Question to the community?

[Jerry Thibeau]

Thanks for being there when I need you DR friends! It's tough to be rationale when it's happening to you.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Turn the number off and move with option 2. Keep your personal feelings separate from your business. It never turns out well when mix the two together.

Sorry to hear about this Jerry. There are some bad business people out there that often has you wondering how on earth are they still in business. That's just a shame - I hate hearing stuff like this.

 

[GHouseman]

Option #4 If you are going to burn the bridge. Let it burn!

 

[Zhendrix]

Option 5: Challenge him to a gentlemen's duel and Mark Twain the dealer.

 

[ddavis]

Jerry, there is another option. Turn it over to a collection agency. All organizations have credit ratings.

What happened to the time when you could look someone in the eye and shake their hand? Growing up, "you're only as good as your word" was preached in my family. That doesn't mean anything, today.

 

[Resume101]

I would either go with option 2 or 4. As it is mentioned above, no one should have to get away with being irresponsible when large sums of money are involved - especially since it seems as if the other group knew very well what they were doing when they ignored the calls, and now they just want to get out of it completely. That's ridiculous. Good luck!

 

[yagoparamo]

Thanks Cliff for the comment and the phone call. After our discussion I have decided to not let this one bother me anymore and I am going to reverse my action of sending the calls to the dealers cell phone. I am just going to turn the number off and be done with this. By doing what I was going to do made me no better than the social media guy that hijacked the dealers facebook page. For what they owe me it's not worth the bad exposure. So I shall do the right thing and just kiss this one good bye. I'll Focus my energy on finding a new customer with integrity.

This quote is always a good one when facing situations like this:

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only one thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is out attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes." --Charles Swindoll

Jerry,

You run a business, not a bar that you opened after retirement to make friends.
You did reach out and try to resolve it.
You over reached to the clients advantage by doing more than what you were supposed to do.
All your actions were focused on positively resolve the issue and all your moves you made took the dealer's interest into consideration (they kept getting leads).

Out of all your options you listed:

1. Write off a 4 figure loss.
2. Let my attorney take them to court.
3. Sell the number to a competing VW dealer.
4. Change the ring to number from the dealership to the owners cell phone.

Number 3 and 4 won't get you what you want and they get personal. You will get a momentary satisfaction but nothing more than that.

Number 1 you do if you invoice $5M plus a year and you just want to move forward and focus on growing the business. A lot of people may disagree on this one but it is a deep personal choice; I used to get rattled when people didn't pay me a few hundred bucks and noways I realized that it was costing me money by taking my focus away.

Number 2 is how business follows when you don't pay your bills and it doesn't make you a bad guy for doing so. Is not personal, it is the way business works in the America--you don't pay the cable you don't get to watch HBO, you don't pay the electric bill you get to pee in the dark at night, etc. The funny thing is that the other guy knows what is coming--he chose it to be that way.

I deal with this everyday, if someone doesn't think that what I provided was worth it what I charged them for a reason we can talk and reach an agreement. Just like you I will do everything that I can--even to the loss of money--to find a win-win situation. When someone just flat out doesn't pay, send them to collections.

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

I ended up writing this off and had not thought much about it until I saw this thread again today. This is the 1st dealer to ever stiff me and hopefully the last. Does not surprise me since they were often 3 months behind on payment.

Karma baby! These guys will get their negative karma one day.

 

[mcampo2501]

I'll Focus my energy on finding a new customer with integrity.

I might be interested in your services. I have a phone issue, however I don't think anyone wants to believe it. I hear you do mystery shops. I think with some ammunition I could get ownership to pull the trigger on some kind of phone service. What's the best way to start the process?

 

[yagoparamo]

I ended up writing this off and had not thought much about it until I saw this thread again today. This is the 1st dealer to ever stiff me and hopefully the last. Does not surprise me since they were often 3 months behind on payment.

Karma baby! These guys will get their negative karma one day.

Unfortunately you will find more. Don't miss-interpret my words that dealers are bad payers, but that the business is too complicated sometimes. Manager changes and the new guy focuses on selling cars to keep the store afloat and works 10 hour shifts with no rest for 2 months. Your bill, calls, and complains, are his last worry.