneficial to him that everything was worked out. PS: I like Tony's suggestion about the IRS.

[Bryan]

I agree with Tom. This all happened in March, now it is October (well, almost). What was the final outcome? Did you go to Small Claims? If so, how did that turn out. Curious minds want to know! We see a lot of problems start in this forum but don't always learn the final outcome.

[Tom Hannon]

Hey Bryan. I agree with you. Problems reported. Solutions never answered. As we all know- "There are usually three sides to every story." The accusers side, the defendants side and something somewhere in between. Perhaps we should have a jury hearing on TOTV. The two parties can state their case and GracieGirl can be the judge. (Move over Judge Judy. Let Gracie Girl take over.) With jurors such as Redwitch, Russ and CathyI the verdict will be a fair one.

[784caroline]

Tom

Great idea...Im not certain what side I would take...plaintiff or defendant..but I could work with both sides and work as a "devils advocate" to make certain the facts of the case support the emotions, time, and keystrokes involved.

Since dd (the original poster) only has 2 posts since joining TOTV in 11/09..I doubt we will ever find out how this issue was ever resolved....if he did go to Small Claims court and was successful, Chances are he would have already reported back.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Originally Posted by 784caroline

Tom

Since dd (the original poster) only has 2 posts since joining TOTV in 11/09..I doubt we will ever find out how this issue was ever resolved....if he did go to Small Claims court and was successful, Chances are he would have already reported back.

I sent him an e-mail (via his profile info) to ask whatever became of the situation. Let him know others here were interested as well. Hopefully, he'll post an update!

Bill

[Tom Hannon]

Good thinking Bill. I'm curious to his reaction.