What is Digg?324 Comments
- ask1ed, on 10/12/2007, -8/+250 Hey, I'm the guy who got his car wrecked. It's about $17k in damages to the car, and $5k for the lawyer. My costs just keep going up on this one. This Saturday the dealer is having a radio station at the dealership. Maybe we shoud go over and honk our horn and use our bull horn and chant, San Rafael chevy, wrecked our vette, San Rafael chevy wrecked our vette! It was a lifelong dream to buy that car. My wife is in tears over it.
- shrewduser, on 10/12/2007, -1/+218these guys sound like bastards (they wont pay up for lost value) so lets do em some extra damage by associating their name more with this article:
san rafael chevrolet
don't do business with them. - repins, on 10/12/2007, -1/+89I would highly recommend that you get a lawyer and make sure you call your local TV news desk I am sure they would love to hear your story :)
- paul2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+69There's probably a competing dealership nearby that would love this. I'd talk to them, and ask them to stick your vette out in their front yard with a big ass sign that says "San Rafael Chev did this to one of their customers. What will they do to you?" They'll cave in no time.
- UltimaNut, on 10/12/2007, -1/+69Dealer # Tel : (415) 460-2000
Give em a ring. - akira117, on 10/12/2007, -1/+66I up-loaded images to flickr:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/136/336222511_0aae7e1b36_b.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/124/336222478_89cd7b0b66_b.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/158/336222423_88df2e0be8_b.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/132/336222359_57ed75f3eb_b.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/129/336222274_a634554da9_b.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/77/336222212_1532db67d0_b.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/140/336222135_5ebef64843_b.jpg - rmany2k, on 10/12/2007, -3/+55I don't know about making a scene at the radio event, but you should definitely email them the Digg story in a couple hours when this thing hits the front page, because it will.
There's nothing better than getting justice with the Digg community. - YourMom1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+50I don't know about California but in Massachusetts, under consumer protection laws, if the plaintiff wins he is awarded triple damages plus attorney's fees.
- ZackScott, on 10/12/2007, -1/+51Wow, that guy should really get a lawyer. I know he says it is $5000, but I'm sure he'd make up the difference. I would also go for a jury trial in hopes of the dealership settling. Also, the fact it was wrecked severely decreases the value of the car even if it was fixed.
- betterth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+49@Clickwir
Some couples buy a car that will be a little more difficult to pay for. They want a sports car, they want to drive and have fun together. It's /their/ car, the car that they just leave everything and go for a random drive to somewhere they've never been to in.
They love that car, and to see that someone broke all the rules, lied to you, wrecked your car, did drugs in your car -- the cars innocence is gone. The specialness of is gone.
Not to mention the resale is ***** as well.
I'm surprised the worker wasn't fired on the spot for codeine consumption while working XD - LavaHot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+48Finally, a reason to use skypeOut! (Havoc ensues) Free for a few more days!
- Double-Z, on 10/12/2007, -1/+49I live behind a garage. I regularly see owners cars doing donuts, and hear them holding a just started, cold engine on the rev-limiter for 30+ seconds. Needless to say, I don't take my car there.
Once, a garage put 200 miles on my clock while removing a dent. They had even retuned the radio and used the ashtray! The manager denied it, but I'd written the mileage down, I knew. I trust no garages whatsoever, and that's a pretty sorry state for the world to be in. Now, I stay with the car while they do the work.
I hope this guy gets his car fixed, and the stupid employee fired. - robman8023, on 10/12/2007, -4/+51I emailed their whole service department:
Hello San Rafael Chevy,
The story about Mr. William's wrecked Corvette made it to Digg.com. I just thought you'd like the heads up so you know what you're now up against. Not good for your business in the least I would assume. It caught my eye, and I live in NJ. I don't know if what the guys says is true or not, but if it is, you guys better get your act together and bend over backwards to make that guy happy. What a shame.
Here's the story: http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Corvette_owner_takes_car_in_for_antenna_repair_havoc_ensues
If you don't know what Digg is, it's a site of user-supported content that has several hundred thousand users daily, which means thousands of people are now reading this story.
Sincerely,
Rob - Ramma2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+47Perhaps it is time for a Wiki entry for this dealership?
- icepick314, on 10/12/2007, -0/+46try to get in Good Morning America as well...
that helped that other dude who had beef with Comcast who sent a tech who fell asleep at his house... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -12/+53"I just thought you'd like the heads up so you know what you're now up against."
what exactly is he up against? a bunch of people clicking thumbs up, and thumbs down?
what exactly do you plan to do other than spam their email? - venicerocco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+35"After I'm through with Nevada, I will start on Oregon and Washington and New Mexico and Arizona and Idaho and Montana" YREEEEEAAAAAHHHH!!!!
- theblooms, on 10/12/2007, -0/+30The TV station idea is great. On the local news in my town, we have a consumer reporter that will contact businesses that have done people wrong if you contact them. If the business wants to be a butt, he goes on-air with his report. Needless to say, when the TV station calls, he gets massive results. I used him once, and the business all of a sudden became VERY cooperative.
They did you wrong. VERY wrong. Now make them make it right to YOUR satisfaction and DO NOT compromise. This situation will not be fixed until YOU say it is fixed. - NJank, on 10/12/2007, -2/+31I assume this is them:
http://sanrafaelchevrolet.com/ - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+28You should be keeping records of all the actual damages. The $5K you spend on a lawyer are part of the expenses you can normally collect, along with court costs, process fees, time off work, lost value, rental car fees...almost all the things you mentioned. You can afford almost 900/month on a car payment but 5 grand is out of reach? The other issue is whether the employee had the dealerships permission to take the car off the lot. If he didn't that would seem to be grand theft auto. Funny the DA isn't looking into that.
How many lawyers have you talked to? A $5K retainer on a case that appears to be a slam-dunk seems kind of steep. Are they keeping a percentage of the settlement on top of that? Usually you pay by the hour or a percentage of the recovery, not both. Unless things are really different in CA, I'd shop around. Filing fees aren't that steep, even in CA, and the process service is less than 100 bucks. What are you getting for the balance of your retainer? It's okay to ask that question.
Once the case is filed it becomes public record. Some people might take that opportunity to make up a press kit for the major news stations around the area. Your lawyer might not like that idea so ask first. - drjekelmrhyde, on 10/12/2007, -2/+28If any site that need the digg affect it's this one
http://sanrafaelchevrolet.com/ - Mitchl, on 10/12/2007, -7/+32When your vette gets wrecked.... Does your penis lose mass?
- Sirusdv, on 10/12/2007, -2/+25I hope you have turned over those drugs to the proper authorities, would get at least that lousy kid fired / in jail / get the dealership in trouble for not screening for drugs.
- Nougat, on 10/12/2007, -2/+25They're going to handle it. No way this can be ignored, by either the dealership or the factory. (Though the factory is not at fault here, they can put a whole lot of pressure on a dealership when they want to.) I would expect that you get a brand new Vette, they take over ownership of this trashed one and do whatever they like with it.
I used to work at car dealerships a while back, and know full well that they are ***** their pants over this. Car dealers make most of their money on parts, service and financing - not selling cars. Selling the cars is what they have to do to earn the privilege of being a factory authorized service center. That's how the factory can lean on them; "Handle this or we don't send you any more new cars to sell."
I would approach them with this: "You give me a new car, I sign over this car to you. That will be satisfactory to me, and this will all go away. Obviously, I won't be bringing my car in for service here anymore, but if you do that, we can close the book on this and go our separate ways." You don't need to say what the consequences are; a court proceeding is obvious.
Good luck.
Oh last thing. Everyone saying the employee should be fired. I'm sure the guy is already long gone. If he's not (I don't have time to R no FA), then court is where it'll go. - captainsodium, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23Seriously.
California Department of Consumer Affairs
http://www.dca.ca.gov/
They WILL resolve this for you so long as you have reasonable documentations - which you do - and have the power to revoke the licenses for the business and WILL do it. They will investigate the claim quickly, 5-6 weeks, and make a judgment that is binding on the business. No lawyer required. - fofusion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20Price Rite Photo The Sequel.
- socket, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21Are you stupid? Have you every owned anything worth more then a pack of gum? Losing a loved one equals grief and suffering. Having the beautiful automobile you worked hard to get wrecked by some loser and THEN being told YOU have to pay for it? That is heartbreaking my friend. Spending thousands of dollars for a lawyer to recoup the costs AFTER spending over 10 grand to fix it IS heartbreaking. Please shut-up.
- akersmc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+19Have you told your story to consumerist? (www.consumerist.com) They probably won't be able to advise you beyond suggesting that you lawyer up, or maybe to try to get in contact with executive customer support (see http://www.consumerist.com/consumer/howto/be-a-customer-service-ninja-177811.php for more info)
What consumerist will be able to do for sure is get your story seen by a lot of additional eyes, many people read consumerist, on both the consumer advocacy side, and from within the corporations. I'm pretty sure that if your story is posted on consumerist, people at the highest levels of GM will know about the situation and how serious it is for their image. There are many instances of people being completely ignored by a large company, and then suddenly having their issue resolved by someone at the executive level after consumerist posts an article about the situation.
Good luck, I hope GM gives you 2 corvettes to make up for this situation. - Tourney3p0, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18Damn straight. Now your 1983 Toyota Corolla. THAT is a sweet ride. Comfort and style be damned. Go eat some ramen and relax.
- SLP1111, on 10/12/2007, -3/+18San Rafael chevrolet - (415) 460-2000. Ask for Greg James he is the owner of the dealership. We all got to Skype the ***** out of this place and lock up their phone lines.
- carpespasm, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17images can't be viewed without registering.
if i were the owner of the dealership, i would be bending over backward to make sure this is fixed to make sure the bad PR doesn't eat the dealership. on very public bad story can turn many potential customers away. - robman8023, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17@SmartyMcGenius
The Corvette has the most affordable horsepower you can buy. It's more than just an "ugly-ass car." Next time don't post unless you know what you're talking about. It was this dude's dream car, he was already married, and I'm sure he wasn't trying to compensate for something that viagra would fix. You sir, are a moron. - SteelChicken, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14dealers suck, period.
this happens all the time. a friend of mine bought a GTO, and left it at the dealer for a stereo install.
300 miles and a broken tranny later....they bought the car back. - mooninite, on 10/12/2007, -4/+18"a bunch of people clicking thumbs up, and thumbs down?"
Hahahaha! - hottyson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13San Rafael Chevrolet 2 Shoreline Parkway San Rafael California 94901. Tel : (415) 460-2000 Fax: (415) 460-2059 Email: info sanrafaelchevrolet.com
- BassCadet, on 10/12/2007, -7/+20I feel really bad for this guy, I got sick to my stomach when someone backed into my Evo VIII....
BUT....if you can afford a $50,000 Corvette and a $800+ monthly payment you should be able to afford legal counsel.
I'm hoping Internet pressure makes this dealership buckle and give in. Dealerships are for the most part scummy and run by losers who never read a book in their lives. - joelevi, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15I sent this email to the dealership. If we all send similar emails maybe they'll see the power that us DIGGers have!
To:
lucian.freire@sanrafaelchevrolet.com; gleen.neri@sanrafaelchevrolet.com; ray.nemati@sanrafaelchevrolet.com; phil.sachs@sanrafaelchevrolet.com; kevin.frazier@sanrafaelchevrolet.com; info@sanrafaelchevrolet.com
Dear sirs:
I am writing in response to a news story posted on DIGG (an internet community news forum) at http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Corvette_owner_takes_car_in_for_antenna_repair_havoc_ensues
As I understand it, your customer brought in his new Corvette for some minor warranty repair. One of your employees effectively stole the car, took it on a joyride, and caused over $15,000 worth of damages to it (Police Report: #marin chp 9350).
Your customer is asked for the vehicle to be replaced, which your dealership, allegedly has refused. His next request was for the car to be repaired and he be compensated for the loss in residual value caused by the wreck, which your dealership, allegedly has refused.
Your customer does not want to go to the trouble of hiring a lawyer, instead he has turned to his friends in the internet community for assistance.
Presently, your service department and your entire dealership are being painted in a very negative light.
Based on the wide-spread nature of this story, your sales mangers will begin to see a serious drop-off in sales inquiries. The future of your dealership may very well be at risk.
We are calling for you to do the right thing:
- Apologize for the manner in which this matter has been dealt with,
- Fire the employee(s) in question, and
- Replace your customer's Corvette with an upgraded model
By so doing, and informing the community of your intolerance of this type of behavior by employees, and by swiftly replacing your customer's Corvette, you have the opportunity to spin this potentially business-ruining fiasco into a media event that money cannot buy, and returning faith in your dealership to the Corvette and internet communities.
We await your reply.
- Joe Levi
www.JoeLevi.com - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13This dealer just pissed off the Internet. Bad move.
- number9ine, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Yea, but here is the login to skip you a step of going to bugmenot.
Username: dongle
Password: dc7788 - crunk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Were you with Ferris at the time?
:) - shertzerj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10The dude isn't contemplating suicide or anything, calm down. It'd ruin your Christmas, too, if your expensive car was wrecked by somebody else.
- masamunecyrus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10@FTLJohnson: Why can't today's youth think of non-destructive ways to get back? For instance, make some soap markers and draw on everything akin to Mike's Car Wash. Then you can "paint" the cars with those soap markers. A day of rain will fix the lot up and none of the cars will be damaged.
- Qwirk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Sounds like he has Ferris Bueler's day off, Risky Business and Better off dead references all packed into one sentance. =P
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10@Inthedarkclyde - he means that there will be a lot of bad PR as digg is a buisy web site.... and I agree with him, the pen is mightier than the sword as they say :)
- ask1ed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8 That's funny. It's my car that got wrecked. My buddy suggested something similar, but that would only hurt the insurance company. It would make a good video though.
As of 12 noon today, 12/28/06, I talked to the dealer, Greg James. He promised to make us whole, and provide a comparable car with the same color scheme and option group. He said it would take about a week to go through. He gave me a heartfelt apology. He seemed sincere and genuine. If he comes through as promised, he should get a pat on the back, as legally, he does not have to do this thing.
I believe this was a misunderstanding on his part. An occupational hazard. When you have thousands of cars coming through your lot, I think you tend to forget what this car means to the common man. It's the poor man's ferrari; and I don't believe that rich people own these cars. Poor people buy them, after scraping and suffering and working hard for every dollar for years and years.
It was you people who reminded him. You reminded him this car is not just a car. It's a special thing, the last american icon in the automotive world. We looked forward for many years, with a lot of passion, lurking on the forums, without ever posting. We waited for seven months for our car to be delivered as ordered. We could not belive how smooth it was. How fast it was. (Sorry chp for speeding.) How it handled.
And to tell the truth, we have never had so many people so willing to help us over anything in our entire lives. So it was sort of shocking to see so many strangers helping us. I guess, it's a gang; and when you mess with one member of the gang, you mess with all of us. Anyway, we will see if he comes through as promised, and I do believe he will. It was you guys who reminded him, "It's not just a car, "IT'S A VETTE." And you can quote me on that. GM should adopt that as an ad campaign. Call my people and you can have the slogan. Thanks first to the dealer, (if he comes through), and everyone else also. My wife is happy again, and that's all I care about.
Don't forget to send the dealer a positive email if he comes through. If this is an attempt to buy time, we will deal with that also, but I believe he is sincere. - akersmc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9http://www.consumerist.com/consumer/san-rafael-chevrolet/dealership-wrecks-customers-corvette-wont-compensate-him-224776.php
;) - threemagic, on 10/12/2007, -7/+15This really sucks... and as much as I hate to say it... something doesn't add up.
It seems to cut and dry that it's the dealer's fault and for them to not step up makes very little sense. There has to be some information we aren't seeing...
Why do I think that? Well they took his car without permission, used drugs, and crashed it. WHY isn't a lawyer involved? Ok so what if the lawyer is 5k!!! 5k is peanuts when you are talking about 20k... actually you could find a cheaper lawyer if you so choose. I mean this kinda thing is cut and dry right that even an attorney just out of law school could win.
But there is not attorney... why? - weprin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Keep up the good work. Your post is already showing up 6th in a google search for San Rafael Chevrolet:
http://www.google.com/search?q=san+rafael+chevrolet - kickarse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Isnt this what Digg.com is for?
- Tourney3p0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7So call the dealership and check it out.
There's a pretty good chance that the dealership will see how widespread the negative publicity is, and the guy won't have to deal with a lawyer. Digg (and other forums) will possibly save him many hours of turmoil.
Or we can just bury it and go back to masturbating to Apple and the Wii. -
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